Skyla Hearn: Week 1

Hi There!

I will attempt to fully convey my excitement as I share with you news and information about my latest endeavor as the 2012-2013 Carter G. Woodson Chicago Public Regional Library, Vivian Harsh Collection Fellow in Increasing African American Diversity in Archives: The HistoryMakers Fellowship, Mentoring, Training, and Placement Institute.

Although I began the fellowship exactly one week ago, my heart is still beating fast with anticipation and excitement--I will use the word ‘excitement’ a lot--as I learn more about The HistoryMaker’s collection of oral life histories, standards and practices and engage with staff.

Maybe it’s my upbringing, which included, many summers spent in the South but I place a strong value on community and neighborliness. I think some of the best relationships are formed when people are allowed to engage with one another openly and over food. We, the IMLS Fellows and some of The HistoryMakers’s staff, including Executive Director, Julieanna Richardson, met at The HistoryMakers’ office Sunday, June 3 to have lunch, discuss The HistoryMakers’ collection, policies and procedures and to tour the facility.

I was in heaven—digitization, acid free boxes and loads of African American history! From room to room, I gained a full understanding of how the “magic” is made that allows this repository to stand aside from the rest. Once shown to my desk, I was  met by the special collections of Eartha Kitt, Valerie Simpson and Dionne Warwick housed in acid free boxes, stacked neatly alongside binders of readings and my personal headphones.

The week was a combination of introductions, workshops, lectures and staff engagement. One of the most valuable sessions, facilitated by Katherine Wisser of Simmons College, was on EAD/EAC-CPF. For those of you not “initiated”, EAD/EAC-CPF are standards for encoding archival finding aids, which are maintained by the Library of Congress and the Society of American Archivists. This is technical area I have studied in the past but after this session I can finally say that I really understand it. 

By Friday, I had accumulated a wealth of knowledge to further prepare me to complete my upcoming assignments.  In addition, I began to build camaraderie with the members of my cohort and The HistoryMakers’ staff.  

Looking forward to sharing with you!

Skyla, The ARCHIVE-ist