Tucked in among shelves of boxes and piles of papers and photographs, Lynn Conway has spent the past 10 years as the custodian of Georgetown’s heritage in the archives and special collections on the fifth floor of Lauinger Library. A native of Belfast, Ireland, Conway is the first female to hold the archivist position and has survived “Bill Clinton mania” and a host of tough questions on everything to take Georgetown’s past into the 21st century.

What first brought you into the line of work? How did you arrive at this position and what interests you about this type of work?

I’ve always been interested in history but I didn’t really see myself teaching. And I’ve also always been somebody who likes to organize things, and that’s a very important aspect of the job.

I’m the kind of person who alphabetizes her CD collection and the spices in the kitchen. I think a combination of that: a love of history and an ability and fondness for organizing.

I also like working with people as well. A lot of people think you’re sitting in an office surrounded by papers and you don’t actually have any interaction with other people. I have days when I’m not sitting in my office, literally because I’m in the meeting room working with people. So that side of it appeals to me.

Do you have a special connection with Georgetown?

No, actually I don’t. I wasn’t even born in this country. I’m actually from Northern Ireland. I met my husband at university in England and I say that he brought me back as a souvenir from his year abroad. We came to the D.C. area and I had worked at Catholic before I came here. I came here in July of 1994 and basically haven’t left. I think it shows a lack of ambition maybe on my part. But I love working here.

Is it strange or unusual to be in charge of someone else’s history?

In a sense it can be. I’ve heard it said that archivists are one of the few professions where you actually get paid to read other people’s letters, and it is actually true and sometimes you do read things that are very personal.

It makes me kind of wonder would I want someone reading my letters 50 years from now, and I think a lot of archivists for that reason tend not to keep personal stuff. They tend to destroy them.

I think it’s also interesting when you get to know people through the records that they leave behind in a way that many people would never had a chance to know the person.

What’s your favorite part of Georgetown history? What are the most interesting things you’ve encountered about Georgetown?

Big question! I don’t know if I can give you an answer to that or not.

I just love looking at the way the university has developed over the years. I love looking at the photographs and the early images of the university even before photographs when you just had engravings and artwork and there were just two buildings on campus.

And then you look at the development to today, I think that’s interesting. I don’t know if there’s one particular fascinating aspect that jumps out above all others.

Do you that Georgetown students and the community have a healthy sense of tradition?

I think like any aspect of the university, maybe some do, some don’t. I’m very pleased with the idea of Traditions Day because I think that really does open up the university’s history to people who maybe otherwise wouldn’t be exposed.

I like to work with undergraduate students. I’m always very excited when they come in. I like to make there first experience using the special collections a positive one so they can come back.

Is there something that people are always asking to see?

I know when Bill Clinton was president we had a whole flurry of Bill Clinton-related questions. I think that has gone over, thank goodness.

Every question is different. I’m not sure there really are questions that repeat that much. Again, that’s something that I like about the job because I think if I was asked the same question all the time I would get bored.

I learn something every time someone asks me a question. But I get questions on anything you can think of, any aspect of the history of buildings, the history of people associated with the university, the development of the curriculum.

Are there any really bizarre requests that your particularly remember?

I guess there’s no such thing as a stupid question, there’s no such thing as a bizarre question. There have been some questions that I haven’t been able to answer; those are questions that I remember more than anything else.

“Who was the first non-Catholic faculty member?” was a question I was asked quite recently and I wasn’t able to document that.

Can you see, reading through the archives, Georgetown’s place in history or its legacy?

I’m not sure it’s my place to answer that question. I think Georgetown’s legacy as with any other institution is constantly evolving. It’s not a static thing. I’m not a historian, so in a sense I see myself as a keeper of the record for other people to come in.

I think it’s for me to make the material available to them and they can make those judgments.

If someone was working for Traditions Day 50 or 100 years from now, what do you think they would be looking for or what do you think they would see?

I don’t know. I wish I could answer that question. It’s always a challenge to know what it is that’s going to be important to people and what records people are going to actually want to have preserved and look at 100 years from now.

– Interview by Michael Grendell