Week Eight at MSA

I started off the week touring historic sites around Annapolis. The Maryland State Archives hosted a War of 1812 workshop for Anne Arundel County. I attended the workshop's morning tours to Fort Nonsense, the U.S. Naval Academy Museum, and the Maryland State House. In the afternoon, I went to the Banneker-Douglass Museum, the state’s official repository of African American material culture, with other staff to help install our exhibit, Flee! Stories of Flight from Maryland in Black and White.

Much of the rest of the week I spent record stripping from manumission lists to populate our new database. I worked with another staff member to revamp the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland brochure. I also prepared and discussed a social media plan with my supervisors, and we hope to launch it shortly!

For details of my meanderings around Maryland, please visit my blog.

Week 8 at Fisk

This week was eventful and very exciting. I would spill it all here, but, I wrote so much in my own blog.

This week we hosted our Archives Celebration Month event where we exhibited many collections including the Jubilee Singers, Aaron Douglas, W.E.B. Du Bois, Naomi Long Madgett, Charles S. Johnson, James Weldon Johnson, the Spence Family and others. We are in the process of getting the "ok" to leave up the exhibit since we have plenty of space for researchers.

In addition, we attended the Tennessee Archivist conference with the theme of church/religious records in the state of Tennessee. I was surprised to see so many religious archives represented at the conference. It was very nice to meet different types of Archivists and see the support within the archival community.

To find out what it took to get such a large exhibit up and my highlights of the Tennessee State Archivist conference, check out my blog "Adventures of an Archivist" @ http://adventuresofanarchvist.blogspot.com/

Good day,
Aisha Johnson

Week Seven at Amistad

I met with Mr. John O’Neal again to discuss the arrangement of his papers at Amistad. O’Neal identified several documents in his collection for processing, including transcripts of interviews for his book proposal. While working with the Free Southern Theater, O’Neal wrote and directed several plays, and in his free time, O’Neal collected a variety of materials for his book, including personal interviews of civil rights advocates.  O’Neal also mentioned he worked with the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) to establish the Free Southern Theater...click here for more information.

Felicia

Week Seven at Avery

Hello Everyone, 

I have to say that reading everyone’s posts makes me jealous and happy for all of us. The work that we are doing is great, is worthwhile, and makes an impact. So give yourself a pat on the back!

This past week and half I have been working on the Order of the Eastern Star collection and finishing up my colleagues work because her time here ran out (she is actually moving to Chicago to start a new job). Therefore, I helped her double check a few facts, labeled the folders, and editing the finding aid. The collection is actually an important collection as it deals with the Craft and Crum Families (the descendants and extended family of William and Ellen Craft) and the collection is highly used as a promotional tool, so it is good that it is finally put together in an orderly fashion.

Robert Chase, who is Avery’s Public Historian, and I have been meeting and corresponding via e-mail with a scholar who has done oral histories (mostly video I think) in Charleston. She wants to make her work more accessible to the broader public, thus, I suggested that she think about making an online collection of her work. However, to expand upon this and to also implement one of my public programming ideas I thought about making a community oral history/digital storytelling project. The exact details of this has not been planned out, but hopefully in the coming months and by the first of the year I can go ahead and put it into place! 

Read more at my blog

Aaisha

"I Come Bearing Gifts:" Pedagogy for the Scholar-Archivists' Soul

 

As if it were yesterday, I remember my first foray into original research. I was working on a research paper pertaining to the Harlem Suitcase theatre, a small Harlem based repertory group for African American thespians and writers, founded by Louise Thompson Patterson and Langston Hughes in the 1930s. Patterson’s papers were newly acquired by Emory University’s Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL), thus began my storied romance with archives. I distinctly recall the nervous excitement and the attendant goose bumps that freckled my arms as I sifted through box after box and folder after folder of correspondence, playbills, scripts, and photographs among other primary sources. In hindsight, this was the beginning of my journey toward becoming a scholar-archivist. 

As an IMLS fellow in the Mudd Manuscript Library at Princeton University, I am often charged with the task of engaging students, many of whom are in the nascent stages of research projects and some who have never stepped foot in an archival repository. It is in these moments, where I draw upon the unique skills that are endemic to the life of a scholar-archivist, illuminating the practical and intellectual uses of archival records.  To begin, I closely read, sometimes two or three times, the instructor’s syllabus to get a sense of the questions and ethos that shapes the course. Secondly, I research the library database to find collections that might inform the course’s thematic objectives, and once this is complete, I draft an annotated bibliography of these resources in preparation for the class visit. Throughout this process and in consultation with my colleagues, I am constantly generating questions that will invite students to think more critically about the course and the primary sources at their disposal.

I often open classes with the phrase: “I come bearing gifts,” as students climb into their seats, their eyes bouncing off of the sea of gray and cream hollinger boxes that stand before them.  For me, “bearing gifts” is more than ice-breaker parlance; in my view, there is something far more altruistic in this language. The opportunity to use archives as a pedagogical tool does something special for the scholar-archivists’ soul,  it sparks the imagination; it enlarges the scope of how research can be conducted; it provides students with the tools to produce original scholarship; and it, in fact, still gives me goose bumps.

Brenda Tindal, IMLS Fellow

Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library

Princeton University

Week Seven at The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum

This week 50 volunteers from Southern California Edison (SCE) came in to provide a day of service at The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum.  I was instrumental in the planning and coordination of this event.  Having this many volunteers at one time in a small institution may seem like a daunting task to some, but I was excited for the opportunity! After the successful implementation of this event I learned a lot about time management, multitasking and how to use every hour efficiently. The SCE volunteers were an amazing group, I look forward to working with them again!

Week Seven at MSA

I continued populating our new database with data from manumission lists. I’m also working on updating the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland brochure. On Wednesday, I attended an Underground Railroad gathering at Great Falls Park in Virginia. In addition to networking, I was there to support a couple of my colleagues from the State Archives who gave presentations on their research of slaves escaping to the British side during the War of 1812 and of the wealth of information available about African Americans in the U.S. Colored Troops pension files of the Civil War. Other presentations I found particularly interesting were representatives from the Alexandria Freedmen’s Cemetery, a burial ground for “contraband” during and immediately after the Civil War, and work by staff of the Sotterley Plantation to interpret the history of the plantation’s enslaved people, particularly those who fled to the British during the War of 1812.

I've written about other cultural adventures outside of work at my blog.

Krystal

Week 7 at the Alabama Department of Archives and History

Hello and greetings from Montgomery!

This past week has been very busy for me! I started a new collection that was amassed by a former research archivist here at the Alabama Department of Archives and History, and this has been one of the most challenging collections I have processed. When I first looked through the collection I was very confused because there was no "story." This collection consisted of random newspaper articles, souvenir books, maps, programs, personal papers, and magazine articles that did not appear to be related to each other at all. This collection made me think about all the ways I could arrange the collection, and forced me to look critically at every item in the collection. After 2 days of thought I finally saw that, while the materials did not show a cohesive story, they did represent certain topics like local and state news, cultural articles, social articles, international and national politics, and writings on the Civil Rights Era and/or the Civil Rights Movement.

In addition to processing this very interesting collection I also worked with the monthly community outreach program, which was a discussion about Black gospel quartets and a performance from the Four Eagles gospel quartet out of Birmingham, Alabama. This was a very interesting program and very well attended! I also was interviewed for an online radio show that will air in December! I will be posting links to both the video footage of the public program and the radio show once I have then.

Until Next week!

Cheylon Woods

Week Seven at Fisk Franklin Library

Last week was focused on the upcoming Archives Celebration Month event (Oct 25th) including deciding what will be displayed, the layout for the exhibit, promotion, etc. We are very excited for the event and are expecting a great turn out.
Very exciting news, after the submission of a SAA panel proposal, my colleagues and I have received three endorsement (so far). We are very excited!! In addition, I submitted my poster proposal for National Rosenwald Conference 2012 for the S.L. Smith collection. This would be a great platform for the collection. I also started my research for the Justin Winsor Essay contest for the Library History Roundtable.

Week Six: Black Resistance in the Age of Revolution Conference

I attended the Black Resistance in the Age of Revolution Conference held on the campus of Tulane University. The conference was a symposium commemorating the bicentennial of the 1811 slave uprising in territorial Louisiana, the largest slave rebellion in the history of North America and the United States...click here for more information.

Felicia

September at The HistoryMakers

Greetings,

For the month of September, I worked on The HistoryMakers Back to School initiative. I oversaw the creation of boxes sent to schools to prepare them for the event. It took cooperation and a good team effort to get the boxes out and I greatly appreciated the shipping team's hard work.

Best,

Caitlin

Week Six at The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum

At the conclusion of an event MCLM was holding, four Freedom Riders gave first hand accounts of their experiences in the civil rights movement.  One freedom rider shared a particularly moving story.  In Alabama, he recalls sitting in the whites-only section of the bus .   Although he was very scared at the time, he remembers some African American passengers sitting in the back of the bus shouting at him saying things like, “get back to where you belong” and “know your place.”  His hecklers were silenced by a white woman in the front of the bus sitting near him who stated “he has every right in the world to be sitting there.” 

Besides being amazed by his story, I also took away the importance of providing public programs that incorporate people from the community.  All of the freedom riders that spoke that day were from the Los Angeles region and were happy to share their stories with the patrons of MCLM.  As an archivist, I think it is important to remember the importance of keeping the community involved by providing dynamic programs.

Week Six at MSA

Last week, I visited the Baltimore City Archives to meet with Dr. Papenfuse about my projects during the fellowship. (In 2010, the Maryland State Archives signed a memorandum of understanding with the City of Baltimore to administer the city’s archives. As a result, the State Archivist is the acting City Archivist.)

I’ll have two primary projects. For the first, I’ll be mining the records of the Maryland State Colonization Society for information about people from Kent and Queen Anne’s Counties. This will include writing case studies of selected individuals and populating the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland database with information culled from manumission records and ship manifests.

My other long-term project will be the appraisal of Kent and Queen Anne’s County records. This will involve reviewing two extensive 20^th century historical records surveys to determine if county records are under the appropriate physical and intellectual control of MSA, if any records are missing, and if the county records related to African Americans and slavery are adequately described for discovery.

These are two major but exciting tasks that should provide excellent material for my outreach and social media work!

Krystal

Week 6 at the Alabama Department of Archives and History

Greetings from Montgomery!!!!

This week was Train the Trainer week for me! I spent three days in Jackson Mississippi learning how to develop workshops and seminars for the local communities and fellow archivists. It was wonderful getting to collaborate with other archivists, and it was inspiring to see so many young people excited to join the field! Everyone was very excited about my workshop, as I was about theirs, plus we got to take a tour of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, which is a beautiful facility! I also finished cataloging two collections and started a new collection before I left for training. I am really excited about this new collection becuase it is comprised of pictures from a black middle or upper middle class family. These pictures provide a glimpse into another black culture and society that seems to sometimes go unnoticed, or is marginalized.

Until next week! Be safe and be blessed!

Cheylon Woods

Applications for Harold T. Pinkett Minority Student Award Now Open

If you meet prospective student archivists, be sure to let them know about the Harold T. Pinkett Minority StudentAward! Attending the SAA annual conference is a fantastic opportunity to network with other archivists, to stay updated about the state of the field, and to be re-energized about working in this profession.

The Pinkett Award was established in 1993 to recognize and acknowledge minority graduate students, such as those of African, Asian, Latino or Native American descent, who, through scholastic and personal achievement, manifest an interest in becoming professional archivists and active members of the Society of American Archivists. The award recipient will receive full complimentary registration to the SAA Annual Meeting and related expenses for hotel and travel for attending the SAA Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA, in August 2012. Applications are due by February 28 of each year.

More information and the link to the application can be found here: http://www2.archivists.org/governance/handbook/section12-pinkett

Krystal

Week Six at Avery

This week was quite busy, mainly writing for the Avery blog and Avery Messenger (which is the newsletter sent out to supporters). I am finishing up a blog post about the importance of Community Archiving (CA) and the role of the repository and/or archivist in such a project, which will be part one of a five week series I will do on Community Archiving (not to say that I will not write more about CA after the five weeks are over with). Then for the Messenger, Ms. Mayo and I worked on an article talking about why I am here and what I will be doing while I am here. In addition, I wrote an article about Community Archiving/Archives, mainly highlighting the reasons why communities decide to undertake such a project.

On Thursday and Friday, I worked on processing the Order of the Eastern Star collection, encoding the box and folder listing and this week I am working on the collection overview and historical note.

For more on my thoughts for the week, check here

Have a good day!!

Aaisha

September with The HistoryMakers

Greetings friends, archivists, countrymen:

This message is a bit tardy, but I hope it's welcome.  During the month of September, I worked on the 2nd Annual "Back To School With The HistoryMakers" Program.  This is a national initiative during which prominent African Americans visit elementary, middle, or high schools on a designated day in order to encourage students to COMMIT to their educations.  My activities included composing confirmation letters to all participants as well as helping to assemble event tool kits for the participating schools.  I also assisted the packaging team in assuring all these items were sent in time for the event and generally lent a hand where needed.

~A. L. Bottoms, MLIS

Week 6 at Fisk

This week, I worked hard on the processing the Rosenwald section of the Samuel Leonard Smith collection. This is a lot of work...but, I'm enjoying every bit of it. In addition, I worked promotion for the Archives Weeks celebration at the Franklin Library to be posted on the Fisk University Facebook page and Twitter account. I also gather my notes together for the submission of a poster proposal for the National Rosenwald conference 2012. The Tennessee Archivist Conference is next week and I am looking forward to that as well.

Aisha Johnson

Week 5 at The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum

The are a lot of events happening at the Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum. Last week we had 100 elementary school students come in for a tour of the facilities.  During this tour they get a hands on experience by donning white gloves to touch items from the collection.  The goal of this is to teach the children the importance of handling archival items gently and more importantly, not to touch the items on the walls!  The whole event concludes with a press conference with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  An actor portraying Dr. King recites an excerpt of his "I Have a Dream" speech and then takes questions from the audience.  The children are very receptive to this and enjoy hearing him speak. 

Week Five at Amistad

During week five, I continued to arrange O’Neal’s civil rights organizations series and I found another interesting document – a memorandum from the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project Staff that was sent to the Mississippi Freedom School Teachers. The memorandum describes an overview and purpose of the Freedom Schools, which was to provide an educational experience for African American students in Mississippi and the South and foster social and political participation in the Civil Rights Movement…click here for more information.

Felicia 

Week Four at Amistad

I finished sorting the John O’Neal papers and began processing his civil rights organizations series. These files encompass reports, correspondence and meeting notes of O’Neal’s involvement with several civil rights organizations.  O’Neal graduated from Southern Illinois University and became a Field Secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Georgia and Mississippi. O’Neal also contributed extensively to voter rights registration efforts with his participation in the Council of Racial Equality (CORE), the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)…click here for more information.

Felicia 

Week Five at MSA

The Legacy of Slavery is getting a new database!!! IT gave us a sneak preview last week. The Archives staff has been working hard to improve the user interface and the backend management of data. I’ve got my own form for entering data about the Maryland State Colonization Society. I’ll discuss the new database in greater depth when it launches for the public.

During the past week, I’ve been working on stripping the 1870 US Census for Dorchester County of data about blacks and mulattoes (vocabulary of the time). This is part of the Legacy of Slavery’s US Department of Education funded grant to study the Underground Railroad in five counties of the Eastern Shore (Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, and Talbot). This information is entered into the abovementioned database, allowing users to cross-reference records about enslaved, free, and freed blacks from 1830-1880.

We’re also working on finalizing an online exhibit about fugitive slaves. The website’s launch will coincide with Maryland’s Emancipation Day on November 1, the 1864 date when Maryland’s constitution abolished slavery.

Krystal

Week Five at Fisk Univers

This week, we begin making plans for our personal celebration of Archives month. We will have tours and display certain collections that represent the history of Fisk University. Also, I attended Jubilee day, which was extremely exciting and a special experience.

In addition, I am excited to start on the creation of a Facebook page for the University library and special collections as Fisk University has decided to utilize more social media. I will keep you all posted.

Aisha Johnson

Week 5: Interesting occurances in archival work

Greetings from Alabama!

This week has been interesting. As I mentioned last week, I have been working on a collection of World War II love letters that was accessioned as part of another collection. For the past week I have separated these letters from the other collection, and now, when it is time to make a MARC record, I have run into a problem in filling out all of the information. Yes, I have the description of the collection, and I was eventually able to find information on the subject of the collection, but the provenance information is a little...different. I had considered to simply use the same information from the provenance of the original collection, but it felt like I was fudging it a little bit, so in the end I decided to simply not the at is unknown.  This was a real test of the archival techniques that I have learned! It was a great learning experience!

Until next week!

Cheylon Woods.

Week Five at Avery

This was a busy week. I worked on social media for Avery, attended staff meetings, wrote a draft of a blog post on community archives for the Avery blog, which will go live this week (week six), and processed the Order of the Eastern Star collection.

On Thursday, October 6^th, Ms. Mayo and I attended the South Carolina Archival Association (S.C.A.A.) conference/meeting in Columbia, SC (which is about two hours from Charleston) on the University of South Carolina (USC) campus. The conference was entitled Bridging the Gap, where archival professionals shared their expertise with other professionals and new professionals. The sessions were on resumes and interviews; mentoring; and leadership. All of them provided worthwhile information and it was good to connect with other archival and information professionals in South Carolina. Ms. Mayo introduced me to some of former classmates from USC and people that she considers as mentors. In addition, we made contact with archivists that would happily give us a tour of their repositories, so I see some field trips in the near future!

For more visit http://archivaldaze-aaisha.blogspot.com/