Kim Vaz-Deville is a scholar, writer, cultural preservationist based in New Orleans, and a Knight of the Order of Academic Palms, a distinction awarded by the French Republic. Vaz-Deville works at the intersection of history, memory, and community archives.

Her current project, "Archive Funèbres: A Celebration of Louisiana Life," developed with Rudy Bazenet-Tilton, Scott Bazenet-Tilton, and the New Orleans Foundation for Francophone Cultures (NOUS), collects and digitizes funeral programs from African American, Native American, and Louisiana Creole (Kouri-Vini) communities in South Louisiana. Supported by the Mellon Foundation's Community Based Archives program, the project preserves the biographical, genealogical, and cultural records contained in funeral programs, often the most detailed public record of a life, ensuring that these histories remain accessible to families, researchers, and future generations.

The project began with a simple thought after returning home from funerals: someone should collect these. Now, they are.