A few weeks ago we said goodbye to Tracey, a dearly treasured member of the Harsh Archival Processing Team. This week we warmly welcome the newest member of the H.A.P.P., Ashley. Like Tracey, Ashley is also preparing to become a Ph.D. of African American History and is a student at one of the top universities in the country. We wish Tracey much success as she completes her dissertation. The Harsh Archival Processing Team is comprised of some of the most knowledgeable scholars in the fields of African American history, librarianship and archives. I don't think I could have been placed with a better group of intelligent and warm-spirited folks. Go H.A.P.P.!
The projected number of photos keeps growing. Initially, there were said to be 2,500 photos. I would argue that there are about 4,000 photos. I'm still counting... and arranging and describing and researching. I realize it sounds macabre but I have found a wealth of information in the obituaries. If an obituary is written correctly, it can provide a vast amount of family history, relationships between relatives, places of education and employment. Obituaries also provides other morsels of personal information like the person's spirituality and more. Another source of information has been the Reverend Claude and Addie Wyatt Archival Collection finding aid. I have been able to link dates with events, persons and places all by searching the 300+ pages of the finding aid.
This week, Michael and I sat down for a brief meeting to discuss my progress. He was content to learn that approximately 600 photos had been positively identified with the help of family, friends and church members in addition to the materials found in the Wyatt archival collection.
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