Emeritus Professor
University of Idaho Library
tabraham @ uidaho.edu
As Head of the Special Collections and Archives Department, administered, developed and provided reference services for the Day-Northwest Collection, the Barnard-Stockbridge Photograph Collection, the regional historical photographs and manuscripts collections, the University Archives, and other collections of primary source materials; in addition, supervised their cataloging, arrangement and description by professional and clerical staff; consulted on and prepared exhibits, publications, and other public relations efforts; developed and administered the planning and budgeting of grants and grant projects; and initiated, extended and maintained productive contacts with donors. Also served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Library Associates, a "friends" group for the library.
Professor (since 1991) and Head, Special Collections and Archives, University of Idaho Library, 1984-2005 (tenure received 1986); Manuscripts-Archives Librarian, Washington State University, 1970-1984 (tenure received 1975); Intern, California Historical Society, July-August 1970; Library Assistant, University of Washington, 1968-1969; Librarian 1, Washington State University, 1967-1968.
Interim Director, International Jazz Collections, Lionel Hampton Center, 2000-2002; Program Officer, National Endowment for the Humanities, 1987-1988; Consultant, Colorado School of Mines, 1985; Editor, SNUG News, 1986-1987; Projects Editor, Society of American Archivists, 1983-1985.
MLS, University of Oregon, 1970; Certificate in Archival Librarianship, University of Oregon, 1970; MFA, Washington State University, 1968; BA, University of Washington, 1965.
Member (and often Chair) of several University and Library Committees; founding member and former officer, Northwest Archivists; member, Idaho Center for the Book Advisory Board, 1993-2005; chair, Bibliography Committee, Idaho Library Association, 1986-1993; former president, Friends of the Museum of Art, Pullman, WA; speaker and/or workshop leader at meetings of the Society of American Archivists, Northwest Archivists, Conference on Chinese Daily Ritual Practice, International Conference on Quong Tart and his Times at The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney; Global and Local Dimensions of Asian America: An International Conference on Asian Diasporas, Symposium on Temples And Tombstones: The Archaeology of The Overseas Chinese Dead at the University of New South Wales, International Mining History Conference, Sixth Chinese-American Conference, Association for Asian American Studies, Pacific Northwest Association for Asian American Studies, Symposium on History and Archaeology of the Chinese in the West, Deadwood, SD, Northwest Anthropological Conference, Inland Northwest Council of Libraries, Idaho Library Association, Washington State Genealogical History Conference, Mining History Conference, Pacific Northwest History Conference, Blue Mountain Community College Arts and Culture Festival, and Washington State Oral History Conference; former member, Idaho State Historical Records Advisory Board and Washington State Historical Records Advisory Board; grant reviewer, NHPRC and NEH, since 1979; panelist, Smithsonian Institution Research Resources Program, 1989-1992; panelist, NEH Division of Preservation and Access, 1995, 1997, 2000; charter member, Academy of Certified Archivists; member, History Department thesis and dissertation committees; Associate Editor, Green Library Journal: Environmental Topics in the Information World, 1991-1993, and its successor, Electronic Green Journal, 1994-2005; member, Idaho Humanities Council Speakers Bureau, 1997-present. Presented 2007 Esto Perpetua Award by the Idaho State Historical Society.
Chinese Servants in the West: Florence Baillie-Grohman's "The Yellow and White Agony." Edited, and with an introduction, by Terry Abraham. Moscow: Asian American Comparative Collection, 2007. Asian American Comparative Collection Research Report, No. 2. Available now!
Mountains So Sublime: Nineteenth-Century British Travellers and the Lure of the Rocky Mountain West. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2006. Available now! Also available through US distributor.
"Chinese Cemeteries and Burial Practices in the Pacific Northwest," by Terry Abraham and Priscilla Wegars. In Chinese American Death Rituals: Respecting the Ancestors. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2005. Available now!
The University of Idaho Library: A Checklist of Publications, <http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/special-collections/libbib.htm>. Compiler, September 10, 2002.
"The Silver and Gold Book" in Idaho Biblio Treasures. (Boise: Idaho Center for the Book, 1997).
Repositories of Primary Sources, <http://www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Other.Repositories.html>. Compiler, 1995-present.
Day to Day: A guide to the records of the historic Day Mines Group in the University of Idaho Library, compiled by Terry Abraham and Richard C. Davis. (Moscow: 1992).
"Managerial rating: a library effectiveness model" in Library effectiveness: A state of the art. (Chicago: ALA-LAMA, 1980).
A union list of the papers of members of Congress from the Pacific Northwest. (Pullman: 1976).
ARCHIVAL MANAGEMENT: Forms for the Eighties. Pullman: Pyramyridion, 1978. http://www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/papers/archivalmanagement.htm
Selected manuscript resources in the Washington State University Library. (Pullman: 1974).
Austin Mires: an indexed register of his papers, 1872-1936, in the Washington State University Library. (Pullman: 1968).
"Urns, bones and burners: overseas Chinese cemeteries," by Terry Abraham and Priscilla Wegars. Australasian Historical Archaeology, 21(2003)58-69.
"'A substantial, good-sized, well-bound book:' Bishop Morris and Early Parish Records in Oregon," PNLA Quarterly, 67:2(Winter 2003)5-7.
"Unlocking the Door to Special Collections: Using the Web Combination." Library Philosophy and Practice, 3:2 (Spring 2001) <http://libr.unl.edu:2000/LPP/abraham.html>
"'"Hold on there, mister!" coolly directed Hank;' or, the Wilds of Idaho in the Dime Novels of Yesteryear." Idaho Yesterdays, 43:2 (Summer 1999) 3-13.
"Oliver W. Holmes revisited: Levels of arrangement and description in practice," The American Archivist, 54:3 (Summer 1991) 370-377.
"Collection policy or documentation strategy: Theory and practice," The American Archivist, 54:1 (Winter 1991) 44-52.
"Directory of Manuscript and Archival Repositories in Idaho," compiled by Terry Abraham and Richard C. Davis. Idaho Yesterdays, 34:3 (Fall 1990) 21-33.
"Here before Lewis and Clark," Idaho Yesterdays, 34:2 (Summer 1990) 28-30.
"PC user group newsletters: the new little magazines," The Serials Librarian, 13:4 (December 1987) 77-91.
"What is backlog is prologue: a measurement of archival processing," by Terry Abraham, Stephen E. Balzarini, and Anne Frantilla. The American Archivist, 48:1 (Winter 1985) 31-44.
"Entropy and archival disorder," Provenance, 2:1 (Spring 1984) 94-99.
"Publishing for the archival profession," Scholarly Publishing, 15:3 (April 1984) 265-271.
"Charles Thurber: typewriter inventor," Technology and Culture, 21:3 (July 1980) 430-434.
"NUCMC and the local repository," The American Archivist, 40:1 (January 1977) 31-42.
"Waifs: the single-item manuscript," Georgia Archive, 3:2 (Summer 1975) 135-145.
"Manuscripts: a continuum of description," Georgia Archive, 2:1 (Winter 1974) 20-27.
"Down in the valley: the Episcopal Church in Eugene, Oregon," Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 61:4 (December 1972) 357-371.
Also articles in The Bookmark, WSU Computing Center News, Easy Access, Idaho Librarian, The New Archivist, Points Northwest, PNLA Quarterly and The Record. Book reviews have appeared in American Archivist, Asian American Comparative Collection Newsletter, Georgia Archive, The Midwestern Archivist, College and Research Libraries, PNLA Quarterly, Reprint Bulletin-Book Reviews, CPCUG Monitor, Idaho Librarian, Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Bunchgrass Historian, Latah Legacy, Towers, and Easy Access.
Selected Papers and Presentations
"Portraits of Chief Joseph," Joel E. Ferris Foundation, $2,000.
"Carleton E. Watkins: Down in the Mine," Association for the Humanities in Idaho, $1,000.
"Day-Northwest Collection Guide," John Calhoun Smith Committee, $12,043.
"Hard-Rock Mining in the Coeur d'Alenes," National Historical Publications and Records Commission, $55,000.
"Idaho Archives and Manuscripts Database," National Historical Publications and Records Commission, $57,446; Idaho Centennial Commission, $10,000; Idaho State Library-LSCA, $2,210.
"Mining Records Appraisal and Description," U.S. Department of Education HEA II-C, $33,985.
"Day-Northwest Acquisitions," John Calhoun Smith Committee, $3,500.
"Anglo-Saxon Attitudes in the North American West," University of Idaho Research Council, $4,666; Idaho Library Association, $600.
"Mountains So Sublime: Nineteenth Century Travelers' Illustrations of the Rocky Mountain Wilderness." Idaho Humanities Council, $3,500.
"Preserving Pictures: Conservation of Research Materials in the University of Idaho Library." The Idaho Heritage Trust. $2,000.
"Institute for the Historic Study of Jazz at the University of Idaho." Institute of Museum and Library Services. $700,000.