Jill Hartke – Digital Archivist at the Albuquerque Museum

Photo of Jill Hartke

Jill Hartke has been recognized by the Albuquerque Historical Society with an Albuquerque History Accolade for her efforts to enrich public knowledge of Albuquerque’s history through traditional and innovative approaches to providing meaningful public access to the Albuquerque Museum’s digital archives.

Jill has been Digital Archivist at the Albuquerque Museum Photo Archives since 2018. In that time she has worked tirelessly to access and catalog new materials, as well as add thousands of photos to the Museum’s online collection. Jill works very collaboratively with local historians and helps all researchers with materials within her collection. She has created several exhibits at the Museum, such as “We Lead, Others Follow,” “We Built This City,” and “Let the Sunshine In.” “We Lead, Others Follow” was featured in a ¡COLORES! episode on NMPBS, and was picked up by PBS stations around the country. She has also given presentations to the Albuquerque Historical Society, Historic Albuquerque, Inc., and the Special Collections Library, among other groups. During the pandemic closure of the Museum, Jill did not slow down, instead she created a continuing video podcast. “Picture This!” is an enjoyable series of short video presentations which delve into the history of different photos in the Museum’s collection.

Jill studied History at the University of Missouri and completed a Master’s of Library Science at the University of Missouri. She has worked as a librarian in academic, public, and non-profit institutions for over a decade. She is an advocate for access to information and public transparency of collections held in libraries, archives, and museums. She believes in communicating the strengths and weaknesses of a collection to help build stronger community participation in the collecting process and more enthusiastic support for preserving collections for future generations.