Photo Courtesy: Dennis Frank
BY: JAMESON ZUBER, STAFF WRITER
When Dennis Frank, the university archivist, stepped onto St. Bonaventure University’s campus in 2001, the archive consisted of just 200 online pages.
In his 23 years, he has increased that number tenfold.
“My main goal as the archivist here has been to make our collection as visible and accessible as we can,” said Frank.
Frank studied at the State University of New York College at Geneseo, earning a bachelor’s degree in history while finishing up his master’s degree in library science in 1979. He worked as a library director at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford for 10 years and served as a reference librarian at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
In the fall of 2001, Frank started at Bonaventure, officially taking on the title of archivist in the spring of 2002. This was his first time working as an archivist, as his past experience was solely working in libraries.
“I was offered the archivist position, and it turned out to be a good fit for a student of history and library science and I’ve enjoyed the ‘Bona Bubble,’” said Frank.
The Bonaventure’s archives, accessed through the university website, feature historical material and information about the campus. The website also holds many special collections related to journalists, such as Mark Hellinger, Jim Bishop and Douglas Edwards. The website is publicly available and provides free access to information across all regions of the world.
“We average a couple of thousand hits each month, from users all over the world,” said Frank.
The archives house a wide variety of journalistic collections and historical material. It is also home to papers from science fiction author John F. Carra and expert parapsychologist and exorcist Friar Alphonsus Trabold. Frank said he is especially proud of the collections relating to the 154th New York Volunteer Infantry.
“This is one of the best single regiment collections in the country and a heavily used resource on our website,” said Frank
Frank said he works with many history classes and interns among different disciplines to expand the archive’s web presence. He leads a dozen student assistants to record and organize historical information. Many of these students eventually work in similar professions to Frank.
“Like me, quite a few of them never considered those types of jobs until they experienced some time in SBU’s archives and our public history courses,” said Frank.
Frank said he encourages students to explore the university’s archives. Bonaventure has a long history, and many students don’t know about its extensive past.
“Students should look to the archives when they are interested in the story of the place where they are spending the better part of four years of their lives,” said Frank. “I’ve heard from many students who accidentally found our web space that they ended up spending hours fascinated by that story and even more happy that they are now part of it.”
zuberjd23@bonaventure.edu
