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.