Heidi Morse
Archives Librarian & Public Historian
My goal as an archivist is to build collections and projects in close partnership with communities, grounded in shared goals and mutual trust. Through this work, I seek to empower participants and complicate dominant historical narratives.
Currently, I work as an archives librarian at the Ann Arbor District Library (AADL), leading oral history initiatives and supporting community-based archival projects. Before my time at AADL, I was a postdoc and lecturer in English and African American studies at the University of Michigan.
Community-Based Archival Projects
Public Murals
Through a public call for art, the city of Ann Arbor is commissioning three murals that will honor Ann Arbor’s Black community, businesses, and civic leaders. Selected artists will draw inspiration from the Living Oral History Project and digital archives.
Historical Marker
Teachers, students, and community members helped design a historical marker to remember Jones School, a predominantly-Black school that closed during the Civil Rights era. The marker was unveiled in May 2025.
Walking Tour
Launched in 2024, the LGBTQ+ Walking Tour documents historical locations important to Ann Arbor’s queer community, pulling from interviews with community members in podcasts, oral histories, and other archival collections.
Documentary Film
The Ann Arbor District Library and 7 Cylinders Studio produced a documentary film about school desegregation in Ann Arbor. A filmed walking tour, studio interviews, and historical photos form the core of the film. It premiered in 2024, during the city’s bicentennial.
Walking Tour
Maps, photos, and narrative introduce participants to eight sites in an historically Black neighborhood in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Launched in October 2021, the walking tour has already been used by classes & community organizations, and featured in local news.
Online Game
The Ann Arbor District Library’s Summer Game is a popular way for patrons to get out around town solving puzzles and finding clues. The 2020 Black Ann Arbor Badge Series had 521 players (8.5% of Summer Game players), and 29% completed the whole series (50 badges)
Digital Collection
Launched in 2019, this curated collection of 2,500+ digitized historical items complements an oral history collection created in collaboration between the African American Cultural & Historical Museum of Washtenaw County and the Ann Arbor District Library
Recent Publications
Five Ways to Expand Outreach and Access at Smaller Institutions
By Kathy Schey, Heidi Morse, Milly Tighe, Rachel Onuf, and Whitney Hamm (Archival Outlook, Jan/Feb 2022)
Badge Drops and Points Galore
Crowdsourcing Metadata at a Public Library Archive (Journal of Digital Media Management, 2021)
Performing Narratives: Slave Narratives on the World Stage
The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to World Literature, Vol. 4, 2019