Week Three at Fisk

Hello all,

As you all know, I am very much into library history, archives, and library science programs in HBCUs. So, I became crazy excited when I discovered papers on the closing of Hampton Institute's Library Science program, which closed in 1940. In that same box was papers discussing the opening of the Atlanta University's Library Science School in 1941, which was organized to replace the program at Hampton. I have become more and more interested in the history of library science programs set up to bring more African Americans in the field because I strongly believe it is one of the top ways to recruit more into the field.

Aisha Johnson

Week Three at MSA

Last Friday was Back to the School with the HistoryMakers at Dunbar High School in Baltimore. Chief Judge Robert Mack Bell, Dr. Leslie King-Hammond, and James Earl Reid were warmly welcomed by the students and had lunch with them before two school assemblies, which were unfortunately cut short due to a fire alarm.

I have about a week left of training before I start working on my main projects with the recently digitized records of the Maryland State Colonization Society. I’ll be creating case studies and writing biographies in order to inform researchers and other members of the public about the rich information within the records. I’ve posted more about the society’s purpose and history on my blog. In between training sessions, I'm also reading up on the history of the colony in Richard L. Hall's On Afric's Shore: A History of Maryland in Liberia, 1834-1857.

Week Three at Amistad

Week three was AWESOME!  I had the honor of meeting Mr. John M. O'Neal and his wife when they stopped by to visit the Amistad Research Center.  He was very enthusiastic about the archival processing of his papers.  I also participated in the HistoryMakers' Back-to-School program, where I met blues, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll musician, singer, and bandleader, Deacon John Moore, better known as Deacon John.  He is a local favorite on the New Orleans music scene.  At the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), Deacon John talked to sixty high school freshmen students about the importance of education and followed his presentation with two crowd-pleasing songs.  It was an extraordinary performance of high acclaim!

Week Two at Amistad

During week two at the Amistad Research Center, I discovered some interested historical treasures while surveying the John M. O'Neal papers.  The O'Neal papers document his artistic style and vision as an actor, director, playwright, and community and civil rights activist.  One finding is... click here for more information.

Week Three at Avery

Aaisha from Charleston! Week three went really well. I worked on social media most of the week, especially after attending a webinar on subject guides (check out my blog post on archivaldaze for more).  I began working on a mock-up for Avery and it has been an interesting progression. As for archival processing I worked on Prince Hall, Order of the Eastern Star paper collection. The collection has been rehoused by an intern/volunteer, but has not been separated into series and no description has been written, so I will be working on doing that part this week (week four).

On Friday September 23^rd I went to Springfield Elementary to participate in the HistoryMakers Back-to-School initiative, which I would declare a success. Look for a notice to be posted to the Avery’s Facebook page about it. Co-founder of Avery Research Center and Honorable Lucille Whipper visited the school and talked for about forty-five minutes to approximately seventy-five fifth graders. The other Back-to-School participate was Rev. Joseph Darby, who went back to Charleston Progressive Academy. I was not able to attend this one, but I am sure that it went well!

Thank you Honorable Lucille Whipper and Rev. Joseph Darby for your participation!

P.S. The photos for the Daughters of the Dust Conference have been posted to Avery’s Facebook page, so check it out!

http://tinyurl.com/3haez54

http://tinyurl.com/62h6b8l

Week Three: Back To School!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi all and greetings from Alabama!

Cheylon here, and I would like to let you all know that the Back To School Prograt at the Alabama Department of Archives and History was a wonderful sucess! I want to take the time to thank Col. Roosevelt Lewis Jr., Dr. Gwendolyn Patton, and Honorable Judge Vanzetta Penn McPherson for their participation and the encouraging words they provided the students at the 7 schools that participated across the state. we had 154 students participate via the distance learning program in Alabama, and the children asked very insightful and timely questions to our pannel. Again, I say thank you to all of the participants.

Week Two

Hi all, and greetings from Montgomery!

This is the end of week two here at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, and I am busy processing more and more collections! I have now processed a total of 9 collections and I learned how to mend paper! I personally enjoyed mending paper, because it is like putting together an historical puzzle that is full of interesting facts that provide a more in depth view into life in the 19th century!

Week One from Alabama!

Hi all!
I am Cheylon Woods, and I am placed at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, and I am so excited to be here! I have completed my first week at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, which is located in downtown Montgomery, Alabama, and I am very excited about the new wonderful opportunities! The staff is so warm and welcoming, and everyone is excited about the collections that they are working one. After my orientation I processed four collection, including a collection including documentation on the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Citizens’ Council.  If you would like to see more of the collection and exhibits at ADAH, just visit their website at www.archives.state.al.us.

Week Two at Avery

Aaisha here from Charleston! Week two was great too. I was busy with completing the finding aid for the Lecque family papers and helping to organize the Daughters of the Dust conference/symposium that was held last Friday and Saturday. We had a great turnout (when the pictures becoming available, I will share).  The papers that were read analyzed the film from various perspectives including, but not limited to the impact of identity, the use of religion and spirituality in the film, mother and daughter relationships, the importance of home, the importance of remembering who you are, the impact the film had on people’s lives, intersectionality, the use of cooking and food in the film, sexuality, gender norms, etc.  Julie Dash (the director) was here as well as some of the cast and crew members to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the film.

Before the conference I had heard of the film and that it was important in terms of exploring the life of Black women in the Gullah culture, but it was not until this past weekend that I fully understood the layers of complexity within the film and the impact it had on people.  Due to feeling under the weather I was not able to attend the outdoor viewing of the film, but it is showing this weekend, so hopefully I will be able to make it and actually see the film that people talked about last weekend. 

The conference also renewed my interest in foreign film and informed me of some African American male and female filmmakers that I did not know previously. One of the interesting people that I met there was Nicole Shivers, who is the education specialist at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. She and other staff members did a week-long program at the museum for middle and high school students to introduce them to both African and African American and non-African and African American films so that they can analyze them and develop visual literacy.

Week Two at MSA

I'm still getting lots of training on state and county records and am beginning to learn more about the Maryland State Colonization Society. One of the primary purposes of the Maryland State Colonization Society was to rid the state of free people of color. Among the Society’s records are lists of slaves manumitted throughout Maryland. Agents of the Society would then try to recruit these freed people to emigrate to the colony in West Africa. The lists contain fascinating demographic information such as the name, age, occupation, and county of residence of the freed people as well as information about how they were freed (such as by deed or will), when their freedom would commence, and the name of their former slave owners. As one example, thirty-two year old Maria Datcher (line 100), a former house servant, was manumitted "henceforth" by her owner, John Snider of Washington County. The remarks note that Maria was unwilling to go to Liberia, preferring instead to move to Pennsylvania. 

Krystal

Week 2

I haven't yet started processing my collection, but while I was putting together an exhibit I found some interesting items.  The most interesting item was a slave register listing the slaves by name and duty (e.g. field hand, breeder, drivers, cooks etc.).  Another interesting item I pulled was a pamphlet warning African Americans not to go to South Africa. 

Week Two: Share your ongoing projects and significant findings

Hello all!

Aisha here. Just keeping weekly post going. This week tell us about anything you found significant in your ongoing projects. This does not have to be a long post. :-) You can insert the link to your blog for readers.

Ok, so during week two, I came across letters from Booker T. Washington to Julius Rosenwald discussing the plans to build six schoolhouses with the funds Rosenwald gave to Washington. This ultimately became the Julius Rosenwald School Fund. The letters are very giving of information and plans. You can read more about it at http://adventuresofanarchvist.blogspot.com/.

Happy Archiving,
Aisha

Week One at Amistad

Flying to New Orleans in the midst of Tropical Storm Lee was extremely frightening. But, after a turbulent voyage and a weekend of heavy rainfall and gusting winds, I began my first day at the Amistad Research Center (ARC) with welcoming smiles.  I received a friendly welcome from the Executive Director of Amistad, Lee Hampton, Director of Processing, Laura Thomson, Director of Library and Reference Services, Christopher Harter, and the Center’s entire staff. After a brief staff meeting, I toured the repository with Laura.

 

My first week at ARC has been educational. There is a lot of valuable material at ARC and researchers can certainly take advantage of over 600 manuscript collections and 200,000 books documenting Africana and ethnic history.  For me, the biggest thing right now is familiarizing myself with the institutional holdings and focusing on my individual projects, including processing the papers of playwright and community activist, John M. O’Neal. 

 

In addition, I appraised two small collections, developed appraisal reports, created container lists and accessioned the records in Archon database management system. One of the collections I appraised provides an extensive view into the life of an African American classical musician.

 

It is interesting work…

Week One at The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum

During my first week at the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum I cataloged, developed condition reports, shelved and was introduced to cloud computing . Currently,  the NEH has a grant that provides funding to encourage innovation in the digital humanities. My main duty at the moment is to write a grant that would fund a symposim to discuss cloud computing as a viable means to organize and provide access to digital items in an archive.  Some of the participants I hope to include in this symposium is the archivist at Sony (a friend of MCLM), a digital preservationist, and local M.L.I.S. students.

At the end of this month, I will begin my personal project of processing Mayme A. Clayton's personal papers. Some item will be pulled for digitization and included in the cloud. 

Week One at MSA

Last week was my first week at the Maryland State Archives (MSA) in Annapolis. I was warmly welcomed by Emily Oland Squires, Director of Research and Student Outreach, Chris Haley, Director of Research for the Study of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland, Dr. Edward Papenfuse, the Maryland State Archivist, and the entire staff at the Maryland State Archives. 

I spent most of my first week familiarizing myself with the Legacy of Slavery and MSA websites. I also began training with different staff members throughout the Archives. First off were sessions on how to conduct research using Maryland vital records and the United States census. I have many opportunities to practice what I learn, including going into the stacks to look up 100 year-old birth and death records in huge bound registers. Finding information on a particular person often involves looking through an index on one floor and then going to another floor to find the actual birth record or death certificate. Many records may also be available on microfilm or electronically.

After about a month of training, I’ll start working on projects centered on the Legacy of Slavery, particularly on the records of the Maryland State Colonization Society. I'll discuss the Maryland State Colonization Society and the Legacy of Slavery Project in greater depth in future posts.

Week One!

Aaisha here, from Charleston! What can I say about my first week, well-it was awesome. Since, I visited earlier in the year I was already familiar with the staff and they welcomed me back with smiles and nice greetings. It has been an adjustment not only to the work environment, but also to the Southern culture.

This week I worked on two collections, one was the Humane and Friendly Society, which was a benevolent society created by free Blacks in Charleston, South Carolina in 1802/1803 to provide support for widows, to provide a place for burial, and also supported educational and training for African American males. It was a small collection, but it was a good way to get my feet wet in understanding the history of Black Charleston. Now I am working on Lecque (aka Leque) Family papers collection, which is small collection too, but has required me to do a lot of genealogical research on the family. Other activities that I have participated in include staff meetings regarding placing oral histories online at the http://lowcountrydigital.library.cofc.edu/ and the planning of the Daughters of the Dust conference, which is happening this weekend (Friday-Saturday).

When I am not at work, I take time to walk downtown, attend farmer’s markets (which have spicy pickles), drink coffee, and soak in the historic markers of Charleston.

Next week, look for a reflection on the conference and updates on archival processing, until next time, stay safe and acid free.

More Information about the Conference can be found here

http://go.savannahnow.com/charleston-sc/events/show/175801025-daughters-of-the-dust-conference

http://avery.cofc.edu/daughters/

Week One: Tell us about your experience!

Hello all,

my week one experience here was amazing! Yes, Dr. Smith welcomed me with opened arms, as did everyone here did. We also had lunch together. It is a close community and I am really enjoying that. I have a large office on the third floor with plenty of workspace. I was exposed to their archives, which included the Rosenwald and James Weldon Johnson collection (each over 600 boxes) as well as other processed and unprocessed collections. I started accessioning the Samuel Leonard Smith collection my first day and I have found it to be very rewarding. I don't want to drag this on too much...I would be repeating my own blog. Please check it out and subscribe: Adventures of an Archivist http://adventuresofanarchvist.blogspot.com/

I hope all is well for everyone,
Aisha