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Briana Flanagan

Archivist

Beck Cultural Exchange Center

Briana manages both digital and physical collections with a focus on enhancing accessibility and preserving local Black history and culture. Briana's educational background has laid a solid foundation for her archival work. She holds a B.A. in Global Studies with a minor in Information Science and Technology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. 

A Knoxville native, Briana has a particular interest in the dissemination of Black history in East Tennessee. Since joining Beck in 2020, she has facilitated the development of the organization’s Digital Archives, set to launch in 2025. This ambitious project aims to bring Beck's vast collections to a broader online audience, transcending geographical boundaries and enabling global access to valuable historical resources. She also helped secure grant funding for the Cherished Institutions Project: Digitizing the History of Education of the Black Community in Knoxville, Tennessee through the CLIR Digitizing Hidden Collections Program in 2021. 

In addition to digitizing Beck's archives, Briana writes for the weekly publication of Beck's e-newsletters. These newsletters spotlight significant Black history facts and stories about the local community in Knoxville. Since 2022, she has also collaborated with student interns and dedicated academic professors who invest their time and effort in preserving and digitizing Beck's collection.