The AJHA Board of Directors has voted to appoint Autumn Lorimer Linford as interim editor of the Intelligencer. Linford's interim appointment will expire in October, at which point the board may appoint her for a full three-year term.
Linford is a doctoral student and Roy H. Park Fellow in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, where she specializes in journalism history under the direction of Barbara Friedman. Her master's degree is from Brigham Young University, where she completed her thesis on symbols in American Revolutionary newspaper nameplates under the direction of Kevin Stoker.
Linford has presented her research at AJHA, AEJMC, and the Joint Journalism and Communication History Conference. Most recently, her paper presented at the AJHA virtual conference in October received the Robert Lance Award for Top Student Paper and honorable mention for the Maurine Beasley Award for the Outstanding Paper on a Women's History topic.
Professionally, Linford has worked as a reporter and photojournalist at the News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), Deseret Morning News (Orem, Utah), Daily Herald (Provo, Utah), and Riverton (Wy.) Ranger. Among her journalism awards are the News & Observer's Ambitious Reporting Award and 2nd Place Multi-Media Project from the North Carolina Press Association, both for her 2019 coverage of 13-year-old Hania Aguilar's murder.
Linford's professional experience stood out when the AJHA Publications Committee assessed her resume. Second Vice-President Aimee Edmondson had been speaking with Linford about potential service opportunities because she wants to get more involved in AJHA. Based on her experience, the Intelligencer editor position seemed like a good fit.
"Ms. Linford's extensive background in publishing and editing give her the skills to do the work," Publications Committee Chair Paulette Kilmer wrote in the committee's report recommending Linford's appointment.
The report noted that "although we usually do not appoint graduate students to serve as editors, one who is organized and adept at time management could serve AJHA in this vital capacity while getting the opportunity to network with historians at all levels of experience and gain an impressive accomplishment for the resume."
As reported in the December 2020 Intelligencer email, the board approved in October a new system for the newsletter in which AJHA's committees curate and produce content. Edmondson, whose role as second VP is to oversee the committees, has been assisting with shepherding content for monthly distribution to members.
Since the newsletter's re-launch in December, Administrative Secretary Erika Pribanic-Smith has been posting the content and producing the monthly email. Pribanic-Smith, who edited the Intelligencer from 2014-2016, will mentor Linford as she begins her interim term.
