Sady Sullivan

Background

About Sady Sullivan

Sady Sullivan is an oral historian with experience building community-engaging oral history projects, revitalizing interest in legacy oral history collections, and establishing digital strategies for oral history as an outreach tools for libraries, archives, museums, and movement building. Sady is interested in archives as a hub for community engagement and historicizing contemporary political debates. Her work is influenced by the Buddhist practice of deep listening, and formative experiences at three feminist institutions: The Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies, Babeland, and Wellesley Centers for Women. Sady has radio experience, both pre- and post- podcast era, and Chuck D once said she did a good job on the 1s and 2s. Sady received a Master’s in Cultural Reporting & Criticism from NYU and a Bachelor’s in Psychology and Women’s Studies from Wellesley College. From 2014 - 2016, Sady Sullivan was Curator for the Columbia Center for Oral History Archives at Columbia University, where she cared for the oldest oral history collection in the United States. From 2006 - 2014, Sady was Director of Oral History at Brooklyn Historical Society, where she led nine oral history projects and managed the preservation of the legacy oral history collections. At Brooklyn Historical Society, Sady created Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations, an award-winning oral history project, racial justice dialogue series, and digital humanities site exploring mixed heritage identity. Sady writes about leading this project in an essay titled “Public Homeplaces: Collaboration and Care in Oral History Project Design,” which is included in Beyond Women’s Words: The Personal, Political, and Ethical Challenges of Doing Feminist Oral History, co-edited by Katrina Srigley, Stacey Zembrzycki, and Franca Iacovetta;(Oxford University Press, 2018).