Eleana Silk is this week’s Notable Woman, nominated for her work as an author, an archivist, and as librarian of the St. Vladimir’s Seminary Father Georges Florovsky Library for over thirty years.
Eleana was born in Detroit, Michigan, and studied zoology and geology at Michigan State and George Washington University, working as a computer programmer before attending St. Vladimir’s Seminary for her Masters of Divinity in 1986. “When I walked through the gates of the seminary [one summer], I knew I was going to come back as a student someday,” she said. Ten years after that day, she arrived and was given her first work assignment as assistant librarian, setting her on a career trajectory for the next forty years.
Eleana went on to complete her Master of Arts in Religious Education at St. Vladimir's in 1988 and a Master of Library Science from Columbia University in 1989. She became one of the driving forces building SVS’s library into the most important resources the Seminary has to offer - including the digitization of the library catalog throughout the 1990s, and the construction and organization of a brand new library building that opened in 2002. Under her watch, as the collection grew from 43,000 to over 180,000 volumes, Librarian of Congress James Billington called it “the richest library of Eastern Christian holdings in the western hemisphere.”
“Eleana was one of my primary go-to people whenever I needed to tap the vast ‘institutional memory’ of this place,” recalled Seminary President Rev. Dr. Chad Hatfield. Other seminary students remember her as “incredibly helpful, incredibly knowledgeable, and a little bit fearsome.”
“Any time I would ask her help or for a book she set out immediately to help or to find the book. There was never a question or a doubt or an exasperation or a correction, just took pleasure in being an excellent librarian, which means connecting you with the information,” one recalled.
"So many students, so many graduating classes,” Eleana reflected, noting that library resources are now accessed by visiting scholars from all over the world, both Orthodox and not. She even remembers getting one interlibrary loan from the White House back in the day.
In addition to her work for the Seminary, Eleana served on the OCA’s Metropolitan Council and Department of History and Archives, as secretary of the Orthodox Christian Education Commission, on the board of trustees for St. Herman Orthodox Theological Seminary in Alaska, and was a member of many associations including the American Library Association, Oral History Association, Fellowship Orthodox Stewards, and the Orthodox Theological Society of America. She is the co-editor of The Legacy of St. Vladimir and author of numerous articles for The Orthodox Church, The FROC Journal and the OCA's Resource Handbook for Lay Ministries.
“I have especially appreciated meeting and working with the many people who have donated materials to the library over the years," she says. In 2019, she retired from her post as librarian after over thirty years, the longest tenure of any SVS librarian by far.
“Whether working in cramped quarters in the old library ‘back in the old days,’ or laboring to organize the ‘new library,’ or coordinating work on the faculty council, or simply helping students or visitors find the resources they needed, Eleana was a beloved part of our seminary experience,” wrote alumni and friends. “Eleana has touched the lives of seminarians from dozens of countries, from most states and provinces in North America, from all the canonical Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions, and from our friends in the Oriental Orthodox Communion.
“She welcomed new students, she supported struggling seminarian families, she sang alto in the seminary choir--and she always cared deeply about our seminary, its mission, and our formation.”
Since retiring, Eleana has faced many health challenges and resulting medical bills. Alumni have organized a fund to support her in a time of medical need. If you would like to donate toward Eleana’s fund, you can learn more at the link here.