Pieces of the College’s History Sit in Silence
Nestled in the basement of Madeleine Clark Wallace Library lives the Marion B. Gebbie Archives and Special Collections, known more commonly as the Wheaton Archives. Beloved since 1980, when they were officially established, the Archives are home to Wheaton’s history, including a variety of primary sources, donated documents, and alumni records. In the past, Wheaton has ensured that the archives have been taken seriously, maintained, and prioritized. Now, a lack of resources has raised issues for its current and future state.
As of now, and until further notice, the Archives have been closed to students. Along with this closure comes a major loss to the Wheaton community, as a multitude of research materials are no longer accessible. On special occasions, and by appointment only, access to the archives is permitted to professors and student classes. Legitimate access to the Archives for any other purpose, however, is not permitted.
“We’re losing our heart and soul here,” said student leader and former archives student employee Katelyn Spader ‘27, “At the heart of Wheaton has been the arts and humanities.”
The closed entrance to the Marion B. Gebbie Archives and Special Collections
Spader worked in the Archives for the last three semesters, with the final one being this past spring. The closing of the Archives, Spader explained, is not only a loss of resources, but also a “blatant disregard for the ongoing projects that students were working on.” Projects such as The Wheaton Wire metadata cleanup— a project established to ensure that the information in the database is reliable and up to date—are no longer able to continue. Spader stressed that projects like this one are necessary for the Wheaton community to function, and to maintain the flourishing liberal arts education the college promotes.
Spader, of course, is not alone. Similar reactions come from student workers across campus, who, after being employed in the Archives for multiple semesters, feel now that they have lost not only a resource, but also a beloved community and place to exercise their passion.
“It isn’t just a room with old papers and books; it is a useful and unique resource that should not be neglected. The inability to have access has been largely felt,” said Mags Fox-Moore ‘26, who has been an avid volunteer and employee in the Archives for over two years. “The Archives is an integral historical and academic resource of the college, and one of very few places in which the intersection of the current culture and setting of the college intersects with the history and legacy that proceeds it. I truly believe that these [historical and academic intersectionalism] are not mutually exclusive of one another and much can be gained from having access to the contents of the Archives within the Wheaton Community.”
Along with more than a dozen of Wheaton students, Fox-Moore was employed at the Archives this past summer, working personally on a project regarding materials transported from the college’s former off-site storage facility, Iron Mountain. Fox-Moore’s project was to see whether they were still eligible to be kept by the Archives or needed to be ethically destroyed. Fox-Moore explained that they had sorted through roughly 10% of the materials they had planned before their project was discarded by the administration.
These books come from the Seminary Collection, the college’s first library collection and include books from Wheaton’s founding era.
On June 12, 2025, Fox-Moore was working on the Periodicals level of the Library, kicking off what they thought would be a summer-long project with the materials from Iron Mountain.
“I received a text message from the archivist [Taylor McNeilly] that they were asked to come in for a meeting and would speak to me after,” said Fox-Moore, “Then just before 4 p.m. that day, they met me in the library and informed me that they were let go: effective immediately. There was no information at that time about the status of my job, or the Archives altogether.”
And such was the dismissal of beloved archivist Taylor McNeilly. McNeilly was the singular faculty member of the Wheaton Archives (2023-25). During their time at Wheaton, McNeilly not only led a multitude of imperative research projects, but also fostered lifelong friendships and mentorships with students.
“Taylor was the first trans/queer adult I had ever met, and the fact of their existence allowed me to see a future for myself for the first time,” said Sam Avelar ’28. “This is a feeling that several of my coworkers have shared, illustrating the true impact of this loss. It is no secret that many of the staff members who have been laid off belonged to marginalized groups, and I have lost a lot of faith in Wheaton’s ‘inclusive’ reputation as a result.”
This multi-colored collection of texts originates from the nineteenth century.
Student employees had to grapple with the loss of a prominent role model, without any explanation from the administration regarding McNeilly’s layoff. One student in particular, Ryan White ‘27 was working as the project lead for a Wheaton Wire metadata cleanup and recalls no warning of McNeilly’s layoff.
“As we neared the end of the syllabi, we had a meeting scheduled with Taylor to talk about issues that had come up and how we would wrap up the syllabi and move on to the Wire metadata,” said Ryan White ‘27, “The day before this meeting, we received an email from Mags Fox-Moore that Taylor had been suddenly let go from their position. Taylor did not have access to their email to let us know, so I don’t know how we would have found out about this if Mags was not working on campus at the time.”
Not only that, but student employees within the Archives were not initially informed that McNeilly’s layoff meant a complete closure of the Archives. “It took over a month for us to be informed of the changes and the closure of the archives,” said Spader. Additionally, they were not told what to expect for the duration of their summer projects, let alone what the fall semester had in store regarding the projects they had been intently working on. Although McNeilly’s layoff occurred in early June, the student employees in the Archives were not informed of McNeilly’s dismissal or the Archives’ closure until July 21, via an email from Thomas Scharff.
“I never found out officially that they were closing. I never got any sort of email from the school telling me that I was going to lose my job,” said Lorcan Lemay ‘26, who returned from a semester abroad to find the Archives shut down. “I found out about the closure of the Archives and the dismissal of Taylor from hearsay sources. Wheaton College said nothing to me about my loss of employment.”
“From what I have heard, Taylor was not told of their layoff until the day they needed to move out of their office. There was no warning and no grace period,” said Sam Avelar ‘28, “Myself and my coworkers were emailed the news only weeks before school began, and we were faced with the decision to pursue a new job or none at all. This was incredibly shocking to me because we were not explicitly informed about the layoff, and I had assumed that I would be working for Taylor until my senior year. We were given little-to-no information, and we are still trying to put the pieces together as to how this happened.”
The books in the archival collection above include eighteenth century works on Jewish history.
As for student employees like Fox-Moore and White, summer projects were completely discarded. Fox-Moore told The Wire that before the month of June was over, they were taken off their summer project, and transferred to work in the library beginning the first week of July.
“My supervisor was transferred to Thomas Scharff in the library who, along with former Dean Brooks, decided that I should stop working on the project and work for the library for the rest of June, after they met the provost who allegedly did not want the project to continue,” said Fox-Moore. “This project has not been continued since I was let go and most of the Iron Mountain materials are still in the cage on the Periodicals level of the library. There has not been a proper inventory of these materials due to this, and there is no certainty of what materials there are required to be accounted for by the college.”
Thomas Scharff rejected permission to photograph anything beyond the closed door to the Archives when asked for a brief photo for this article this past Tuesday.
It is no secret that Wheaton has had budget cuts that have resulted in numerous lay-offs, along with other losses across campus. But, on this topic, they [administration] have been mostly silent. “We get dozens of emails about mundane things, but the emails about important topics are conspicuously absent,” wrote Lemay. “Their policy of silence does nothing but hurt Wheaton students,” they said. “I understand the closure of the Archives, even though I do not agree with it. I do not understand their silence.”
Many students previously employed in the Archives have little hope that they will be reopened in the foreseeable future, or at least during their time at Wheaton, as many will be graduating in the next year or two. Along with stripping the Wheaton community of a vital resource, students have voiced that the administration has failed to ensure appropriate communication with their students.