Week 21 at the Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum

While processing some administrative records I came across a Sepia Magazine dated June 1974. As I leafed through the magazine to find the relevance to the institution, I found Dr. Mayme Agnew Clayton, featured in a 5 page spread! At the time that the article was written it focused on the Third World Bookstore. A bookstore she co-owned before she founded the Western States Black Research Center.

Years ago, the MCLM received a sizable collection, the Mervyn M. Dymally collection. Mervyn Dymally served in the Senate as well as the State Assembly of California. The items in this collection ranged from oral histories, photographs and clippings. The most interesting item I came across was Dymally’s resume, according to his resume we lived on the same street in California!

January 23 -27th, 2012 @ Fisk Franklin Library

Hello all!! Another busy, yet, exciting week! Here at the Franklin Library, I participated in a "Photo Preservation through Cold Storage" workshop. I learned a lot about the entire process and when it is important to use cold storage. It looks like my networking last week at the AUC workshop paid off. Karen, a freelance Archivist, came across his date of death in a finding aid for a collection at University of Virginia...of all places, right! The date of death is September 9, 1956, he was 81 years old. There is more details about this matter on my blog.

Also, I continued to work on the Black History Month program, which will be up for display on Wednesday, February 1, 2012. I will contact the PR department to post advertisements on Fisk's Facebook and Twitter pages for students and the local communities. The program will run all month long. Lastly, I was interviewed for an article in the Tennessee Tribune newspaper. This is a historically black newspaper, so, that's exciting. It should run soon. Busy busy busy bee, I am.

Good day all!!
Aisha Johnson

Week Twenty-One at the Maryland State Archives

Last week was relatively quiet. I continued working on writing biographies of Dorchester slave holders. My team and I attended a webinar for a local grant that we may be applying for. It’s great for me to get a sense of what is involved in writing a grant application without the pressure of having to write it myself. I’ve also been working on finding content and images for our Facebook page, which is launching in about two weeks. I’m also prepping for February, which is going to be quite a busy month. I have a lot of program/conference attendance scheduled and am also preparing for several outreach events planned for the next few weeks. 

Krystal

Weeks 16-20 at The Amistad Research Center

I continued to process series three of O’Neal’s papers, finding more historical treasures! Of note is one of O’Neal’s essays titled, “Motion in the Ocean – The Political Environment of the Free Southern Theater.” O’Neal penned an essay describing his stint in the southern student movement in 1962 and meeting Gilbert Moses for the first time in Jackson, Mississippi in 1963.  O’Neal’s essay expresses his preparations for a journey to New York City to learn the craft of theater, however, several encounters with SNCC members led O’Neal from Southern Illinois, to Southeast Missouri, to Atlanta, to Southeast Georgia, to the Mississippi Delta, to Central Southern Mississippi, and finally back to Jackson, Mississippi, where he met Gilbert Moses and co-founded the Free Southern Theater. He also noted how he felt politically responsible while remaining a true artist during the southern Civil Rights Movement...

Click here for more information.

Felicia 

Week 20 at The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum

All of the cataloging goals that were set have been met or exceeded.  All the inventories are complete and I have volunteers working on the inventorying of ethnic ads and other recent accessions.  The ethnic ads we have are interesting, ranging from can labels to post cards.  Most of the ads date from the early 1900’s to the 1940’s.  The inventorying process is necessary so all the materials within our collection are accessible.  

The access to MCLM's collection will be improving with the launch of our new database.  I have become the acting database manager and I'm very excited to see the new database launch successfully.  I believe that this online, searchable database will greatly increase MCLM's presence as an African American library and museum.

 

Alyss Hardin
IMLS Fellow, M.L.I.S.
Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum

January 16 - 20th, 2012 @ Fisk University

Hello all! Another busy week!! As I continuously processing the S.L. Smith collection (section II), I am finding more and more organizations he was involved with, but, nothing on a date of death yet. But, patience is a virtue and I will surely take that trip over to Peabody College, where he was an active Provost. I am sure they posted something in the University's press about his passing.
    This week, I also started working on the Black History Month presentation. This year's theme is Black Women. So, I decided to focus on women and civil rights, beginning with the slavery era up to Fisk's very own Diane Nash (freedom rider). 
    On Friday, I traveled to Atlanta, Georgia for a workshop on Identification and Preservation of Photographs held at the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library. It was a day filled with professional development and networking with other Archivists. I am actively seek learning and professional development opportunities outside of the fellowship, which is supported at Fisk. I have written more detail about this week on my blog. Feel free to venture over. 

    Side Note: I celebrated my 26th birthday on Sunday! Thank God for life, health, and strength!!

Aisha Johnson

Week Twenty at the Maryland State Archives

I’ve been working on a presentation that I’ll be giving at the Laurel Historical Society about African Americans in Maryland during the 1870s and 1880s. This is an area that our department has not yet focused on and which is understudied in African American historiography. Therefore, I have a lot of research to do!

I continued researching and writing case studies of slave holders in Dorchester County. I may have found evidence that one of the fugitive families was unfortunately recaptured. William Still recorded their safe arrival in Philadelphia in 1857 but the names of Daffney Cornish and her children appear on an 1864 listing of slaves in Dorchester County.  In 1867, the Maryland General Assembly ordered that a county-by-county register (commonly known as the Slave Statistics) be made of slaves owned prior to November 1, 1864, when slavery was abolished in Maryland. Slave holders hoped that the federal government would reward them for their loyalty to the Union by compensating former slave holders for the value of slaves that they had held at that time. Daffney’s family appears on this list, pointing to the likelihood that their runaway attempt was unsuccessful. Another possibility is that Reuben Phillips and Jane Cator falsely claimed that they still owned the Cornishes in 1864 in order to recoup the loss of their property. According to the federal census, it does not appear that any of the Cornishes lived with either Phillips or Cator by 1870. There is still more digging to do in this case.

Krystal

Week Eighteen at The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum

Happy belated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day! All of the events that were planned at MCLM went well.

I continue to process a collection of songbooks with the help of two volunteers. There are certain duties that are easily assigned to volunteers such as the initial inventorying process and updating the name and subject authorities in the catalog. Some of the duties I take control of are pulling subjects from the library of congress, verifying the appropriate library of congress number for the book and what collection to attach the item to in the database. 

An item I came across that was interesting is a songbook entitled Negro Melodies No.1 Happy Contraband dated 1865.  The songs lyrics provide information about what slaves ate how the masters dressed and other details about slave life.  Song lyrics are an interesting primary source that may be under utilized.

Week 21 at the Alabama Department of Archives and History

Hello and greetings from Montgomery!

This week is the week before my big workshop! I am really excited, and I am avidly working to get everything in place! In addition to my public programing, I am also processing the Charles Morgan papers, continuing scanning the last book of the Peppler photographs, I have a number of lunch engagements for the next week. Needless to say, this is going to be a very busy two weeks for me, but I am very excited for all of the new experiences!


Until next time
Cheylon Woods
IMLS Fellow
Alabama Department of Archives and History

Week Nineteen at the Maryland State Archives

I spent much of last week working on case studies of slave holders in Dorchester County associated with an advertisement offering a reward of $3,100 for a group of 26 runaways. William Still, a noted Underground Railroad conductor, documented this escape in his 1872 book. The fugitives also faced severe rainstorms and a lack of provisions. Also complicating this remarkable 1857 escape, was the fact that approximately 20 of the runaways were children and infants. Nevertheless, all but one of them reached the North safely. Around this time, Dorchester County was plagued (from the slave holder’s point of view!) with several instances of slaves running away. Although Harriet Tubman, a native of Dorchester County, did not lead this particular escape, her knowledge of Underground Railroad routes likely helped this group make it safely to the North.

This year, LOSIM will be participating in Washington, D.C.’s annual Emancipation Day celebrations in April. For background information about slavery in D.C. and the commemoration of freedom, we watched and discussed, Enslavement to Emancipation, a documentary produced for D.C. public television. It was really interesting to analyze the documentary as a public historian and to think of things we would have done the same or differently if we were doing something similar for our project.

For a description of my weekend activities around Maryland and Virginia, please visit my blog.

Krystal

January 9 -13th, 2012 @ Fisk University

Hello all! I hope all is well and everything is going as you wish. I have continued to work on the second section of the S.L. Smith collection. Nothing has turned up in my 1960s pile yet. I am sure, as I thumb through the individual papers, a document will show a death date...hoping for a Newspaper article. I received an invitation to attend a photo preservation workshop in Atlanta next week, which I gladly accepted. I look forward to the workshop and networking. Also, I have started working on my presentations for the National Rosenwald School Conference in June. I will present on the topic of HBCU Archives and also a poster presentation on the S.L. Smith collection. I am very excited for the exposure the collection and Fisk University Library will receive from the poster presentation.

Aisha Johnson

Week Seventeen at The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum

This week was very busy at MCLM. We are running in high gear preparing for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. MCLM will be installing an exhibit at the Culver City Senior Center, the theme for the event is Have We Achieved the Dream? The exhibit space will consist of cases, tables, easels and a monitor. 

Other than exhibition design I have been processing a collection of songbooks, sheet music, church bulletins, and clippings.  I am truly in the beginning staging of processing; simply separating the items into their respective groupings.  After the collection has been lightly processed volunteers can inventory the collection and then the inventory can be pushed into our catalog. 

Weeks 17-18 at the Alabama Department of Archives and History

Greetings from Montgomery!

The past two weeks have been more of the same here at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Last week was inventory week, so we were closed to the public for that week. In addition to participating with the organizational wide inventory project, I also continued to inventory the Charles Morgan collection, finish my public program, and scan photographs.


That's all for now.

Until next time
Cheylon Woods
IMLS Fellow
Alabama Department of Archives and History

Week Eighteen at the Maryland State Archives

I’ve been doing background research on manumitted slaves and colonists who emigrated to Liberia. In the early years of the colony, there was the sad case of a colonist, Eben Parker, who had a contentious relationship with members of the indigenous population. He was in an altercation over goods which lead to his murder and the death of several Liberians. Although for the most part, the colony maintained an uneasy peace with native Liberians, there was often the fear that tensions would erupt into violence.

My supervisor came across a runaway ad for 26 slaves who escaped from Dorchester County in 1857. Although we have case studies for the fugitives, we don’t have any for the slave owners so I’ll be working on writing those.

I’ve been working on guidelines for our social media use and planning our Facebook page to launch next month on Frederick Douglass’ birthday. I just finished record-stripping my section of the Dorchester 1870 U.S. census. After team members take turns approving each other’s records, we’ll be able to push the records over the firewall and make them available to the public.  Have a great week!

Krystal

January 3rd - 6th, 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Hello all!! I hope you are enjoying the new year and taking full advantage of opportunities it has offered thus far. I feel this year will be a great year!! 

So, this week I began the largest portion of the project, Section II: S.L. Smith. This section consist of 30 boxes, unprocessed. I predict around 50 boxes processed. I have began by separating everything into decades (1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s) and then will break things down future from that point on. I estimate this will take me about a month and half to do so. One problem I have encountered is that S.L. Smith's date of death has not been listed in any of the documents thus far. When he retired as Peabody's Provost in 1947, he was 72 years old. This is a lengthy life for the 1940s. Online research is a bust when it comes to finding a details biography on him. I have done my own research in the very beginning, creating a timeline of his life and no death date turned up then. In addition, nothing has turned up in my 1960s pile, yet. I assume he passed away in the 1950s. I will continue digging...it may require some phone calls and a trip over to Peabody. I will update you as the process come along. Again, Happy New Year and blessing!!

Aisha Johnson

Week Fourteen-Sixteen at Avery Research Center

Hello everyone, here at the Avery Research Center we had a couple of weeks off for the holiday season, but before the break I was busy helping Ms. Wright to create content for the Avery Messenger and inventorying the NAACP collection.

For the break, I had the opportunity to stay with a friend, Ms. Ramona La Roche (she is the author of Georgetown County, which is a book in the Arcadia Publishing’s Black in America Series), who has a home near Georgetown, SC. Her family still lives on the Arcadia Plantation in the area because they have an agreement with the landowners that allow the generations of the enslaved to still live on the property. I was amazed to learn about this type of living still occurring. I also had the opportunity to meet Ms. Minnie, Ms. La Roche’s friend who is a 94 years young (well 95, she turned 95 on Christmas) woman, who had very exciting things to tell me. Ms. Minnie grew up on the Hobcaw Barony in South Carolina and she told me stories of going to school, how she basically made the master of the Barony pay for her schooling, the treatment of the people on the plantation, her experiences as a teacher both in New York City and in South Carolina, and other interesting tidbits. She told us that Baronies were used by Northerners as hunting lodges and that the animals that the men killed were given to the African Americans. At 94 years young she was very engaging and energetic (ex. She swung on a rope swing and walks everywhere).  I want to be like her when I get to that age. We also toured Mansfield Plantation, where there are slave dwellings and a church used by enslaved people still standing. The church was renovated, but the dwellings still need care. 

Read more here. 

Aaisha Haykal
IMLS Fellow
Avery Research Center

Week Sixteen at The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum

MCLM was proud to host the closing event for L.A. Rebellion Creating  a New Black Cinema   The event was spectacular! MCLM rolled out the red carpet (literally) for its guests. Some notable attendees were John  Singleton, Julie Dash and Roger Guenveur Smith.  There was also a special presentation by Ben Caldwell, an independent film maker. 

I continued to process scrapbooks and posters. Now that we have physical control of the collections department is moving onto cataloging the items.  The cataloging process for each item is different; some items will have LOC numbers while others will not. Because each item is different a detailed workflow is necessary for each type of item. I have thus far created the the workflow for sheet music and posters. 

Weeks Sixteen and Seventeen at the Maryland State Archives

The last two weeks were pretty quiet. I spent most of my time record stripping manumissions lists and the 1870 U.S. census for Dorchester County for our database. I’m also trying to identify where in the Maryland State Colonization Society papers there may be more information about specific colonists. I’ve begun looking through the society’s newspaper, The Maryland Colonization Journal, which frequently printed colonists’ letters but they tend to reek of boosterism.

I also enjoyed working on a crowd-sourced proposal to SAA for a new members’ roundtable. The blog and link to the proposal are here. The proposal is on the SAA Council’s agenda for this month, so hopefully it will be approved!

Krystal