Biography
Bethany G. Anderson is the Natural and Applied Sciences Archivist and Assistant Professor in the University Archives at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is also a PhD candidate in the History of Science at the University of Illinois. Her research focuses on the history of anthropology, cybernetics, and women in science, as well as computational approaches to archives. Anderson holds a bachelor of arts in Anthropology from the University of Michigan, a master of arts in Near Eastern Art and Archaeology from the University of Chicago, and a master of science in Information Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.
Research Interests
History of Anthropology; History of Science and Technology; Cybernetics; Media Studies; History of Data and Recordkeeping; Scientific Archives; Production and Circulation of Knowledge; Women and Gender in Science
Grants
Anderson, Bethany G., Kristen Allen Wilson, and Mary Ton. 2024-2026. "No Longer at the Margins: A Digital Project to Amplify Access to the Archives of Women in Science." Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Foundations grant program. $60,000.
Anderson, Bethany G. “Democratizing Science for Women: A Digital Domestic Science Project.” 2022-2023. Funded by the University of Illinois Campus Research Board. $20,948.
Anderson, Bethany G., Christopher J. Prom, and Jenny L. Davis, 2021-2024. “Doris Duke Native American Oral History Revitalization Project.” Funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. $196,000.
Anderson, Bethany G. and Kristen Allen Wilson, 2020-2021. “History in the Making: A Women in the Sciences Lecture Series and Preservation Project.” Funded by the University of Illinois Library Innovation Fund. $10,000.
Anderson, Bethany G., Christopher J. Prom, Kevin Hamilton, and Mark Sammons, 2017-2018. “The Cybernetics Thought Collective: A History of Science and Technology Portal Project.” Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Foundations grant program. $49,973.
Anderson, Bethany G., 2017-2018. “From Margin to Center: Reframing the History of Women in Computing and Information Technology through Oral Histories.” Funded by the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) History Committee. $4,000.
Additional Campus Affiliations
Natural and Applied Sciences Archivist, University Library
Assistant Professor, University Library
Recent Publications
Anderson, B. G., Erin Antognoli, E., Caldrone, S. L., Derner, J. D., Farrell, S. L., Fenlon, K., Hendrickson, J. R., Hendrickson, L. G., Johnson, H. A., Kaplan, N. E., Kelly, J. A., Mastel, K. L., & Williams, S. C. (2024). Issues and paths forward in the identification and reuse of historic analog records. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 12, Article 1338628. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2024.1338628
Anderson, B. G. (2024). Kindred Contexts: Archives, Archaeology, and the Concept of Provenance. Archival Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-024-09459-5
Anderson, B. G., & Allen Wilson, K. (Accepted/In press). The Power of Autobiography: Documenting Women Scientists through a Lecture Series at the University of Illinois. In Negotiating In/visibility: Women, Science, Engineering and Medicine in the Twentieth Century Manchester University Press.
Anderson, B. G. (2024). UI’s Biological Computer Laboratory innovated cybernetics research. News-Gazette. https://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/parks-recreation/inside-out-ui-s-biological-computer-laboratory-innovated-cybernetics-research/article_3a0c49bb-6948-5e72-b00f-1594a1686e5a.html
Anderson, B. G., Caldrone, S. L., Henry, J., Imker, H. J., Margenot, A. J., & Williams, S. C. (2023). Publishing Agricultural Data from the Morrow Plots: The Value and Logistics of Preserving a Long-Term Research Experiment. In iPRES 2023 https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121097