Publications 

"Photography and the Princeton Collections of Western Americana," Princeton University Library Chronicle Vol. 75, no. 2 (Winter 2014): 225-247. Available Online.

Presentations 

"Reading an Unreadable Sermon: AI Text Recognition in the Early Colonial Period." Machine Learning and the Future of Philology Symposium. Center for Digital Humanities (CDH) / Manuscript, Rare Book & Archival Studies (MARBAS), Princeton University, December 9, 2022. 

"Princeton Collections of Mormon American: A Guide to Holdings and Resources." Restoration Studies Panel: Major Collections in the US Documenting the History and Culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and Associated Movements. A. Dean Larsen Book Collecting Conference, March 16 & 18, 2021.

"John Eliot's Indian Bible: Three Centuries of Cultural Reception." Space, Time, and Religion in Early America: A Conference at Princeton University, February 6-8, 2020.

"The Eliot Indian Bible and Early Colonial Language Encounters." Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication, Princeton University, October  14, 2019.

"How the West Was Spun: Philip Ashton Rollins and the Princeton Collections of Western Americana." Curatorial Talks, Friends of the Princeton University Library,  May 8, 2014.

"Images of Native Americans." Special Collections at the Princeton University Library: Five Centuries of Recorded History from around the World, Princeton Adult School, October 10, 1012.

Initiatives

Princeton Initiative for Mesoamerican Manuscripts Studies (PIMMS)

Co-founded by Garry Sparks (Religion) and Gabriel Swift (Library), the Princeton Initiative for Mesoamerican Manuscript Studies (PIMMS) brings together various collections, resources, scholars and their research projects to enhance the collaborative appreciation and understanding of some of the earliest literature in Indigenous American languages.

Digital Portals

Mesoamerican Manuscripts at Princeton

Print Culture in Indigenous North America

Grants

2020 Rapid Response David A. Gardner ’69 Magic Mini-Grant for Innovation: The Public Transcriptions Project, Martha Sandweiss (History) and Gabriel Swift (Library), Princeton University Humanities Council.

Course Design

HIS 415: Revolution in the Archives. Spring Term 2025. Course Description.

HIS 431/AMS 432: Archiving the American West. A semester course developed around PUL's Western Americana Collection in collaboration with Professor Martha A. Sandweiss (History) and PhD candidate Brian Wright (History). Spring Term 2021. Course Description. Course exhibition.

Outreach & Media

Virtual teaching with Special Collections: ‘Archiving the American West’

Archival materials tell the stories of people from the past — their experiences, struggles and heartache. But who determines the contents of an archive? How do a library’s holdings influence historians? Whose stories get told and whose do not?

America Then and Now: Teaching with Special Collections

This fall semester, Princeton undergraduates in the team-taught course “America Then and Now” explored the shaping of America through a range of experiences in and outside the classroom. In mid-November, the nearly 100 students in the course visited Princeton University Library’s (PUL) Special Collections to gain hands-on experience in archival research.

Exhibitions 

Forthcoming: "’Nursery of Rebellion’: Princeton & the American Revolution.” Curated by Michael Blaakman and Gabriel Swift. Milberg Gallery, Harvey S. Firestone Library, April – July, 2026.

“In the Company of Good Books: From Shakespeare to Morrison.” Milberg Gallery, Harvey S. Firestone Library, 2023.

“A Fine Addition: New & Notable Acquisitions in Princeton’s Special Collections.” Harvey S. Firestone Library, February – August, 2012.

“Literary Sketches: Authors as Artists.” The Lilly Library, May – August, 2011.

“Of Cabbages and Kings: Unexpected Treasures of the Lilly Library.” Curated by Rebecca Cape, Erika Dowell, and Gabriel Swift. The Lilly Library, May – August, 2010.

“The Remarkable Characters of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.”  Curated by Rebecca Cape, Gabriel Swift, and Maddie Thompson. The Lilly Library, August – December, 2009.

“Remembering Ian Fleming: An Exhibition in Honor of the 100th Birthday of Ian Fleming.”  Curated by Gabriel Swift. The Lilly Library, May – October, 2008.