Ardra Whitney: Week 22 @ Avery Research Center

Monday, January 28^th:

In the morning I attended an archives staff meeting where I learned about an oral history project that Avery is involved with; the project documents through interviews, the experiences of students who were involved in the desegregation of Charleston’s schools. One of the important people featured in the project is Millicent Brown, an educator and civil rights activist. Born in Charleston to MaeDe and J. Arthur Brown, local and state president of NAACP from 1955-1965; Brown replaced her older sister Minerva as the primary plaintiff in a NAACP-sponsored lawsuit, Millicent Brown vs. Charleston County School District No. 20. Filed to desegregate the Charleston public school system, the lawsuit resulted in Brown becoming one of two African Americans students to integrate Rivers High School in 1963 (Source: http://avery.cofc.edu/archives/Brown_Millicent_E.html). Also discussed at the meeting with Manager of Archival Services, Aaron Spelbring and Processing Archivist, Georgette Mayo was grant funding for a possible conservation assessment of Avery’s archives; the purchasing of new office equipment, namely a scanner; professional conferences at which to promote Avery’s collections; our new Undergraduate Assistant, Destiny Brice’s work schedule and revisions to my finding aid draft for the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Records.

Cynthia McCottry-Smith pictured at the far right
at the Cannon Street Hospital Dedication

Tuesday, January 29^th:

I continued finalizing my arrangement of the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Records and editing the collection’s finding aid. I also stopped to talk to Ms. Mayo about which archival collections on women’s clubs to highlight and display materials from for a small exhibit I am preparing in honor of Women’s History Month in March. Additionally, I spoke with Ms. Mayo about contacting Phoebe and Susan Williams at Trident Technical College to ask them if I could use of some of the images I scanned from C.A. Brown High School’s yearbooks and newspapers for the Black in the Lowcountry: Digital Photo Archive project.

In the afternoon, I had the pleasure of meeting with Cynthia “Cinny” McCottry-Smith, charter member of the Phillis Wheatley Literary and Social Club; to get acquainted and set up a time to conduct an oral history interview about her participation in the club. Smith is ninety years old and sharp as a tack. During our impromptu meeting she shared with me a great many wonderful stories about her attendance at Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, North Carolina; living in New York City while studying for her Master’s degree at NYU and returning to Charleston to teach at the Avery Normal Institute. She also shared stories with me from her days as a camp counselor at a Children’s Aid Society summer camp in New Paltz, New York. I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with Smith and look forward to learning more about her work with the Phillis Wheatley Literary and Social Club in our upcoming interview.

 Wednesday, January 30^th - Thursday, January 31^st:

Towards the end of the day on Wednesday, I spoke with Ms. Mayo and Undergraduate Assistant, Destiny Brice about Ms. Brice’s paper topic on women’s clubs. Ms. Mayo explained that Ms. Brice would be writing a paper on the Order of the Eastern Star— and from what I’ve heard of their discussions— it sounds like it’s going to be a good one. Last year, Avery’s IMLS Fellow, Aaisha Haykal processed a collection on the Order’s Charleston chapter, Prince Hall Chapter No. 41. Ms. Brice will be incorporating her research on this collection into her paper. “The Charleston chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star began circa 1912… Some of the O.E.S. activities include disbursing burial funds and endowments to member's family upon the death of a sister” (Source: http://avery.cofc.edu/archives/Order_of_the_Eastern_Star.pdf). On Thursday, I continued working on revisions to my interview evaluation for Philadelphia City Councilwoman-at-large, Blondell Reynolds Brown. Brown is a former member of the Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco), who became politically active at the same time she was working as Director of Admissions for her alma mater, Pennsylvania State University. In 1991, Brown achieved her first full-time job in politics when Senator Chaka Fattah hired her as his legislative aid (Source: http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/blondell-reynolds-brown-39).

 

Friday, February 1^st:

In the morning I was stationed at the front desk, where I responded to a reference inquiry via phone regarding “Cannon Street Hospital”. The gentleman who called was looking for information on the doctor that delivered him at the hospital. He explained to me that the hospital also went by another name, McClennan-Banks Memorial Hospital. From my research I learned that Dr. Alonzo C. McClennan helped found the hospital and served as one of its medical directors from 1897 to 1959. Interestingly enough, Dr. McClennan also came up during my research for the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Records; when I learned that he was the godfather of Nell Houston Chisholm, whose recollections of St. Marks from 1902 to 1918 were present in the collection.

At half past noon I attended a luncheon hosted by the women of Avery for guests, Dr. Imani Perry of Princeton University and Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin of Columbia University. The two professors were in town as part of the Southern American Studies Association conference.

I used the rest of the day to encode my finding aid draft for the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Records in EAD and by the end of the day my work on the finding aid draft was complete.