Georgia Southern Honors student receives fellowship from New York Public Library

Georgia Southern junior Ariana Taylor-Williams will spend her summer in New York City after earning a Schomburg-Mellon fellowship. This prestigious opportunity will allow her to advance her undergraduate research on the Harlem Renaissance by giving her access to unique documents in the New York Public Library’s extensive archives.

“Being able to do research with primary sources is a big deal,” said Taylor-Williams. “This will be the highest level of research I have gotten to do and I’m really excited for the opportunity. It’s exactly what I need to be able to advance my thesis.”

The Schomburg-Mellon fellowship is given to 10 rising college seniors annually.

Taylor-Williams is an Honors College student double-majoring in history and English while working as an archivist in the Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections. She is the head delegate of the University’s Model United Nations team and the vice president of Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society. Her research into the effects of Cumberland Island’s commercial development on the Gullah Geechee community earned her the history department’s Richard S. Beene Scholarship. Now she is preparing her Honors thesis: “Harlem’s Federal Writers: Transnationalists, Humanitarians, and Public Historians,” which examines how the work of African American authors in the 1930s contributed to the preservation of American history.

Associate Professor of History Julie de Chantal, Ph.D., noted that Taylor-Williams took her work beyond expectations when teaming up with graduate students to produce an exhibit on American Independence.

“She operates at a level I have never seen before and she is tenacious like no other,” said de Chantal. “She has a profound ability to read text and subtext, so she finds patterns nobody else sees.”

Taylor-Williams believes her success in so many fields comes from the supportive environment created by Georgia Southern faculty.

“Attending Georgia Southern is one of the best decisions I have made,” said Taylor-Williams. “I feel very lucky to have gotten these opportunities because not many students, especially in my field of archives, get to do this as an undergraduate student. All of the different extracurricular activities I have been able to hold leadership positions in, that’s not something you see at a lot of other universities.”

De Chantal notes that a common theme in Taylor-Williams’s studies is using her own success to help others grow.

“Not only does she excel in her own work, she helps others to accomplish their goals too,” said de Chantal. “With the Model U.N., she’s not only using the feedback that the faculty give her on her submissions, she shares the lessons that she learns with high school students whom she mentors. She does not just take knowledge in, she gives it back.”

As Taylor-Williams prepares for a busy summer filled with rare books and handwritten notes, she already has her sights set on her next educational challenge.

“I plan to get my master’s in history and library science because I really want to pursue a career as an archivist,” said Taylor-Williams. “Once I started working in Special Collections at the library, I realized it combines both history and English, so that became my goal. I want to do hands-on work that will help preserve historical documents for future generations to make their own discoveries.”