Ava Barabasz in front of an exhibit she created at Bender Library. Photo by Sydney Henry.

Ava Barabasz’s knowledge of American University may have been an inch deep when she arrived on campus, but she’s miles below the surface now. 

Two years ago, Barabasz, CAS/MA ’25, began deploying her curiosity like a shovel as an outreach fellow for the AU Archives and Special Collections. That work helped the public history graduate student from Washington State uncover a deeper understanding of the community she moved across the country to join—and how public history bridges the past and present.

“Connecting people with each other is really important to me,” Barabasz said. “My passion for public history [comes from] loving people and being curious about them and where they come from.”

Later this week, Barabasz will be among the roughly 3,000 Eagles collecting their diplomas during AU’s 149th commencement. As she reflects on her time at AU, she said the archives gig defined her campus experience. 

Through her work with the library, she spoke alongside activist Mary Beth Tinker on a campus panel and spent countless hours at the Spring Valley Building looking through materials, including a letter written by George Washington.

Barabasz processed and digitized a collection on AU’s Special Operations Research Office, a government contract-funded effort formed in 1957 to study social change around the world on behalf of the United States Army. And she made myriad discoveries about student life—including a women’s fitness club on campus long before Title IX mandated equal opportunity in sports—by combing through the Talon, AU’s now defunct yearbook.

“I thought that was so cool and interesting that they had so many different sports available to women,” she said. 

As part of her work, Barabasz created seven exhibits using archival materials. Two of those projects are on view now on the first floor of Bender Library—one about the Women’s Strike for Peace and another marking The Eagle’s 100th anniversary. 

“Ava’s training as a public historian and her own innate curiosity have brought AU Archives and AU history to a wide audience,” said Leslie Nellis, head archivist for special collections and digital initiatives. “Anyone who has enjoyed an exhibit in the library for the past two years has benefited from Ava’s work.” 

Another of Barabasz’s favorite projects was digging into student activism on campus. “The motto often said here is ‘Challenge Accepted,’” she said. “I’ve found that to be so true. Students came here and immediately got so involved in the community at AU and [across] DC.” 

Through her coursework, Barabasz studied where she grew up—along with the other Washington. She wrote her final research paper about the Yakima War, a conflict from 1855 to 1858 that shaped today’s Indigenous population in Washington State. And she examined DC’s punk history and the genre’s connection to feminism in her public history practicum.

As her time at AU comes to a close, Barabasz—who will pursue a PhD in Pacific Northwest history at the University of Idaho— could talk for hours about all she’s learned in the archives. But she doesn’t want Eagles to take her word for it. 

“I want students to go to the archives,” Barabasz said. “To touch documents and rare books and all these things with your bare hands is a nice way to connect with these materials.”