Elaine Thornton

Assistant Director for the History of Health Sciences
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Overview Education Publications

Overview

Dr. Elaine Thornton is the Assistant Director for the History of Health Sciences at the Eccles Health Sciences Library. She has over 20 years of experience in public and academic libraries, an Ed.D. in adult learning, and two Masters degrees, one in History and the other in Library Science.

In this position, she leads the EHSL efforts to highlight our historical medical and health science collections. She also serves as our clinical, research, and education team member.

Dr. Thornton’s research interests include critical archival science, student voice in the archives, Black archival practices, medical archive studies, African American History, and digital humanities.

Education

University of Arkansas, EdD (Adult and Lifelong Learning)

University of North Texas, MS (Library Science)

University of Michigan, MA (History)

University of Oklahoma, BA (History)

 

Publications

Selected Exhibits, Presentations, Publications, and Grants

Exhibits

Thornton, E., Webb, E. Smoot, C.I., Curators. Business, Medicine, and Community: The Hashimoto Family of Salt Lake City. National Council on Public History Annual Meeting 2024, April 12, 2024, Salt Lake City, UT.

Thornton, E., Smoot, C., Neatrour, A., Kohler, C.  Utah SOUL:  A History of Black Students at the University of Utah. Digital Exhibit. Marriott Library. February 2025.

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

Thornton, E. Finding the cure for expanding diversity in a historical health sciences collection: It’s not just medicine! (Panel Presentation: Changing Tides: Addressing Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity in the Curation of Science, Technology, and Medical Collections). Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) Annual Conference, June 25-28, 2024. Costa Mesa, CA/Virtual

Thornton, E. Illuminating Historical Black Student Experiences at the University of Utah. DHU8. February 23-24, 2024. Salt Lake City, UT.

Thornton, E. Qualitative Research Design and the Librarian Researcher: Strategies for selecting an approach. Empirical Librarians, March 2023. (Hybrid, Richmond, VA)

Selected Publications

Thornton, Elaine.  (Forthcoming). Illuminating Chickasaw Freedmen Heritage: An exploration of the threads of memory, story, and traditional archival records in Narayan, B., Zijema, A., Reyes, A. & Kennan, M. A., Eds.  Documenting Family Information and Life Histories:  Transnational Perspectives. Routledge Books.

Galliart, J. M., Thornton, E., Freeman, R., Bradley Pospisil, S., Csaposs, B., Dorn, K., Eller, J., & Grover, K. S. (May 2023). Using Group Messaging to Facilitate Peer Support Among Early Doctoral Students: A Thematic Analysis of One Cohort’s Text Messages. Adult Learning 34(2). 110-110. DOI: 10.1177/10451595211050072

Pate & Thornton, E. (2022). OER Publishing and Libraries. The Serials Librarian, 82(1-4), 150–153. DOI: 10.1080/0361526X.2022.2018237

Grants

Thornton, E. PI. (2025)  “Healing Hands and Hearts:  Stories of Women in Healthcare Professions.” Utah Humanities Oral History Grant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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