Dr. Anna Franz

Biography

Anna Franz is a medievalist who received her PhD from the University of Toronto in 2009. She also holds a Master of Library and Information Science from Wayne State University, obtained in 2012. As the Assistant Program Director for Education at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale, she is committed to primary source pedagogy and aims to engage at the library, campus, and national scales. Franz collaborates with faculty to plan and deliver course-integrated instruction utilizing library materials, typically through single class visits. She has a particular depth of experience in curatorial areas and cross-disciplinary classes. Additionally, she founded and convenes the Primary Source Instruction Discussion Group, fostering a community among curators, archivists, librarians, and museum educators who teach using Yale’s cultural heritage collections. Franz is also active on a national level, serving on the Instruction Outreach Committee of the Rare Book and Manuscript Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries, while her own practices reflect a commitment to critical pedagogy, addressing silences, provenance, and the impact of collections. She regularly educates about the manifestations of white supremacy within collections and classrooms.

Research Interests