I
am approaching my year anniversary of working as the Visiting Archivist for
African American Collections at the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and
Rare Book Library. I cannot believe it has already been a year since my first
day of work! I have learned a lot since I began working at the Rose Library.
Prior to working in the Rose Library, I had processed one small collection that
prepared me a bit but I learned processing a large collection is more complex.
I trained with my supervisor Carrie Hintz to learn the ins and outs of
processing at Rose. I also consulted with the processing manual. As much as the
processing portion to working in an archive interested me, I still wanted to
learn about the other departments. I began a sort of residency working within
different areas.
Cleaning printed material in the Preservation Office |
My next rotation is working with Meaghan O'Riordan, she the Accessioning and Collections Manager. I have been working with Meaghan to learn about accessioning additions to collections and new collections. I have successfully accessioned a few additions into our African-American photography, Black Print Culture and African-American miscellany collections. Simultaneously, I have been working with Beth Shoemaker who is our rare book cataloger learning how to catalog, create new MARC records and edit MARC records.
My
primary duties consists of working with Collection Services processing archival
collections, however I also work on the Research Services side. In Research
Services, I have learned how to provide reference services for patrons, use
AEON to print call slips & request materials, schedule appointments and
help patrons create a special collections account. I learned Research Services
is the first line of defense to making sure our archival collections are
actively being used with care. I also work within the Reading Room which all of
the staff members divide responsibility of a two-hour shift, once a week. The
Reading Room staff has a large responsibility to making sure the rules are
being followed so the archival collections can continue to be accessed for
years to come.
The
reason I have elected to work in so many different areas of the Rose Library is
that I want to make sure I am prepared for my next journey. I know many
repositories have a staff of three to five people for the entire special
collections library. In my next journey,
I might be the only person in collection services or research services so I
want to have a large skill-set by the end of my position. As I am entering into
my second year of this fellowship, I have many goals I would like to achieve.
One of my goals is to grow my skill-set in the area of digital archiving and
using digital humanities tools. I am working
on achieving this by working on a digital humanities proposal with Elizabeth
Russey Roke who is the digital archivist. I am elated I have had the support of
my supervisor and the digital archivist to move this forward. My second goal
for year two is to participate in public services programming of some kind
pertaining to the Mari Evans papers. I have also had the support of my
supervisor, public services and the leadership team so I am looking forward to
planning.
Currently
I am beginning the first steps on my next collection to process and that will
be the James E. Hinton photographs and papers. James E. Hinton was a New York
based photographer who captured some iconic photos during the Civil Rights
Movement in the South and North. I am in the early stages of beginning a first
sort of the collection but one photo that stood out to me is a photo of H. Rap
Brown holding a baby in one hand and a rifle in another. The Brown photograph
was a powerful photograph for a powerful man; it really captured the essence of
the time. I look forward to uncovering more in the Hinton Collection.
Outside of my processing duties, I
am one of the Library Employee Advocacy Forum representatives for the Rose
Library. LEAF meets monthly to discuss employee concerns and hosts monthly
coffees to increase staff engagement and communication. I am also working as
social media coordinator for Georgia Archives month and will be promoting
Georgia's archives up until the Society of Georgia Archivists annual meeting in
October. I am participating with the Atlanta Black Archives Alliance, ABAA exists to enhance the visibility of Atlanta’s African American
archival collections in order to educate and empower diverse communities. ABAA
meets monthly at archival institutions
throughout the city to develop tools for researchers and program ideas for
community outreach, all around Atlanta’s rich African American cultural
resources. The Rose Library presented on collections and hosted the latest
meeting for July. My year in review has
been a lengthy one, which displays just how much I have learned thus far.
I have had a wealth of great
experiences in just a year of being at the Rose Library. I look forward to my
second year being even more engaging. I appreciate the flexibility I have to
broaden my skill-set, which is crucial for an early career professional.
Charmaine Bonner
Visiting Archivist for African American Collections
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library
Emory University