Amanda J. Carter: Week 9 (July 30-Aug 03, 2012) @ the HistoryMakers

As week 9 draws to a close, I realize how quickly things are moving along.  We have only three more weeks of this summer immersion program and then we are off to our host institutions.  I am excited to be getting back to Nashville and to work with Dr. Jessie Carney Smith and Archivist Beth Howse in the special collections of Franklin Library, Fisk University.  I enjoy academia and look forward to the opportunity to provide physical and intellectual access to the unique African American collections held there.   I have been editing the final details of my presentation about my work at Fisk so I am ready for the presentation date of August 16.  I still need to add information about the Back to School Program that HistoryMakers will be producing in Nashville since it also appears to be another of our public participation projects.  My only concern now is that I find a place to live in time.  I have had a couple of possibilities, but they have all fallen through the cracks.  Fortunately, I do know the area so I do know of a few other places to look if all else fails. 

Other than taking some extra time throughout the week to finalize my presentation, I have continued to work with Fellow Cynthia to arrange and describe our special collections.  We easily finished An Evening With Della Reese early in the week and spent the rest of the week on An Evening with Earl Graves.  Since the Earl Graves fundraising event raised almost $1 million, much information was retained.  So far we have at least six or seven Hollinger boxes containing hundreds of folders since every sponsor who donated over a certain amount is listed it its own folder regardless of the amount of material preserved that pertain to that contribution.   Furthermore, as the Fellows go through the collections, we usually find files relating to other collections in which case we deliver them to the Fellow who is processing that collection.  This has resulted in an additional number of binders and folders for Earl Graves.  It appears that his may be our largest collection yet as we are maybe only two-thirds of the way through it.

The amount of folders we have been using almost became a problem by mid-week as we ran low.  One employee in the office seemed repeatedly shocked by the number of folders we are using for these special collections.  However, to do this job accurately and uniformly according to the direction and standards of The HistoryMakers, it takes a plethora of supplies.  Fortunately, acid-free folders are easier to come by than are Hollinger boxes so the problem should be relatively easily diverted.

On Tuesday, just after a going-away party for a favored employee, we spoke with Dr. Cecilia Salvatore about professional development and we received suggestions for groups and listservs to join in areas that define our interests.  Dr. Christopher Reed arrived on Wednesday to discuss modern-era racism and African American struggles.  Fellow Ardra requested a need for a balance between the struggles and the accomplishments and I tend to agree.  While it is imperative to understand the struggles African Americans have overcome throughout the centuries, it is just as imperative to hear success stories so as to balance the pain and anguish of the mistreatment and struggles themselves.  Because there have been so many layers of struggle, it is understandable that we become inundated with discussion of them.  However, it is always helpful and enlightening to give equal weight to a discussion of those who overcame the struggles and were able to succeed.  I also understand the difficulty in that balance when discussing the last half of the 20^th century.  So much happened that it can be quite a challenge to maintain a balanced discussion in such a limited timeframe.


Stacks and stacks of Civil War journals

The highlight of the week was the tour of the Great Lakes Region National Archives and Records Administration in Chicago.  While I was obtaining my MSIS degree, I was often told how difficult it was to get into archives and how I needed to have some sort of back-up plan.  I kept concentrating my studies in archives, but I did branch out into government documents, as well, even completing an Federal Depository and Library Program (FDLP) practicum.  I am impressed with the amount of freely available information that is provided by the government so I really did appreciate the classes.  That experience combined with a federal libraries course that allowed us to tour ten federal libraries in the Washington, D.C. area, including the National Archives and Records Administration’s branch there, helped me to develop a fascination with the National Archives.  I think it might be a great place to work as long as I were able to concentrate on processing African American and other underrepresented cultural archives.  I did enjoy the tour of the facility and appreciate the materials they gave us that will help me with future researchers as well as in my own personal genealogy research.


The Chicago Seven and the 1968 Democratic National Convention

Now it is on to next week.  We will only be working in Chicago for two days before we leave for San Diego and the Society of American Archivists annual conference:  Beyond Borders.  I am very excited since I have never been to California nor have I attended an SAA conference.  I look forward to the new experiences and to be able to network among colleagues with whom I hope to have a long and enduring relationship much like the wonderful relationships I am developing with my fellow Fellows during this summer immersion program.  I must attribute a large portion of my growth and development throughout this program to my fellow participants from whom I learn so much each and every day.

Until next week…

Amanda J. Carter

Franklin Library, Fisk University

2012-2013 The HistoryMakers IMLS Fellow