a white woman with red medium length hair and glasses, wearing a rose colored blazer sits at a table holding a book

Seonaid Valiant, the Curator for Latin American Studies and Interim Curator for Rare Books and Manuscripts at the ASU Library, holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Chicago with special fields in Latin American and Art History and an MLIS from the University of Illinois. Her book,Ornamental Nationalism: Archaeology and Antiquities in Mexico, 1876-1911 (Brill, 2018) examines international debates over the meaning of Aztec symbols and the professionalization of archaeology in Mexico at the turn of the twentieth century. Valiant works on the professionalization of archives and has traced the provenance of several important books, such as the Popul Vuh. Her current research project is a social biography of the anthropologist and manuscript scholar Zelia Nuttall, who worked in Mexico at the turn of the last century.

Collaborating Institutions:
ASU Library