Guest blogger: Teiana Gonsalves (Women's Community Center Archivist & University Archives Student Intern)
Aloha! ‘O wau o Teiana Gonsalves a no Kailua, Hawai‘i mai au. Hello! My name is Teiana Gonsalves and I’m from Kailua, Hawai‘i. As the Stanford Women’s Community Center’s (WCC) Archivist and Social Media Coordinator, I help develop and expand the Digital Archive of the history of the WCC. Eager to share the breadth and depth of the WCC’s legacy, I dive deep into spotlighting our galleries, documentation, testimonies, and more. After releasing the WCC Archives website in 2021 and continuing to gather research, I have the privilege of capturing and highlighting the contributions and achievements made by the WCC community throughout our incredible history.
The WCC has provided programs, services, and resources for students over the years and has continually evolved to meet the changing needs of the Stanford community. The WCC now employs three full-time professional staff members, three graduate student coordinators, and anywhere from ten to fifteen undergraduate student program coordinators. The Women's Community Center is now a university department within the Centers for Equity, Community, and Leadership in the Division of Student Affairs. The original student organization, the Women’s Collective, has evolved over the years in its function and mission, and is now known as the Womxn’s Coalition. The WCC offers a variety of programs, each coordinated by a student staff member, ranging from Feminist Discussions to Health & Wellness and Community Engagement to STEM programming and our annual Gender, Equity, and Justice Summit.
From Stanford's founding to today, women have played an instrumental role in the success and growth of the university. Over the summer, I fused my ongoing role at the WCC and an internship with the Stanford Libraries and the Centers for Equity, Community, and Leadership, bolstering the WCC’s Digital Archives website and enhancing the Library's Women at Stanford Spotlight Exhibit. This exhibit documents the history of women at Stanford, including collections of various administrators, faculty members, and research centers, as well as materials documenting students and student life, athletics, and activism. During the last few months, I enriched the site’s curated features, specifically delving into the history of Women at Stanford and key campus resources like the WCC. Ranging from confronting sex bias to hosting a conference on femicide, establishing the Center for Research on Women to heralding the Women's March, the Stanford community possesses a rich and deep history bending the arc of women's rights towards justice and opportunity.
Reflecting on my research this summer and preparing for another academic year as the WCC’s Archivist, I’m extremely grateful for all I’ve learned about documenting, synthesizing, and presenting our history as an institution heralded by women leaders. Thank you to WCC Directors Faith Kazmi, Dejah Carter, and Alicia Lewis for your instrumental support and guidance nurturing the WCC’s student staff. Thank you to University Archivist Josh Schneider for your invaluable mentorship this summer, helping me locate key resources and enhance my archival skills. Moreover, thank you to Senior Digital Library Services Manager Cathy Aster for teaching me how to edit and develop Stanford Libraries’ Spotlight Exhibits. Uncovering resources such as the Pioneering Women Oral History Project and Woman’s Guide to Stanford, whether through Stanford’s Archives, the Online Archive of California, or other databases, I aspire to continue broadening the narrative piece of the WCC’s Digital Archives and Libraries’ Women at Stanford exhibit, synthesizing the impactful legacies and contributions of the WCC community. As I continue learning and growing in my role as the WCC’s Archivist, I’m eager to strengthen my skills to best chronicle and share our incredible history.
Teiana Gonsalves ('24) is a rising junior who studies Political Science and Native American Studies at Stanford University. She is Stanford Women's Community Center Archivist and Social Media Coordinator, an Intern at the Stanford Archives, and an Intern at the Office of U.S. Senator Brian Schatz.
