About the Editors: Christine Borne

Who am I? I am an independent writer, editor, and archivist living in the Cudell-Edgewater neighborhood of Cleveland. From 2010-2011, I'll be working as a Project Archivist at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum's new Library and Archive, located on the Metropolitan campus of Cuyahoga Community College. Some of my past projects include the Howard M. Metzenbaum Congressional Papers Project and the Austin Company Records at the Western Reserve Historical Society. I have also worked for the Shaker Heights Public Library as a Teen and Adult Reference Librarian, and the Department of Special Collections and Archives at Kent State University, where I earned a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science in 2002. Besides Cleveland, I’ve lived in western Montana, beachfront New Jersey, and New York City, where I wrote, copy edited, and indexed content for Facts on File’s award-winning American History Online. (Available @your library.)

My professional interests include American cultural history and heritage preservation; Rust Belt fiction; the music, folklore and culture of the Great Lakes region of the U.S. and Canada; and connecting Rust Belt expatriates to their roots. I am also available for hire as a writer, editor, and archival consultant.

How did I get involved with Cleveland Area History? Well, Christopher first brought up the idea of starting a new Cleveland history blog on a road trip to Buffalo ReUse, the near-legendary architectural salvage yard, in September 2009. He’d just been in the Plain Dealer for helping to save the Langston Hughes house, and was so full of opinions about preserving Cleveland buildings that he didn’t talk about anything else for the whole three and a half hour trip! Did I want to contribute to this blog? Sure, I did. How could I not?

Why do I think Cleveland Area History needs to exist? Because there’s a growing mass of bright, creative people who really want to see Cleveland succeed. We need to connect these people to Cleveland history, to make their enthusiasm work toward the survival of our architectural and cultural heritage. After all, “knowing local” is just as important as eating local or buying local!