Kenvi Phillips

Kenvi Phillips is an American librarian serving as the inaugural director of the Barack Obama Presidential Library since June 16, 2024.^[1]

Kenvi Phillips
Education	Howard University, PhD
Alma mater	University of Tulsa
Occupation	Director of the Barack Obama Presidential Library

Education and career

Phillips earned a B.A. in history at the University of Tulsa, the M.A. in Public History and the PhD in American History from Howard University.^[2]

She was Historian at the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission from 2009 to 2013. She worked as Assistant Librarian at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University from 2013 to 2016.

She was the Johanna-Marie Frankel Curator for Race and Ethnicity at the Schlesinger Library of Harvard University from 2016 to 2021.^[3]

Phillips was Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Brown University Libraries from 2021 to 2024.^[4]

She is Associate Editor of the Library History Round Table journal, Libraries: Culture, History, & Society.^[5]

Presentations

In 2015 she presented at the Digital Initiatives Symposium on "Digitizing the Black Experience: The Building of 'Digital Howard' and the 'Portal to the Black Experience.'"^[6]

As part of the National Women's History Museum Centenary Celebration Series, "Determined to Rise": Women's Historical Activism for Equal Rights" in August 2020 Phillips presented on "Chicago's African American Women in the Fight for the Vote."^[7]