Week 25: Ardra Whitney @ Avery Research Center

(Are they hiring?)

Monday, February 18^th:

In the morning I sent out an e-mail to Lauren Saulino asking her to post an announcement on the College of Charleston’s African-American Studies blog for the Black in the Lowcountry: Digital Photo Archive project. Afterwards I attended the weekly archives staff meeting with Manager of Archival Services, Aaron Spelbring and Processing Archivist, Georgette Mayo, where we discussed work updates, professional development and upcoming conferences. I also burned a copy of Cynthia McCottry-Smith’s oral history interview to CD and mailed it out to her along with a thank you note. By the end of the day I had completed processing the Friendly Union Society Records and encoding the finding aid for the collection in EAD.

That evening I attended Francoise N. Hamlin’s lecture on her recently published book, Crossroads At Clarksdale: The Black Freedom Struggle in the Mississippi Delta After World War II. Hamlin is the Hans Rothfels Assistant Professor of History and Africana Studies at Brown University; during her lecture she shared stories about the black townspeople of Clarksdale, including the extent of political change their slow struggle for social equality was able to bring about. Hamlin also shared how leaders of Mississippi’s local civil rights organizations-- like Vera Pigee and Aaron Henry--worked to challenge Jim Crow through fights against inequality, police brutality, segregation, and economic injustice.

Tuesday, February 19^th - Wednesday, February 20^th:

On Tuesday Assistant Director, Deborah Wright spoke to me and Mr. Spelbring about managing Avery’s blogs and generating content for them regularly. I also asked Ms. Wright to give me user privileges for the Not Just in February blog, so that I could post an announcement on it about the Black in the Lowcountry: Digital Photo Archive project. On Wednesday, Ms. Mayo asked me to speak with Ruth Rambo about conducting an oral history interview on the Phillis Wheatley Literary and Social Club. Ms. Rambo was in the reading room conducting research on the club for an outreach program she is planning for elementary through high school students. She also explained that she was a newly inducted member into the club and had been nominated for membership by the club’s president, Norma White.

That evening I had the chance to attend one of the club’s monthly meetings, where I listened to members discuss revisions to their constitution. I helped member, Sharon Reed setup for the meeting in Avery’s McKinley Washington Auditorium and was treated to a delicious dinner, which included fried chicken, collard greens, brown rice, shrimp and stuffing, salad, and lemon cake for dessert. Yum!

Thursday, February 21^st - Friday, February 22^nd:

On Thursday I posted a photo submissions announcement for the Black in the Lowcountry: Digital Photo Archive project on Facebook and the Not Just in February blog. I also attended Avery’s weekly general staff meeting at noon and at the end of the day, Dr. James Anderson's lecture, entitled “Affirmative Action and the New Color: Fischer v. the University of Texas and Public Discourse about Race in Educational Policy”. On Friday I posted photos and pertinent online articles to Avery’s Facebook and Twitter pages and continued my work on the Virginia Geraty Papers.

Chaitra Powell: Week 25 @ The Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum

In my 25^th week at the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum, I supervised volunteers at a jazz concert, facilitated a collections advisory board meeting, and gave two presentations about the collection.

On Thursday, we hosted our third jazz duet featuring Karen Briggs and Patrice Rushen. Cara had stayed late for the last two evening programs, and asked me if I could take care of this one. We agreed that I would come in late, anticipating a long night based on the high volume of patron phone calls that we received about this concert. The evening started with a greeting from Patrice’s bodyguards who wanted to make sure that the building was secure, I assured them that it was. I printed the ticket lists and found the drink tickets, petty cash for change and our credit card forms for the registration table. We opened the “bookstore” which features our MCLM merchandise and some books and DVDs that past presenters have left for us to sell. I had Nancy at registration, Paula as a greeter, and Sandra in the bookstore. After 15 minutes, Sandra informed me that she did not like the bookstore assignment, so she went to registration and I covered the bookstore before the concert, and during intermission. We turned the lights off in the hallway and opened the courtroom doors so that late arrivals could get in without interrupting the performance. I watched some of the show, completely spell bound. Karen Briggs has a HistoryMaker interview on the website, and with her locks pulled up in a high ponytail and a violin at her neck, I could see how she dazzled international audiences. Patrice Rushen was a protégé of Herbie Hancock and even though most know her as a vocalist from, “Forget me nots”, she is an extraordinary instrumentalist; she played the piano for us on Thursday. At 11:00, the music was over and our guests had filed out and I thought it would be time to go home; but I still had to chat with volunteers, return all of the materials to their proper place, and help Larry set up the audio equipment for the weekend activities at the museum. By midnight, I was headed home completely understanding of Cara’s request to take a night off.

On Saturday, I left home early to pick up coffee and donuts for the second Collections Advisory Board meeting at 9:00. At our last meeting, I was tasked with putting together a collection summary, and submitting it to the group so that we could discuss collection processing priorities this month. I spent a great deal of time drafting documents that would help me understand and then communicate to them how collection materials flow through the museum. I drafted an appraisal policy, processing workflow, collection summary, and percent processed document to facilitate the discussion. I prefaced the talk with an admission that I am an archivist, who is pre-occupied with logic, processes and order. The group is composed of professors, historians, researchers and a filmmaker; I needed their help to determine the best direction for my energy, based on their respective experience and knowledge of the collection. The group very quickly came to the consensus that the Mayme A. Clayton Collection of African American History and Culture was the only priority in terms of processing. I explained that the collection must be over 500 linear feet and includes series that are still being processed at an item level (magazines and books) and series that have barely been described (manuscript and sculpture). They confirmed; we needed to get a hold of the entire thing before we moved on to Black LGBTQ, Diane Watson, Marilyn White, etc. I knew that I had a strong handle on Mayme’s papers, but I was more than a little floored about accounting for the rest of her materials in a finding aid. However, what came out of my mouth next belied that thought, “I’ll assess the situation, re-direct our volunteers, and have it done before the end of my fellowship”. The meeting went on to discuss funding sources, website, digitization, student internships, publicity and variety of other important topics. When we got to the end and identified action items that we would be responsible for, I explained that I would work very hard to accomplish the goal and communicate any challenges to its attainment in the meetings that we have ahead. The poet and filmmaker, S. Pearl Sharp, kindly told me to focus on making it happen and not even consider failure; so we shall see how this all turns out.

On Saturday and Sunday, I represented MCLM to two different community groups. CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) was having a luncheon for their current and future members in our “great room”. The “great room” is the site of our Jacob Lawrence exhibit. During the introduction the coordinators asked me to share more about the museum, and give a little information about Jacob Lawrence. I told the audience about Dr. Clayton, my role on the staff, and encouraged them to volunteer with us. I pointed out the how the Jacob Lawrence prints were grouped by series, Toussaint L’Overture, Migration, Builders, Hiroshima, and Genesis, and explained the context. I returned toward the end of the program to lead a tour of about 20 people through the museum. They seemed very enthusiastic and many planned to submit volunteer paperwork in the weeks ahead, it was a great group of individuals. On Sunday, I joined Lloyd Clayton and one of our volunteers, Herb, to present at the Village Green. The Village Green is an expensive and verdant cluster of condominiums in Baldwin Hills. It was built in 1942 and was declared a historic landmark in 2001. For black history month, one of the coordinators invited us to share some artifacts and stories with the community members. There must have been 80 people in the room as Lloyd shared anecdotes about his mother and I talked about our programs and collections. Afterwards, dinner was served and many people approached us with comments and questions about getting involved. Between, Saturday and Sunday, the most common comment was, “If I had known about your organization I would have been involved a long time ago”. We seem to be getting people on board one program at a time.

Audio Assault Update: Due to a film shoot on February 27 through March 1^st, the walls will need to be painted and we are still waiting on the text panels. In the meantime, the buzz is growing…..   

Centreville

 Like one of my favorite Presidents of the United States, the under-sung James K. Polk, I pulled off quite a bit of work in just four expressions of the sun’s effect on the Earth. In four years Polk facilitated one of the grandest land grabs in American history by seizing swaths of Mexico and settling the Oregon question, and managed to satisfy northern and southern, slave and free, interests at the national level by lowering tariffs but re-establishing a national bank, balancing slave and free lands, and would have been a model for future presidents keeping the balance of power; in four days I co-presented a public program at the Centreville Public Library in Queen Anne’s County, joined my colleagues to visit the War of 1812 exhibit at the Maryland State House, and significantly re-wrote, re-researched, and substantiated my Robert Moody case study in preparation for another talk in Centreville next week.
 
Centreville

Eastbound

 

The audience mills about

Tanner and I took our show even further afield on February 20 when we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and gave a similar presentation to a crowd of 19 during the lunch hour. Just like in Stevensville I felt a moment of ignorance when locals spoke of their surroundings, apparently expecting me to know what they were talking about. One man spoke of a yellow brick home that previously belonged to an Eastern Shore judge who resisted Union laws and was manhandled because of it. My ears perked when he said the judge’s name was Carmichael, the same surname of a lawyer common in my freedom petition project. Although names are oft repeated in this region, I knew the lawyer William Carmichael had a son Richard Bennett who served as a judge. I asked the librarian about this home in hopes she knew its famous former resident. She brightened and said it was “Adam’s home”; my confusion must have been obvious because she quickly explained that she meant Adam Goodheart, the contemporary author of the popular history book 1861. Upon returning to Annapolis I checked the Maryland State Archives biography of Richard Bennett Carmichael, which confirmed my suspicion.

R.B. Carmichael

It stated “In February 1861, he served as chair of the Resolutions Committee of the Southern Rights Convention held in Baltimore. Under his leadership, the delegates unanimously adopted resolutions recommending that "if a disruption could not be avoided, Maryland should cast her lot with Virginia and the South." He received national attention in 1862 when his outspoken pro-Southern sentiments led him to be charged with treason. In late May 1862, Secretary of State William H. Seward ordered General John A. Dix, in Baltimore, to send federal troops to Easton to arrest Carmichael. When Dix's men arrived at the Talbot County Courthouse in Easton, Carmichael refused to recognize their authority. The agents pistol-whipped him and forcibly dragged him from the bench in the middle of court proceedings, stirring indignation throughout the Eastern Shore and the South.”

Since his father was the lawyer for many of the slaves who are subject to my upcoming presentation, this will add some interesting local interest.


  War of 1812

Barney spots the fleet
with his "excellent glass"

Barney's appointment

In many ways the war of 1812 is Maryland’s war. Its most emotionally resonating events occurred in Maryland; the Star Spangled Banner was composed during the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore and the British soldiers fought in Maryland before reaching the capital, land formerly belonging to Maryland, and burned it. This month saw the debut of a Maryland State Archives exhibit in the State House. The Capital Gazette did brief but decent write-up about the exhibit. My favorite part of the exhibit as a whole is the astounding mural version of a painting by historical painter Richard Schlect, which depicts Major William Barney spotting the British fleet on their way to Baltimore. They easily could have chosen Annapolis instead and its people sighed in relief.

Robert Moody

I resumed working on case studies. After the thrill of the Negro Susan’s kidnapping from Virginia and the politics of Robert Moody and the Paca family, it was disappointing when my newest subject Negro Adam was so plain; the judge dismissed his petition, which seems based on flimsy probate rules and his mistress having left the state. In preparation for my return to Centreville, I finally decided to turn the single Robert Moody case study into four (see previous posts “Moody Moments” and “Perils of Leadership…”). Meaning rather than briefly describe the three petitions that Moody’s lawyer William Carmichael submitted into evidence in 1812, I chose to compose one for each petitioner. This also meant I needed to go back to supportive records like censuses, court records, and land records to flesh out details about these slaves and their owners.

 This occasioned a visit to the Prerogative Court records. From a record keeping standpoint the Prerogative Court was excellent; a centralized department of the provincial government that tracked wills, inventories, and other necessary things that are the life blood of historical scholarship and genealogy. Following its abolition in 1777 most records of this type were retained at the county level; this makes quite a headache if you are searching for a name but do not know the county. In this case I examined the 1760 will record of Philemon Lloyd Chew, the man whose free Indian servant caused so much fuss when her descendents sued their owners for freedom. The records do not circulate to the general public because of their age so PDFs of the deteriorated pages were microfilmed, scanned, and are accessible online. Unfortunately the book containing the will I needed was 1700 pages long and so was the PDF. Fortunately the page number of the book (473) was near the page number on PDF (474) however my computer struggled to load the complete image or even scroll. Instead I examined the original record.

 As I expected the record was, probably after scanning, sent to conservation for stabilization and re-binding. The original pages were encased in a non-reactive, mostly transparent white sheath that prevents harm from human debris but also allows rebinding without further damaging the original pages. Unfortunately the will of Philemon Lloyd Chew was less than a page and told me information I already knew or was not relevant to my research. Unfortunately again Chew did not have an estate inventory that may have spelled out the names servants or slaves. I checked various indices for other slave owners and slaves associated with the Moody case studies but I was flummoxed by Negro Tom Carver. I realized much to my embarrassment that Carver was not awarded a settlement in his 1794 petition and thus apparently did not win. It was not a horrible assumption because sixteen of his relatives went on to free themselves with at least one, his cousin (Moody), submitting Carver’s transcript into evidence.

I reexamined my notes at the beginning and end of Carver’s transcript in Moody’s petition’s judgments record. A newly remembered reference, which confused me when I first read it and hoped would make sense by the end, stated that both Carver’s attorney and his owner Samuel Lloyd Chew’s attorney consented to have the damning testimony of Elizabeth Chew submitted into evidence for the General Court of the Western Shore; she was the linchpin of Carver’s defense. She stated unequivocally that Carver was free because his mother Margaret was the granddaughter of a free Indian woman named Mary. Even more confusing, the transcript (which I corroborated with the General Court of the Western Shore’s docket and vide minutes) stated that Carver’s attorney asked the petition to be dismissed.

I brought this record to Owen Lourie who was similarly bemused. He stated the judicial system at the time was very cordial, with lawyers often making side deals as friends rather than as opponents. It was very possible that Carver’s attorney agreed to drop the petition, which was certain to succeed, if Chew manumitted him in a separate agreement. This would have insulated Carver’s freedom so not to cascade across most of his family tree and affect Chew’s family’s slave interests. This hypothesis is somewhat supported by William Carmichael’s statement upon entering Carver’s case, and thus Elizabeth Chew’s testimony, into evidence: The transcript was not intended to argue a relationship of Moody to Tom’s mother Margaret, and thus his connection to Indian Mary, but rather to establish a “pedigree.” Assuming Carver did settle out of court I suspect Carmichael would not need to be so timid.

Alex Champion--Maryland State Archives

Amanda J. Carter: Week 25 (February 16 – February 22) @ Fisk University

William McKissack Papers
Now that I have completed the National Baptist Sanitarium and Bathhouse project section, a total of 41 boxes have been completely processed for the McKissack collection.  Five boxes of my next section have been partially processed.  This leaves 21 boxes of documents and realia, five boxes of blueprints, and numerous rolled blueprints.  It has been challenging to keep up the pace with such a large collection while maintaining consistency and accuracy. 

I am now working on projects that took place in Memphis, Tennessee.  It appears that multiple projects sometimes show up on one document, so I may add a Memphis projects subseries under the Projects series if they cannot all be separated.  With this idea in mind, I am now going through the records and separating them into at least four subseries:  Memphis projects (when there is more than one on a document or when the project is not identified), Metropolitan Baptist Church, Universal Life Insurance Company, and Lauderdale Church of Christ.  If I find other Memphis projects in this group of papers, I will add another subseries.  Since I have an outline for the previous projects, this should go rather smoothly.  I hope that by sorting through multiple smaller projects at once that I will be able to make up some time I lost earlier in the month.    

Challenges
The most challenging current aspect is the blueprints series because they were not originally estimated in the size of this collection thus were not included in the schedule for completion.  I would estimate that the blueprints increase the size of the collection by about one-third.  I do not yet have a solid count of how many blueprints there are, but that will be documented once we find a space to flatten them all.  It has been determined that they should be flattened and cleaned and this will take time.  The best option is to flatten these documents and store them in flat boxes, but that then poses a storage challenge.  Hopefully, the blueprints will flatten well enough that they will not take up much space aside from the unique size of the box.  I have spoken to the conservationist here and will be speaking to my supervisor, Ms. Mattie, later in the week to determine when the flattening should begin.    

Outreach: Black History Month powerpoint
As mentioned last week, I was able to update my powerpoint presentation playing downstairs to include an expanded version of the Tennessee State Library and Archives online exhibit, “This Honorable Body: African American Legislators in 19^th Century Tennessee.”  I also used Audacity to cut a few speech excerpts from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and President Obama’s latest Inaugural Address.  Combined with some music and once the kinks were worked out, I looped and repeated the music and speech excerpts in a fourteen minute loop to match the fourteen minute presentation.  Using the Windows playlist to randomize the selections adds another level of depth to the presentation because an attendee can then watch it more than once and have a different experience each time because different songs or clips appear at different times in the revolution of the slides. 

Challenges
I had a few challenges with the sound clips.  First, Windows Media Player did not like that Audacity added “tags” or metadata to the *.mp3 file, so after it would play that clip, the playlist would stop and it would show an error.  Once I discovered the issue and removed the extra metadata, I still had a problem with one clip.  I finally determined that the clip was simply too short.  It was only one second.  So I went back and made a larger cut at which point the playlist began working well. 

Public Programming: Sustainable Community Workshop, Lynchburg, VA
I discussed some outreach and public programming options last week and have been considering other ideas.  The unexpected loss last August of Ms. Beth Howse, the Archivist at Franklin Library, has been difficult for the Fisk University community.  Not only did Franklin Library lose a beloved and long-time member of the Fisk family, but the library staff has been stretched beyond its already limited personnel.  Special Collection hours have had to be further limited yet the requests for research and access to the amazing collections have not decreased.  In order to prevent further staffing strain and delays in responses to reference requests, active outreach and public programming efforts have been necessarily limited. 

I have been trying to think “outside of the box” for other ways to achieve professional development in a way that does not put strain on the hardworking staff here at Franklin Library.  Fortunately, a friend of mine was discussing her plans for a Sustainable Community Workshop in her town of Lynchburg, Virginia.  She asked if I would mind helping her develop resources for the attendees and possibly give a presentation on the importance of community archiving and documenting current sustainability efforts.  She hopes to further expand this workshop to other small communities including areas in Tennessee.  I thought this would be a great way to actively participate in a public program that will not cause undue strain on Franklin Library.  I am looking forward to participating in her workshop scheduled tentatively for the weekend of April 12-14.  While this workshop is not focused on students, I think education is an imperative in all walks of life and so being able to bring resources and instruction to the general public, especially in smaller communities, can further encourage education of those communities at a grassroots level.  I am excited to see where this opportunity may lead.

Until next time…                                                                                                                  

Amanda J. Carter

Franklin Library, Fisk University

IMLS HistoryMakers Fellow 2012-2013

Amanda J. Carter: Week 24 (February 9 – February 15) @ Fisk University

William McKissack Papers

I finally completed processing the National Baptist Sanitarium and Bathhouse project section of this collection.  There were more materials than originally estimated, so that combined with some slight delays caused this section’s processing to take longer than planned.  However, that means that the other projects should be somewhat reduced in the amount of time they take to process.  I am still reviewing the boxes to finalize this portion of the finding aid, but that should be completed shortly and I will begin on the next project section of the finding aid.  Slowly but surely, I am coming along well in processing this collection. 

Delays

Part of the delay is the extra time it takes to set up and take down the Black History Month presentation that runs daily.  We are unaware of the general login information for the computer that is used to display the presentation so I have had to rely on the generous nature of the librarians here to take time out of their busy schedule and log in for me each day.  Fortunately, they are becoming accustomed to my daily request, so the morning setup is taking less time.  I have also been working on trying to develop a type of soundtrack to accompany the presentation but I will discuss that further shortly.  Another delay was that I had to miss Thursday because my mother needed to go to the hospital for a procedure.  Fortunately, everything worked out well but it took all day so I was not able to come and work on the collection. 

Outreach: Black History Month 2013, At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality: The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington

Last week I posted a Slideshare link to my presentation here.  Currently, music of the Fisk Jubilee Singers and Dr. Matthew Kennedy are on a randomized loop to accompany the presentation.  I have downloaded some music and speeches in order to create a more stylized playlist, but I still need to work on excerpting parts of the speeches and intertwining it with the music. While it has been a while since I toyed with cutting sound clips, I still have Audacity installed on my computer from the oral history interview I did for my Ozark Mountains women’s history project in 2009, so this will be a great refresher in using it.   I hope to have that completed by the end of the week.  I may also take the opportunity to update my powerpoint presentation to include an expanded version of the Tennessee State Library and Archives online exhibit, “This Honorable Body: African American Legislators in 19^th Century Tennessee.”

Outreach/Social Media: Historypin

My original plan for outreach and/or public programming was a tour of some of the buildings in Nashville that were constructed or renovated by the McKissack brothers.  Due to some extenuating circumstances here, it has been quite difficult to see those plans come to life, so I have decided to take a different route.  Rather than a live tour of a few buildings, I will develop a “virtual tour” using Historypin.   Historypin is a cool map application that can be accessed online or through a smartphone or other app device.  One can “pin” images to it at certain locations so that anyone who uses the app can access the images.  (There is even an option to overlay the image against your smartphone screen so that you can compare the image to the actual location.)  This will broaden the reach of my audience as well as broaden the reach of locations by allowing me to add construction outside of Nashville, Tennessee.  For instance, one image that I plan on using is a postcard of the National Baptist Sanitarium and Bathhouse in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  Since  I would not have been able to plan a tour that far away, I will be able to demonstrate the reach of the McKissack brothers that I would not have been able to exemplify in a tour of one city.  Metadata can be added to the images so that I can advertise the McKissack Collection here at Franklin Library to anyone who uses this app.  It is really exciting and I am looking forward to selecting and adding images of some of the buildings constructed or renovated by the McKissack brothers.

Public Programming Outreach: Tennessee History Day

Another outreach option is National History Day.  According to the nhd.org website,

“National History Day makes history come alive for America's youth by engaging them in the discovery of the historic, cultural and social experiences of the past. Through hands-on experiences and presentations, today's youth are better able to inform the present and shape the future. NHD inspires children through exciting competitions and transforms teaching through project-based curriculum and instruction.”

Through the Society of Tennessee Archivists, I have volunteered to participate in Tennessee History Day, “the state affiliate of National History Day.” I have volunteered as a judge, but since this is my first year volunteering, I am willing to work in any capacity in which they need me on Saturday, April 20, 2013.  This sounds really exciting so I am looking forward to encouraging a love of history with Tennessee youth.    

Until next time…                                                                                                                  

Amanda J. Carter

Franklin Library, Fisk University

IMLS HistoryMakers Fellow 2012-2013

Chaitra Powell: Week 24 @ The Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum

In my 24^th week at the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum, I talked with the donors of two significant collections, gave two presentations on the importance of black archives, and worked on my exhibit into the wee hours of the night.

I know that working with donors can be one of the more trying aspects of being an archivist but in the cases of C. Jerome Woods and Marilyn White, it was a true delight. Mr. Woods is the donor of the Black LGBTQ collection here at MCLM. The collection is on deposit and Mr. Woods is supposed to find some volunteers to help him process the materials, with minimal instruction from me.  Although, I have had the organizational schema designed for months, it was becoming apparent that we would need to go through the first few sessions together. On Tuesday, we sat down and went through three boxes of materials. I tweaked the schema several times as I listened to him explained why he kept various items. We properly labeled the folders and filled two boxes with neatly organized materials. I was happy that I was able to keep him on task as well as incorporate his expansive knowledge on the subject matter. At this point, our biggest challenge is finding containers for the diverse assortment of materials. On Saturday, I had the pleasure of meeting a silver medalist from the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Marilyn White. She participated in the 4x100m relay, and an interesting fact is that she lost her shoe during the race and never stopped running. Another fascinating fact about Mrs. White is that she beat Wilma Rudolph in a foot race in 1963. After her track career, she was an educator for 40 years, a poet, a vocalist, a breast cancer survivor, a motivational speaker, and a genealogist that can trace her lineage back to 1842. Mrs. White had donated her collection of books and genealogical materials to MCLM a few years ago. Since the majority of her collection is books, the processing has been stalled until we finish with Mayme’s books. She talked to me about possibly sending more pieces of her home collection to us in the near future. I need to take a look at the 25 boxes that are currently located in our “newly accessioned” room and see how the new materials can be integrated.  I am supposed to call her next week, but after 4:00 PM because she is busy exercising for the majority of the day.    

I prepared a Power Point presentation on the importance of Black Archives for my speaking opportunities at the California African American Genealogical Society (CAAGS) and New Name Baptist Church this week. For CAAGS, I presented along with Marilyn White on the topic of memory. Mrs. White was recently diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease which makes it increasingly important for her to document everything that she has done and make sure that there is a plan in place for its preservation. The program coordinator, Dr. Edna Briggs thought it would be nice for the CAAGS members to understand the importance of writing about their discoveries and consider leaving a copy in a repository. Mrs. White’s story served as the example and I spent time talking about the collection development and appraisal policies at MCLM. I felt very comfortable with this topic, because I have always considered my work as an archivist as a form of “memory keeping”. Regardless of if we develop Alzheimer’s disease, certain truths can be hidden from us (intentionally or unintentionally), authentic primary source documents bring us closer to the reality of past events. I used the example of Christopher Dorner’s manifesto show that something in writing has the power to change the story, when the key players are not available to express themselves. I also talked about the repositories that the fellows are placed at, institutions from our professional development calls, and the HistoryMakers as the variety of places that members could consider when searching for a place to keep their stories. A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to speak at the New Name Baptist Church as a part of their black history program. I brought a few artifacts and set them up in the foyer of the church. I also addressed the congregation in the announcements portion of the service to share information on Dr. Clayton, our February programming and discuss two of the artifacts that I had brought along. I showed them a framed advertisement from 1856, “Negros for Sale” and another framed concert bill from the 19^thcentury of the Fisk Jubilee Singers in Manchester, England. Afterwards, several people approached me about taking tours and signing up to volunteer. Overall, it was a pleasant experience, and it falls in line with MCLM serving as a community institution. Our collection is supposed to be as available to published authors as “run of the mill” church goers.     

The Audio Assault exhibit is actually happening, albeit not in the way that I had originally anticipated. In my mind, I thought I would design this glorious analysis of the Black Power Movement, make a few phone calls, and then waltz around the museum on the February 16^th , sharing my inspirations with the throngs of visitors to our highly publicized and popular new exhibit. Enter reality; there are budgetary and staffing constraints as well as supervisor oversight that made my imagined experience entirely unrealistic. I believe that what actually happened was a valuable learning experience. I spent the week measuring the materials that I wanted to include and explaining my vision to Susan and Gil who would be ordering the plexi glass for me. We are placing our original documents in acrylic plexi to protect them and safely adhere them to the wall. I was also given a substantial amount of edits and revisions to the text panels and quotes that I had chosen for the exhibit, which required some time to work on. The time constraints and costs for photo reproductions were a little too tight, so we decided to use the materials that we have to matte and frame the photographs. We thought that we could paint the introduction graphic on the wall but the artist needed more time than we had to give this week, so that idea is on pause. As soon as we received the plexi, Larry drilled the holes in the edges so that we could place the album covers, posters, and maps in between pieces of plexi and secure them with screws. As soon as the artifacts were safe in the plexi, I had to use a hot glue gun to secure one half of a cleat to the back of the plexi, in order for it to be joined with its other half that would be attached to the wall. Although, we worked until 2:00 AM on Friday night, we were not able to complete the installation by Saturday morning. The new plan is to unveil the exhibit in components. We will keep the original concepts, and put up the items as they become available, it will give our patrons reasons to keep coming back. I must admit that I was frustrated with the last minute nature of the project, but as I look at in retrospect, we are doing the best we can with the resources that we have. There is no professional curator on staff, yet we are committed to creating four interesting and visually stimulating exhibits for our patrons. It is better that we take our time and do it right rather than rush and put something sloppy on the wall.    

Legacy of Slavery in Queen Anne's County, Maryland

My first public program with the Maryland State Archives (MSA) Legacy of Slavery in Maryland research project (LOSIM) went astoundingly well. Titled “Pistols and Petitions: Queen Anne’s Slave Self-Emancipation in the 19^th Century,” it explored two ways in which Eastern Shore slaves freed themselves by joining the Union forces or petitioning the courts. Although I represented LOSIM and the MSA at the Kunta Kinte Heritage Festival and the Four Rivers Heritage Area showcase late last year, this was the first time I could present original work to a public audience who attended just to see it. The program was initiated by my colleague Wesley Tanner Sparks who e-mailed many Eastern Shore county libraries in anticipation of interest during Black History Month. 

Like any celebration, secular or holy, Black History Month should not nor does it confine values or aspects of the past. Just as Easter is not the only time Christians comprehend the life and meaning of Christ, Black History Month serves as a reminder; the month accumulates efforts by historians, libraries, and non-profits, which serve as sign posts on a great American journey. It is easy to celebrate the well known or underknown persons—Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. Charles Drew, etc, but LOSIM wonderfully uses state records to expose the hundreds of individuals who contributed to the cultural landscape in subtle, unknowable ways.

My portion of the presentation (excerpt below) concerned interesting Queen Anne’s County freedom petitions. I asked librarian Kristin Bombard, an archives specialist from Simmons College, if she planned to take pictures. Since I wanted photographs to document our presentation for this blog and LOSIM’s media file on the MSA server, and I anticipated she would take pictures as a matter of course, this question was merely a set up for a request that she share the said pictures afterwards. She looked surprised by my question. “Oh, we don’t need to take pictures if you don’t want them.” Silly me! My gentle approach made her infer the opposite intent. “No,” I assured her, “I would love it if you took pictures. You could take video for all I care.” I talked about the blog and the terms of my fellowship with The HistoryMakers; it can never hurt to have too much good evidence.

Typical for local interest presentations, there were several prominent figures of Queen Anne’s County history including Mary Margaret Revell Goodwin. I chatted and joked with them for a bit, apparently warmed them up, then we dropped some knowledge on them. Kristin stood in the back and held the camera aloft. I was too into a groove to suspect that her still camera was able to record five minute snippets of video.

The presentation frequently paused as patrons asked very good questions or provided local history that enriched it. Mary Margaret Revell Goodwin explained that petitioner Henny Hemsley’s deponent Greenberry Griffin was a prominent merchant seaman who owned packets travelling from Kent Island to Baltimore and that Robert Moody’s owner Richard J. Jones was actually Richard Ireland Jones, the licensed owner of the ferry between Kent Island and Annapolis. The four mile long Chesapeake Bay Bridge literally eclipsed Jones’ launch point at Broad Creek on Kent Island when it was built in the 1950s.

Next time I will better mind repeating myself and restrain my excitement; in the full video I come across a tad condescending. 

Alex Champion--Maryland State Archives

Ardra Whitney: Week 24 @ Avery Research Center

 

(♪ ♪ ♪... They're EAD encoded, lol!)

Monday, February 11^th:

I continued drafting the finding aid for the Friendly Union Society Records by editing the collection’s arrangement and establishing series and corresponding folder lists. Near the 11 o’clock hour I met with Visiting Scholar, Dwana Waugh and learned how to operate the digital recorder in preparation for my oral history interview with Cynthia McCottry-Smith. Also throughout the day I revised the image(s) request form for the BIL: Digital Photo Archive Project and edited the project’s Tumblr page.

Tuesday, February 12^th - Thursday, February 14^th:

 Processing Archivist, Georgette Mayo was kind enough to provide me with a book on performing oral histories entitled, Recording Oral History: A Practical Guide for Social Scientists by Valerie Raleigh Yow. It was very helpful and I used it to draft a release form for the oral history interview with Cynthia McCottry-Smith. On Thursday I attended the weekly Avery staff meeting, where we discussed: an oral history project in collaboration with the Lowcountry Digital Library; our new scanner and digitization intern; processing the Phillip Simons Papers; Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation monies; upcoming programs, events and exhibits; scheduling Saturday tours at Avery the 2013 NEH Summer Institute and fundraising for a state of the art storage facilities and the continuation of public programs.

At 3 p.m. I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Cynthia McCottry-Smith about her membership in the black women’s club: Phillis Wheatley Literary and Social Club. She explained that Jeanette Keeble Cox, wife of the principal of Avery Normal School, Benjamin F. Cox, formed the club in 1916 and that at first it was called the Phillis Wheatley Literary and Civic Club. The club’s chief aim was to promote culture and self-improvement among its members and within the Charleston community. Its activities included reading and performing plays, like Salome and Lady Windemers Fan by Oscar Wilde; going on field trips; and working with organizations such as the NAACP and Anti-Lynching Campaign to advocate for African American’s civil and political rights.

Friday, February 15^th:

In the morning I posted a photo submissions announcement for the Black in the Lowcountry: Digital Photo Archive on Tumblr. I also sent out the e-mail and image(s) request form to Phoebe and Susan Williams at Trident Technical College regarding use of scanned images from C.A. Brown High School’s yearbooks and newspapers for the project. Then I spent the rest of the day wrapping up work on my interview evaluation for Dr. Julia Purnell and posting pertinent online articles to Avery’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

Amanda J. Carter: Week 23 (February 2 – February 8) @ Fisk University

William McKissack Papers
Last week, I nearly completed processing the National Baptist Sanitarium and Bathhouse project.  It unexpectedly appears that this section may rival the size of the College Hill project.  While College Hill holds more variety of subseries, the Bathhouse project has more numerous receipts.  The plan to complete this section by the end of the week was stalled yet again, but not by very much.  I have no doubt I will complete this section within this week and begin the smaller projects. 

Black History Month 2013, At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality: The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington

The main reason that the Bathhouse project was slightly stalled was due to the setup of the Black History Month presentation on the first floor of Franklin Library.  The presentation itself is complete so I posted it on Slideshare:  At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality.

The slides loop on a fourteen minute interval and play all day from the time I set it up at 8am until I leave at 5pm.  There is currently no sound with it because we are playing a CD of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, but I will be working on adding excerpts of speeches and music that will also loop.  Upon the excellent suggestion of Mr. Michael Powell, I am going to experiment with creating a playlist that will randomly shuffle the music and speeches so that each time you watch this fourteen minute presentation, it will have a different affect due to the speeches and music playing at different times in the presentation.  Previously, I had only ever added sound to certain slides that correspond to certain aspects of the presentation.  However, I think this is a fabulous idea that is sure to add depth and even more meaning to the presentation that I have enjoyed creating.    

Challenges

The main challenge right now is setting up the powerpoint presentation each morning.  While it is quite simple to pull out the stand with the new, large monitor and set it up for the display, the computer does not have a general login.  Since I do not have login information either, I must rely on one of the other employees to log in under their name so that I can begin the slideshow.  At the end of last week, there was some communication with the IT department so I believe a login for this computer is being resolved.  In the meantime, I hesitate each morning to disturb someone else while they are working so that they can log in for me.  Fortunately, everyone here is so generous with their time that they do not seem to mind.  I am so grateful to be working with such kind and generous people. 

 

Until next time…                                                                                                                  

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

Ardra Whitney: Week 23 @ Avery Research Center

All Done!


Monday, February 4^th - Wednesday, February 6^th:
 

This week I wrapped up work on the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Records. On Monday and Tuesday, I finalized folder headings; measured the extent of the entire collection in linear feet—as well as each individual series within the collection; and edited the collection’s finding aid, which I encoded in EAD. I completed processing the collection on Wednesday by enclosing old ledgers and parish registers in protective tissue paper and preparing box labels for the collection’s ten boxes.

Throughout the week I posted photos and pertinent online articles to Avery’s Facebook and Twitter pages—including a flyer for the upcoming panel discussion on February 12th, “Bridge Builders: Faces of Black Professionals in Charleston”—sponsored by the College of Charleston’s African-American Studies Department.

 

Thursday, February 7^th - Friday, February 8^th:

On Thursday morning I began drafting an e-mail to send to Trident Technical College’s Phoebe and Susan Williams. Back in fall of 2012, I had assisted them with digitizing images from C.A. Brown High School’s yearbooks and newspapers for the “Eastside Day” celebration and now I wanted to see if some of the images I helped scan could be included in the Black in the Lowcountry: Digital Photo Archive project. Subsequently, I corresponded with Manager of Archival Services, Aaron Spelbring and Processing Archivist, Georgette Mayo regarding my endeavor and they recommended that I draft an image(s) request form to accompany the e-mail in order to outline the purpose for and conditions under which the images would be reproduced.

On Friday, they reviewed my draft and offered up suggestions for revisions. Additionally, I completed surveying the Friendly Union Society Records and drafted a finding aid for the collection. The society was founded in 1813 to provide relief for widows and orphaned children and a place of burial for its members. I also began evaluating a video oral history interview from the sixteenth Supreme Basileus of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and former professor of education at Southern University and A&M College, Dr. Julia Purnell.

Skyla S. Hearn: Week 22_23@TheWoodson_Harsh

The statement  "All good collections don't make good exhibits" agitatedly escaped the lips of my self appointed curmudgeonly comrade. I understood what he meant but was somewhat dismayed since I'd spent the last two months or so selecting images, like 139 photographs, that I thought would suffice for the visual representation needed to accompany the text panels used in the exhibit to highlight the great legacy of the life of Reverend Addie L. Wyatt. How narcissistic of me... Photographs are only a part, albeit significant, of an exhibit. Documents, clothing, plaques, awards, and other objects are vital as well in providing a complete account of the story the curator, archivist, historian, and so forth attempt to convey when educating the public about the subject(s) of the exhibit. With this being said, I didn't need to go back "to the drawing board" but to the stacks to find some letters, booklets, programs and so on to accompany the photos and text panels. After many trips up and down the stairs, to and from the stacks, we were able to complete ten of the eleven sections. Throughout the course of the day, I felt nutty but not because my co-worker was driving me batty, which he really wasn't, but because I realized I was working with someone with similar characteristics as myself. Other than the short cereal break around 2pm, we committed ourselves to completing the day's tasks before going home. We accomplished our mission with complete sanity, a few jokes and well wishes for the remaining evening.

 

Shameless Plug: Huge Shout-Out to Aaisha Haykal, University Archivist, at Chicago State University. Aaisha and her team organized the conference "Black Self-Determination through Health Care and Nursing: The Provident Hospital Training School" which took place on CSU's campus, which is located at 9500 S. King Drive, in Chicago. The Conference was sponsored by the Chicago State University Archives and Special Collections and the CSU Library. Aaisha is an inspiration and example of what dedication and hard work can accomplish.  

The half-day conference consisted of two panel discussions, an exhibit of materials from collections of Provident Hospital and the Black Nurse Association archival collections, and a reception. I was able to attend both panel discussions and to view the exhibit. Both discussions were lead by health care professionals, advocates and educators. To name a few, Dr. Berlean Burns, Dr. Annie Lawrence Brown, Dr. Carol Alexander, Professor Conway-Phillips, Mr. Girotti and Mr. Lyons. Another highlight of attending the conference was meeting Mrs. Gillespie, a retired health care professional and current historian for the PLR (Patricia Liddell Researchers). If you recall, I presented to the PLR a few weeks ago at the Harsh Research Center. Mrs. Gillespie remembered me from the presentation. What a small world!

 

Day Off? What is that?! As I've mentioned, I have volunteered to be a Chicago Metro History Fair coach and judge. We, at the Harsh, were contacted by Mrs. Maral, a public school high school teacher, to assist with some of her students currently working on CMHF projects. She informed us that ten of the students wanted to work in the Archives and the rest in another department of the library. I was asked to give an introductory presentation to the students on the Archives and to assist with their projects. I dutifully obliged. The students had some really interesting topics from Idlewild to Abortion. They explored the files, boxes and photographs well over their initial two hour time frame to find some interesting and useful information for their projects. They seemed to really enjoy themselves and their discoveries. I was more than proud of them for not only their ability to conduct research like college students but for embracing the rich histories stored in the archives. It goes without saying even though I will, I was geeked to welcome them into the wonderful world of archives.

 

In a few days, I will be a part of an acquisitions trip to acquire the remainder of one of the archival collections we currently house. I'm super psyched to tell you more so stay tuned!

Chaitra Powell: Week 22 @ The Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum

In my 22nd week at the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum, I visited the Boeing plant in El Segundo, talked with a history professor about the Black Power Movement, helped to develop a new strategy for volunteer workflows, and spent the weekend organizing the files on the MCLM hard drive.

On January 31st, MCLM was invited to the Boeing facility by the black employee affinity group. The corporation has “affinity” groups for every ethnicity as well as ones for women and LGBTQ populations. The groups were established to promote diversity and build camaraderie within the corporation. We, along with the president of the African American Firefighter’s Museum were asked to talk to about 120 Boeing employees about our organizations and share how they could get involved with us. During the presentation Larry discussed the history of MCLM and the artifacts that we brought along and I talked about my work with the Mayme papers and encouraged them all to contact me if they were interested in volunteering. After the presentation and the questions, we were treated to a tour of the Boeing facility. I thought that Boeing only made airplanes but their site in El Segundo is actually the largest manufacturer of satellites in the entire world. We had to put on smocks and caps to enter the spaces where engineers were working on various satellites. Our guide, Albert, explained how the “bus” of a satellite is pretty standard but the “payload” is specialized for the client; it could be designed for communications, military, or GPS, for example. Most of the satellites are designed to launch 22,000 miles up above the earth, and orbit for 15 years. They have to withstand 800 degree variances in temperature, not fall apart from the sound or vibration of the rocket, and be able to stay intact without any gravity. We were shown all of the mechanisms that simulate these conditions, and told how every satellite goes through a significant amount of testing before it is approved for a launch. It was very cool; perhaps in another life I would have embraced my high school calculus class and studied engineering in college.

On February 1st, I had a meeting with Mr. Marty Schiesl, a retired history professor from California State University at Los Angeles. Marty has done research at MCLM before and he has a good rapport with Cara. When she told him that I was working on an exhibit about the Black Power Movement, he asked if I would like to set up a meeting to discuss it. I carved out a couple hours of the day to talk to Marty. He was very enthusiastic about the topic and shared quite a few resources with me. Some of the articles, I had already read, a few were new to me. I showed him the book, Pat Thomas’ ”Listen, Whitey”, which inspired us to focus on the sounds of the movement. Marty gave me a copy of one of the book of essays that he edited, “City of Promise: Race and Historical Change in Los Angeles”. I’m reading the essay that Marty wrote about the incidences of police brutality in Los Angeles in the 1950s, and the local government’s refusal to act on the concerns of the black and Mexican American population in Los Angeles. Marty and I agreed that the topic of Black Power was vast and it was a good idea to zero in on a particular aspect of it. He shared that he was currently working on a book about the NAACP in southern California, and the primary sources that he had consulted so far. Lastly, Marty encouraged me to look into employment opportunities in special collections at California State University at Los Angeles after my fellowship because the current archivist is planning to re-locate to Arizona. In all of the fury and logistics of planning the exhibit, it was nice to have a low key discussion about the complexity of the Black Power Movement and why it is important to explore it.

I recently read an article about the challenges that archives have when they delegate collection processing to volunteers. I think that it takes a very cognizant, organized and focused person at the helm to ensure that the output of volunteers is accounted for and moves the collection along. Unfortunately at the Mayme Clayton Library and Museum, all of the full time staff members are pulled in so many directions, volunteers are often left to their own devices. The tasks that they may have been trained on several years ago, are not necessarily the tasks that we have deemed critical at this point. To address these concerns, our team decided to identify the most critical tasks, one of which is answering the phones, and assign volunteers on a daily basis. We tried it out on Friday and Saturday, and I think that there are a few wrinkles to iron out. For instance, cataloging Mayme’s books is on the list, but Greta could not work on that because she was de-fragging computers to make the computers run faster during the cataloging process. Another example is creating scrapbook indices but Carol is the only volunteer that knows where the file is, and the conventions that have been followed up until this point. I feel that is our responsibility to be knowledgeable about every job that we assign to a volunteer, and be able to explain it to whoever comes in on a given day. In my attempt to get a better gauge on where we are in collections processing, I volunteered to manage the files on our external hard drive. I spent the weekend emptying out folders and dragging and dropping files into appropriate locations. There is a lot of work that remains to be done in the maintenance of the hard drive but at least all of the collection inventories are in the same spot and we can begin to set some metrics and see processing progress in a consistent location.

Chaitra Powell: Week 23 @ The Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum

In my 23^rd week at the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum, I helped Cara with her exhibit, assisted with our first week of Black History Month programming, and met an impressive young woman.

There are four exhibits debuting at the museum on Saturday, February 16^th and all of them requiring our staff to jump into overdrive in order to be ready on time. Cara is the lead on the “Remembering WSBREC” display in the museum. The concept is to showcase Mayme’s collection as it was when she ran her business out of the garage. We have several images of how the space looked, which we are having reproduced in vinyl to adhere to the wall, and we are pulling the books, pictures and memorabilia from the collection that used to populate the space. Cara was asked to make a text panel and pull some Mayme quotes to accent the exhibit. I took her first draft back to my “Mayme Papers processing room” and helped her fill in the gaps. Although WSBREC (Western States Black Research Center) was the most general organization that Mayme founded, it was not the first. Third World Ethnic Books was established in 1972 as a legitimate mail order ethnically diverse book supplier to libraries and universities. The idea to create a non-profit, research organization came a few years leader when she realized that she had too many precious African American materials which she did not want to sell. There were other dates and details that I was able to recommend to Cara. It was nice to see the processed portion of the collection, serving a purpose. For example, anything that we would want to know about Mayme’s scholarship program or celebrity golf tournament can be found with ease, it will be especially useful as we continue to tell Mayme’s story.  

The museum has a full slate of programming scheduled for Black History Month. This week we had a jazz concert and a teacher workshop. The jazz concert was on Thursday night and featured, Eric Reed and Charles McPherson. It was amazing to see a grand piano rolled into our large courtroom, glitter and laser lights adorning the walls, and people spread out in the space to enjoy the music. Our volunteers came through like they always do, to greet people and check them in. I only had to pick up the catering for the musicians and print the ticket list. We have three more jazz duets lined up for the month of February, and I think that the turnout is going to continue to grow. On Saturday morning, we welcomed teachers to the museum for a workshop on using primary source documents to teach about abolitionists in their classrooms. We had two professors; one from University of California at Los Angeles and the other from Georgia State University, as well as Larry gave presentations. Our two UCLA interns from the history department did everything that we asked to keep the sessions moving along nicely. This week involved several late nights at the museum, but it was definitely the calm before the storm, as I have twice as many outreach activities planned for the upcoming week.

On Friday, a young lawyer, Shannon Humphrey, came into the museum to ask if she could take “author shots” in our facility. When I asked for clarification, she explained that she had written a book needed to take photos for the author’s portion of the book jacket. As soon as she told me what her book was about, I knew that she was in the right place for her pictures. Ms. Humphrey has written a pre-teen/teenage novel about a super smart, teenaged black female superhero. She told me how the book incorporates a lot of science fiction but it also includes messages about self-esteem, bullying, and striving towards ones’ dreams. I never met Mayme Clayton but I think that she would have a wide grin on her face to see how her collection had cross paths with a concept that was so much aligned with her goals. Dr. Clayton once said that she wanted black children to know that black people had done great things, what is greater than being a superhero? To top it off, I gave Shannon a tour of the museum and she was amazed by the scope and scale of the collection. She gave a small donation and plans to come back for more programs in the future. I will talk to Larry about scheduling her photo shoot, but it was really nice to meet her. You can see more about her forthcoming novel on her website: http://www.shannonhumphrey.com/