Rachel Stein is an academic librarian and cultural historian of medieval and early modern Spain, Portugal, and their empires. She holds a Ph.D. in Latin American and Iberian Cultures from Columbia University; M.A. in Spanish from Middlebury College; and B.A. in the College of Letters from Wesleyan University. Her dissertation examined the printing of books on America, Africa, and Asia in 17th-century Lisbon, tracing global production networks across coordinates as diverse as Mexico City, Isla Margarita, Buenos Aires, Bahía, Antwerp, Madrid, and Goa. Her research has been supported by the Andrew W. Mellon-Rare Book School Fellowship in Critical Bibliography, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento, and A Studio in the Woods. She has published book reviews and articles in The Journal of Early Modern History, The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, and Iberian Connections.

In addition to being affiliated faculty at the Brooklyn Institute, Rachel has taught in-person and online courses on the history of the book in Latin America for the University of Virginia’s Rare Book School. She is a published translator and has edited the Spanish subtitles for the Metropolitan Opera. Before pursuing an academic career, Rachel lived in Madrid, Spain, for five years, working as a copy editor, translator, and dance teacher. She is currently Scholarly Engagement Librarian at Tulane University Libraries in New Orleans, Louisiana.