As I have mentioned previously, the McKissacks built some of the buildings here on the Fisk University campus, such as the Carnegie Library (pictured below). The Carnegie Library, also known as the Academic Building, was built by Moses McKissack in 1908. It was his first major commission. In the mid-1980s, this building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
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| Carnegie Library aka "Administrative Building," Fisk University |
Just to the left of the doorway in the above image, you might be able to make out the historic marker (pictured below) that credits Moses McKissack III for the construction of the building. It was only a little over ten more years after this building was constructed before the McKissack brothers would obtain some of the first architectural licenses in the state of Tennessee and begin the first African American architectural and engineering firm in the United States.
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| Tennessee Historical Commission marker for Carnegie Library |
William McKissack Papers
Processing of the smaller projects section was virtually completed last week. All that is now left is to finalize the arrangement and edit the scope and content note of the finding aid. Due to the variety of projects and limited amount of materials relating to them, I may leave this section in a more preliminary stage until I have processed the remaining six boxes. It seems that much of the information I am seeing now can be included in the current series and subseries, so I would prefer to be able to collect all like information before finalizing the sections so that I will not need to make many more revisions or adjustments to the index and/or physical location of materials.
Aside from the university projects I discussed last week (Fisk, TSU, University of Haiti), there are now numerous smaller projects from the Morris Memorial Building in Nashville to a plethora of individual projects across the South. Unfortunately, little information may be deduced regarding these projects due to the limited amount of materials found. Since these are much smaller sections, I am considering combining the “Combined or Other Memphis Projects” with these projects so that there is only one section of smaller projects covering all areas titled, “Combined or Smaller Projects.”
Of the remaining six boxes, most of the materials are of a miscellaneous sort. Two of the boxes will probably go into a series for Calvin McKissack’s community services. There is a box of realia, a box of photographs, and two boxes of miscellaneous materials including newspaper clippings. I should be able to process these remaining sections by the first or second week of May. The finalization may take another week or two because I will have to rearrange many of the projects so that they are in chronological order, finalize the blueprints series, and finish the historical and scope notes for the collection. It feels great to see the light at the end of this tunnel! I am VERY excited to see this collection will soon be open and available for research!
Public Programming/Outreach: Tennessee History Day
On Saturday, April 20, I volunteered to participate in the judging of the state competitions for Tennessee History Day. I was grouped with two other volunteers to judge the Junior Individual Exhibits. After meeting for breakfast and an orientation for the judges, we spent the rest of the morning reviewing nine exhibits and interviewing the students. We were asked to choose four main winners but to give constructive feedback to all participants. It was fascinating to see the topics the students chose and how they went about researching those topics. It was amazing to see how these projects added to the students’ level of information literacy. I wish all the best for them and hope to see some again next year!
Public Programming: Susten8, Lynchburg, VA
Unfortunately, I just received word that my public program on sustainable communities has been postponed until July so it will no longer qualify as one of my public program requirements for this fellowship. The good news is that it is still happening so I am excited to help make it as successful as possible.
Until next time,
Amanda J. Carter
Franklin Library, Fisk University
IMLS HistoryMakers Fellow 2012-2013
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