Ardra Whitney: Week 11 @ The HistoryMakers

Monday, August 13^th:  I continued processing special collection: “An Evening With Andrew Young” and submitted three processed boxes to Julieanna Richardson for review. I also completed my Camtasia training video on how to create EAD/EAC-CPF finding aids using FileMaker Pro and XML Editor. In addition, I began removing fasteners from special collection: “An Evening With Quincy Jones” and received documents belonging to the collection from IMLS Fellow, Amanda Carter. I e-mailed Bradley Morgan to ask how to create labels for the archives boxes the special collections are housed in and he e-mail me back with the label format and DYMO label instructions.  After receiving back a couple of the finding aids I had submitted to Ms. Richardson, I made revisions to the FileMaker Pro record for Suzanne Malveaux’s interview based on Ms. Richardson’s edits.

Tuesday, August 14^th:  I corresponded with Dan Johnson on how to improve my LOC subject headings for Suzanne Malveaux’s oral history interview finding aid. I put web clips into FileMaker Pro for interviews with Russ Mitchell and Zenobia Washington. I also completed processing special collection: “An Evening With Andrew Young”.  At noon, IMLS Fellows, attended Dr. Cecilia Salvatore’s archives seminar on Exhibit Planning and Project Management, where we discussed:

• Planning exhibits from concept to opening (i.e., requirements for exhibition space; functional design criteria; codes, regulations and standards for exhibitions; display cases, public safety, accessibility, budget concerns and resources)
• Establishing communication objectives and means of expression for exhibits
• Creating a storyline and choosing artifacts and objects to display in exhibits
• Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) and Digital Asset Manager (DAM) certifications
• Guidelines for conducting and transcribing oral histories
• Recording equipment, audio management programs and formats, transcription software and oral history resources
• Appraisal, selection and processing decisions concerning archival material inventoried from the Historical Society of Forest Park

Wednesday, August 15^th:  I put web clips into FileMaker Pro for Suzanne Malveaux’s interview and started removing staples and consolidating folders for the special collection: “An Evening With Quincy Jones”. IMLS Fellows also attended Dr. Christopher Reed’s African American History lecture, where we discussed:

• Chapter 24 of Hine, Darlene Clark, et. al, The African-American Odyssey (Comb. Vol.
• W.E.B. Du Bois’ question of whether African Americans could expect resolution of their sense of a “double consciousness”
• Blacks losing their claim to being the nation’s largest minority and the challenges in regard to federal and other governmental spending in the wake of this consequence
• Maturity within the ranks of Black Studies and its production of four strong currents: Afrocentricity, inclusivity, gender/class, and internationalism/diasporan
• An increase in the income level of African Americans that produced an expanded middle class, counterbalanced by an increase in the number of struggling and impoverished blacks
• The Hip-Hop Movement and how it fits into the course of black history
• Religion’s ever increasing role in black life

Thursday, August 16^th: In the morning, I met with Julieanna Richardson to review my processing for the special collection: “An Evening With Andrew Young”. I also corresponded with Business & Operations Manager at The HistoryMakers, Zhu Sun and Georgette Mayo to schedule a new date for my participation plan presentation. I attended IMLS Fellow, Amanda Carter’s participation plan presentation for her host institution, Fisk University’s John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. Ms. Carter gave a wonderfully concise and informative presentation on both her host institution and the Meharry Medical School Special Collections. Moreover, it was pleasure learning about master builder, Moses McKissack and his family—as well as McKissack and McKissack, Tennessee’s first black (and oldest) architectural firm. Throughout the day, I worked on completing revisions to processing for the special collection: “An Evening With Andrew Young”, i.e., removed fasteners and consolidated folders; printed box labels; and created a folder list for the collection using Microsoft Excel. Additionally, I continued removing staples and consolidating folders for the special collection: “An Evening With Quincy Jones” and finished four out of eight boxes by the end of the day.

Friday, August 18^th:  I completed processing the special collection: “An Evening With Quincy Jones” and met with Zhu Sun for an exit interview.  I also attended IMLS Fellow, Chaitra Powell’s participation plan presentation for her host institution, The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum (MCLM). Not only does the repository house “the largest and most academically substantial independently-held collection of objects, documents and memorabilia on African American history and culture” but it also rents its facility for film shoots—because the museum is now housed in what used to be a court house. In fact, the MCLM is featured prominently in the film, “Lincoln Lawyer”, starring Matthew McConaughey.

Sunday, August 19^th: IMLS Fellows, Cynthia Lovett, Amanda Carter, Alex Champion and I will meet with Julieanna Richardson to review all of our processed and completed special collections.

Ardra Whitney (Counting It Down: 5 Work Days Left)

IMLS Fellow

Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture

Week 33 at The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum

Last week was busy,busy, busy! The UCLA service students are rapidly helping the collection move along .  I have two students processing a particularly large collection, The Marilyn White Collection. 

To successfully have two students process one collection they first must; confirm that they will come in on different dates, adhere to the same processing standards, and complete the box they started that day.  So far, 10 boxes have been processed in 18 hours, an excellent rate! The processing procedure I developed for this collection is based on the fact that MCLM is a library.  Because MCLM is a library we must know exactly what type and quantity of book is in each collection that is donated.  In order to determine this the procedure is to create an excel sheet only for the books, pamphlets, brochures and other printed matter (excluding correspondence) that details the title, quantity and year of each item.  This excel sheet can then be compared to our current holdings and then a weeding process can then occur. 

An interesting item that I found in the collection yesterday was some of Mayme's water color paintings. She made these drawings in a class that Avery taught, MCLM currently has the paints and the works she created.  A fun little piece of institutional history!

Alyss Zohar
The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum
IMLS Fellow, M.L.I.S

Week 29 at The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum

Last week, I was given the honor of accepting an award on behalf of The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum.  The award was posthumously presented to Dr. Mayme Agnew Clayton for being a champion of Black History & Museum Founder. The event, hosted by The Museum of African American Art, focused on African American women in honor of  Women's History Month.

The next day, MCLM hosted a disaster preparedness workshop.  This type of workshop occurs in many locations and is funded through a NEH grant. Westpas, a preservation assistance service, is the grant writing agency.  The event opened my eyes to the amount of planning that must go into preparing for a disaster, especially earthquakes. 

On the collections side of events from last week,  I have assigned a group of volunteers to inventory the entirety of the James Jeffery,  Jr. collection. James Jeffery's Jr. was a Southern California based artist, he also served on the advisory board of The Western States Black Research Center.  This collection consists of photographs, prints, and some mixed media paintings. Once the inventory is complete it will be pushed into the database.     

Alyss Hardin
IMLS Fellow, MLIS
The Mayme A. Clayton Libray & Museum

Week 26 at The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum

My database management skills were on full display last week.  The desktop database has officially migrated over to the full online catalog.  Post-migration there are some things left to do before the database is available for the public. 

In order to jump start our volunteer staff MLCM is holding two training days in the following weeks.  I will be heading the training by teaching a diverse group of volunteers how to catalog a book.  The basic procedure for cataloging books can then be applied to catalog any number of items. Currently, I am developing a workflow that will easily lay out this new procedure. 

Besides database management, I have been working with a volunteer in the writing of a NEH grant.  The grant will bring funding to MCLM to help preserve our vast collection of scrapbooks and photo albums.  Most of the scrapbooks were put together by Dr. Mayme A. Clayton while others were purchased.  An impressive item we have in our collection is a Lena Horne scrapbook.  It is believed this is her personal scrapbook, containing personal information about breaking her leg in 1942, a little known public fact.

Alyss Zohar
The Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum
I.M.L.S Fellow, M.L.I.S

Week 10 at the Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum

This week The California Library Association Black Caucus honored the Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum.  The certificate was presented to Cara representing MCLM by a former volunteer, who is now working for Los Angeles Public Libraries.  MCLM was also presented with two books; the first was a signed copy of the children’s book Jemmie’s Big Day and a reference book entitled African American Librarians in the Far West.  The children’s book is a wonderful addition to our collection and will hopefully become apart of the children’s summer reading program MCLM is hoping to implement.  Also, this week at MCLM I began digitizing images that will be included on our website. I saved the images as TIFF files at 600 dpi, the archival standard for digital images.  

Alyss Hardin
IMLS Fellow, M.L.I.S.
Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum