JoyEllen Freeman Williams - Class of 2009
JoyEllen Freeman Williams, Class of 2009, is currently the Special Collections and Rare Books Curator at Kennesaw State University. She’s also a board member of the Society of American Archivists Foundation and a co-host of the Archives in Context podcast.
After graduating from MHS in 2009, JoyEllen attended the University of Georgia and received a bachelor’s degree in English. During her time at UGA, she was a participant in the Honors program and the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities. She served as a researcher, writer, and editor for the Civil Rights Digital Library and related initiatives.
It was during this experience that JoyEllen fell in love with the archival profession.
After graduating from UGA in 2012, she enjoyed internships at the National Archives at Atlanta, the Roswell Historical Society, the Flat Rock Archives, and the Archives Research Center at the AUC Woodruff Library. In 2016, JoyEllen received a master’s degree in archival studies, became a certified archivist, and landed a job as an archivist at Kennesaw State University.
Some of the most exciting materials she’s handled in her career as an archivist and curator include 4,000-year-old Sumerian clay tablets, a lunar Bible (yes, it went to the moon!), a manuscript leaf from the year 1240, photographs from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral, and first edition books signed by Langston Hughes, Toni Morrison and James Baldwin. JoyEllen also enjoys writing and book collecting.
During her undergraduate career, she served as a poetry editor for a literary journal and later had one of her poems published. In 2013, she self-published a Christian children’s book called Morning Glory that began as a writing assignment for MHS teacher Nancy Moeller’s Children’s Literature TAG seminar. In 2015, she received an honorable mention for a short story she wrote called Coco Mío, which was published by the Society of American Archivists. JoyEllen thoroughly enjoys collecting books, specifically historical fiction, African American fiction and poetry, and Amish novels.
While at Milton, JoyEllen was a member of the National Honor Society, Multicultural Club, Spanish Club, and the Y-Club. When asked about some of her favorites at MHS, it’s not surprising that she mentioned enjoying the wide array of books she read in AP English and her English and TAG teachers Nancy Moeller, Carroll Keen, Lisa Ethridge, and Naitnaphit Limlamai. “They were all brilliant women who challenged me and helped prepare me for my future career as a curator of rare books.”
