Director of the Edith Stein Archive in Cologne

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She directs the Edith Stein Archive and is responsible for its scholarly profile, the care, cataloguing, and development of its collections, as well as for the Archive’s strategic development. Her responsibilities include providing academic support to researchers, conceiving and coordinating research and collection-development projects, expanding international collaborations, and planning and overseeing publications and scholarly formats.

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In her own research, she focuses on Edith Stein and phenomenology, in particular on the question of Stein’s position within the tension between realism and idealism. Further research interests include German phenomenology (among others, Edmund Husserl, Adolf Reinach, and Max Scheler) as well as philosophy of religion.

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In addition to her work at the Archive, she has been teaching since 2024 at the Jesuit University Ignatianum in Kraków and collaborates as a lecturer with Sabiduría atrévete a pensar in Mexico.

Research Associate

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Lucrezia Zanardi is a media artist and a doctoral candidate in the field of photography and cultural memory at the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, in cooperation with Radboud University Nijmegen. From 2020 to 2024, she worked at the Edith Stein Archive in Cologne on an archive-based research project focusing on Edith Stein’s photographic legacy.

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Since January 2025, she has been a research associate at the Edith Stein Archive and is responsible for the conception and implementation of the digitization project of the photographic collection. Her responsibilities include the systematic cataloguing, digitization, and archival organization of the visual materials, as well as the development of an image database in accordance with archival standards.

 

She is also the author of the exhibitions “On the Problem of Empathy: A Photographic Investigation” (2022, 2025), which were realized at the Edith Stein Archive.

Institutional Communication and Visual Design

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Jenifer Maldonado Guardado holds a degree in Communication Studies from the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara and has an interdisciplinary academic background in communication, education, and ethics. She also holds a Master’s degree in Education, with a focus on neuroscience. 

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She has experience in institutional communication, content development, and the creation of editorial, audiovisual, and digital materials, as well as in providing communicative support for academic and cultural projects.

 

At the Edith Stein Archive in Cologne, she works in the area of communication. She is involved in the development and implementation of the Archive’s visual identity and plays a key role in shaping and maintaining its digital presence, particularly on social media. In addition, she designs key communication materials, provides communicative support for events and public formats, and contributes to the visibility and public profile of the Archive at both the national and international levels.

Archive and Library Support

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Francesca Mehles is a student at the Cologne University of Catholic Theology. She supports the ongoing work of the Archive and the library, particularly in the care, organization, and supervision of the collections. In addition, she is involved in administrative tasks as well as in the organization and support of scholarly events.

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In addition, she has contributed to the editorial work on the Archive’s publications, including a special issue of Steiniana. Revista de estudios interdisciplinarios, No. 10 (2025) (ISSN 0719-872). In the future, she will also be responsible for managing the Archive’s social media channels.

Library Support

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From 1979 to 2020, she worked as a qualified librarian at the Archdiocesan Diocesan and Cathedral Library of Cologne, with a particular focus on book acquisition and cataloguing.

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After her retirement, she has been supporting the Edith Stein Archive in Cologne in the care and development of the library collection. Her responsibilities include in particular the cataloguing of books for the online catalogue, the assignment of shelf marks, as well as the maintenance and organization of the holdings. Thanks to her many years of professional experience, she makes a significant contribution to the ongoing development of the Archive’s library.