Colleen Joy Shogan

Colleen Joy Shogan (born September 30, 1975) is an American author and academic serving as Archivist of the United States since May 17, 2023, succeeding Acting Archivist Debra Wall. Prior to her confirmation as Archivist, Shogan was the director of the David M. Rubenstein Center for White House History at the White House Historical Association.

Early life and education
Born and raised in Greater Pittsburgh, Shogan was encouraged to read mysteries by her late mother, Patricia, and started with books from the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series. Shogan graduated from Norwin High School.

She was a first-generation college student in her family and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Boston College and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in American politics from Yale University.

Career
After earning her PhD, Shogan worked as an associate professor of government and politics at George Mason University. She is the author of Moral Rhetoric of American Presidents, a book on the rhetorical presidency. Shogan later joined the Library of Congress, where she served as assistant deputy for collections and deputy director of the Congressional Research Service. Shogan worked as the vice chair of the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission and taught as an adjunct professor in the government department at Georgetown University.

She is the author of eight murder mystery novels, featuring Washington congressional aide Kit Marshall, with titles that include Stabbing in the Senate, Homicide in the House, and Larceny at the Library. "They're puzzles, and I like to solve puzzles," she said in 2023 about her novels.

National Archives and Records Administration
On August 13, 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Shogan to be 11th Archivist of the United States.

The U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee held two hearings to consider Shogan's nomination. The first hearing was held on September 21, 2022, and the panel were deadlocked on her nomination by a 7–7 party-line vote and did not advance Shogan's nomination. Second hearing was held February 28, 2023. On March 15, 2023, the committee advanced Shogan’s nomination by an 8–4 vote.

During the hearings, Shogan stated that she would not publish the Equal Rights Amendment as part of the United States Constitution, stating that the job of the archivist is to publish constitutional amendments following proper ratification, not to decide when an amendment is published, in line with a Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel memo on the subject in January 2020. Shogan's views were criticized by the ERA Coalition. Shogan also pledged to reduce the backlog of "over 300,000 veterans’ records requests", calling it the "most important discrete problem" facing her, and said she would be looking for ways to declassify older historical records. She further promised transparency on records related to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, committed to working with U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff on Civil Rights Cold Cases, stated that she would "welcome all Americans to the National Archives" if confirmed, and said she would serve in a "nonpartisan, apolitical capacity". In her opening statement at the September 2021 hearing, she also pledged to find "creative ways" to make the National Archives more efficient, build upon existing public-private partnerships, and engage underrepresented groups in "meaningful ways".

On May 4, 2023, the United States Senate invoked cloture on Shogan’s nomination by a 53–44 vote. On May 10, 2023, Shogan was confirmed as the 11th Archivist of the United States by a 52–45 vote, with her term beginning the following week. She was sworn in and began work on May 17, 2023, with her first briefing focused on addressing the "backlog of veterans’ records" and speaking with National Personnel Records Center leaders. On January 24, 2024, the National Archives announced the elimination of the "pandemic-related backlog of veteran records" at the National Personnel Records Center. Shogan is the first woman appointed as Archivist of the United States.

Fiction
The Washington Whodunit series: