At AIHP, our team is at the heart of preserving pharmacy history. Today, we’re excited to introduce Anna Lee, Archives Assistant, whose work processing collections, digitizing materials, and creating exhibits helps make AIHP’s collections more accessible to researchers and the public.
Anna is a graduate student pursuing a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science at UW-Madison. She began at AIHP as a practicum student at the beginning of 2026 and transitioned into her current role as archives assistant in May. As an archives assistant she helps process archival collections, including digitizing materials and creating descriptive finding aids. She also creates exhibits, putting together interpretive materials to highlight the many strengths of the collections at AIHP.
While she is a Madison native, she spent a number of years outside of Wisconsin pursuing a BA in Anthropology and an MA in World Heritage Studies, before returning to Madison for her MLIS.
Get to Know Us: An Interview with Anna Lee
What excites you about joining AIHP?
Having completed my practicum for my master’s degree here, I really fell in love with the space and collections, so when I had the opportunity to continue on as the archives assistant I immediately said yes. I’m excited to continue working on the many different collections AIHP has and help enhance the accessibility and visibility of our materials.
What is special to you about our current collections projects?
The physical space at AIHP is undergoing a lot of changes and improvements, so this is such an exciting time to join the team. I really love seeing the vision for the space come into fruition and being a part of those decisions. With the renovations, there are so many creative ideas floating on how we can showcase our collections and make the space more interactive, and I can’t wait for those ideas to be executed.
The AIHP is over eighty years old, and you can still see the traces of people who have contributed time and effort to its mission. What mark do you hope to leave on the Institute?
As an archives assistant I hope that the collections I’ve helped process continue to be useful for researchers and the general public alike. The work I do is all about making our materials accessible and available to anyone with an interest. I’d love it if years from now, someone looking for information on pharmacy history, stumbles upon AIHP and is able to use a finding aid I created or look through materials I digitized and learn something new.
