Skyla S. Hearn: Week 4@TheHistoryMakers

THEMES, TERMS, METHODS & SOUL

Stage 2: The Crawl (from the Crawl Before You Walk series)

When I was an undergraduate at SIUC, I took a series of courses with Dr. Brown, head of the (now) Africana Studies department, for many reasons but primarily for enrichment, to help me better understand my past and map out my continued existence and to fulfill the Black American studies minor. He had a running theme, in the form of a question, that he posed to every class in which he expected a complete, thoughtful response. His question was 'Who defines the terms by which you live?' Now that I'm well into my adulthood, I realize the one response I gave in ever course is the same response I live by today. Although my response seems simple, I unpack it whenever the opportunity presents itself. I define the terms by which I live. With that being said, everything I do is with the knowledge of who I am (by external and internal definition). Therefore, when I represent myself to the world or when the world sees me (I think) this is how I'm viewed: (1) Black/of African Descent/African American, (2) a Woman, (3) Character Traits, etc. With this being said, my work, thoughts and actions are cognizant that I am a representation of/and for my ethnicity, race and gender. This appointment, to increase diversity in African American archives as an African American archivist, is a proud moment in my professional development and scholarship. 

In last week's discussion on The Civil War and African Americans, 1846-1865, during the African American History lecture with Dr. Reed,  I was reminded of arguments on the concept, purpose and meanings of race. Is race a contrived concept, which has been utilized to impose and support economics, division within society and hegemonic practices? Do the bearings of your race determine the resting place of your soul? 

The Historian Master Scholar & His Archivist Pupils

                                                                                           

The latter question overlaps with the African American History lecture with Dr. Reed; between a conversation with my fellow IMLS Fellows on the practices of how certain clergymen within certain religions are appointed to the positions of ministers, reverends, and pastors; and an oral life history  interview with Reverend Marion Roddy-Hart. Rev. Roddy-Hart is an African American female minister for the Albright-Bethune United Methodist Church in State College, Pennsylvania. There was a time when she would have not been able to minister because of "place" in society due to her race, ethnicity and gender. Dr. Reed provides the platform to fuse our lecture discussions and readings with contemporary issues.

The Antiquarians

UNABRIDGUED. Last week I was overly consumed with METHODS about the best way to get myself "caught up to speed" with the number of evaluations and finding aids needing completion, the best ways to process archival collections--Traditional Processing Methods vs MPLP, the best way to prepare information to represent/present the information to the public, etc. What I realized is ______________________. Exactly, I'm still working on it hence, the "The Crawl". Working as an archivist entails that every step has careful consideration but when met with the responsibility of fulfilling deadlines as well as ensuring accuracy our challenges are intensified. I met a group of archivist who work at the Special Collections Research Center at the University of Chicago Library who have figured out best practices, for their group, to meet the challenges of providing their researchers and patrons with requested information on their vast body of Collections. 

Columns and Columns of Knowledge

I was most impressed by their relationship with patrons, accessibility to collections (fully and partially processed) and the amount of collections they are able to process in addition to the heavily populated staff. There is a revolution in thought and practices taking place in the world of archival sciences. How exciting to be a part of the new wave of contemporary archivists, incorporating antiquated, contemporary and hybrid methods as we move into the future of the Archives.

Ring the Alarm!