CV

J.A. Pryse, PhD

Digital Archival Systems Architect · Independent Consultant · Archival Informatics Researcher
ja-pryse@outlook.com · Notre Dame, Indiana

Professional Experience · Education · Technical Expertise · Publications · Projects & Grants · Service · Awards

Professional Profile

Digital archivist, systems architect, and information science researcher with more than 14 years of experience designing and managing digital infrastructure for complex archival collections. I provide consulting and contract services in digital content development, infrastructure design, and digital archival systems architecture, connecting preservation requirements with practical tools for processing, discovery, and public access.

My work spans the full archival information lifecycle: acquisition, metadata modeling, repository configuration, workflow automation, preservation, and access. I design systems that maintain provenance and context, support collaboration across institutions, and can be sustained through clear documentation, staff training, and technical handoff. My research examines how point-of-creation controls, adaptive learning, and structured feedback can improve the reliability and interoperability of archival systems.

As a founding archivist at the Heritage and Research Center at Saint Mary’s, I developed archival policies, digital workflows, and discovery infrastructure for a collaborative repository representing ten congregations of Catholic women religious and their sponsored ministries. Earlier work at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Historical Society included congressional and governmental collections, born-digital records programs, repository migrations, audiovisual preservation, and statewide digitization initiatives.

Areas of Expertise

• Digital Archival Systems Architecture and Infrastructure Design
• Digital Content Development, Research Portals, and Public Discovery
• Digital Preservation Strategy and Repository Implementation
• Born-Digital Acquisition and Electronic Records Management
• Metadata Architecture, Interoperability, and Name Authority Systems
• Workflow Automation, Python, APIs, and Cloud Infrastructure
• AI-Assisted Archival Processing and Discovery
• Digital Forensics, Secure Transfer, and Integrity Verification
• Audiovisual Preservation and Legacy-Media Digitization
• Multi-Institutional Collaboration and Grant Development
• Technical Documentation, Staff Training, and Systems Handoff

Professional Experience

Independent Consulting and Contract Services

Digital Archival Systems Architect and Digital Content Consultant
Project-based, short-term, and long-term engagements

Provide consulting and implementation services for archives, libraries, museums, research centers, and collaborative collecting initiatives. Services focus on building sustainable digital content environments and connecting archival requirements with system design and day-to-day operations.

• Systems assessment and architecture: Assess collections, existing tools, and institutional requirements; develop system designs, implementation plans, and workflows for acquisition, processing, preservation, and access.
• Digital content and discovery: Develop digital collections, research portals, online exhibits, and discovery interfaces that connect finding aids, digital objects, contextual information, and related collections.
• Preservation infrastructure: Design storage, ingest, backup, fixity, and preservation-event workflows for born-digital and digitized materials, including cloud-based and local environments.
• Metadata and interoperability: Develop metadata schemas, crosswalks, controlled vocabularies, name authority structures, and data-normalization procedures for consistent description and cross-repository discovery.
• Automation and integration: Build scripts, API integrations, and processing tools for inventory, transformation, quality control, repository migration, and repetitive archival tasks.
• AI-assisted research and processing: Design and evaluate text-extraction, description, entity-resolution, and discovery workflows with documented sources, human review, and quality controls.
• Documentation and transition: Create policies, operating procedures, system documentation, and training materials; support staff onboarding and a documented handoff to ongoing institutional management.

Heritage and Research Center at Saint Mary’s — Notre Dame, Indiana

Lead Archivist III and Curator, 2025–2026

Founding archivist for a collaborative repository representing ten congregations of Catholic women religious and their sponsored ministries.

• Developed archival policies, processing procedures, digital workflows, and access protocols for a new multi-congregational research center.
• Designed approaches to shared preservation, description, and discovery that maintained the provenance and institutional context of separately created collections.
• Designed digital preservation architecture and workflows for born-digital and digitized correspondence, photographs, administrative records, audiovisual materials, and other complex formats.
• Developed public discovery tools connecting finding aids, digital collections, name authorities, collection browsing, and AI-assisted archival reference.
• Created metadata models, controlled vocabularies, and name-identification workflows supporting research into women religious, congregations, ministries, missions, and institutional history.
• Built automation and data-processing workflows for archival description, metadata normalization, migration, and digital access.
• Created exhibit concepts, visual designs, and digital exhibit content connecting archival collections with public interpretation.
• Worked with congregational leaders, archivists, partner institutions, faculty, students, and researchers to develop shared practices, project frameworks, and grant proposals.

University of Oklahoma — Norman, Oklahoma

Senior Archivist III and Curator, Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center Archives, 2018–2025
Instructor of Information Science, 2019–2025

• Directed stewardship of approximately 175.5 TB of digital congressional assets, including email, social-media exports, legislative records, photographs, audiovisual materials, and born-digital files.
• Designed the Center’s electronic records management framework and digital collections policies, integrating appraisal, fixity verification, PREMIS event logging, automated ingest, and long-term preservation.
• Led migration of legacy digital collections into Preservica Cloud Edition, creating operating procedures, documentation, and training materials used across collaborative projects.
• Developed transfer guidance for congressional offices covering file organization, naming conventions, encryption, secure transfer, and born-digital accessioning.
• Co-led development of the American Congress Digital Archives Portal, expanding federated discovery across congressional repositories and supporting research and K–12 civics education.
• Developed and tested AI- and automation-assisted archival workflows, including an AWS Textract handwriting pilot involving approximately 20,000 letters.
• Built scalable processing and digitization workflows for large congressional collections, integrating metadata creation, quality control, preservation, and public access.
• Supervised professional staff, student employees, interns, and project teams and developed competency-based training for archival and digitization work.
• Taught information science courses and integrated practical archival systems, digital preservation, and project-based learning into instruction.

Oklahoma Historical Society — Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Director of Digital Archives / Archivist III, 2016–2018
Digital Archivist / Projects Archivist, 2011–2016

• Managed statewide digital preservation and digitization initiatives involving legislative records, maps, photographs, audiovisual collections, oral histories, and born-digital materials.
• Directed projects encompassing approximately 13 million legislative journal pages, 118,000 maps and related records, and 3,000 oral-history recordings.
• Developed the Society’s early born-digital transfer policies and digital preservation workflows.
• Implemented repository, BagIt, checksum, derivative-generation, and preservation procedures supporting both internal stewardship and public access.
• Collaborated with state information technology and records-management offices to align retention, acquisition, preservation, and access practices.
• Developed triage and preservation workflows for at-risk magnetic and audiovisual media.
• Progressed through multiple archival roles with increasing responsibility for digital preservation, systems, project management, and statewide digital initiatives.

Education

• Ph.D., Information Science, 2026 — University of North Texas
  Focus: Archival Informatics and Large-Scale Digital Asset Management
• M.L.I.S., Library and Information Science, 2015 — University of North Texas
  Focus: Digital Content Management
• M.S., Museum Science, 2011 — University of North Texas
  Focus: Digital Asset Management
• B.S., Criminal Justice, 2007 — University of Central Oklahoma

Selected Advanced Training

• Smithsonian Institution Research Fellow, Electronic Records Management and Digital Archives, 2014
• Data Curation Network Workshops, Specialized Data Types, 2019 and 2023
• Archival Education and Research Institute (AERI), Louisiana State University, 2023

Technical Expertise

Systems Architecture and Digital Content Development

Archival system requirements, infrastructure planning, digital collections and research portals, online exhibits, acquisition-to-access workflows, system integration, technical documentation, implementation planning, and staff training.

Digital Preservation and Repository Systems

Preservica, ArchivesSpace, Omeka S, Islandora, Cuadra STAR, Archivists’ Toolkit, Archon, PastPerfect, BagIt, AWS S3 and Glacier, Google Cloud Storage, fixity and integrity validation, repository migration, preservation planning, and disaster-recovery workflows.

Archival Description, Metadata, and Interoperability

DACS, EAD, Dublin Core, PREMIS, METS, MODS, MARC/MARCXML, PBCore, EBUCore, WARC, XML, linked data, controlled vocabularies, authority records, metadata crosswalking, bulk import/export, and descriptive normalization.

Programming, Automation, and AI

Python, JavaScript, Java, R, PHP, PowerShell, shell scripting, XML/XSLT, LaTeX/TeX, AWS Textract, API-based data exchange, workflow automation, OCR/HTR processing, AI-assisted archival description, and adaptive learning models.

Born-Digital and Digital Forensics

FRED forensic workstations, Tableau and UltraBlock write blockers, FTK, Sleuth Kit, EnCase, DataAccessioner, Brunnhilde, disk imaging, secure transfer, file-system triage, integrity validation, and preservation of email, social media, web content, and complex born-digital records.

Audiovisual and Legacy-Media Preservation

Hands-on preservation experience with wax cylinders, wire recordings, open-reel audio, lacquer and shellac discs, 1-inch Type C video, 2-inch Quad video, VHS and related analog formats. Experience includes equipment repair and calibration, tape-path and head servicing, time-base correction, waveform monitoring, analog-to-digital signal chains, and film scanning.

Preservation Studio Design and Training

Designed and operated multi-format audiovisual preservation environments integrating legacy playback equipment with broadcast-grade capture hardware. Developed procedures and trained archivists, students, and staff in media handling, signal flow, digitization, quality control, and troubleshooting.

Publications

Peer-Reviewed

• Breuer, A., Dietrich, B. J., Crespin, M. H., Pryse, J. A., Butler, M., & Imai, K. (2025). Using AI to Summarize US Presidential Campaign TV Advertisement Videos, 1952–2012. Scientific Data, 12, 1552. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05558-9
• Pryse, J. A. (2025). Adaptive Learning Models for Efficient and Standardized Archival Processes. Archival Science, 25, 24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-025-09488-8
• Pryse, J. A. (2022). Practical Remote Workflow Solutions for Complex Digital Projects: Opportunities in a Pandemic. Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals, 18(2), 258–279. https://doi.org/10.1177/15501906211052720
• Pryse, J. A. (2017). Changing Guard. Public Libraries Journal, 78(1), 118–137.

Current Research and Working Papers

• Operationalizing Authenticity by Design: Point-of-Creation Controls in AI-Assisted Archival Information Systems
• Encoding Knowledge: Training Internal AI Models to Recognize and Support Indigenous Languages in Visual Media
• Coded Words: Adaptive AI Models for Detecting Indigenous Languages in Textual Artifacts

Selected Professional Publications and Data Resources

• Pryse, J. A., Harp, M., Mannheimer, S., Marsolek, W., & Cowles, W. (2020). Oral History Interviews Data Curation Primer. Data Curation Network.
• Pryse, J. A. (2020). Carl Albert Center COVID-19 Curation Project. Southwestern Archivist, 43(2), 18–24.
• Pryse, J. A. Carl Albert Center Human Rights Digital Archive. Southwestern Archivist, 43(1), 23–25.
• Pryse, J. A. The Carl Albert Photo Collection. Southwestern Archivist, 42(3), 24–26.
• Mosman, R., & Pryse, J. A. Audio, Film, and Video Preservation and Access at the Oklahoma Historical Society. Recorded Sound Journal.
• Pryse, J. A. Journey of Big Bertha Webster. IASA Journal, 46, 67–68.
• Pryse, J. A. Journey Back to Life. Archival Outlook, May–June, 23.
• Pryse, J. A. Clara Luper Collection at the Oklahoma Historical Society: Community Description Project. IASA Journal, 43, 70–74.

Selected Conference Presentations

• Association of Centers for the Study of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
  AI and Python for Efficient and Standardized Archival Processes.
• Society of American Archivists, Chicago, Illinois
  Archival Chaos and the Exhaustive Layers of Order: The Story of Kanter’s Political Ads.
• Archival Education and Research Institute, Louisiana State University
  Julian P. Kanter Collection: Chaos and Order.

Selected Projects and Grants

James R. Jones Carl Albert Center Digital Archive — Principal Investigator

$1 million gift, 2021
Led a major digital archive initiative supporting migration, preservation, and long-term access to the Center’s digital collections through Preservica.

American Congress Digital Archives Portal — Co-Principal Investigator

National Endowment for the Humanities · $349,580
Multi-institutional project led by West Virginia University Libraries with the Dirksen Congressional Center, Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Hawaiʻi Congressional Papers Collection, and Carl Albert Center. Developed shared approaches to discovery, interoperability, and use of congressional archives.

Understanding the Evolution of Political Campaign Advertisements over the Last Century — Principal Investigator / Collaborator

National Science Foundation · SES-2147635 · $538,484 · 2022–2025
Collaborative research with Kosuke Imai, Bryce Dietrich, and partner institutions examining political campaign advertisements through computational research and archival data.

Congressional Correspondence Handwriting Textract Pilot — Principal Investigator

Data Institute for Societal Challenges · 2022
Evaluated AWS Textract for handwritten congressional correspondence and developed methods for integrating machine-assisted text extraction into archival workflows.

Oklahoma City Redlining: A Community Analysis Project — Principal Investigator

Oklahoma Humanities Council · 2020–2022

The Independent Student Voice — Principal Investigator

Inasmuch Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Program · $25,000 · 2020–2022
Expanded digital access to the University of Oklahoma’s historic student newspaper.

Oklahoma Commissioners of the Land Office Digitization and Preservation Project — Principal Investigator

$98,000
Preserved and digitized more than 20,000 pages of pre-statehood and early statehood records for remote access.

Oklahoma State Tourism and Recreation Digitization Project — Principal Investigator

$90,000
Preserved and digitized more than 118,000 maps, ledgers, photographs, and blueprints.

Oklahoma State Legislature Preservation and Digitization Program

Large-scale preservation initiative resulting in approximately 13 million searchable pages of Oklahoma State Senate journals from statehood forward.

Additional Projects

• Indian Self-Determination and the People’s Voice — APSA Special Projects Fund Seed Grant
• Carl Albert Platform of Interactive Discovery — Oklahoma Department of Libraries / OHRAB
• Improving Access to Collections: Carl Albert Collection — NHPRC / OHRAB / ODL
• Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center Native American Politics Archival Workshop — Co-Principal Investigator, APSA Centennial Center
• Google Cloud Computing Credits — Co-Principal Investigator
• The Gateway to Oklahoma History — statewide historic newspaper digitization
• Living Legends Oral History Project — magnetic tape preservation and digitization

View additional project details →

Professional Service

• ArchivesSpace Governance Board — Board Member, 2026–2029
• Archivists for Congregations of Women Religious (ACWR) — Member, 2026–Present
• American Congress Digital Archives Portal — Advisory Board, 2023–Present
• National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators (NAGARA) — Executive Board Member, 2021–2023
• Oklahoma Museums Association — Board Member, 2019–2024
• University of Oklahoma Staff Senate — Staff Initiatives Committee, 2020–2024
• University of Oklahoma Native American Studies Tribal Collaboration Committee — Member, 2018–Present
• Data Curation Network Mentorship Program — Mentor/Participant, 2023–2024
• NAGARA Mentorship Program — 2024–2025
• Society of Southwest Archivists, Reference, Access & Outreach Section — Steering Committee, 2018–2019
• Digital Public Library of America — Oklahoma Representative, 2014–2016

Awards and Fellowships

• Dean’s Outstanding Staff Award, University of Oklahoma College of Arts and Sciences, 2022
• Recognition for Outreach and Community Work, Oklahoma Museums Association, 2019
• Community Outreach Recognition, Pioneer Library System East, 2019
• Smithsonian Institution Research Fellowship, Electronic Records Management and Digital Archives, 2014
• Emerging Leader Award Nominee, Society of American Archivists, 2017