{"id":303459,"date":"2020-05-12T14:34:25","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T18:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/?p=303459"},"modified":"2023-11-08T20:20:59","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T01:20:59","slug":"jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/","title":{"rendered":"Birth of a sleuth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t
\"Jordan

For four years, Jordan Villegas '20 participated in the Radcliffe Research Program. He is pictured here at his parents' home in Cicero, N.Y.<\/p>

Courtesy of Jordan Villegas<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tCampus & Community\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t

\n\t\tBirth of a sleuth\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\tIvelisse Estrada\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tRadcliffe Communications\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tJordan Villegas hears the call of the archives as a Radcliffe Institute researcher\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\t\t

This is one in a series of profiles<\/a> showcasing some of Harvard\u2019s stellar graduates.<\/em><\/p>\n

For Jordan Villegas \u201920, a hunch turned into an obsession.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of his first year, Villegas told his proctor that he\u2019d like to do research, \u201cnot really having any idea what that meant, but just because it seemed interesting, and I knew it involved libraries generally,\u201d he remembers. (He had done archival processing for a local genealogical society as a high school student.) That proctor pointed him to the Radcliffe Research Program, which pairs undergraduates with visiting fellows for paid work at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.<\/p>\n

Four years and many research projects later, Villegas \u2014 a joint concentrator in studies of women, gender, and sexuality and social anthropology with a secondary in Latinx studies \u2014 is hooked on the past. \u201cI call it archive fever: I find this historical nugget and think, \u2018Wait, there\u2019s a story here; there must be more<\/em>,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cI can\u2019t help myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fruits of that passion have been widespread.<\/p>\n

\u201cJordan\u00a0was an amazing research assistant who walked into the position fully formed as a researcher and writer,\u201d recalls Stephanie LeMenager, RI \u201917, the Barbara and Carlisle Moore Professor of English and American Literature and a professor of environmental studies at the University of Oregon. She hired Villegas during his first year to assist with research on drought histories and speculative fictions. \u201cHe proved to be an incredibly creative and knowledgeable resource for me, but also a distinguished thinker in his own right,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

For Villegas, the assignment was an opportunity to see how the academic sausage gets made. \u201cBeing able to work that closely with a professor \u2014 seeing what a professor does, how books get written, and how research is done \u2014 I was so taken with it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He decided to apply to conduct full-time research as a summer BLISS Fellow. While browsing the project descriptions, one listing caught his eye: \u201cFeminisms and pornography: archives, history, pedagogy,\u201d posted by Jane Kamensky, the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director of Radcliffe\u2019s Schlesinger Library and Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The Schlesinger had recently acquired the papers of Candida Royalle, considered the godmother of feminist pornography. \u201cShe wasn\u2019t named in the original description of what the summer project would be,\u201d Villegas says, but he had read about the library acquiring the papers and connected the dots.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe knew deeply the intellectual and cultural context of the collection I planned to study; in fact, he knew a good deal more about it than I did,\u201d says Kamensky. \u201cHe was precise, contained, experienced, capable, professional \u2014 and just in the second semester of his freshman year.\u201d<\/p>\n

She hired him on the spot, and that summer he spent 10 weeks embedded in the Schlesinger, where he compiled an initial container list of the unprocessed Royalle collection; produced a research guide on the library\u2019s collections documenting erotica, pornography, and antipornography; and read through the Royalle diaries alongside Kamensky to assess the viability of her planned book project.<\/p>\n\r\n

“[Jordan Villegas] was precise, contained, experienced, capable, professional \u2014 and just in the second semester of his freshman year.\u201d<\/p>\nJane Kamensky, Schlesinger Library<\/cite><\/blockquote>\r\n\n

\u201cSo that was my first introduction to the Schlesinger Library,\u201d Villegas says. \u201cI hadn\u2019t been there before, but I fell in love with being there every single day over the summer, working with the archivists \u2014 both in the Reading Room and in the back offices during processing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each year, he returned to the archives \u2014 both at the Schlesinger and in other locales \u2014 for projects that sharpened his scholarly skill set. Working with Erica R. Edwards, RI \u201918, the Presidential Term Chair in African American Literature\u00a0and\u00a0an associate professor of English at\u00a0Rutgers University, opened up a new domain for him by introducing him to black feminist collections. His work with Katherine Turk \u2014 an associate professor of history and an adjunct associate professor of women\u2019s and gender studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who is writing a history of the National Organization for Women \u2014 taught him to cut through the mountains of organizational minutes to home in on historical narratives. The work he began in January for Ashley D. Farmer \u2014 the 2019\u20132020 Joy Foundation Fellow at Radcliffe, who is working on a book about \u201cQueen Mother\u201d Audley Moore, an early proponent for slavery reparations \u2014 showed him how the smallest pieces of information can be woven together to re-create lives at the margins of society.<\/p>\n

Villegas has shared these talents beyond Radcliffe. He helped Kamensky and the historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich develop their HarvardX course \u201cWomen Making History: Ten Objects, Many Stories,\u201d and worked as a freelance research assistant to the queer studies writer and activist Martin Duberman, who is writing a biography of Andrea Dworkin.<\/p>\n

Outside the research realm, Villegas became a Radcliffe triple threat when he agreed to become an inaugural member of the institute-wide Student Advisory Board, whose members help brainstorm on programming while acting as ambassadors to the greater Harvard community.<\/p>\n

Although he completed high school in northwest Ohio, Villegas is a seventh-generation Tejano whose family hails from Houston. He received his first taste of college while still a teen: The regional school he attended in the rural village of Elmore didn\u2019t offer advanced coursework, so, as a 16-year-old junior, he began taking all of his classes at the University of Toledo.<\/p>\n

This outsider status has profoundly influenced the focus of Villegas\u2019s studies. \u201cLa Pocha, Sin Ra\u00edces<\/em>\/Spoiled Fruit, Without Roots: A Genealogy of Tejana Borderland Imaginaries,\u201d the thesis he submitted in early March, takes as its jumping-off point the pejorative term pocho\/a<\/em> and how it was reclaimed by Mexican American women in the U.S.\u2013Mexico borderlands to communicate power and strength. Research on the project took Villegas to archives in Texas and Smith College as well as the Schlesinger.<\/p>\n\r\n\t\n\n\t

\",
\u201cJordan was an amazing research assistant who walked into the position fully formed as a researcher and writer,\u201d said Professor Stephanie LeMenager, RI \u201917, (center) with Villegas and Yu-Mi Kim \u201920. Kevin Grady\/Radcliffe Institute\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\n\t\r\n\n

Durba Mitra, the Carol K. Pforzheimer Assistant Professor at the Radcliffe Institute and assistant professor of women, gender, and sexuality in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, advised him on the thesis. \u201cJordan\u00a0is a stunning researcher, critical theorist, and also a gourmet cook and baker,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen we meet, we talk about profound philosophical issues of race and sexuality, we exchange stories about rare archival finds, and we eat homemade salted chocolate cookies.\u00a0Jordan\u00a0is a student with deep knowledge, both of rare and marginalized archives as well as true Tex-Mex cuisine.\u201d<\/p>\n

These days, Villegas isn\u2019t spending any time in the archives \u2014 at least not in the same way. With the early campus closing due to the COVID-19 crisis, he has vacated the Brighton apartment he shared with his fianc\u00e9 for the woods of central New York, near Syracuse, where his parents now live. He appreciates the ample space and outdoor time \u2014 \u201cI can take a kayak out on the nearby lake or hang out with my parents\u2019 dogs, and I have a much bigger kitchen to cook in\u201d \u2014 but he finds the screen time taxing: in addition to taking classes via Zoom, all of his other activities are now online, including several seminars, readings, research jobs, and work study.<\/p>\n

Villegas is looking forward to beginning his Ph.D. at Columbia University, where he will study under the borderlands historian Karl Jacoby. He has already begun independent research around the Texas women\u2019s penitentiary system in the early 20th century, exploring how gender, sexuality, and race intersect with carceral and colonial issues. And he continues to work with Kamensky.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s working so quickly, thoroughly, and intuitively that I find myself barely keeping up with the fruits of his sleuthing,\u201d she says. \u201cHe also reads historical sources with the great empathy of somebody who knows he\u2019s holding the mortal remains of once-living people \u2014 I\u2019ve seen him tear up over a document.<\/p>\n

\u201cTruly, I\u2019ve never taught anybody even remotely like him. Who, what will he be when he\u2019s older? I wait already in awe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a first-year, Jordan Villegas \u201920 took his passion for archival research to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and spent his next four years becoming a Radcliffe triple threat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105622744,"featured_media":303465,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"gz_ga_pageviews":25,"gz_ga_lastupdated":"2021-07-27 02:22","document_color_palette":"crimson","author":"Ivelisse Estrada","affiliation":"Radcliffe Communications","_category_override":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1364],"tags":[45858,45775,28196,28663,45776],"gazette-formats":[],"series":[52972],"class_list":["post-303459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","tag-honoring-the-class-of-2020","tag-jordan-villegas-20","tag-profile","tag-radcliffe-institute-for-advance-study","tag-radcliffe-research-program","series-honoring-the-class-of-2020"],"yoast_head":"\nJordan Villegas hears the call of the archives as Radcliffe researcher — Harvard Gazette<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As a first-year, Jordan Villegas \u201920 took his passion for archival research to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and spent his next four years becoming a Radcliffe triple threat.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jordan Villegas hears the call of the archives as Radcliffe researcher\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a first-year, Jordan Villegas \u201920 took his passion for archival research to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and spent his next four years becoming a Radcliffe triple threat.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Harvard Gazette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-12T18:34:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-09T01:20:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_2500.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"harvardgazette\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Jordan Villegas hears the call of the archives as Radcliffe researcher\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"harvardgazette\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#\/schema\/person\/78d028cf624923e92682268709ffbc4b\"},\"headline\":\"Birth of a sleuth\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-12T18:34:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-09T01:20:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/\"},\"wordCount\":1405,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_2500.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Honoring the Class of 2020\",\"Jordan Villegas \u201920\",\"Profile\",\"Radcliffe Institute for Advance Study\",\"Radcliffe Research Program\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Campus & Community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2020\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/\",\"name\":\"Jordan Villegas hears the call of the archives as Radcliffe researcher — Harvard Gazette\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_2500.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-12T18:34:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-09T01:20:59+00:00\",\"description\":\"As a first-year, Jordan Villegas \u201920 took his passion for archival research to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and spent his next four years becoming a Radcliffe triple threat.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_2500.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_2500.jpg\",\"width\":2500,\"height\":1667,\"caption\":\"Jordan Villegas Jordan Villegas '20 at his parents' home in Cicero, New York\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/\",\"name\":\"Harvard Gazette\",\"description\":\"Official news from Harvard University covering innovation in teaching, learning, and research\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Harvard Gazette\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Harvard_Gazette_logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Harvard_Gazette_logo.svg\",\"width\":164,\"height\":64,\"caption\":\"The Harvard Gazette\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#\/schema\/person\/78d028cf624923e92682268709ffbc4b\",\"name\":\"harvardgazette\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jordan Villegas hears the call of the archives as Radcliffe researcher — Harvard Gazette","description":"As a first-year, Jordan Villegas \u201920 took his passion for archival research to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and spent his next four years becoming a Radcliffe triple threat.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jordan Villegas hears the call of the archives as Radcliffe researcher","og_description":"As a first-year, Jordan Villegas \u201920 took his passion for archival research to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and spent his next four years becoming a Radcliffe triple threat.","og_url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/","og_site_name":"Harvard Gazette","article_published_time":"2020-05-12T18:34:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-11-09T01:20:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2500,"height":1667,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_2500.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"harvardgazette","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Jordan Villegas hears the call of the archives as Radcliffe researcher","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/"},"author":{"name":"harvardgazette","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#\/schema\/person\/78d028cf624923e92682268709ffbc4b"},"headline":"Birth of a sleuth","datePublished":"2020-05-12T18:34:25+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-09T01:20:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/"},"wordCount":1405,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_2500.jpg","keywords":["Honoring the Class of 2020","Jordan Villegas \u201920","Profile","Radcliffe Institute for Advance Study","Radcliffe Research Program"],"articleSection":["Campus & Community"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2020","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/","name":"Jordan Villegas hears the call of the archives as Radcliffe researcher — Harvard Gazette","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_2500.jpg","datePublished":"2020-05-12T18:34:25+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-09T01:20:59+00:00","description":"As a first-year, Jordan Villegas \u201920 took his passion for archival research to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and spent his next four years becoming a Radcliffe triple threat.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_2500.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_2500.jpg","width":2500,"height":1667,"caption":"Jordan Villegas Jordan Villegas '20 at his parents' home in Cicero, New York"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/","name":"Harvard Gazette","description":"Official news from Harvard University covering innovation in teaching, learning, and research","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#organization","name":"The Harvard Gazette","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Harvard_Gazette_logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Harvard_Gazette_logo.svg","width":164,"height":64,"caption":"The Harvard Gazette"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/#\/schema\/person\/78d028cf624923e92682268709ffbc4b","name":"harvardgazette"}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Birth of a sleuth","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_2500.jpg?w=150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_2500.jpg"},"articleSection":"Campus & Community","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"harvardgazette"}],"creator":["harvardgazette"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Harvard Gazette","logo":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Harvard_Gazette_logo.svg"},"keywords":["honoring the class of 2020","jordan villegas \u201920","profile","radcliffe institute for advance study","radcliffe research program"],"dateCreated":"2020-05-12T18:34:25Z","datePublished":"2020-05-12T18:34:25Z","dateModified":"2023-11-09T01:20:59Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Birth of a sleuth\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.harvard.edu\\\/gazette\\\/story\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.harvard.edu\\\/gazette\\\/story\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/jordan-villegas-hears-the-call-of-the-archives-as-radcliffe-researcher\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.harvard.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/Villegas_2500.jpg?w=150\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.harvard.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/Villegas_2500.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"Campus & Community\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"harvardgazette\"}],\"creator\":[\"harvardgazette\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Harvard Gazette\",\"logo\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.harvard.edu\\\/gazette\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/Harvard_Gazette_logo.svg\"},\"keywords\":[\"honoring the class of 2020\",\"jordan villegas \\u201920\",\"profile\",\"radcliffe institute for advance study\",\"radcliffe research program\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2020-05-12T18:34:25Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-12T18:34:25Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-09T01:20:59Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/news.harvard.edu\/p.js"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_2500.jpg","has_blocks":true,"block_data":{"0":{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/article-header","attrs":{"blockColorPalette":"","coloredHeading":"","creditText":"Courtesy of Jordan Villegas","displayDetails":"","displayTitle":"","categoryId":1364,"mediaAlt":"Jordan Villegas.","mediaCaption":"For four years, Jordan Villegas '20 participated in the Radcliffe Research Program. He is pictured here at his parents' home in Cicero, N.Y.","mediaId":303465,"mediaSize":"full","mediaType":"image","mediaUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_2500.jpg","poster":"","title":"Birth of a sleuth","subheading":"Jordan Villegas hears the call of the archives as a Radcliffe Institute researcher","centeredImage":true,"className":"is-style-full-width-text-below","mediaHeight":1667,"mediaWidth":2500,"backgroundFixed":false,"backgroundTone":"light","coloredBackground":false,"displayOverlay":true,"fadeInText":false,"isAmbient":false,"mediaLength":"","mediaPosition":"","posterText":"","titleAbove":false,"useUncroppedImage":false,"lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"Jordan Villegas.\" height=\"1667\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_2500.jpg\" width=\"2500\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">For four years, Jordan Villegas '20 participated in the Radcliffe Research Program. He is pictured here at his parents' home in Cicero, N.Y.<\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Courtesy of Jordan Villegas<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"Jordan Villegas.\" height=\"1667\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_2500.jpg\" width=\"2500\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">For four years, Jordan Villegas '20 participated in the Radcliffe Research Program. He is pictured here at his parents' home in Cicero, N.Y.<\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Courtesy of Jordan Villegas<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"<header\n\tclass=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-article-header alignfull article-header is-style-full-width-text-below centered-image\"\n\tstyle=\" \"\n>\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"Jordan Villegas.\" height=\"1667\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_2500.jpg\" width=\"2500\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">For four years, Jordan Villegas '20 participated in the Radcliffe Research Program. He is pictured here at his parents' home in Cicero, N.Y.<\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Courtesy of Jordan Villegas<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t<div class=\"article-header__content\">\n\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\tclass=\"article-header__category\"\n\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\tCampus & Community\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t<h1 class=\"article-header__title wp-block-heading \">\n\t\tBirth of a sleuth\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<div class=\"article-header__meta\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-post-author\">\n\t\t\t<address class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"author wp-block-post-author__name\">\n\t\tIvelisse Estrada\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-post-author__byline\">\n\t\t\tRadcliffe Communications\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<time class=\"article-header__date\" datetime=\"2020-05-12\">\n\t\t\tMay 12, 2020\t\t<\/time>\n\n\t\t<span class=\"article-header__reading-time\">\n\t\t\t8 min read\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-header__subheading wp-block-heading\">\n\t\t\tJordan Villegas hears the call of the archives as a Radcliffe Institute researcher\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n"},"2":{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"templateLock":false,"metadata":{"name":"Article content"},"align":"wide","layout":{"type":"constrained","justifyContent":"center"},"tagName":"div","lock":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n\t\t<p><em>This is one in <a href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/series\/honoring-the-class-of-2020\/\">a series of profiles<\/a> showcasing some of Harvard\u2019s stellar graduates.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"add-drop-cap\">For Jordan Villegas \u201920, a hunch turned into an obsession.<\/p>\n<p>At the beginning of his first year, Villegas told his proctor that he\u2019d like to do research, \u201cnot really having any idea what that meant, but just because it seemed interesting, and I knew it involved libraries generally,\u201d he remembers. (He had done archival processing for a local genealogical society as a high school student.) That proctor pointed him to the Radcliffe Research Program, which pairs undergraduates with visiting fellows for paid work at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.<\/p>\n<p>Four years and many research projects later, Villegas \u2014 a joint concentrator in studies of women, gender, and sexuality and social anthropology with a secondary in Latinx studies \u2014 is hooked on the past. \u201cI call it archive fever: I find this historical nugget and think, \u2018<em>Wait, there\u2019s a story here; there must be more<\/em>,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cI can\u2019t help myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The fruits of that passion have been widespread.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJordan\u00a0was an amazing research assistant who walked into the position fully formed as a researcher and writer,\u201d recalls Stephanie LeMenager, RI \u201917, the Barbara and Carlisle Moore Professor of English and American Literature and a professor of environmental studies at the University of Oregon. She hired Villegas during his first year to assist with research on drought histories and speculative fictions. \u201cHe proved to be an incredibly creative and knowledgeable resource for me, but also a distinguished thinker in his own right,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>For Villegas, the assignment was an opportunity to see how the academic sausage gets made. \u201cBeing able to work that closely with a professor \u2014 seeing what a professor does, how books get written, and how research is done \u2014 I was so taken with it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>He decided to apply to conduct full-time research as a summer BLISS Fellow. While browsing the project descriptions, one listing caught his eye: \u201cFeminisms and pornography: archives, history, pedagogy,\u201d posted by Jane Kamensky, the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director of Radcliffe\u2019s Schlesinger Library and Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The Schlesinger had recently acquired the papers of Candida Royalle, considered the godmother of feminist pornography. \u201cShe wasn\u2019t named in the original description of what the summer project would be,\u201d Villegas says, but he had read about the library acquiring the papers and connected the dots.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe knew deeply the intellectual and cultural context of the collection I planned to study; in fact, he knew a good deal more about it than I did,\u201d says Kamensky. \u201cHe was precise, contained, experienced, capable, professional \u2014 and just in the second semester of his freshman year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She hired him on the spot, and that summer he spent 10 weeks embedded in the Schlesinger, where he compiled an initial container list of the unprocessed Royalle collection; produced a research guide on the library\u2019s collections documenting erotica, pornography, and antipornography; and read through the Royalle diaries alongside Kamensky to assess the viability of her planned book project.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n\t\t<p><em>This is one in <a href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/series\/honoring-the-class-of-2020\/\">a series of profiles<\/a> showcasing some of Harvard\u2019s stellar graduates.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"add-drop-cap\">For Jordan Villegas \u201920, a hunch turned into an obsession.<\/p>\n<p>At the beginning of his first year, Villegas told his proctor that he\u2019d like to do research, \u201cnot really having any idea what that meant, but just because it seemed interesting, and I knew it involved libraries generally,\u201d he remembers. (He had done archival processing for a local genealogical society as a high school student.) That proctor pointed him to the Radcliffe Research Program, which pairs undergraduates with visiting fellows for paid work at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.<\/p>\n<p>Four years and many research projects later, Villegas \u2014 a joint concentrator in studies of women, gender, and sexuality and social anthropology with a secondary in Latinx studies \u2014 is hooked on the past. \u201cI call it archive fever: I find this historical nugget and think, \u2018<em>Wait, there\u2019s a story here; there must be more<\/em>,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cI can\u2019t help myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The fruits of that passion have been widespread.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJordan\u00a0was an amazing research assistant who walked into the position fully formed as a researcher and writer,\u201d recalls Stephanie LeMenager, RI \u201917, the Barbara and Carlisle Moore Professor of English and American Literature and a professor of environmental studies at the University of Oregon. She hired Villegas during his first year to assist with research on drought histories and speculative fictions. \u201cHe proved to be an incredibly creative and knowledgeable resource for me, but also a distinguished thinker in his own right,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>For Villegas, the assignment was an opportunity to see how the academic sausage gets made. \u201cBeing able to work that closely with a professor \u2014 seeing what a professor does, how books get written, and how research is done \u2014 I was so taken with it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>He decided to apply to conduct full-time research as a summer BLISS Fellow. While browsing the project descriptions, one listing caught his eye: \u201cFeminisms and pornography: archives, history, pedagogy,\u201d posted by Jane Kamensky, the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director of Radcliffe\u2019s Schlesinger Library and Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The Schlesinger had recently acquired the papers of Candida Royalle, considered the godmother of feminist pornography. \u201cShe wasn\u2019t named in the original description of what the summer project would be,\u201d Villegas says, but he had read about the library acquiring the papers and connected the dots.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe knew deeply the intellectual and cultural context of the collection I planned to study; in fact, he knew a good deal more about it than I did,\u201d says Kamensky. \u201cHe was precise, contained, experienced, capable, professional \u2014 and just in the second semester of his freshman year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She hired him on the spot, and that summer he spent 10 weeks embedded in the Schlesinger, where he compiled an initial container list of the unprocessed Royalle collection; produced a research guide on the library\u2019s collections documenting erotica, pornography, and antipornography; and read through the Royalle diaries alongside Kamensky to assess the viability of her planned book project.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n\t\t<p><em>This is one in <a href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/series\/honoring-the-class-of-2020\/\">a series of profiles<\/a> showcasing some of Harvard\u2019s stellar graduates.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"add-drop-cap\">For Jordan Villegas \u201920, a hunch turned into an obsession.<\/p>\n<p>At the beginning of his first year, Villegas told his proctor that he\u2019d like to do research, \u201cnot really having any idea what that meant, but just because it seemed interesting, and I knew it involved libraries generally,\u201d he remembers. (He had done archival processing for a local genealogical society as a high school student.) That proctor pointed him to the Radcliffe Research Program, which pairs undergraduates with visiting fellows for paid work at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.<\/p>\n<p>Four years and many research projects later, Villegas \u2014 a joint concentrator in studies of women, gender, and sexuality and social anthropology with a secondary in Latinx studies \u2014 is hooked on the past. \u201cI call it archive fever: I find this historical nugget and think, \u2018<em>Wait, there\u2019s a story here; there must be more<\/em>,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cI can\u2019t help myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The fruits of that passion have been widespread.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJordan\u00a0was an amazing research assistant who walked into the position fully formed as a researcher and writer,\u201d recalls Stephanie LeMenager, RI \u201917, the Barbara and Carlisle Moore Professor of English and American Literature and a professor of environmental studies at the University of Oregon. She hired Villegas during his first year to assist with research on drought histories and speculative fictions. \u201cHe proved to be an incredibly creative and knowledgeable resource for me, but also a distinguished thinker in his own right,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>For Villegas, the assignment was an opportunity to see how the academic sausage gets made. \u201cBeing able to work that closely with a professor \u2014 seeing what a professor does, how books get written, and how research is done \u2014 I was so taken with it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>He decided to apply to conduct full-time research as a summer BLISS Fellow. While browsing the project descriptions, one listing caught his eye: \u201cFeminisms and pornography: archives, history, pedagogy,\u201d posted by Jane Kamensky, the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director of Radcliffe\u2019s Schlesinger Library and Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The Schlesinger had recently acquired the papers of Candida Royalle, considered the godmother of feminist pornography. \u201cShe wasn\u2019t named in the original description of what the summer project would be,\u201d Villegas says, but he had read about the library acquiring the papers and connected the dots.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe knew deeply the intellectual and cultural context of the collection I planned to study; in fact, he knew a good deal more about it than I did,\u201d says Kamensky. \u201cHe was precise, contained, experienced, capable, professional \u2014 and just in the second semester of his freshman year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She hired him on the spot, and that summer he spent 10 weeks embedded in the Schlesinger, where he compiled an initial container list of the unprocessed Royalle collection; produced a research guide on the library\u2019s collections documenting erotica, pornography, and antipornography; and read through the Royalle diaries alongside Kamensky to assess the viability of her planned book project.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/quote","attrs":{"value":"<cite>Jane Kamensky, Schlesinger Library<\/cite>","citation":"Jane Kamensky, Schlesinger Library","textAlign":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"align":"","className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","layout":[],"anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"<p>\"[Jordan Villegas] was precise, contained, experienced, capable, professional \u2014 and just in the second semester of his freshman year.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["<p>\"[Jordan Villegas] was precise, contained, experienced, capable, professional \u2014 and just in the second semester of his freshman year.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"<p>\"[Jordan Villegas] was precise, contained, experienced, capable, professional \u2014 and just in the second semester of his freshman year.\u201d<\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><cite>Jane Kamensky, Schlesinger Library<\/cite><\/blockquote>","innerContent":["<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">","<cite>Jane Kamensky, Schlesinger Library<\/cite><\/blockquote>"],"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\"[Jordan Villegas] was precise, contained, experienced, capable, professional \u2014 and just in the second semester of his freshman year.\u201d<\/p>\n<cite>Jane Kamensky, Schlesinger Library<\/cite><\/blockquote>"},{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>\u201cSo that was my first introduction to the Schlesinger Library,\u201d Villegas says. \u201cI hadn\u2019t been there before, but I fell in love with being there every single day over the summer, working with the archivists \u2014 both in the Reading Room and in the back offices during processing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Each year, he returned to the archives \u2014 both at the Schlesinger and in other locales \u2014 for projects that sharpened his scholarly skill set. Working with Erica R. Edwards, RI \u201918, the Presidential Term Chair in African American Literature\u00a0and\u00a0an associate professor of English at\u00a0Rutgers University, opened up a new domain for him by introducing him to black feminist collections. His work with Katherine Turk \u2014 an associate professor of history and an adjunct associate professor of women\u2019s and gender studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who is writing a history of the National Organization for Women \u2014 taught him to cut through the mountains of organizational minutes to home in on historical narratives. The work he began in January for Ashley D. Farmer \u2014 the 2019\u20132020 Joy Foundation Fellow at Radcliffe, who is working on a book about \u201cQueen Mother\u201d Audley Moore, an early proponent for slavery reparations \u2014 showed him how the smallest pieces of information can be woven together to re-create lives at the margins of society.<\/p>\n<p>Villegas has shared these talents beyond Radcliffe. He helped Kamensky and the historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich develop their HarvardX course \u201cWomen Making History: Ten Objects, Many Stories,\u201d and worked as a freelance research assistant to the queer studies writer and activist Martin Duberman, who is writing a biography of Andrea Dworkin.<\/p>\n<p>Outside the research realm, Villegas became a Radcliffe triple threat when he agreed to become an inaugural member of the institute-wide Student Advisory Board, whose members help brainstorm on programming while acting as ambassadors to the greater Harvard community.<\/p>\n<p>Although he completed high school in northwest Ohio, Villegas is a seventh-generation Tejano whose family hails from Houston. He received his first taste of college while still a teen: The regional school he attended in the rural village of Elmore didn\u2019t offer advanced coursework, so, as a 16-year-old junior, he began taking all of his classes at the University of Toledo.<\/p>\n<p>This outsider status has profoundly influenced the focus of Villegas\u2019s studies. \u201c<em>La Pocha, Sin Ra\u00edces<\/em>\/Spoiled Fruit, Without Roots: A Genealogy of Tejana Borderland Imaginaries,\u201d the thesis he submitted in early March, takes as its jumping-off point the pejorative term <em>pocho\/a<\/em> and how it was reclaimed by Mexican American women in the U.S.\u2013Mexico borderlands to communicate power and strength. Research on the project took Villegas to archives in Texas and Smith College as well as the Schlesinger.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>\u201cSo that was my first introduction to the Schlesinger Library,\u201d Villegas says. \u201cI hadn\u2019t been there before, but I fell in love with being there every single day over the summer, working with the archivists \u2014 both in the Reading Room and in the back offices during processing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Each year, he returned to the archives \u2014 both at the Schlesinger and in other locales \u2014 for projects that sharpened his scholarly skill set. Working with Erica R. Edwards, RI \u201918, the Presidential Term Chair in African American Literature\u00a0and\u00a0an associate professor of English at\u00a0Rutgers University, opened up a new domain for him by introducing him to black feminist collections. His work with Katherine Turk \u2014 an associate professor of history and an adjunct associate professor of women\u2019s and gender studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who is writing a history of the National Organization for Women \u2014 taught him to cut through the mountains of organizational minutes to home in on historical narratives. The work he began in January for Ashley D. Farmer \u2014 the 2019\u20132020 Joy Foundation Fellow at Radcliffe, who is working on a book about \u201cQueen Mother\u201d Audley Moore, an early proponent for slavery reparations \u2014 showed him how the smallest pieces of information can be woven together to re-create lives at the margins of society.<\/p>\n<p>Villegas has shared these talents beyond Radcliffe. He helped Kamensky and the historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich develop their HarvardX course \u201cWomen Making History: Ten Objects, Many Stories,\u201d and worked as a freelance research assistant to the queer studies writer and activist Martin Duberman, who is writing a biography of Andrea Dworkin.<\/p>\n<p>Outside the research realm, Villegas became a Radcliffe triple threat when he agreed to become an inaugural member of the institute-wide Student Advisory Board, whose members help brainstorm on programming while acting as ambassadors to the greater Harvard community.<\/p>\n<p>Although he completed high school in northwest Ohio, Villegas is a seventh-generation Tejano whose family hails from Houston. He received his first taste of college while still a teen: The regional school he attended in the rural village of Elmore didn\u2019t offer advanced coursework, so, as a 16-year-old junior, he began taking all of his classes at the University of Toledo.<\/p>\n<p>This outsider status has profoundly influenced the focus of Villegas\u2019s studies. \u201c<em>La Pocha, Sin Ra\u00edces<\/em>\/Spoiled Fruit, Without Roots: A Genealogy of Tejana Borderland Imaginaries,\u201d the thesis he submitted in early March, takes as its jumping-off point the pejorative term <em>pocho\/a<\/em> and how it was reclaimed by Mexican American women in the U.S.\u2013Mexico borderlands to communicate power and strength. Research on the project took Villegas to archives in Texas and Smith College as well as the Schlesinger.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cSo that was my first introduction to the Schlesinger Library,\u201d Villegas says. \u201cI hadn\u2019t been there before, but I fell in love with being there every single day over the summer, working with the archivists \u2014 both in the Reading Room and in the back offices during processing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Each year, he returned to the archives \u2014 both at the Schlesinger and in other locales \u2014 for projects that sharpened his scholarly skill set. Working with Erica R. Edwards, RI \u201918, the Presidential Term Chair in African American Literature\u00a0and\u00a0an associate professor of English at\u00a0Rutgers University, opened up a new domain for him by introducing him to black feminist collections. His work with Katherine Turk \u2014 an associate professor of history and an adjunct associate professor of women\u2019s and gender studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who is writing a history of the National Organization for Women \u2014 taught him to cut through the mountains of organizational minutes to home in on historical narratives. The work he began in January for Ashley D. Farmer \u2014 the 2019\u20132020 Joy Foundation Fellow at Radcliffe, who is working on a book about \u201cQueen Mother\u201d Audley Moore, an early proponent for slavery reparations \u2014 showed him how the smallest pieces of information can be woven together to re-create lives at the margins of society.<\/p>\n<p>Villegas has shared these talents beyond Radcliffe. He helped Kamensky and the historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich develop their HarvardX course \u201cWomen Making History: Ten Objects, Many Stories,\u201d and worked as a freelance research assistant to the queer studies writer and activist Martin Duberman, who is writing a biography of Andrea Dworkin.<\/p>\n<p>Outside the research realm, Villegas became a Radcliffe triple threat when he agreed to become an inaugural member of the institute-wide Student Advisory Board, whose members help brainstorm on programming while acting as ambassadors to the greater Harvard community.<\/p>\n<p>Although he completed high school in northwest Ohio, Villegas is a seventh-generation Tejano whose family hails from Houston. He received his first taste of college while still a teen: The regional school he attended in the rural village of Elmore didn\u2019t offer advanced coursework, so, as a 16-year-old junior, he began taking all of his classes at the University of Toledo.<\/p>\n<p>This outsider status has profoundly influenced the focus of Villegas\u2019s studies. \u201c<em>La Pocha, Sin Ra\u00edces<\/em>\/Spoiled Fruit, Without Roots: A Genealogy of Tejana Borderland Imaginaries,\u201d the thesis he submitted in early March, takes as its jumping-off point the pejorative term <em>pocho\/a<\/em> and how it was reclaimed by Mexican American women in the U.S.\u2013Mexico borderlands to communicate power and strength. Research on the project took Villegas to archives in Texas and Smith College as well as the Schlesinger.<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/image","attrs":{"sizeSlug":"full","align":"center","id":303466,"caption":"\u201cJordan was an amazing research assistant who walked into the position fully formed as a researcher and writer,\u201d said Professor Stephanie LeMenager, RI \u201917, (center) with Villegas and Yu-Mi Kim \u201920. Kevin Grady\/Radcliffe Institute","blob":"","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_Kevin-Grady.jpg","alt":", Jordan Villegas (with Yu-Mi Kim \u201920, right) worked as a research partner with Professor Stephanie LeMenager.","lightbox":[],"title":"","href":"","rel":"","linkClass":"","width":"","height":"","aspectRatio":"","scale":"","linkDestination":"","linkTarget":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_Kevin-Grady.jpg\" alt=\", Jordan Villegas (with Yu-Mi Kim \u201920, right) worked as a research partner with Professor Stephanie LeMenager.\" class=\"wp-image-303466\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cJordan was an amazing research assistant who walked into the position fully formed as a researcher and writer,\u201d said Professor Stephanie LeMenager, RI \u201917, (center) with Villegas and Yu-Mi Kim \u201920. Kevin Grady\/Radcliffe Institute\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t","innerContent":["\n\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_Kevin-Grady.jpg\" alt=\", Jordan Villegas (with Yu-Mi Kim \u201920, right) worked as a research partner with Professor Stephanie LeMenager.\" class=\"wp-image-303466\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cJordan was an amazing research assistant who walked into the position fully formed as a researcher and writer,\u201d said Professor Stephanie LeMenager, RI \u201917, (center) with Villegas and Yu-Mi Kim \u201920. Kevin Grady\/Radcliffe Institute\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t"],"rendered":"\n\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_Kevin-Grady.jpg\" alt=\", Jordan Villegas (with Yu-Mi Kim \u201920, right) worked as a research partner with Professor Stephanie LeMenager.\" class=\"wp-image-303466\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cJordan was an amazing research assistant who walked into the position fully formed as a researcher and writer,\u201d said Professor Stephanie LeMenager, RI \u201917, (center) with Villegas and Yu-Mi Kim \u201920. Kevin Grady\/Radcliffe Institute\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t"},{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>Durba Mitra, the Carol K. Pforzheimer Assistant Professor at the Radcliffe Institute and assistant professor of women, gender, and sexuality in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, advised him on the thesis. \u201cJordan\u00a0is a stunning researcher, critical theorist, and also a gourmet cook and baker,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen we meet, we talk about profound philosophical issues of race and sexuality, we exchange stories about rare archival finds, and we eat homemade salted chocolate cookies.\u00a0Jordan\u00a0is a student with deep knowledge, both of rare and marginalized archives as well as true Tex-Mex cuisine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These days, Villegas isn\u2019t spending any time in the archives \u2014 at least not in the same way. With the early campus closing due to the COVID-19 crisis, he has vacated the Brighton apartment he shared with his fianc\u00e9 for the woods of central New York, near Syracuse, where his parents now live. He appreciates the ample space and outdoor time \u2014 \u201cI can take a kayak out on the nearby lake or hang out with my parents\u2019 dogs, and I have a much bigger kitchen to cook in\u201d \u2014 but he finds the screen time taxing: in addition to taking classes via Zoom, all of his other activities are now online, including several seminars, readings, research jobs, and work study.<\/p>\n<p>Villegas is looking forward to beginning his Ph.D. at Columbia University, where he will study under the borderlands historian Karl Jacoby. He has already begun independent research around the Texas women\u2019s penitentiary system in the early 20th century, exploring how gender, sexuality, and race intersect with carceral and colonial issues. And he continues to work with Kamensky.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s working so quickly, thoroughly, and intuitively that I find myself barely keeping up with the fruits of his sleuthing,\u201d she says. \u201cHe also reads historical sources with the great empathy of somebody who knows he\u2019s holding the mortal remains of once-living people \u2014 I\u2019ve seen him tear up over a document.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTruly, I\u2019ve never taught anybody even remotely like him. Who, what will he be when he\u2019s older? I wait already in awe.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>Durba Mitra, the Carol K. Pforzheimer Assistant Professor at the Radcliffe Institute and assistant professor of women, gender, and sexuality in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, advised him on the thesis. \u201cJordan\u00a0is a stunning researcher, critical theorist, and also a gourmet cook and baker,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen we meet, we talk about profound philosophical issues of race and sexuality, we exchange stories about rare archival finds, and we eat homemade salted chocolate cookies.\u00a0Jordan\u00a0is a student with deep knowledge, both of rare and marginalized archives as well as true Tex-Mex cuisine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These days, Villegas isn\u2019t spending any time in the archives \u2014 at least not in the same way. With the early campus closing due to the COVID-19 crisis, he has vacated the Brighton apartment he shared with his fianc\u00e9 for the woods of central New York, near Syracuse, where his parents now live. He appreciates the ample space and outdoor time \u2014 \u201cI can take a kayak out on the nearby lake or hang out with my parents\u2019 dogs, and I have a much bigger kitchen to cook in\u201d \u2014 but he finds the screen time taxing: in addition to taking classes via Zoom, all of his other activities are now online, including several seminars, readings, research jobs, and work study.<\/p>\n<p>Villegas is looking forward to beginning his Ph.D. at Columbia University, where he will study under the borderlands historian Karl Jacoby. He has already begun independent research around the Texas women\u2019s penitentiary system in the early 20th century, exploring how gender, sexuality, and race intersect with carceral and colonial issues. And he continues to work with Kamensky.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s working so quickly, thoroughly, and intuitively that I find myself barely keeping up with the fruits of his sleuthing,\u201d she says. \u201cHe also reads historical sources with the great empathy of somebody who knows he\u2019s holding the mortal remains of once-living people \u2014 I\u2019ve seen him tear up over a document.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTruly, I\u2019ve never taught anybody even remotely like him. Who, what will he be when he\u2019s older? I wait already in awe.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>Durba Mitra, the Carol K. Pforzheimer Assistant Professor at the Radcliffe Institute and assistant professor of women, gender, and sexuality in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, advised him on the thesis. \u201cJordan\u00a0is a stunning researcher, critical theorist, and also a gourmet cook and baker,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen we meet, we talk about profound philosophical issues of race and sexuality, we exchange stories about rare archival finds, and we eat homemade salted chocolate cookies.\u00a0Jordan\u00a0is a student with deep knowledge, both of rare and marginalized archives as well as true Tex-Mex cuisine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These days, Villegas isn\u2019t spending any time in the archives \u2014 at least not in the same way. With the early campus closing due to the COVID-19 crisis, he has vacated the Brighton apartment he shared with his fianc\u00e9 for the woods of central New York, near Syracuse, where his parents now live. He appreciates the ample space and outdoor time \u2014 \u201cI can take a kayak out on the nearby lake or hang out with my parents\u2019 dogs, and I have a much bigger kitchen to cook in\u201d \u2014 but he finds the screen time taxing: in addition to taking classes via Zoom, all of his other activities are now online, including several seminars, readings, research jobs, and work study.<\/p>\n<p>Villegas is looking forward to beginning his Ph.D. at Columbia University, where he will study under the borderlands historian Karl Jacoby. He has already begun independent research around the Texas women\u2019s penitentiary system in the early 20th century, exploring how gender, sexuality, and race intersect with carceral and colonial issues. And he continues to work with Kamensky.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s working so quickly, thoroughly, and intuitively that I find myself barely keeping up with the fruits of his sleuthing,\u201d she says. \u201cHe also reads historical sources with the great empathy of somebody who knows he\u2019s holding the mortal remains of once-living people \u2014 I\u2019ve seen him tear up over a document.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTruly, I\u2019ve never taught anybody even remotely like him. Who, what will he be when he\u2019s older? I wait already in awe.\u201d<\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\n\t\r\n\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n","\r\n","\r\n","\r\n\t","\n\t\r\n","\n\n<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-content-justification-center is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n\t\t<p><em>This is one in <a href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/series\/honoring-the-class-of-2020\/\">a series of profiles<\/a> showcasing some of Harvard\u2019s stellar graduates.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"add-drop-cap\">For Jordan Villegas \u201920, a hunch turned into an obsession.<\/p>\n<p>At the beginning of his first year, Villegas told his proctor that he\u2019d like to do research, \u201cnot really having any idea what that meant, but just because it seemed interesting, and I knew it involved libraries generally,\u201d he remembers. (He had done archival processing for a local genealogical society as a high school student.) That proctor pointed him to the Radcliffe Research Program, which pairs undergraduates with visiting fellows for paid work at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.<\/p>\n<p>Four years and many research projects later, Villegas \u2014 a joint concentrator in studies of women, gender, and sexuality and social anthropology with a secondary in Latinx studies \u2014 is hooked on the past. \u201cI call it archive fever: I find this historical nugget and think, \u2018<em>Wait, there\u2019s a story here; there must be more<\/em>,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cI can\u2019t help myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The fruits of that passion have been widespread.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJordan\u00a0was an amazing research assistant who walked into the position fully formed as a researcher and writer,\u201d recalls Stephanie LeMenager, RI \u201917, the Barbara and Carlisle Moore Professor of English and American Literature and a professor of environmental studies at the University of Oregon. She hired Villegas during his first year to assist with research on drought histories and speculative fictions. \u201cHe proved to be an incredibly creative and knowledgeable resource for me, but also a distinguished thinker in his own right,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>For Villegas, the assignment was an opportunity to see how the academic sausage gets made. \u201cBeing able to work that closely with a professor \u2014 seeing what a professor does, how books get written, and how research is done \u2014 I was so taken with it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>He decided to apply to conduct full-time research as a summer BLISS Fellow. While browsing the project descriptions, one listing caught his eye: \u201cFeminisms and pornography: archives, history, pedagogy,\u201d posted by Jane Kamensky, the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director of Radcliffe\u2019s Schlesinger Library and Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The Schlesinger had recently acquired the papers of Candida Royalle, considered the godmother of feminist pornography. \u201cShe wasn\u2019t named in the original description of what the summer project would be,\u201d Villegas says, but he had read about the library acquiring the papers and connected the dots.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe knew deeply the intellectual and cultural context of the collection I planned to study; in fact, he knew a good deal more about it than I did,\u201d says Kamensky. \u201cHe was precise, contained, experienced, capable, professional \u2014 and just in the second semester of his freshman year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She hired him on the spot, and that summer he spent 10 weeks embedded in the Schlesinger, where he compiled an initial container list of the unprocessed Royalle collection; produced a research guide on the library\u2019s collections documenting erotica, pornography, and antipornography; and read through the Royalle diaries alongside Kamensky to assess the viability of her planned book project.<\/p>\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\"[Jordan Villegas] was precise, contained, experienced, capable, professional \u2014 and just in the second semester of his freshman year.\u201d<\/p>\n<cite>Jane Kamensky, Schlesinger Library<\/cite><\/blockquote>\r\n\n<p>\u201cSo that was my first introduction to the Schlesinger Library,\u201d Villegas says. \u201cI hadn\u2019t been there before, but I fell in love with being there every single day over the summer, working with the archivists \u2014 both in the Reading Room and in the back offices during processing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Each year, he returned to the archives \u2014 both at the Schlesinger and in other locales \u2014 for projects that sharpened his scholarly skill set. Working with Erica R. Edwards, RI \u201918, the Presidential Term Chair in African American Literature\u00a0and\u00a0an associate professor of English at\u00a0Rutgers University, opened up a new domain for him by introducing him to black feminist collections. His work with Katherine Turk \u2014 an associate professor of history and an adjunct associate professor of women\u2019s and gender studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who is writing a history of the National Organization for Women \u2014 taught him to cut through the mountains of organizational minutes to home in on historical narratives. The work he began in January for Ashley D. Farmer \u2014 the 2019\u20132020 Joy Foundation Fellow at Radcliffe, who is working on a book about \u201cQueen Mother\u201d Audley Moore, an early proponent for slavery reparations \u2014 showed him how the smallest pieces of information can be woven together to re-create lives at the margins of society.<\/p>\n<p>Villegas has shared these talents beyond Radcliffe. He helped Kamensky and the historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich develop their HarvardX course \u201cWomen Making History: Ten Objects, Many Stories,\u201d and worked as a freelance research assistant to the queer studies writer and activist Martin Duberman, who is writing a biography of Andrea Dworkin.<\/p>\n<p>Outside the research realm, Villegas became a Radcliffe triple threat when he agreed to become an inaugural member of the institute-wide Student Advisory Board, whose members help brainstorm on programming while acting as ambassadors to the greater Harvard community.<\/p>\n<p>Although he completed high school in northwest Ohio, Villegas is a seventh-generation Tejano whose family hails from Houston. He received his first taste of college while still a teen: The regional school he attended in the rural village of Elmore didn\u2019t offer advanced coursework, so, as a 16-year-old junior, he began taking all of his classes at the University of Toledo.<\/p>\n<p>This outsider status has profoundly influenced the focus of Villegas\u2019s studies. \u201c<em>La Pocha, Sin Ra\u00edces<\/em>\/Spoiled Fruit, Without Roots: A Genealogy of Tejana Borderland Imaginaries,\u201d the thesis he submitted in early March, takes as its jumping-off point the pejorative term <em>pocho\/a<\/em> and how it was reclaimed by Mexican American women in the U.S.\u2013Mexico borderlands to communicate power and strength. Research on the project took Villegas to archives in Texas and Smith College as well as the Schlesinger.<\/p>\n\r\n\t\n\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Villegas_Kevin-Grady.jpg\" alt=\", Jordan Villegas (with Yu-Mi Kim \u201920, right) worked as a research partner with Professor Stephanie LeMenager.\" class=\"wp-image-303466\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cJordan was an amazing research assistant who walked into the position fully formed as a researcher and writer,\u201d said Professor Stephanie LeMenager, RI \u201917, (center) with Villegas and Yu-Mi Kim \u201920. Kevin Grady\/Radcliffe Institute\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\n\t\r\n\n<p>Durba Mitra, the Carol K. Pforzheimer Assistant Professor at the Radcliffe Institute and assistant professor of women, gender, and sexuality in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, advised him on the thesis. \u201cJordan\u00a0is a stunning researcher, critical theorist, and also a gourmet cook and baker,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen we meet, we talk about profound philosophical issues of race and sexuality, we exchange stories about rare archival finds, and we eat homemade salted chocolate cookies.\u00a0Jordan\u00a0is a student with deep knowledge, both of rare and marginalized archives as well as true Tex-Mex cuisine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These days, Villegas isn\u2019t spending any time in the archives \u2014 at least not in the same way. With the early campus closing due to the COVID-19 crisis, he has vacated the Brighton apartment he shared with his fianc\u00e9 for the woods of central New York, near Syracuse, where his parents now live. He appreciates the ample space and outdoor time \u2014 \u201cI can take a kayak out on the nearby lake or hang out with my parents\u2019 dogs, and I have a much bigger kitchen to cook in\u201d \u2014 but he finds the screen time taxing: in addition to taking classes via Zoom, all of his other activities are now online, including several seminars, readings, research jobs, and work study.<\/p>\n<p>Villegas is looking forward to beginning his Ph.D. at Columbia University, where he will study under the borderlands historian Karl Jacoby. He has already begun independent research around the Texas women\u2019s penitentiary system in the early 20th century, exploring how gender, sexuality, and race intersect with carceral and colonial issues. And he continues to work with Kamensky.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s working so quickly, thoroughly, and intuitively that I find myself barely keeping up with the fruits of his sleuthing,\u201d she says. \u201cHe also reads historical sources with the great empathy of somebody who knows he\u2019s holding the mortal remains of once-living people \u2014 I\u2019ve seen him tear up over a document.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTruly, I\u2019ve never taught anybody even remotely like him. Who, what will he be when he\u2019s older? I wait already in awe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n"}},"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":177449,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2015\/12\/renowned-scholar-joins-kennedy-school-and-radcliffe-institute\/","url_meta":{"origin":303459,"position":0},"title":"Renowned scholar joins Kennedy School and Radcliffe Institute","author":"harvardgazette","date":"December 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Khalil Gibran Muhammad has been named professor of history, race, and public policy at Harvard Kennedy School and appointed the Suzanne Young Murray Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. He will begin at Harvard on July 1.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/khalilmuhammad-headshot-hires_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/khalilmuhammad-headshot-hires_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/khalilmuhammad-headshot-hires_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":139466,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2013\/05\/radcliffe-honors-three-with-fay-prize\/","url_meta":{"origin":303459,"position":1},"title":"Radcliffe honors three with Fay Prize","author":"harvardgazette","date":"May 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study awarded the Captain Jonathan Fay Prize to three graduating seniors whose theses set forth the most imaginative work and original research.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135603,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2013\/04\/engaging-in-a-new-community\/","url_meta":{"origin":303459,"position":2},"title":"Engaging in a new community","author":"harvardgazette","date":"April 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The innovative international scholar Tamar Herzog has been appointed the Monroe Gutman Professor of Latin American Affairs in Harvard University\u2019s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. She also will become the Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/herzog_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/herzog_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/herzog_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":138416,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2013\/05\/radcliffe-medalist\/","url_meta":{"origin":303459,"position":3},"title":"Jane Alexander honored by Radcliffe","author":"harvardgazette","date":"May 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Jane Alexander, actor and arts advocate, will be awarded the Radcliffe Medal on Friday, Radcliffe Day 2013. The medal is given to individuals whose life and work have significantly and positively influenced society.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/radcliffe_prize_janealexander_joanmarcus_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/radcliffe_prize_janealexander_joanmarcus_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/radcliffe_prize_janealexander_joanmarcus_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":136436,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2013\/04\/radcliffe-gymnasium-renamed\/","url_meta":{"origin":303459,"position":4},"title":"Radcliffe Gymnasium renamed","author":"harvardgazette","date":"April 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"At a celebratory event on Wednesday, the Radcliffe Gymnasium was renamed the Knafel Center in honor of Sidney R. Knafel \u201952, M.B.A. \u201954, and in recognition of the center\u2019s increasing role in promoting intellectual exchange across Harvard\u2019s Schools and with the public.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/knafel_cohen_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/knafel_cohen_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/knafel_cohen_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":157236,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/05\/a-celebration-of-ideas\/","url_meta":{"origin":303459,"position":5},"title":"A celebration of ideas","author":"harvardgazette","date":"May 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study is turning 15, with 900 of its closest friends in attendance. During the ceremonies, the institute will award the Radcliffe Medal to its former dean, Harvard President Drew Faust.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/090513_dgf_406_6051.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/090513_dgf_406_6051.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/090513_dgf_406_6051.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105622744"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303459"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":304963,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303459\/revisions\/304963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303459"},{"taxonomy":"format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gazette-formats?post=303459"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=303459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}