Archivist and Detective Elise Bochinski

What do archivists do? According to the U.S. Occupational Handbook, archivists typically do the following:

  • Create and maintain accessible computer archives and databases
  • Organize and classify archival records to make it easy to find materials
  • Authenticate and appraise historical documents and archival materials
  • Provide reference services and help for users
  • Safeguard records by copying to film, videotape, disk, or computer formats
  • Preserve and maintain documents and objects
  • Locate new materials and direct their acquisition and display

But a good archivist is part librarian and part detective.   Dr. Robert Fedorchek, professor emeritus Modern Languages, credits our own Elise Bochinski, University Archivist, for assistance with his new book Pepita Jiménez  (translation).  It is the second collaboration between the two; earlier, Fedorchek and Bochinski worked together on a translation of Valera’s 1877 novel, Commander Mendoza, published in 2010 by Oxbow Books.

Learn more about Elise's detective work and Dr. Fedorchek's book in the Spring 2012 edition of Fairfield Magazine, available here online.

Left: Dr. Robert Fedorchek. Top right: Dr. Fedorchek with Elise Bochinski. Bottom right: Adolfo Lozano Sidro illustrations from the 1925 Spanish version of the novel. From left to right, Pepita, Luis de Vargas, and at right, according to one description: “Left alone with the Vicar, Pepita, who is at once agitated, contrite and proud, reveals that, after rejecting many suitors, she has fallen in love with the young seminarian.” Photo Credits: Fairfield Magazine, Spring 2012.