Renovations to the Maryville College Archives completed

March 10, 2026 Gabriel Panchame

The Maryville College Archives were founded in 2018 as a way of preserving the college’s history in the form of physical documents dating all the way back to MC’s founding in 1819. In 2024, the college started fundraising money to renovate the Archives’ facility, as it was cramped and did not have the proper equipment to store files appropriately.

Diana Canacaris is the director of major gifts at MC and is responsible for leading the development and execution of comprehensive fundraising strategies of $25,000 or more. She was involved in the process of securing the funds necessary to complete the fundraising initiative and ensuring the Archives renovation project could move forward.

According to Canacaris, donations for the project totaled about $150,000.

“The funds required to complete the Archives project were generously provided by alumni and friends who share a deep affinity for the Archives and a commitment to preserving the College’s history,” Canacaris said. “This support included contributions from our dedicated weekly Archives volunteers, K.T. Days Archives volunteers and other individuals who value the importance of safeguarding and celebrating the institution’s legacy for future generations.”

The renovation included the purchase of various furniture, improvements to the internet connectivity and most importantly – compact shelving. Also known as mobile shelving, it is a space-saving storage solution that can double storage capacity in the same footprint or decrease the space needed for existing storage by half.

Amy Lundell (‘06) has been the Maryville College archivist since the Archives were founded in 2018. She spoke about some of the ways the renovation upgrades have made her job easier.

“Space is such a big deal. You don’t realize how [big] of a deal it is until you don’t have it,” she said. “A big thing is the fact that I can accommodate researchers more easily, I can process material more easily and I can accommodate more classes.

“Rather than going to a classroom and literally bringing a box full of random stuff… they can actually come down here. They can see the stuff and can do research during their class session,” she said.

Classes regularly visit the archives to do research on topics related to the college’s history.

“One of the history classes is coming down next month, I think they’ll be the first full class [since the renovation],” she said.

Individual students can come to Archives, as well as any class from any department, Lundell said. She explained that her door is open for student questions about college history, research projects and more.

“Also, if [students] want to know about primary sources and how to use them, I can teach them that,” Lundell added.

“I just want people to know that we’re here as a resource, you know, just like the library, for anything,” she said. ”Even if you don’t think there’s a connection to college history or to your subject here, we probably have something.

She gave an example of a statistics project, saying that they could find information from the college catalog on where students are from.

“I’ve got statistical numbers that you could analyze – there’s all sorts of different things that we can do to help our students understand college history and also provide them with resources for their research,” Lundell said.