Collections Care, Management and Access department

• CCMA

• CCMA department

The Collection’s Care, Management and Access department (CCMA) of the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) was formed April 1, 2015, as part of a larger organizational restructuring. It combined the previously separate Collections Care & Management department and Library & Archives into a single department. The core functions of the former departments remain largely the same: to manage and preserve object, paper and digital collections; to facilitate public, community and academic access; and, to collaborate in the dissemination of knowledge through exhibitions, publications and training. One of the main goals in combining these previously distinct departments into CCMA was to better integrate the digital, archival and object collections (the tangible and intangible aspects of culture) to facilitate access and interpretation.

Members of CCMA also work with other units on UBC’s campus - including the Barber Learning Centre, the Endangered Languages Program and the development of the Truth and Reconciliation Unit – and help mobilize these relationships to assist with the implantation of new language initiatives at MOA.

The Head of CCMA is Heidi Swierenga, who became Head when the department was established in 2015 and remains so to the present (as of 2017).

For more detailed information about each of the areas within CCMA, see the records for Collections, Conservation, and the Audrey & Harry Hawthorn Library and Archives.

List of Past and Current CCMA Staff

• Audrey Hawthorn -- Curator of Ethnology, 1947-1983

• Audrey Shane -- Archivist/Librarian, 1975-1979
-- Curator of Documentation , 1979-1987

• Elizabeth Johnson -- Curator of Collections, 1979 - 1986
-- Curator of Ethnology/Documentation, 1986 - 2006

• Miriam Clavir -- Senior Conservator, 1980-2004

• Mauray Toutloff -- Conservator, 2009 - present (2017)

• Carol Mayer -- Museum curator (various titles), 1987 – present (2017)
-- Librarian (unofficial title), ca. 2000's

• Ann Stevenson -- Collections Manager, 1990- ca. 2003
-- RRN Programme Manager, 2004 - 2005
-- Information Manager , 2006 – present
-- AHHLA Department Head, 2011/2012 - 2018

• Allison Cronin -- Assistant Collections Manager, 1990-1996
-- Manager of Loans/Projects, 1996-2003
-- Loan Manager, 2004 - 2005

• Nancy Bruegeman -- Assistant Collections Manager, 1996-2003
-- Acting Collections Manager, ca. 2004-2005
-- Collections Manager, 2005 - present (2025)

• Darrin Morrison -- Preventative Conservation Specialist, 1991 - 1993
-- Project Manager, Conservation, 1993 – ca. 2003
-- Manager Conservation/Design, ca. 2004 - 2005

• Heidi Swierenga -- Collections/Conservation Intern, 1997-1998
-- Assistant Conservator, 2000- ca. 2002
-- Conservator, 2002 – ca.2013
-- Senior Conservator, ca. 2013-present (2017)
-- Collection Care & Management Dept. Head, ca. 2005-2016
-- CCMA Department Head, 2015 - present (2025)

• Susan Buchanan -- Documentation Coordinator/Collections Project Manager, 2004 - 2005
-- Collections and Loans Coordinator, 2005 -2014
-- Department Head, 2010 - 2011

• Candace Beisel -- Collections Technician, 2010-2018(?)

• Teija Dedi -- Acting Collections Research Facilitator, ca. 2012-2014
--Interim Loans Manager, 2014
-- Loans Manager, 2014 – present (2025)

• Caitlin Pilon -- Collections Assistant/Coordinator, 2014 – present (2025)

• Lisa Bruggen-Cate -- Collections Assistant, 2002 – 2005

• Magdalena Moore -- Collections & Loan Coordinator, 2006 – 2007

• Shabnam Honarbakhsh -- Acting Collections & Loans Coordinator, 2009 – 2010
-- Acting Conservator, 2010 – 2011
-- Project Conservator, 2012 - 2013
-- Preventative Conservator ? - present (2025)

• Krista Bergstrom -- Collections Assistant, 2006 - 2008
-- Collections Research Facilitator, 2008 – 2016

• Justine Dainard -- Librarian, 2002 – 2005
-- Research Manager (Library), 2006 - 2008

• Krisztina Laszlo -- Archivist, 1999 – 2014

• Shannon LaBelle -- Research Manager (Library), ca. 2009 - 2014

• Alissa Cherry -- Research Manager (Library & Archives), 2014 – present (2025)

• Gerry Lawson -- Oral History & Language Lab Coordinator, 2009 – present (2025)

• Elizabeth McManus - Archivist, 2014 – 2015

• Jessica Bushey -- Digitization Lead, 2006 - 2011

• Kyla Bailey -- Imager, 2007 – 2018(?)

Note: In addition to the staff listed above, numerous museum, library, and archives assistants, students, and interns were hired on a short term basis for CCMA work.

Record created June 2017 by Katie Ferrante.