Charmaine Bonner-The HistoryMakers, A Year in Review

I am approaching my year anniversary of working as the Visiting Archivist for African American Collections at the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library. I cannot believe it has already been a year since my first day of work! I have learned a lot since I began working at the Rose Library. Prior to working in the Rose Library, I had processed one small collection that prepared me a bit but I learned processing a large collection is more complex. I trained with my supervisor Carrie Hintz to learn the ins and outs of processing at Rose. I also consulted with the processing manual. As much as the processing portion to working in an archive interested me, I still wanted to learn about the other departments. I began a sort of residency working within different areas.

Cleaning printed material in the Preservation Office

I began training sessions in the Preservation Office with Ann Frellsen who was the head conservator. During the course of my preservation training, I learned how to clean mold from precious documents, clean dirt, mend pages using wheat paste and how to identify damage.  My experience in preservation was very important because I learned early on that the best defense against deterioration is early detection. I continued my rotation by meeting with Trey Bunn who is the audiovisual conservator to discuss the audiovisual materials I found in the Mari Evans papers. Trey Bunn was very helpful in teaching me how to detect when film is deteriorating. I learned if you smell vinegar, then the film reel is at risk, so those old book smells are not necessarily as innocent as one would think.

My next rotation is working with Meaghan O'Riordan, she the Accessioning and Collections Manager. I have been working with Meaghan to learn about accessioning additions to collections and new collections. I have successfully accessioned a few additions into our African-American photography, Black Print Culture and African-American miscellany collections. Simultaneously, I have been working with Beth Shoemaker who is our rare book cataloger learning how to catalog, create new MARC records and edit MARC records.

My primary duties consists of working with Collection Services processing archival collections, however I also work on the Research Services side. In Research Services, I have learned how to provide reference services for patrons, use AEON to print call slips & request materials, schedule appointments and help patrons create a special collections account. I learned Research Services is the first line of defense to making sure our archival collections are actively being used with care. I also work within the Reading Room which all of the staff members divide responsibility of a two-hour shift, once a week. The Reading Room staff has a large responsibility to making sure the rules are being followed so the archival collections can continue to be accessed for years to come.

The reason I have elected to work in so many different areas of the Rose Library is that I want to make sure I am prepared for my next journey. I know many repositories have a staff of three to five people for the entire special collections library.  In my next journey, I might be the only person in collection services or research services so I want to have a large skill-set by the end of my position. As I am entering into my second year of this fellowship, I have many goals I would like to achieve. One of my goals is to grow my skill-set in the area of digital archiving and using digital humanities tools.  I am working on achieving this by working on a digital humanities proposal with Elizabeth Russey Roke who is the digital archivist. I am elated I have had the support of my supervisor and the digital archivist to move this forward. My second goal for year two is to participate in public services programming of some kind pertaining to the Mari Evans papers. I have also had the support of my supervisor, public services and the leadership team so I am looking forward to planning.

Currently I am beginning the first steps on my next collection to process and that will be the James E. Hinton photographs and papers. James E. Hinton was a New York based photographer who captured some iconic photos during the Civil Rights Movement in the South and North. I am in the early stages of beginning a first sort of the collection but one photo that stood out to me is a photo of H. Rap Brown holding a baby in one hand and a rifle in another. The Brown photograph was a powerful photograph for a powerful man; it really captured the essence of the time. I look forward to uncovering more in the Hinton Collection.

            Outside of my processing duties, I am one of the Library Employee Advocacy Forum representatives for the Rose Library. LEAF meets monthly to discuss employee concerns and hosts monthly coffees to increase staff engagement and communication. I am also working as social media coordinator for Georgia Archives month and will be promoting Georgia's archives up until the Society of Georgia Archivists annual meeting in October. I am participating with the Atlanta Black Archives Alliance, ABAA exists to enhance the visibility of Atlanta’s African American archival collections in order to educate and empower diverse communities. ABAA meets monthly at archival institutions throughout the city to develop tools for researchers and program ideas for community outreach, all around Atlanta’s rich African American cultural resources. The Rose Library presented on collections and hosted the latest meeting for July.  My year in review has been a lengthy one, which displays just how much I have learned thus far.

I have had a wealth of great experiences in just a year of being at the Rose Library. I look forward to my second year being even more engaging. I appreciate the flexibility I have to broaden my skill-set, which is crucial for an early career professional.

Charmaine Bonner

Visiting Archivist for African American Collections

Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library

Emory University

Afua Ferdnance - The HistoryMakers Thus Far (January-July)

 I am in my tenth month of work as an archivist at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and I can finally say that I am enjoying my work, colleagues and environment. When I began my position, I had difficulty adjusting to the various archival policies utilized by the Beinecke Library to process materials as well as the work environment. Although I still refer to archival processing manuals, and frequently ask my colleagues questions, I feel now that I have a greater understanding of processing archival collections at the Beinecke Library. My supervisors in the manuscript department gave me four small collections to process before I began work on larger collections. These “exercises” helped me greatly to understand Beinecke Library processing standards and remined me of the variety of materials that can be found within manuscripts and archives.

The first two collections I was given were the Leviticus Lyon Papers and the Rudolph Dunbar Papers. Leviticus Lyon was a singer and choral director. Although born in San Francisco California, he lived and worked chiefly in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance. At the height of his career he gave performances at Carnegie Hall. Lyon also spent his time organizing events for Harlem Music Week and was a choral director for the Westchester Negro Choral Union. Although Lyon did not pass until 1958, not much is known about his life ten years before his death. Also unknown is how the collection came into the Beinecke Library. Acquisition records in the Beinecke Library were not documented as meticulously as they are at present.  When the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection (JWJ Collection) was founded in 1941, founder Carl Van Vechten requested his literary as well as artistic friends and acquaintances in the African American community to contribute their works to the JWJ Collection. Since the latest known material in the Leviticus Lyon Papers is dated 1948, I can only assume that the papers were donated in the late 1940s or the 1950s. His papers contains correspondence, writings, illustrations, and programs from his concerts. The papers in this collection were not difficult to process as they did not have many threatening conservation or preservation concerns.

The Rudolph Dunbar Papers was the next small collection I processed. Rudolph Dunbar was a Guyanese clarinetist, orchestra conductor, music teacher and photojournalist for the Associated Negro Press. Like Leviticus Lyon, Dunbar began his music career at a young age and later studied at the Julliard School in New York City. At the height of his career in 1942, he conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall being one of the first black men to do so. However, after being given this opportunity, it became increasingly difficult for him to secure the same level of work. Dunbar was outspoken about the discrimination he faced as an Afro-Guyanese orchestra conductor in Great Britain and frequently discussed his issues with British parliament member Robert Allen. The collection also contains photographs of African and Caribbean countries Independence Day celebrations from Great Britain. These photographs are a result of Rudolph Dunbar’s work as a journalist with the Associated Negro Press.

The third collection I worked on was the Bourne Family Papers. George Bourne, the head of the Bourne Family, was a British reverend, abolitionist, writer and newspaper editor in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. His children followed in his footsteps and became ministers as well as advocates against slavery and pro repatriation of African Americans to present day Liberia, and other parts of West Africa. Processing this collection was a challenge because it presented many preservation concerns. The correspondence contained many letters that were torn and required mylar rehousing. I also encountered various objects such as eighteenth century spectacles, and rosary beads. However, the most fascinating material I encountered in the collection were precolonial maps of Africa. Instead of present day borders the maps listed various African tribes.

            

            The Catherine Roraback Collection of Ericka Huggins was a particularly thrilling collection. The collection documents the legal movements of Catherine Roraback, a lawyer who defended New Haven Black Panther leader Ericka Huggins who was charged with conspiracy to murder of fellow Black Panther member Alex Rackley. The collection opens wounds for the Black Panther Party because it illustrates some of the violence that occurred amongst members of the Black Panther Party. Alex Rackley was accused of being a FBI informant by fellow members of the Black Panther Party. He was tortured and later murdered by some of the New Haven Black Panther Party members. Ericka Huggins, a leader in the New Haven chapter, was automatically charged with conspiracy however the case was declared a mistrial. The collection is an excellent resource for researchers who are interested in the Black Panther Party, FBI suppression black organizations and the American justice system. Physically processing the collection was not difficult, however learning about the inter-violence within the party and FBI suppression of Black radical and Civil Rights organizations proved to be emotionally straining.

The small collections proved to be great framework and “practice” for processing the Dorothy Porter Wesley collection. The Dorothy Porter Wesley collection consists of 137 boxes and documents the life of librarian, curator and bibliophile Dorothy Porter Wesley, who oversaw library management at the Moorland Spingarn center from 1930 until her retirement in 1973. I am currently in the process of sorting her correspondence which contains letters from various people including Langston Hughes, Mary McLeod Bethune and Duke Ellington.

Besides processing archive collections, I have also participated in Yale wide library programs including the History Keepers. Similar to the History Makers fellowship program, the History Keepers seeks to encourage Yale University students of color to enter professional careers within museums, libraries and special collection institutions. As a member of the program, I assisted other librarians and archivists in mentoring students with the use of archive materials for their respective research projects. I also participated in outreach programs, collaborating with members of the Gilder Lehrman Center of Slavery and Reconstruction to teach New Haven city public school teachers about African American archival collections contained in the Beinecke Library.

The fellowship thus far has been a positive experience. I enjoy the opportunities given to me by the Beinecke library to not only process collections but to also participate in committees and outreach programs. The fellowship further confirms my choice in choosing archives as my own professional field.

Afua Ferdnance

Visiting Archivist for African American Collections

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Yale University

Jehan Sinclair - July at Schlesinger Library

My fellowship at Schlesinger Library has been going well. Now that I have learned my role as a processing archivist I'm working on mastering those skills and branching out into other areas. Last week a group of Harvard undergraduate fellows visited Schlesinger Library for an introduction to archival research. We highlighted our unique focus on women's history and the research possibilities that exist in our collections for students of all disciplines.

Visiting an archive can be intimidating for those unfamiliar with their procedures so our goal was to make the library accessible to the fellows by explaining registration and reading room practices, providing an opportunity to examine archival materials, and offering a glimpse of the varied behind-the-scenes work done by our staff's librarians, archivists, and conservator. Our hope was that the fellows would feel welcomed and excited to return to do research.

I represented the library's Manuscripts Department and presented on processing archival collections. I explained how the library acquires new collections, how they are accessioned, and what processing a collection means. I discussed physical arrangement of collections but emphasized the intellectual work that goes into describing collections and creating finding aids.

After the presentation, the fellows participated in an activity where they broke into small groups and processed a small collection on their own. In my experience, processing and its challenges make much more sense after trying it yourself so I created a hands-on activity. I used an assortment of materials from the Papers of Julia Hamilton Smith, an African American woman teacher and community activist, and students were instructed to "organize materials in a way that would be helpful to researchers." After the activity the group reconvened to review discussion questions about their arrangements and what they learned. The students were interested and engaged in the activity and all groups had good questions.

Prior to this event I had limited teaching experience, but I now feel more confident teaching and leading discussions. My presentation and activity will be used in future educational events at the library. Overall, the visit was a great success!

When I'm not helping out with visitors and presentations, my primary duty is processing African American collections. In recent months, I finished processing and creating finding aids for three unique collections.

Papers of Robin W. Kilson, 1956-2015

Kilson was a history professor and Massachusetts native. She graduated from Harvard University (AB 1983, AM 1984, PhD 1990) and taught at a number of institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bryn Mawr College, the University of Texas at Austin, and Northeastern University. Her academic areas of interest included African American history, gender history, European imperialism and colonialism, and British history. In 1994, Kilson co-organized the conference "Black Women in the Academy: Defending Our Name, 1894-1994" aimed This was the first conference of its kind provided a forum for black women professors of all ranks and disciplines to discuss scholarship and challenges they faced in their personal and professional lives.

This was the first collection I worked with that contained digital files (emails, word documents, videos, photos, etc.). Processing them was an interesting challenge. The digital files will eventually be available online through the finding aid.

Biographical Files of the Black Women Oral History Project, 1879-2011

Under the auspices of the Schlesinger Library, the Black Women Oral History Project interviewed 72 African American women between 1976 and 1981. The project recorded a cross section of women who had made significant contributions to American society in the first half of the twentieth century. Many interviewees had professional careers in fields such as education, government, the arts, business, medicine, law, and social work. Others combined care for their families with volunteer work at the local, regional, or national level.

The biographical files of the project consist of additional research information collected on the backgrounds and histories of interviewees. Processing this collection required locating library records and combining multiple accessions.

Papers of Hortense Carter Saxon, 1922-1929

Hortense Carter Saxon was an African American woman who worked as a servant and housekeeper in New York and Connecticut during the 1920s. While working in New York City, Hortense Carter Saxon sent money, clothing, and other goods to support her mother, who was the primary caretaker of her son until the 1930s. She also supported her young cousin Roland Ellis, who boarded with her mother in Hartford, Connecticut.

This collection primarily consists of correspondence between Saxon, her family, and friends and provides an interesting window into the daily life, challenges, and relationships of working-class African Americans in Connecticut and New York.

Jehan Sinclair

Visiting Archivist for African American Collections

Schlesinger Library | Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study

Harvard University

Pronouns: she, her, hers