Monday, August 6th:
Executive Director of The HistoryMakers, Julieanna Richardson made a surprise
visit to my office to review my work on the special collections, “An Evening
With B.B. King” and “An Evening With Andrew Young”. After our very helpful meeting, I revisited
my initial arrangement and description of collection materials and began making
revisions based on her recommendations.
For example, I consolidated folders with the same heading; removed
post-it notes attached to folders; capitalized the letter “w” in “An Evening
With”; and removed fasteners from all documents. Unfortunately, some of Ms.
Richardson’s suggestions, left me having to re-do the arrangement of documents
and records that had already been properly arranged in folders —specifically
with regards to folders with the same headings. Thankfully, it did not take too
long to fix what had been undone. In fact, in some instances it actually allowed me to improve my initial arrangement of certain foldered materials. Later
that morning IMLS Fellows met with Ms. Richardson, as well members of The HistoryMakers
staff, which included Marta Grabowski and Bradley Morgan to discuss arrangement
and description of special collections material; the updated process fellows
devised for completing interview
evaluation forms; and travel, transportation and what to expect at the 76th
Annual SAA Meeting. As the day progressed, I continued working on
my special collections processing and got half way through my Camtasia training
video on how to create EAD/EAC-CPF finding aids using FileMaker Pro and XML
Editor.
Tuesday, August 7th: I began my morning with the
processing of the special collection: “An Evening With Andrew Young”. However, my work was momentarily interrupted
when IMLS Fellow, Cynthia Lovett told me that Mrs. Richardson and Dr. Cecilia
Salvatore were meeting with the fellows to get our feedback on Dr. Salvatore’s
weekly archives seminar. During the meeting I expressed to Dr. Salvatore that
her seminar was one of my favorite classes—I even enjoyed it more than some of
my graduate courses from days as a library school student. One of the main
reasons why I liked Dr. Salvatore’s seminar so much, (besides the warm and
welcoming spirit in which she brought to each of her classes) was that at almost
every lesson she invited us to practically apply the archival topics we were
learning and discussing in her seminar through an exercise or activity. For
example, during her week four seminar on the topics of selection and appraisal,
Dr. Salvatore had the fellows devise documentation strategies for collections
in each of our host institution repositories. Furthermore, as part of her week
six seminar on collective memory, she asked each fellow to share a person or
event in our lifetime that we thought would present a dilemma of competing
collective memories, particularly if a display or exhibit was created about
them. Towards the end
of the day I met with the other IMLS Fellows as a group, to discuss the various
programs, events and sessions we were interested in attending at the 76th
Annual SAA Meeting. I was also able to complete
a rough cut of the Camtasia training video by the end of the day.
Wednesday, August 8th: After a four hour plane ride,
fellows arrived in sunny San Diego, California for the 76th Annual SAA Meeting: Beyond Borders. Our first order of business was to attend the
Archivists and Archives of Color’s (AAC) Roundtable meeting and presentation of
“Building Collections Through Collaboration: A Collaborative Archive from the African Diaspora” by panelists Beatrice Skokan (Special Collections Librarian
University of Miami), Yolanda Cooper (Deputy
University Librarian at University of Miami), and Jameatris
Rimkus (Former Librarian Assistant Professor,
Libraries, Education and Outreach, University of Miami and current Assistant
Professor of Library Administration at University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign). AAC Roundtable’s activities also included listening to
reports from the membership– like Dr. Kelvin L. White
(Assistant Professor, School of Library and
Information Studies, University of Oklahoma), who discussed
the Emerging Archival Scholars Program – as well as
officers like Junior Co-Chair, Stephen Booth (NARA); Senior Co-Chair, Courtney
Chartier (Assistant Head, Archives Research Center at Robert W. Woodruff
Library of the Atlanta University Center, Inc.); and Outgoing Council Liaison,
Deborra Richardson (Chair and Chief Archivist, Smithsonian National Museum of American
History and Author of Treasures
at the Museum). The Harold T.
Pinkett Minority Student Award and Mosaic Scholarship winners were also introduced at the meeting
and I finally got to meet my host institution supervisor: Processing Archivist
at the Avery Research Center, Georgette Mayo, who was in attendance at the AAC
Roundtable meeting. That evening the IMLS Fellows from this year and last year,
along with host institution supervisors and partners of the Increasing African American Diversity in
Archives: The HistoryMakers Fellowship, Mentoring, Training and Placement
Institute, met for dinner and a presentation at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel’s
Vela Restaurant.
Thursday, August 9th: I viewed and asked questions about poster
presentations from Andrea Bottom and Caitlin Pollock: “A Gallery for the
Outlaw: Archiving the Art of the Iconoclast”; Lori Birrell and Melissa Mead
from the University of Rochester: “Bridging the Gap Between Analog and Digital:
Conversations Among Nineteenth Century Revolutionaries; and 2011-2012 IMLS
Fellow for the Alabama Department of Archives and History, Cheylon Woods: “What They Captured and What We Remembered”.
I loved looking at the images captured by Ms. Bottom and Ms. Pollock for their
poster session. These images pushed societal norms by removing art from the
exhibition space and placing it in the context of everyday life. Moreover, I liked
how they succinctly addressed the advantages, challenges and limitations
involved in creating a digital catalog and/or collection of “outlaw art”. In
addition, I appreciated learning about the strategies and technologies staff in
the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections &
Preservation at the University of Rochester’s River Campus
Libraries used to “recycle on-site success into resources on-line” – by
digitizing their Post Family Papers (a 2,000 item 19th century
manuscript collection) to meet the growing demand for digital content. Lastly, I thought it was
ingenious the way Ms. Woods chose to think outside the parameters of online
social networking, by using radio announcements to enlist the help of older
audiences in identifying photographs from the Jim Peppler Southern Courier Photograph
Collection (1965-1968). With the support of local senior citizens, the Alabama
Department of Archives and History was able to gain more contextual and
biographical information about local social environments and the people present
at the time photographs from the collection were taken. Additionally, through
this project, the repository was also able to increase the general public’s
awareness of its archival holdings. At noon I attended “Forum: African
Americans and the Archival Profession: Evolving Perceptions of Diversity”,
chaired by Ms. Richardson, with panelists Randall Burkett (Emory University,
African American Collections) and Kelvin White (University of Oklahoma, School
of Library and Information Studies). Mr. Burkett made a great statement about
how perceptions of excellence based on race affect hiring decisions in the
archival profession. Also
thought-provoking was Mr. White’s discussion of the difference between
multiculturalism and plurality and his study of how traditional recordkeeping’s
inherent exclusivity marginalizes underrepresented people and undermines the
growth of such collections. Though, one of the most poignant comments of the
program came from an audience member who stressed the importance of getting
people of color into key positions of influence; so that they would have the
power to create jobs and therefore diversity within the archival profession. I
liked his comment very much and made sure to tell him so.
Friday, August 10th: In the morning I attended Session
309: “Rules of Engagement: The Politics and Pleasures of ‘Living Archives’”
which was chaired by Georgette Mayo and included a panel of last year’s IMLS
Fellows: Aaisha Haykal (Avery
Research Center), Aisha Johnson (Fisk University), Brenda Tindal (Princeton
University), Alyss Hardin (Mayme A.Clayton Library and Museum. As expected, I
found the panel to be very informative. It was nice listening to Ms. Hardin
discuss the difference between donations and deposits, and the importance of expedience
when communicating with donors about the status of their accessioned
collections. Equally brilliant was Ms. Haykal’s observations on how communities
define themselves; how archival institutions and communities can work together
in order to preserve the unique records communities produce; and the rewards
and challenges of working in community focused archives. For me the highlight
of the program was Ms. Tindal’s discussion of the policies
and procedures governing access to research papers dealing with studies on human subjects – as well as
the ethical and legal concerns regarding such documents. Friday was also my day to get out of the hotel and see a bit of
San Diego (take in its sights, sounds, attractions and what not). After the
panel, I went to the San Diego Zoo. I
was super excited about my visit, because since I was a child, the San Diego
Zoo has always been a place I wanted to visit. It was a hot day and the zoo was
crowded– but it was fun. I got to see lots of colorful and exotic birds; not to
mention different types of monkeys, such as baboons, gibbons, capuchins and bonobos.
I also observed the gorillas in their enclosure and even got to see a hippo for
the first time in my life. The hippo has been one of my favorite animals since
doing a mini report on it in the seventh grade, as part of a larger project on
the African country of Togo. I just think they are so cute; however, with enough
jaw pressure to crush an entire watermelon with one bite, I also know that they
are very dangerous. In addition, I was really intrigued by the Galapagos giant
tortoise, African spurred tortoise and the snapping turtle which looked like a
huge, massive prehistoric rock, sleeping in its water filled tank. I did not
get to see the pandas because the line was way too long and the sun was way too
hot. However, I did get to see some Grévy's zebra, koalas
and elephants. In fact, I got to see one of the injured elephants being fed by his
zoo kepper; apparently there was an issue with the elephant’s nail bed, which
was causing him discomfort. In the evening, I joined Ms. Richardson; Digital
Archivist, Dan Johnson and the other IMLS Fellows for a stroll through San
Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter and dinner at Tabule Restaurant Bar.
Saturday, August 11th: On our final day at the 76th SAA Annual Meeting, I attended “Documenting Beyond Our Gates: Exploring New and Diverse Collecting Activities of Historically Black Colleges and Universities” paneled by Joellen ElBashir (Howard University, Manuscripts Division), Rebecca Barnard (St. Phillip’s College) and chaired by Andrea R. Jackson (Atlanta University Center, Robert W. Woodruff Library). This panel provided a wonderful departure from earlier panels which dealt with the underrepresentation of people of color in the archival record. It was such a pleasure to learn about the Howard University’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center (MSRC), which is “recognized as one of the world's largest and most comprehensive repositories for the documentation of the history and culture of people of African descent in Africa, the Americas, and other parts of the world”. I was also fascinated to learn about the archival staff at St. Phillip’s College development of Hispanic collections in response to the college’s growing Hispanic student population; and the digitization initiatives and information advocacy of the Historically Black Colleges and University Library Alliance. I also attended “Coloring Outside the Lines: Tattoos of Personal Archives”, which I absolutely adored! The panel included Terry Baxter’s (Multnomah County [Oregon] Records Program) presentation, entitled “Mementos: Records, Authenticity, and Constructed Social Memory in the Inked World”; Verne Harris’ (Nelson Mandela Foundation) presentation, which dealt with deconstructing the tattoo, and Libby Coyner’s (Arizona State Archives) presention on “Sailors, Prisoners, Bikers, and … Archivists? Tattoos from Stigmatized to Mainstream”; and was chaired by Stephanie Kays (Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Panelist discussed how humans have been recording a variety of information on their skins for some 3,000 years and drew similarities between tattooing, tattoos and archival record keeping. For me, the most interesting idea explored during the panel was Ms. Coyner’s discussion of how recognizing the tattoo as an archival record can one, work to redefine what an archival record and two, alleviate certain biases inherent in archival theories of appraisal and selection based on strict western definitions concerning format and authenticity, and the binary thinking they reinforce. Ms. Coyner also pointed out that by redefining what an archival record is, archival professionals would have more flexibility and opportunities for creativity in how and what they collect. This idea tied into what Mr. White said at his panel regarding how traditional archival practices restrict or prevent inclusion of records created by underrepresented groups, communities and cultures.
Ardra Whitney (Counting It Down: 10 Work Days Left)
IMLS Fellow
Avery
Research Center for African American History and Culture
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