Some highlights of the last week at the HistoryMakers
included Skyla’s presentation of her participation plan and our field trip to
the archives at Chicago State University.
Skyla put together a presentation that combined a factual expression of
what she will be doing for the remainder of the fellowship and some heartfelt
examples of why the Vivian Harsh collection is important to African American
heritage. The video clips from Dempsey Travis and Rev. Addie Wyatt, as well as
the presence of Skyla’s new supervisors, Michael Flug and Beverly Cook
demonstrated how she connected to her repository. I am looking forward to
seeing what kinds of innovative processing and programming ideas come out of
this partnership.
When the fellows travelled to Chicago State University, we
had the treat of being welcomed by a former HistoryMaker fellow in her new
position as University Archivist, Aaisha Haykal. Aaisha gave a brief overview
of the university and her role as the archivist, and then she let her staff
talk about their most significant collections. The records from Chicago’s
Provident Hospital and Judge Eugene R. Pincham composed most of the discussion.
The archives space at CSU is very bright and welcoming and it looks like Aaisha
will have access to a wide variety of resources as she works to strengthen their
program. Most people would say that the highlight of the trip was the viewing
of automated retrieval system on the first floor of the library. The rows of
silver metallic bins and giant yellow moving arm look like something out of a
warehouse. The systems librarian explained how the machine works, how much it
cost, and how it has benefited the library workers. It was a marvel to watch but
I was more impressed with the career potential of this fellowship, demonstrated
in Aaisha’s significant career move after the HistoryMakers.
At the end of the summer, I finished a total of nine finding aids from the
HistoryMakers video oral history archive. Skyla and I finished six finding aids
for special collections, which included re-housing and removing staples from the materials.. When
Julieanna expressed a desire to have seen more progress on the Ossie Davis and
Ruby Dee collection, I volunteered to come in on Saturday to apply a little
more order to the mass of boxes. By
5:00 PM on Saturday, she had three neat stacks of boxes with materials in
reverse chronological order, without staples, which represented Production,
Event and Fundraising categories. Now, volunteers can review the boxes for
accuracy, merge duplicate folders, and make some labels for the boxes. From
there, an excel spreadsheet can be made, as well as the container list in the
EAD finding aid. I am happy that the work of the fellows as well as the work of
Mrs. Foster and Mrs. Alonzo will be incorporated in the final product.
Although
we did not have a formal office good-bye, I think that the work ethic and
positive attitudes of the 2012-2013 fellows will be missed at the
HistoryMakers. Several office mates made a point to say good bye to us on
Friday and we took the chance to congratulate ourselves, after work on Thursday, at a bar in Pilsen
during the last week. The summer definitely had its highs and lows but I am
very grateful for my fellow fellows and the opportunity to be paid to work in
the profession that I have searched my whole life to discover.
After finishing my work with the HistoryMakers on Saturday,
I wasted no time in knocking things off of my Chicago bucket list, as
well as making time to finish packing for my re-location. I took in a Chicago
White Sox game on Saturday night. I ate at Grand Luxe, one more round of
beignets for me. I finally checked out Pearl’s Place for breakfast with a
friend. I rode my bike to Promontory Point and I watched the sun rise off of
Lake Michigan on Sunday morning. I would have sailed on a tall ship, but we
were late to Navy Pier and the boat left without us. I definitely plan on
visiting Chicago more often in the years to come because of the wonderful
people that I met and plethora of things to do there.
By Wednesday of Week 13,
I was ready to embark on my cross country adventure with my best friend,
Marvin. We packed my car to the brim, tied my bike to the trunk, and said
good-bye to our apartment in Hyde Park.
We spent the first day traveling to Tulsa, Oklahoma. The second day, we
drove to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We enjoyed some Tex-Mex food at Frontier Restaurant,
where everything comes with green chilies. In the morning of the third day, we
rolled into Tucson, Arizona. I received a warm, albeit brief welcome from my
aunt, uncle, father, sister and niece. A few friends from college also made an
appearance for my 22 hour stay in the “Old Pueblo”. On the fourth day, we drove
into Phoenix, Arizona, where I had to unload my 5x10 storage unit’s worth of
stuff into my friend, Melanie’s, truck and trailer. After that, Marvin and I,checked into
a hotel and then met my brother and sister in law for dinner in Phoenix. After dinner and then meeting up with some other friends for drinks,
we called it a night. On the morning of the fifth day, we met up with Melanie
and Wyatt in Buckeye, Arizona, had breakfast and they followed us into Los
Angeles, California.
After we got everything into my apartment on the third floor
(with the scary elevator), we were all ready for some food and drinks. I
treated the group to a meal at the Cuban restaurant down the street from my new
place. There is nothing in the world like having good friends to help transition
from one life to another. Marvin and I decided to leave the boxes unpacked,
sleep in and then explore Los Angeles on Labor Day. In preparation for my first
day of work, we made a trial run to the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum in
Culver City, it took about 20 minutes, without traffic. We ate at Tubb’s Chili restaurant
down the street, and it was very delicious. We spent a few hours walking
through the shopping district and guessing what happens inside of Sony Pictures
Studios. I later discovered that Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy tapes there. Next
we got in the car and headed toward Venice Beach. Everything was so congested
so we decided to pay for parking and see what all of the commotion was about.
Venice Beach is full of freaks and geeks and I mean that in the most endearing
way possible. The shore is beautiful and the water is the perfect temperature. The
boardwalk is full of street vendors, bicyclists, rollerbladers, and rowdy
teenagers, it was interesting to say the least. The highlight was a drum circle
on the sand, I’m pretty sure that one guy brought his cow bell and how people
move to the music is always a source of amusement. I have so much to unpack, transportation
options to choose from (bike, bus or car), and reality to adjust to, hopefully I’ll
sound more like a real Los Angelino in time for my next blog post.
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