Katherine M. Ruffin teaches the history of the book at the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons University. She holds an AB in philosophy from Bryn Mawr College, an MFA in the Book Arts from the University of Alabama, and a PhD in Library and Information Science from Simmons University.
Ruffin is the Director of the Book Studies Program and a Lecturer in Art at Wellesley College, where her teaching practice focuses on incorporating letterpress printing, bookbinding, and papermaking with various aspects of the liberal arts curriculum. She teaches the history of 19th and 20th century typography and printing at Rare Book School at the University of Virginia. Her research interests include pedagogy for the book arts and book studies, and the history of the book, particularly typography and printing. Her book A Printer with My Hands: The Life and Work of Carl P. Rollins will be published by The Legacy Press in 2025.
In 2024, the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alabama honored Ruffin with an Outstanding Book Arts Alumnae Award and the University of Alabama Graduate School named her a Graduate Centennial Scholar. In 2022, she was elected to membership in the American Antiquarian Society. From 2016 to 2020, Ruffin served as Vice President for Publications for the American Printing History Association. In 2017, she gave the Hofer Lecture at Harvard University’s Houghton Library: “Books as Portals: Reading and Responding to Historical Collections in the 21st Century.”