February 20, 2019

Get to know EJ Carter, Watzek Library’s History Liaison!

EJ Carter, who received his PhD in History from the University of Illinois and decided to become a librarian to continue engaging with academic research, has worked as
one of Watzek’s Special Collections and Archives librarians since May 2014. Last summer, he became the library liaison to the History Department.

EJ Carter, who received his PhD in History from the University of Illinois and decided to become a librarian to continue engaging with academic research, has worked as one of Watzek’s Special Collections and Archives librarians since May 2014. Last summer, he became the library liaison to the History Department.

Students can come to EJ with any questions they might have regarding a research topic, sources, or technical questions about databases and accessing ebooks online. However, EJ says that his favorite part of the job is simply listening to students brainstorm ideas for their research projects.

When he’s not helping students, EJ is often working in Watzek’s Special Collections and Archives. His favorite collection is the Eugene Kovalenko papers. Kovalenko was a professor at Lewis & Clark in the early 1970s who organized a symposium around the work of Immanuel Velichovsky, a scholar who used world mythology to try to debunk the accepted laws of physics and astronomy. While EJ recognizes that the collection may be controversial, he finds the letters between Kovalenko and Lewis & Clark’s then-president John Howard to be fascinating. EJ enjoys working in the archives because there is always something to discover that no one else has noticed or fully appreciated before.

Outside of Lewis & Clark, EJ enjoys reading, playing basketball with his son, and both cooking and eating food. When asked about his media preferences, he admitted he favors movies to TV shows and recently rewatched Her on Netflix.

To contact EJ Carter with your research questions, shoot him an email at ecarter@lclark.edu.

 

Eva Love ’19