She is the author of many books, articles and essays, including Harlem Guaranteed: The Photographic Legacy of James VanDerZee (2002). Dr. Finley is the co-founder with Dr. Laura Wexler of Photographic Memory Workshop at Yale University in 1998, where she also received her Ph.D. in the Departments of African American Studies and History of Art in 2002. The recipient of numerous awards and grants, her research has been supported by the Ford Foundation, the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, among others. Dr. Finley is completing a manuscript on the cultural memory of the slave ship icon as well as a monograph on the artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons.