Wednesday, May 7th, 2025
3:45pm - 5:00pm
Room 612
Concurrent Session:
The Past made Present: The Wolfensberger Archives as a Resource for SRV Theory
The Past made Present: The Wolfensberger Archives as a Resource for SRV Theory
This presentation will focus on the history of Dr. Wolf Wolfensberger, the development of SRV Theory, and the creation of his archival collection now housed at McGoogan Health Sciences Library. Special focus will be given to highlighting the historical SRV materials in the collection as well as the variety of invaluable SRV resources available for research. This includes Advanced SRV teaching materials, unpublished manuscripts, audio- visual content and more. Information on accessing the collection for research will also be provided.
Presenters
Darby Kurtz
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Darby Kurtz, MA, is the Archivist and Public Historian at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s McGoogan Health Sciences Library where she is the archivist that oversees the Wolfensberger Collection. Darby received her bachelor’s degree in history and French language from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master’s degree in public history from North Carolina State University. Prior to UNMC, she was the Hagel Fellow at the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Criss Library. Darby’s primary interest is in artifact care and exhibition development, with special focus in medical humanities.​
Susan Thomas
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Susan Thomas is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and received both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Syracuse University (1973, 1979). For almost 40 years, she worked at the Training Institute for Human Service Planning, Leadership, and Change Agentry under Professor Wolf Wolfensberger’s direction, and assisted him in developing and presenting Training Institute events. She is the co-author (with Wolfensberger) of the PASSING instrument, and the author, co-author, or editor of numerous articles and several books on Social Role Valorization and related topics, including frequent contributions to The SRV Journal. Her service involvements have been primarily of a voluntary and informal nature. Currently, she is continuing the work of the Training Institute.