Skyla S. Hearn: January 2013

"The Way Forward is with a Broken Heart"1 It is with a heavy heart and sullen emotions that I write this blog.

In the previous blog, I excitedly boasted about one of my public programs, the Chicago Metro History Fair (CMHF). I am glad to report that the first day of CMHF coaching at the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library, Saturday, January 26th went exceptionally well. I was able to assist eleven elementary students with their projects in a four hour window from 1-5pm. The original alloted time per Saturday is from 1-4 but we were enthralled in resources and ran over! I felt fulfilled that I helped at least ten of the eleven students locate the sources they needed to submit to the their teachers in the upcoming week. The eleventh student worried me a bit. I wasn't too sure about whether she gained all the 'expertise' I offered as she was less than enthused to be doing homework on a Saturday---a sentiment I'm sure I'd share if I were her age! As a human being, it gives me satisfaction to help others out when and where I can. I genuinely care about people, especially children/the youth, which is why my heart is so heavy as it relates to state of social affairs and crime thats taking place here in Chicago.



Hadiya Pendleton, 3rd from the left, performed
at the 2013 Presidential Inauguration. She was
a 15yr old honor roll student at King College Prep
from the South Side of Chicago.



The Carter G. Woodson Regional Library provides services for the entire community. Our patrons range in age from one to one hundred and one so you can imagine the flow of human traffic that fills this facility on a daily basis. I interact with quite a few patrons when entering and exiting the building in addition to archival reference in the Harsh Research Center. In the evenings on my way home, I often run into one of friend's children and we exchange pleasantries. This week they shared a story with me that was later reiterated from my daughter when I picked her up from school, which was less than pleasant. It was extremely painful and heartbreaking. She informed me, as they had, about a peer who had been shot outside her highschool. The young woman's name was Hadiya Pendleton. As a community, we must continue to rally

together to attempt to keep our children, our future legacies, as safe as possible.

In a previous blog, I mentioned that the "job", or vocation, of being an Archivist is not limited to just the work that needs to be done from within the archives. As my experiences and skills continue to grow, as a part of this fellowship and beyond, the relationships that I'm building with the community including the staff, students, patrons and donors are strenghtened as we draw on our shared experiences of navigating through society and making the best of our lives on a day to day basis. This month, I have been heavily focused on two major groups of our society, the youth and the elderly. Twice this month, on January 10th and January 29th I made visits to the former home of Rev. Addie and Rev. Claude Wyatt, current home of Mr. and Mrs. Claude "DeDe" Wyatt, III to retrieve photographs for the upcoming "Faith in the Struggle: Rev.Addie Wyatt's Fight for Labor, Civil Rights and Women's Rights" photo exhibit. Earlier this month, I made several phone calls to the sisterof Rev. Addie Wyatt, Mrs. McKay, because I was concerned about her health after learning that she'd been ill. Mr. and Mrs. McKay have been valuable members of the Wyatt Photo Id Committee. The Harsh Archival Processing Project Team is tirelessly working on the completion of the curation for the exhibit. The exhibit is scheduled to open on March 9, 2013.

Earlier this month, I presented to the Patricia Liddell Researchers (PLR) on the 1850 Seventh Census of the United States. Slave Schedules and the1860 Eigth Census of the United States. Slave Schedules. The room was filled with middle-aged and elderly community members and scholars interested in locating relatives and conducting other genealogical research. They were a kind and patient audience. Part of my presentation was given without a microphone (due to technical difficulties) which, in a sense, helped with my connection with the audience. I moved away from the podium and closer to the audience so the presentation became more like a conversation where I was able to assist my elders in their learning. An action I have gratiously been on the receiving end of the majority of my life. So grateful for the experience of the role reversals.

Thanks to Ms. Beverly Cook, one of my host repository supervisors, I was able to attend a free webinar hosted by the Illinois Collections Preservation Network entitled "Funding Opportunities for Collections Preservation" presented byu Pat Miller and Dr. Bonnie Styles of the Illinios State Museum. I gained information on funding sources for libraries and museums in Illinois and from the US government.

My hopes are that in our next meeting, spirits will be higher and hearts will be lighter. Take care.
 

1. The Way Forward is with a Broken Heart is the title of a book written by Alice Walker. Walker describes the book as "These are the stories that came to me to be told after the close of a magical marriage to an extraordinary man that ended in a less-than-magical divorce. I found myself unmoored, unmated, ungrounded in a way that challenged everything I'd ever thought about human relationships. Situated squarely in that terrifying paradise called freedom, precipitously out on so many emotional limbs, it was as if I had been born; and in fact I was being reborn as the woman I was to become."

Progressive Ed Conference

On Saturday I participated in my first public presentation for the Maryland State Archives. For three years David Armenti, the outgoing education coordinator, has participated in the Progressive Education Summit at City Neighbors Hamilton School at the edges of Baltimore City. Because there had been no “ride along” opportunities since my arrival in September, and I am expected to observe or co-present on at least two occasions before I may strike out on my own, it was absolutely crucial that I take the first opportunity I could. In December David kindly offered me a chance.

David prepares, just 15 minutes before we begin.
My coffee cup is in the foreground.

David selected the theme of our presentation and composed most of the slides. Since he is a veteran of the presentation circuit, he had most of them on hand; they concerned the first two hundred years of slavery in Maryland, changes to it and the people affected by it, and resources available at the MSA that could illuminate this subject. Against a keynote speaker advocating a gradeless education paradigm, utilizing primary sources is not a change of concept so much as it is a change of approach. David kept this in mind and chose a theme emphasizing the local nature of the records. As an example, teachers could likely find information about slaves linked to prominent Marylanders who owned slaves and whose names dot their local landscape with towns, counties, or streets.

Libraries vs. Archives

For my portion I explained the nature of archival resources in comparison to library or Internet resources. Although it seems like common knowledge to me now, it was not until college that I clearly understood the differences between primary and secondary sources. I felt it necessary to emphasize this before we dove deeply into our talk. Using a record value model based on T.R. Shellenberg’s primary and secondary values system, I provided further context. By addressing primary record values first I emphasized the naturalness and authenticity of records and how or why records become archived. With secondary values, encompassing the evidential and informational values that constitute historical research, I was able to go into greater depth with regard to the records series at the MSA.

Evidentially speaking, runaway ads and committal notices implicitly describe laws governing slaves. Like any legal notice, a committal notice needed to be posted whenever a runaway slave was captured. If the owner did not claim the slave within the time allowed, or refused to pay the fees for the capture and holding of said slave, he or she could be sold. For informational value I talked about the identifying details in runaway ads. Ironically, this information about their height, complexion, hair, scarring, etc creates a far more detailed description of slaves while we may know absolutely nothing of what their owner looked like—other than their race of course. Except for a court case involving imposters, like the conclusion of the chapters involving the King and the Duke in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with a mob, I cannot visualize an instance where such detailed descriptions of white people would be needed.


Mary Chesnut: The Incomplete Circle of Scholarship

I also placed archival resources at the beginning of what I called a “continuum of reinterpretation.” I used the diary of Mary Chesnut as an example. Her diary, a primary source, is intensely interpreted by journals or popular articles that put the diary under a microscope. It may also be interpreted in specially focused textbooks in which her diary is a crucial facet in the exploration of a subject. As an example I mentioned Chesnut’s anecdote about her father-in-law sitting in his parlor with the descendent of the man who built the plantation’s well. To an economic historian Mr. Chesnut’s deliberate association with a shabby man of lesser means, and Mary’s cognizance of his methods, it reveals implicit understandings of class relationships in anti-bellum South Carolina. To a social historian looking at gender relationships Mary’s disdain for the well digger’s descendent demonstrates the separation of the sexes; however unworthy the man was for her father-in-law’s attention, as a woman she could not join their in conversation. At the opposite end of the continuum I placed a typical school textbook. By that point Mary’s words would perhaps be limited to an anecdote.

In the following slide I used food for an example. A crop, like a primary source, is deliberately created. The food product is reinterpreted (packaged, sold, etc) and may be eaten as is or put in a simple meal like a stew. At the end of this new continuum I place a cheeseburger. The meal has many ingredients, some of which clearly resemble the original crop, but the food has been reinterpreted well beyond the original forms. I think I’m on to something but I cannot keep calling it a “continuum” unless I find a way to close the circle and turn a cheeseburger back into a wheat grain. So…it’s a work in progress.

My most significant contribution in terms of preparation time was my primary sources exercise. For much of the last two weeks I deconstructed the case study of William Trippe of Talbot County for the purpose of demonstrating the effectiveness of primary sources. I produced packets of selections from scanned records and made transcripts of those that were difficult to read; the goal was to have a 15-20 minute exercise of discovery with teachers, just as their students might, to recreate a case study from its constituent parts. Unfortunately the talk ran longer than anticipated and I needed to abbreviate the exercise. Instead I summarized each document and described its relationship to others, emphasizing discussion points or exploitable angles.

William Trippe inherited his father’s farm and plantation in 1849 and as many as 26 slaves were associated with this estate. These slaves were bequeathed to different children and a grandchild but, oddly, not to William. It seems William only owned slaves starting in 1857 when he felt morally compelled to buy the three slaves held in trust for his ne’er-do-well brother Nicholas; Nicholas borrowed nearly $2,000 from William and couldn’t pay it back without selling his slaves. Although they do not say why, both nevertheless agreed that their father would have preferred the slaves to remain “in the family.” Perhaps selling them to outsiders might endanger them or splinter familial ties. William would buy them instead and credit their purchase against the account Nicholas had with William.

William became insolvent on December 20, 1860; what that meant for the slaves during the estate sales is unknown. A few days later South Carolina seceded. The Legacy of Slavery in Maryland project emphasizes agency of slaves and self-liberation in whatever form it took. The slaves in Trippe’s case study are mostly passive—Nicholas’ former slave Rachel is listed as a runaway in 1860—but he was selected because of the diversity of resource types and interpretations.

I closed my spiel with what I hoped was a history joke that would amuse and edify: Footnotes 21 and 25 was a page from a Talbot County grave reference text that provided the birth date of Richard J. Trippe, the grandson of Richard Trippe and the nephew of William. William was also the trustee of young Richard’s slaves until the boy reached 21. In the spirit of keeping things local I pointed out that Richard came of age just three months before slavery was abolished by the 1864 Maryland constitution. I’m pretty sure I got at least three chuckles.

Alex Champion--Maryland State Archives

Amanda J. Carter: Week 21 (January 19 – January 25) @ Fisk University

William McKissack Papers
Last week I concentrated on processing the National Baptist Sanitarium and Bathhouse project.  This bathhouse was both a hospital and hotel for African Americans in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in the mid-twentieth century.  The records indicate that the building was remodeled by the McKissacks in the late 1940s for the National Baptist Association.  Included in this subseries is a brochure of the bathhouse as well as a postcard of the building.  Most of the records I have processed so far are financial records, correspondence, and various vendors used for the remodeling.  This project is unique in the amount of correspondence it contains.  Most of the other projects do not contain as much correspondence, but the reason may be due to the lengthy communication between the McKissacks and that National Baptist Association after the remodeling was completed.

My goal as of last week was to have this processed by the end of the week.  However, a few more boxes containing information relating to this project came to my attention last week so the processing of this section may run into next week.  The arrangement based on the College Hill subseries is working very well, so most of the time and effort is going towards cleaning, removing staples and paperclips, and arranging the records into the categories. 

Challenges:
These records are particularly dusty and contain many staples.  Removing staples is the most time-consuming part of processing because great care must be taken not to tear the already-brittle pages.  As I process this collection I am witnessing first-hand how the papers are becoming progressively more dry and brittle so what once might have taken very little time is now taking longer because more care must be taken with the documents to ensure minimal damage.    

Video Oral History Evaluation: Honorable Jesse Madison
Last week I also had the opportunity to complete another video oral history evaluation for The HistoryMakers:  Honorable Jesse Madison.  Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, he moved to Chicago to attend college to become an accountant.  He eventually became involved with politics and became a State Representative before working with Harold Washington’s mayoral administration.    At the time of the 2000 interview, Mr. Madison was the President and CEO of the Abraham Lincoln Center, a social service organization that began as a settlement house in 1905. 

Other projects: Black History Month
I am currently creating a slideshow to be displayed in the library for Black History Month based on the these provided by ASALH (Association for the Study of African American Life and History): “At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality: The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington.”  I plan on including photographs, quotes, and facts relating to the theme as well as a calendar of local events celebrating Black History Month in Nashville.  This fun and creative project will be displayed on the first floor of the library throughout February. 

Until next time…

Amanda J. Carter
Franklin Library, Fisk University
IMLS HistoryMakers Fellow 2012-2013

Ardra Whitney: Week 21 @ Avery Research Center

80's Randomness :)  

 

Tuesday, January 22^nd:

I began developing oral history interview questions for members of the Phillis Wheatley Literary and Social Club, as part of the project I am working for Women’s History Month in March. I also continued drafting and editing the finding aid for the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Records. As part of my descriptive work on the collection, I needed to perform a Google search for a folder containing notes and financial material pertaining to renovations completed on a home located at 128 Tradd Street in Charleston. My search led me to a book entitled, Men of 1914—published by the American Publishers' Association. The book was published annually during the early part of the 20^th century and provided biographical profiles on “prominent men from all walks of life who have achieved success in their chosen vocation.” From it I was able to ascertain that the residence on Tradd Street belonged to Dr. Edward F. Parker, a physician born in Charleston. Furthermore, using Google I was able to locate the gravesite of one St. Mark’s benefactors, Louise E. Condol. Condol was also a Charleston native and there is a photo of her as a young woman in the collection that identifies her as a patron of the church.

Wednesday, January 23^rd:

In continuing my research on the topic of women’s clubs and the women’s club movement, I performed a ProQuest database search using the keywords: “women’s clubs, black women’s clubs and Charleston women's clubs” and e-mailed a list of search results to Processing Archivist, Georgette Mayo. I also responded to Manager of Archival Services, Aaron Spelbring’s request about e-mailing him examples of digital photo archives from cultural institutions and artists. At our last archives meeting, Mr. Spelbring asked me to show him examples of digital photo archives from other institutions and individuals, so that he could get a better sense of the functionality and feasibility of my Black in the Lowcountry: Digital Photo Archive project idea.

Thursday, January 24^th:

By Thursday morning, I had completed my finding aid draft for the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Records. In order to get feedback on the draft, I printed copies of it for both Ms. Mayo and Mr. Spelbring to review and comment on.

In the afternoon, I was introduced to Avery Research Center’s new undergraduate assistant, Destiny Brice— who will be working on various assigned tasks in the Center’s archives. Ms. Mayo asked me to identify and provide her with small jobs to execute, so I instructed Ms. Brice in how to label and organize folders for the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Records. I am glad to have Ms. Brice working with me to complete processing on this small but complex collection and appreciate her help greatly. At 4 P.M. I participated in The HistoryMakers Monthly IMLS Fellowship Professional Development Conference Call with Director of African American Programs at the Senator John Heinz History Center, Samuel Black. I enjoyed listening to him speak about his academic and professional journey: from art student and football player to African-American studies graduate; and from archivist to curator to program director at the illustrious Heinz History Center—the largest history museum in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. His insights concerning curatorial work and interpreting the black experience for public consumption were also particularly fascinating.

Friday, January 25^th:

I met with Addlestone Library’s Digital Scholarship Librarian, Heather Gilbert, regarding the Black in the Lowcountry: Digital Photo Archive project. She showed me examples of different hosting sites I could use for the project like Tumblr, Flickr and Kapsul; and provided me with some great tips on digitizing images in order to decrease the risk of copyright infringement—which is a significant concern of Ms. Mayo’s. From there Ms. Gilbert and I entered into a conversation about all the wonderful endeavors the Lowcountry Digital Library is undertaking with regard to making the tangible and digital assets of its partner institutions available on the web. Ms. Gilbert was friendly and knowledgeable; and I look forward to conferring with her in the future as I move forward with implementing the Black in the Lowcountry: Digital Photo Archive project. At noon, I attended the Avery Research Center staff meeting, where we discussed NEH grant funding and frameworks for the potential summer institute the grant will fund. Each of the frameworks had in common the use of Avery’s existing oral history and archival collections with which institute participants will conduct research on. Framework topics included: protest and activism, the Black Freedom Movement, and social justice; after reviewing each framework option Avery staff members voted on the one they thought was best.

Chaitra Powell: Week 21 @ The Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum

In my 21^st week at the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum, I received more direction on my exhibit, discussed the collection hierarchy, and took responsibility for another history undergraduate intern.

The Audio Assault exhibit continues to be an exercise in unlocking the curator’s imagination. On the positive side of the equation, my narrative is becoming much more intuitive to me. I can clearly express what I want the visitor to experience at each section of the exhibit. When I came to work on Tuesday, I went about measuring the space to determine if the content that I had selected would be sufficient to populate the walls. I haven’t taken a math class in a decade but my calculations left me feeling like I needed more content. I brought my concern to Larry and he told me that I did not need to crowd the walls to get a message across; 3-4 powerful images or quotes would give the desired effect. The better question was if I was satisfied with the quality of my selections, rather than the quantity. For example, I want the beginning of the exhibit to demonstrate how the tension between the races was mounting in the mid to late 60’s and I currently had some portrait images of Medgar Evers and students picketing. A person would have to know that Medgar Evers was assassinated in his driveway and non-violent protesters were met with fire hoses and attack dogs to get the message, the imagery should make the sentiment more obvious to the viewer. It is my task to consult more items in the collection, and see if someone besides me could understand the perspective that I am trying to illustrate. Other topics that we discussed were the manipulation of images to make people step back and take something in or lean in closer to read something smaller. All of these techniques and strategies will have to be employed to give people a dynamic Black Power experience in the hallway of this de-commissioned courthouse.

On Saturday, two of my favorite museum worker bees, Greta and Eric, came in to talk about the Online Archive of California and how materials were organized within the archive. I like working with Greta and Eric because they both have graduate degrees in library science with a concentration in archives and we tend to speak the same language about the status of the collections. As Greta and Eric have been working through our catalog and trying to determine which collections are ready for upload to OAC, they have come across entries that don’t seem to meet the criteria of a traditional candidate for collection level description (finding aids). For example, there is a woman who donated a cookie jar to the museum, I’m not sure what the historical significance was, but it was accessioned by the staff at MCLM at some point. Should this item have its own finding aid? Greta suggested that we have a general “artifacts” collection and describe these random items from random donors at the item level. Eric mentioned that sometimes one item could warrant its own collection because we would not want to bury something significant like a signed first edition copy of Phyllis Wheatley’s “On Things Religious and Moral” in the list of book materials of a finding aid. Greta countered with the power of EAD and the semantic web; anything that we upload on EAD will be fully searchable. If you are looking for that special book, as long as the tag reads the book’s title, and tag reads book, it will pop up regardless of its status as an item in a series or the title of a collection. I took in everything that they were saying and told them that there were many ways to answer the questions; it was just going to take one person to make a decision and get everyone on board with the reasoning. I’ve never had to generate policies in an archival setting and as many examples as I consult, the decision has to be the option that makes the most sense for MCLM. My work is definitely cut out for me.

Throughout the week, Cara and I had been discussing what to do with Kathy, the second history intern from UCLA. The first one, Susan, is helping me with the Audio Assault exhibit. Kathy has been bounced around at the museum for the past two Saturdays, helping us to greet visitors and answer the phones. I knew that she needed something more substantial to make her internship more valuable. On Friday afternoon, it occurred to me to have her process the six linear feet that compose the Antoinette Culpepper architecture collection. I have been intrigued by this collection ever since I started working at MCLM. I found the six boxes while I was going through Mayme’s papers and based on the art deco style block handwriting contrasted with Mayme’s loopy cursive, and the persistent focus on buildings and drawings, I knew that these materials did not belong with Mayme’s papers. To add to the intrigue, MCLM has a “blueprint” collection that is only composed of drawings from a firm with “Culpepper” in the title. There is very limited information in the finding aid about the blueprint collection, so I think that Antoinette’s files will add more of a context for that collection. Kathy has eight more weeks with us, so I am going to supervise her processing of these architecture records. On Saturday, I gave her a crash course archival methodology and told her that we would go through it one step at a time, starting with a survey. Based on her notes, she has a pretty good idea of how to identify the material types, subjects, dates, and proper names that we might use to arrange and describe the collection in the next step.

Ardra Whitney: Week 20 @ Avery Research Center

Monday, January 14^th - Tuesday, January 15^th:

I started off the week by continuing my survey of the Virginia Geraty Papers. On Tuesday, Assistant Director, Deborah Wright asked me to do a post on Facebook for Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday using materials from Avery’s archives. She suggested that I look at the Septima P. Clark Papers for some items to highlight; so along with Graduate Assistant, Daron Calhoun II, I searched the collection’s finding aid and then went to the archival storage room on the second floor to sift through a couple of manuscript boxes. After Daron and I made our selection of materials, I digitized them and uploaded the images to Facebook. You can view the results here. During the 1950s and 60s, Dr. King worked together with Charleston civil rights leader, Septima P. Clark, as well as local activist, Esau Jenkins — and was good friends with the pair. Additionally, I posted a link to Avery’s Twitter page of the “Martin Luther King speech in Charleston, SC 1967—outtakes” from USC’s Digital Video Repository.

At lunchtime, I corresponded with Administrative Assistant of CofC’s International & Intercultural Studies Department, Lauren Saulino about publicizing Avery’s inaugural undergraduate essay contest. Ms. Saulino was kind enough to share information about the contest via e-mail, on Facebook and the College’s African American Studies Blog.

Wednesday, January 16^th:

Processing Archivist, Georgette Mayo and I returned to our discussion concerning African American women’s clubs in Charleston; this time focusing specifically on the Phillis Wheatley Literary and Social Club, and conducting oral history interviews with members of the group. Ms. Mayo discussed the history of the social club with me; showed me photos of its members and provided me with pertinent items from Avery’s archival collection, the Phillis Wheatley Literary and Social Club Papers, to aid in my task of developing oral history questions and contacting members of the group for interviews.

At last week’s archival staff meeting, Manager of Archival Services, Aaron Spelbring suggested I contact Addlestone Library’s Digital Scholarship Librarian, Heather Gilbert to get some feedback on possible web platforms to host the Black in the Lowcountry: Digital Photo Archive project. So later in the day I called Ms. Gilbert up to share some of my ideas for the project with her and she graciously agreed to meet with me to discuss them further. Yay!

By the afternoon I had begun work on my interview evaluation for the late Florida Yeldell, a history professor born in Georgetown, South Carolina.

Thursday, January 17^th - Friday, January 18^th:

On Thursday, I completed evaluating three out of four tapes from Florida Yeldell’s video oral history interview and concluded the day by assisting Curator, Curtis J. Franks and Education Outreach Coordinator, Shelia Harell-Roye with preparation for the “Eternal Vigilantes: The Art of Karole Turner Campbell” exhibit opening. On Friday, I continued work on the finding aid for the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Records and attended Avery’s weekly all staff meeting.

Amanda J. Carter: Week 20 (January 12 – January 18) @ Fisk University

William McKissack Papers
The Office files series and its corresponding portion of the finding aid is complete.  By Thursday, I had begun to sort through the next section: The National Baptist Sanitarium and Bathhouse in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  This sounds like a fascinating project so I am excited to find out more about it.  By Friday, I had begun processing the materials at the folder level.  This consists of going through older folders and separating out the materials into an arrangement that closely resembles the College Hill subseries.  This will likely include the following sections: Correspondence, Financial records, Legal records, Notes, Schedules, Specifications, and Vendors.  I have already created nearly a box full of vendor folders and there is a rough Correspondence section already created.  On average I have been going through boxes at a rate of about three boxes per week, so I estimate that I should be finished with this section by the end of next week. 

Challenges:

The foremost challenge right now is to remain on schedule.  I have been trying to get ahead of schedule but, as often happens, various challenges have arisen to prevent it.  However, I have remained on schedule.  I hope that the section I am currently processing reflects much of the previous project I completed.  If there are not numerous new sections, then the processing should go rather smoothly. 

Until next time…

Amanda J. Carter

Franklin Library, Fisk University
IMLS HistoryMakers Fellow 2012-2013

Chaitra Powell: Week 20 @ The Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum

In my 20^th week at the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum, I pulled materials for my Audio Assault exhibit, facilitated a Collections Advisory Board meeting, and discovered letters from Marcus Garvey’s widow, Amy Jacques Garvey, in Mayme’s papers.

The planning for the Audio Assault exhibit continues to illuminate my understanding of historic events and the curating process. My exhibit follows this line of thinking: The situation was looking pretty bad for blacks in America in the 1960’s due to segregation, violence, and racism…Zoom to Watts, California, a microcosm of the nation, with the same problems exploding into the rebellion of 1965…Black power emerges as a salve for the pain of the past and an affirmation for self-determination into the future…Zoom to “Wattstax” a benefit concert held at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1972 featuring the most soulful, popular and progressive artists of the time, commemorating the 7^th anniversary of the Watts Rebellion….Other popular artists and record labels begin to record songs and speeches that are more aligned with this notion of Black Power…Spoken word artists start writing and verbalizing their points of view which struck chords with many young Black men and women….Jazz musicians begin to create compositions that respond to the injustices of the day and challenge the status quo of the genre…This exhibit will have shown how creative pursuits, such as music and poetry, can uplift and unify a community through some of the toughest times. I pulled scrapbook pages, photographs, press releases, census tracts, posters, albums, protest buttons, and newspapers out of the MCLM collection to be assessed for inclusion in the exhibit. Larry and I are selecting the items that most strongly demonstrate the messages that I am trying to convey and manipulate them for use in the exhibit. There is still so much to discuss in terms of text panels, item selection, and exhibit installation but the pulse of the idea and the materials makes me feel like we are on to something big.

Saturday morning marked the first of many MCLM Collection Advisory Board meetings. I had been emailing this group since last October and the duplicate book project. Larry had asked me to schedule a meeting so that we could re-engage them with the museum and give them all the updates in person. I had six members RSVP to show up in person and one joined us via Skype. We started with introductions, moved on to staff and building updates, and then began our planning session. One member was unsure if the museum was open for researchers at this point, which led to an action item of updating our website with the pertinent information for researchers. When I discussed our work toward making the collection available through the Online Archives of California, the members were enthusiastic and encouraged us to include unprocessed collections because researchers may still be interested in sifting through materials. The group requested that I provide a full collection summary in time for the next meeting so that they can help us prioritize which collections should go up on OAC. When I think about the entire collection and its state of disarray, my head begins to sway a little. I have looked through the deeds of gifts before to get a handle on how many collections we have here at MCLM before but the way that they are accessioned and described makes it very confusing. Since the board is depending on me for the information, I will do my best to ask questions and figure it out within the next couple of weeks. Overall the meeting was productive. The group was enthusiastic about our strides in providing access to the collection and empathetic to our funding and staffing shortfalls. We will be meeting again on February 23, 2013.

Although I am not able to spend hours in the back processing Mayme’s papers, some volunteers are continuing to work on the project. One of our new volunteers Paula caught on to the system very quickly and spent Saturday working through a box of materials. It was to my surprise when I was giving a tour and she interrupts to show me a folder full of correspondence. The letters are to Professor Ted Vincent from Amy Jacques Garvey. Over the summer I had read, Negro in a Hat, a biography of Marcus Garvey, written by Colin Grant and I remember Mrs. Garvey very well. She was a formidable force in the United Negro Improvement Association. While Mr. Garvey was on the road with speaking engagements, getting arrested, or being forbade from re-entering the United States, she was making decisions and giving speeches at the UNIA headquarters in Harlem, NY. Mrs. Garvey was also the mother of Garvey’s two sons. Although their courtship and marriage was not always harmonious, she was a big part of Garvey’s rise to prominence. I recently read that Ted Vincent was a white “black nationalist” who earned his MA from UC Berkeley and taught a black history course at Merritt College in Oakland, CA. Black Panther founder, Huey P. Newton was in his class in 1964.  According to these letters, when Mr. Vincent was writing “Black Power and the Garvey Movement (1970)” he asked Mrs. Garvey for her stories and opinions. Mrs. Garvey seemed to comply and also gave him tips on his writing conventions. There are probably 20-30 letters in the folder dated 1969 until 1973. The scope of Mayme’s collecting patterns will never cease to amaze me.

Skyla Hearn: Phenomenal Public Programs

Special Edition: Chicago Metro History Fair

Back in June we were told that we needed to prepare a presentation, which included prospective public programs, outreach, archival processing assignments and various other activities and requirements as per the expectations of the responsibilities of the fellowship.

When I discussed public programs with Julieanna, Michael and Beverly the Chicago Metro History Fair was often highlighted as a program that I should become involved in. I took note to further inquire about contacts, information about the program and what role I could contribute to the program.

As the responsibilities, activities and events of the fellowship took off, hours turned into months, one month became three and I found myself immersed in the Wyatt Photograph Collection. Some months back, during a break from the work week, I attended the Teaching for Social Justice Symposium. During this event I met Theresa ****, who was there repping (representing) some wonderful projects constructed by 2012 Chicago Metro History Fair (CMHF) student participants. She and I struck up a lovely conversation conversation about CMHF, benefits of volunteering and working with the youth. How great, I thought, to talk with someone whose work was so closely connected to the archives and who connected the youth with research practices and knowledge of utilizing the library and archives for their personal research.

Some days later I emailed Theresa to thank her for a nice convo (conversation) and to exchange other pleasantries. To my surprise she responded with asking me to be a Judge for the CMHF. I proudly accepted. A month or so later Beverly, one of my immediate supervisors suggested that I hold a weekly workshops in the Woodson Library, one of the designated CMHF research sites, for students needing assistance with their research. So, of course, Beverly forwarded Lisa ***'s email, which requested CMHF Coach Volunteers (not workshop lecturers) to assist students at the Woodson Library/Harsh Research Center. Silly me, I thought I would be volunteering to facilitate a workshop or two. I was wrong.

I have never been, very rarely been, this happy to be so wrong. What has happened as a result of the misunderstanding is that I have attended a session on "How to Coach CMHF Students" at the HWLC, which included tours and three sets of librarian lead workshops on conducting research, including in Special Collections at the HWLC and on the Chicago Public Library (CPL) website complete with assisting a small group of students. How rewarding and refreshing on an early Saturday morning (8am-noon...without coffee!!!).

I was impressed with all the students. They all represented an aspect of brightness in the dull, mundane, rat race of everyday tribulations i.e. work, local news, horrible traffic, rude people in line at the grocery store, etc. Maybe I'm rambling but you understand the moment of reaching enlightenment not having realized the rut of daily endeavors? Those students sparked a light, which will keep me encouraged over the next two months to assist them with locating resources for their projects.

A 5th grader's researching a youth organization that existed during the 1930s and is wondering the impact that organization would have on today's violence currently plaguing Chicago. Another student, 9th grade, is looking into the LGBT (he didn't specify LGBTQ) neighborhood of Boy's Town, and how it became to be and another student, 8th grade, is researching the architectural structures of McDonald's buildings here in Chicago. Some students were accompanied by parents, others by teachers and some were alone. They were all driven, attentive and full of spirit. I'm looking forward to coaching then judging research projects in April.

This is a wonderful example of an opportunity that began with a friendly smile and a 'Hello'. Sometimes the best plan is one that doesn't exist and materializes organically. Epic Score! for an additional Public Program! Thanks Theresa & Lisa & Beverly for providing me with this amazing opportunity to be involved in such a fulfilling project.

Perils of Leadership: The Law Takes Slaves from a Maryland First Family



In school I learned that historians use archives to compile evidence or find illustrative examples of a much longer case they are making. Genealogists, who are historians with a narrower interest, meanwhile consult indexes or other records looking for very particular items (usually names) and then move on. In the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland project at the Maryland State Archives we perform a hybrid type of work that, on the ground anyway, resembles genealogical research—only in reverse.

 Genealogists often start their research with the names of their extended family in hand and work from there. Although case studies built around runaway ads start with names and locations just as genealogists do, the richest case studies start by examining attractive records themselves like a historian might. Freedom petitions from the Schweninger Collection, United States Colored Troops muster rolls and court cases on slave crimes have a wealth of information about slaves and former slaves; these are not stepping stones but rather the origin of our work. From here we use these names to search the indexes just like genealogists would. But rather than assemble a family tree, we are using state and municipal records to expose a history of an exploited racial class, like a historian would. If the groundwork of LOSIM is genealogy reverse, the collectivities of research that LOSIM compiles are itself the long case that historians make.

William Paca's portrait by Charles Wilson Peale

Coincidentally, the raw Schweninger Collection was compiled in a similar manner as a genealogist looking for the names of ancestors. Since it is a research collection of sources rather than a collection of Dr. Schweninger’s notes or compositions, it is reminiscent of a fishing trawler scooping up any and all information it can about slaves (voluntarily or involuntarily) involved in court cases. From these resources I think I made an original discovery about one of America's founding fathers, Maryland Governor William Paca.

It was with a certain giddy excitement that I read Robert Moody’s freedom petition. [See the post “Moody Moments”; January 13, 2013] The blossoming research geek within me was challenged by the dearth of corroborating materials in the census, court and probate records, but stimulated by the implications of the unspoken subplot unfolding before me.

Robert Moody was a slave of Richard Jones in the early 19th century. In May, 1803 Moody challenged his bondage by Jones and submitted his freedom petition to the Queen Anne's County Court. Following multiple continuances, the case was heard in May, 1812; using transcripts from three successful cases spanning courts across Maryland, Moody and his counsel William Carmichael successfully petitioned for his freedom by proving his descent from a free Indian woman named Mary or Moll. His case is an example of the complex legal environment of slavery and the legal means to escape it.

The State of Maryland officially discouraged activities that created familiarity and racial or class equality between whites and blacks but these laws were not unbending and ultimately aided Moody. A 1681 law governed the relationships between white servants and slaves by carrying a penalty of 10,000 pounds of tobacco for any priest marrying a "ffreeborne Englishe or white woman" and an African slave. This same law however stipulated that "all Children borne of such ffreeborne women, soe manymitted & ffree as aforesaid shall bee ffree as the women soe married"; this legal discrepancy between mulattoes borne of free mothers with slave fathers and mulattoes borne of free fathers and slave mothers essentially transferred freedom through the maternal line no matter how many generations removed and, if proven, invalidated bondage.

Moody vs. Jones

As of 1810 Richard Jones owned approximately sixty-two slaves in his Queen Anne's County property, including Moody. Attempting to abort the petition process, Jones' attorney argued that Moody "ought not to have or maintain his Petition against [Jones] because he saith that the said Robert Moody on the day of proposing the petition...was a slave" and was willing to verify this. Moody's attorney William Carmichael responded that Moody was a "free man and of free condition, and not a slave" and thus not precluded. Perhaps little more than a gesture in the dramaturgical interplay of the court room, Jones' attorney simply reiterated his argument that Moody was in fact a slave. By neglecting this opening gambit he would probably harm his own case.

Carmichael presented records of three cases as evidence that Moody was legally entitled to freedom: Thomas Carver against Samuel Lloyd Chew, Rachel Baker and others against John Paca, and Margaret Creek against William Wilkins.

Carver vs. Chew

The 1794 case of Carver vs. Chew relied on the testimony of Queen Anne's County residents, especially those familiar with Wye Island, but also crossed the Chesapeake into Annapolis and Herring Bay. In retrospect this connection to Annapolis should have made me suspicious that this case was bigger than I anticipated. Over thirty persons, many of whom knew Philemon Pike's plantation on Wye Island for years if not decades, gave testimony regarding an Indian servant named Moll or Mary, whom Carver claimed was his great-grandmother. Many deponents were workers, white servants, or other persons familiar with the plantation; most claimed to have never heard of a woman named "Indian Moll" and lent credence to Samuel Lloyd Chew's claim.

The widow Elizabeth Chew, quite possibly the step-mother of the defendant, stated that a slave named Margaret was pregnant when her deceased husband (also named Samuel) acquired her from Wye Island. Crucially for Moody, Elizabeth testified that Tom was Margaret's son and claimed "Margaret was a free woman, free as any body." She verified this with Samuel Chew's sister, one and the same of Samuel Lloyd Chew's aunt, Mary Hepburn of Upper Marlborough. Hepburn told her that "Margaret certainly is a free woman and no slave [because] her mother [Rachel] was the daughter of an Indian woman a native of this country" and brought up in the family of Philemon Lloyd on Wye Island. Chew acquired Margaret through his marriage to Henrietta Maria Lloyd, the only daughter of Philemon Lloyd. Henrietta Maria was probably the birth mother of Samuel Lloyd Chew, the defendant. Since Philemon Pike and Philemon Lloyd occupy the same time and space in this reference case, they are likely the same person or at least blood related.

Baker and others vs. John Paca

Moody's case was first filed in 1803, the year after his mother Betty, the daughter of a "yellow woman called Rachel [Baker]," was freed along with at least fifteen other slaves in a case against John Paca. Since I am new to Maryland, the name “Paca” did not mean too much. I knew it shared the name of a Maryland politician however that meant little. Unlike my native Midwest where families scatter across the landscape, Maryland names remain geographically confined. For example, Baker and Moody shared an attorney, William Carmichael, but research into him would be difficult. The name Carmichael is everywhere in Queen Anne’s County and William is perhaps the most common name during this historical period; furthermore, families tend to name children after a beloved relative. I suspect his son is R. B. Carmichael, a Queen Anne’s County politician and judge. It’s a start but without knowing William’s approximate birth year it is nigh impossible to know whether the records I am looking at pertain to him or someone else.

I made the connection to William Paca through an incredible coincidence; I clicked a link from the Legacy of Slavery’s official Twitter account. @LegacySlaveryMD—“Ratification Day! OTD in 1784, Congress meets in Annapolis to ratify the Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/educ/exhibits/treaty/treaty.html”



A living history portrayal of Paca by Marcos Salaverria:
Photo by Joshua McKerrow - The Capital

The link took me to an MSA Web page where I spotted a link to a biographical page for Governor William Paca. I clicked that link, satisfying my itch, and checked his partial biography. I immediately noticed his wife’s maiden name—Mary Lloyd Chew. Whatever the tendency for Marylanders to share surnames across many generations, Paca’s first wife had two names frequently mentioned throughout Moody's petition. It went on to say that Paca had a son named John and died in 1799 (the year before Baker’s petition was filed) at “Wye Hall” in Queen Anne’s County. This all could still be a coincidence however; "John" was also a common name and the Wye River after which the island was named is fairly extensive and many places would be entitled to its moniker. I clicked the link to Mary’s biography and was hit again with even more names—Philemon Lloyd and Henrietta Maria. Her extended biography stated that Philemon Lloyd Chew died childless in 1770 and Wye Island was split between Paca (by virtue of his wife Mary) and his other sister Margaret Chew Bordley. Unbeknownst to me I had read a complicated tale of genealogy and probate concerning some of Maryland’s most prominent political families.

Wye Island - J. G. Stong's Map of Queen Anne's County, 1866, MSA SC 5080-1

I realized that Moody’s owner Richard Jones probably purchased him from William Paca himself. Since Moody claimed the same lineage as Rachel Baker and her family but was not listed as a co-petitioner in their 1800 filing, his sale probably happened before 1800 when William was still alive; this was corroborated upon a re-reading my notes. The 1802 verdict found Rachel and her co-plaintiffs were descended from a free Indian woman named Mary or Moll and the judge ruled them to be of free condition. They were also awarded $39.48 and one-third cents. Moody's attorney William Carmichael, who also represented Rachel Baker et al., placed a record of this case into evidence.

Creek vs. Wilkins

Moody and Carmichael also entered into evidence the 1799 Baltimore County case of "Negro Margaret Creek against William Wilkins." Attempting to abort the petition process, Wilkins' attorney argued that Creek "ought not to have or maintain her petition against him because he saith that the said Margaret Creek on the day of proposing [this petition] was a slave" but her attorney Thomas Kell argued otherwise. The jury found Margaret to be free and awarded her an astounding sum of £1,783.

Verdict




Paca House, a home and garden that attracts many Annapolis tourists:
Photo by Joshua McKerrow - The Capital

The jury at Moody's trial was convinced by the evidence from these three petitions and found in favor of Moody against Richard Jones. They awarded him the sum of $105.63 and one-third cents compensation. Jones' attorney argued that Moody did not adequately prove that the Margaret Creek from the Wilkins petition was the same Margaret from the Samuel Lloyd Chew petition; he filed an exception. To challenge this exception, a "mulatto man with wooly head" named Cesar Boose testified that Jones purchased Moody from William Paca fourteen or fifteen years earlier and that John was William's representative. The defense counsel "objected to the admissibility of the witness alleging him to be a negro [and] precluded by the Act of Assembly"; the defense likely cited a law similar to an 18th Century act stating that "no Negro, or Mulatto Slave, Free Negro, or Mulatto born of a White Woman...[or] or any Indian Slave, or Free Indian Natives...be admitted and received as good and valid Evidence in Law, in any Matter or Thing whatsoever...wherein any Christian or White Person is concerned." The court however ruled that it was incumbent upon the defense to prove whether Boose "was a negro slave [or] free negro descended from a slave." Although it is not stated explicitly, it appears that Jones excepted the evidence presented through the three preceding freedom petitions in addition to Cesar Boose's testimony.

Judgments Affirmed

The case was given to the Court of Appeals for the Eastern Shore the following month, June 1812. It was entered into the docket in the low triple digits so a continuance was was issued for the next session. The case appears again on the Court of Appeals Docket in June, 1813, which states the court's decision: The Court of Appeals for the Eastern Shore affirmed the Queen Anne's County Court judgments for all exceptions, however Judge Buchanan broke from his colleagues and dissented on the fourth exception. Jones' exceptions to the Queen Anne's County Court judgments were not numbered but it is likely that exception four concerned Boose's testimony. The dissent was probably recorded in the more detailed Judgment Records, which are lost; since no catalog entry for a book containing Judgment Records for 1813 exists, the record was probably lost before its transfer to the then-named Maryland Hall of Records.

The fate of Robert Moody is unknown however there are other free persons by that surname in the Queen Anne's County certificate of freedom index.

Ygolaeneg or, Genealogy Backwards

Rather than start with the name "William Paca" or "John Paca" like his descendants might, I started with a record that happened to include a court exhibit concerning his son. Although William and John Paca's names are crucial in proving Robert Moody's case, their names are lost in conventional indexes since they are not technically the co-defendants. It took the work of Dr. Loren Schweninger, his fellow researchers, and follow-up from the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland team (you know, me) to make this connection; I’m currently awaiting a book edited by Dr. Schweninger to see if he also made this Paca connection.

The successful petition of Rachel Baker and her extensive family represents a sizable exodus from a Maryland first-family perhaps not seen again until Henrietta Ogle's slaves fled to British ships in the War of 1812. Currently there are two researchers at least partly dedicated to studying just these slaves. One of them, Chuck Weisenberger, used his Comegys Bight Scholarship to fund a summer research trip to the National Archives in London. If memory serves, he examined naval and Canadian provincial records to find as much information as possible about Ogle's slaves. It's an intriguing contrast that Paca's slaves escaped with the law on their side while Ogle's slaves escaped extra judicially.

Woe to be a Maryland first family.

--Alex Champion, Maryland State Archives

Amanda J. Carter: Week 19 (January 7 – January 11) @ Fisk University

William McKissack Papers
The Office files series is nearly complete.  All 11 boxes have been processed.  My next step is to go back through all of the folders to finalize the arrangement.  Finalizing the arrangement consists of adding dates to the folders, ensuring proper arrangement of materials within the folders which may result in the addition of a few more folders for a clearer organizational structure, and recording precise folder names into the finding aid.  The last step is to use the notes I have been taking as I process this section and create a scope and content note about the series and abstracts for the subseries where necessary.  While I enjoy all of the steps of processing a collection, writing the notes and abstracts tends to be my favorite.  Not only do I enjoy writing, but having the ability to see that portion of the collection complete and ready to be researched is very satisfying to a processing archivist (at least to me). 

Once I complete the finding aid for the Office Files series, I will move back into the Projects series to work on specific projects categorized into subseries.  The restoration of a bathhouse and sanatorium in Hot Springs, Arkansas, is next on the list.  I am excited to work on this section because the project sounds fascinating.   

Challenges:
An ongoing challenge has been the organization of the tax records.  There are many types of tax records for a business including withholdings, annual and quarterly reports, and federal and state returns.  Taxes also cover anything from federal and state taxes to social security and unemployment taxes.  This leads to Department of Labor and social security employee records which can overlap the tax records.  It can be very confusing, especially when there is a necessity to separate the materials containing personal information like social security numbers.  This is where scope and content notes as well as abstracts are invaluable.  It is conceivable than any number of archivists may develop any number of organizational structures for this information.  However, as long as the arrangement is logical and there is some form of instruction to help researchers better understand the structure, then the chances of a researcher missing valuable information decreases.  My goal is to make this collection as accessible as possible through the arrangement and description of the collection.    

Another challenge is the best arrangement for the separation of personal information.  In some cases, I have created two folders:  one containing freely accessible information and the other containing social security numbers that will require it to be closed.  In other cases such as employee records, whole sections will be closed due to the inclusion of personal information.  While the physical location of these records is a minor detail, portraying the division of these records in the finding aid proves to be rather tricky.  If I list everything by series and subseries, then how do I succinctly note the separation of some of the records?  If I list the arrangement according to boxes, then the description of the “closed” boxes might prove very confusing.  So far I have decided to list the materials according to series and subseries.  While in most cases the listing of the folders and the boxes will be linear, there will be places in the finding aid that seem to skip around since the closed boxes are at the end of the series.  For instance, there are two Employment Security folders.  For example, the general Employment Security folder’s location may be listed as “Box 1, Folder 8” while the very next folder listed is closed so it will be recorded as “Box 7, Folder 1.”  Since the folder after that is not closed, it will be listed as “Box 1, Folder 9.”  This may seem a bit confusing at first glance of the finding aid, but for the researcher who wants to access the collection, as long as the correct box and folder are listed then the order of those are not as imperative.  I hope that this arrangement will work well, but if it does not I can always revise it for better access. 

While I had planned on being ahead of schedule this week by having the Office Files series completed that has not happened.  Not to fear, however, since I am still on schedule and the work is coming together quite well.

Until next time…

Amanda J. Carter
Franklin Library, Fisk University
IMLS HistoryMakers Fellow 2012-2013

Ardra Whitney: Week 19 @ Avery Research Center

Monday, January 7^th:

In the morning I discussed the possibility of putting together a public program/exhibit for Women’s History Month with Processing Archivist, Georgette Mayo. In return she provided with information on books relating to African American women’s clubs in Charleston in order to develop a thesis and the names of some professors I could contact to recruit guest speakers. She also offered to be facilitator for the program. Additionally, I mentioned the possibility of curating a complementing exhibition, which incorporates archival collection materials relating to women’s clubs and women’s club participants. Ultimately, she would like me to establish a thesis that is unique and addresses an aspect of women’s clubs that hasn’t been discussed before. One of the books she shared with me during our conversation was one called What a Women Ought To Be and To Do by Stephanie J. Shaw, which tells the story of American black professional women’s struggle for empowerment during the Jim Crow era.

Later in day I participated in a meeting with Manager of Archival Services, Aaron Spelbring and Ms. Mayo to discuss various topics relating to the Avery Research Center Archives and its archives staff, e.g., creating EAD finding aids with Archivist Toolkit; processing work on the Phillip Simmons papers; grant funding and backlog; potential host sites and promotion strategies for the digital photo archive project; and Mr. Spelbring’s new position as Treasurer of the Charleston Archives, Libraries and Museums Council. I also shared at the meeting that I had initiated a new Twitter account for the Center and asked for input from the staff on people and organizations to follow as well as news, happenings and events to post the page. Ms. Mayo recommended linking the Twitter account to the Center’s Facebook page and Mr. Spelbring mentioned developing a list of hash tags for the Twitter page in order to generate trends and help get the word out about the Center’s programs, exhibits and archival collections.

Tuesday, January 8^th:

I assisted Curator, Curtis J. Franks with updating the exhibit checklist for Sweetgrass: A Living Legacy of Community & Family-- an exhibit at Avery, which he is de-installing. I also continued working on arrangement, description and finding aid preparation for the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Records. I have completed a preliminary finding aid and will work on editing and encoding it in the coming weeks.

 Wednesday, January 9^th and Thursday, January 10^th

On Wednesday I began surveying the Virginia Geraty Papers. The collection is 9 linear feet; completely unprocessed and unsorted and appears to have no arrangement or order. Geraty (1915-2004) was a writer and outspoken defender of Gullah language. As a white woman, Geraty spent some of her childhood years on Yonges Island in South Carolina. She learned Gullah from a family servant named, “Maum Chrish,” and attributed her love of Gullah speech to those early interactions. Geraty worked for many years as a librarian in the Charleston County School System. Noticing that white teachers could not understand the speech of Gullah-speaking children, Geraty spoke out in favor of language training for teachers. However, for many years her views were regarded as eccentric. Although the Gullah people and their language are now a focus of pride for African Americans reigning from this region, in the past, speakers of Geechee or Gullah was ridiculed as “ignorant” and “backward.” Today the Gullah language is spoken by approximately 250,000 African Americans called Gullahs, who live in the coastal “Lowcountry” region of South Carolina and Georgia. Gullah is considered a Creole language that combines influences from African and English languages. Geraty came forward as a defender of Gullah in the 1950s when prejudice against the language was extremely strong. She authored poetry and books in Gullah and also produced popular recordings in the language. In addition, she was involved in theater and film productions that promoted popular understanding of the language.

On Thursday I completed evaluating a video oral history interview for EducationMaker and MusicMaker, Verna Holley. Holley is a retired choral music teacher from Detroit, Michigan and the pianist and music director of the Earl Nelson Singers. The Earl Nelson Singers was founded in 1963 by Earl Nelson, who was also a choral music teacher. The group is an integrated ensemble of singers from the Lansing, Michigan area that performs spirituals.

Friday, January 11^th:

Ms. Mayo asked me to perform reference services in the Phillis Wheatley Literary and Social Club Reading Room, which included labeling artifacts from Avery Research Center’s collections for an art history class assignment on African art. After lunch, I continued surveying the Virginia Geraty Papers. I really enjoyed the reading correspondence, poems and stories for young people from the collection that were all written in Gullah.