Claude Zachary
GSE&IS Profile
Claude Zachary
University Archivist and Manuscripts Librarian in the USC Libraries Special Collections, University of Southern California
Claude Zachary is University Archivist and Manuscripts Librarian in the USC Libraries Special Collections at the University of Southern California (USC). He received his BA in American Film and Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz and his MLIS from GSE&IS.
A longtime Tibetan Buddhist practitioner, Zachary was first inspired to go into archival work when he realized the importance of preserving the story of how Tibetan Buddhism came to the United States and the teachings that had been presented since the early 1970s, and became interested in studying the field of cultural heritage preservation.
After graduating in 1998, Zachary began his current position at USC. As an archivist and manuscripts librarian, he collects, preserves, and provides access to the materials that comprise the instructional memory of the university, ensuring the books, periodicals, papers, correspondence, photographs, artifacts, and audiovisual materials that tell USC’s story are available to researchers and Trojan history buffs not just today, but also hundreds of years from now. Additionally, he is responsible for curating the manuscript collections that provide the depth of primary research materials for the many researchers who use the university libraries for their work in the social sciences and humanities, with a special emphasis on the cultural life of Southern California.
Currently, Zachary, with colleagues in the USC Libraries, is working on a book utilizing the USC photograph archives to document Los Angeles during the World War II era. Zachary is active in the Society of California Archivists and in the College and University Archives Section of the Society of American Archivists. He is also an active member and leader of the UCLA Library and Information Studies Alumni Association (LISAA) and enjoys keeping in touch with colleagues and learning about new research that faculty is conducting.
