Ardra Whitney: Week 38 @ Avery Research Center

More Fellowship Extras: A photo of the topiary outside of the Family Circle Tennis Center at this year's Family Circle Cup. Scroll to the end for details.

Monday, May 20^th:

I was asked by Manager of Archival Services, Aaron Spelbring to monitor the reading room and provide reference service to a patron researching the family papers of DeCosta-Seabrook, Sterrett-Hodge and Graves for a book she’s writing. I have mostly performed virtual reference up until now, so this opportunity gave me a chance to employ my in person reference service skills to engage the researcher in a polite and friendly manner—as well as suggest other collections she might be interested in viewing, inform her about Avery’s policies concerning the reproduction of collection materials and make her overall visit a pleasant and enjoyable one. The patron explained that she was from Idaho, but had lived in Charleston at one point. She also told me about a Charleston high school she had learned about from Harlan Green, Director of Archival and Reference Services at College of Charleston, which was integrated in the 1930s (thirty-three years before Rivers High School of Charleston became know as the first racially-integrated high school in the state of South Carolina). She learned from prior research at the Post & Courier archives that the school was once located at either George or Society Street; so as part of her research at Avery, she was looking for documents  to confirm the school’s true location.  

Tuesday, May 21^st - Wednesday, May 22^nd:

On Tuesday morning I participated in an IMLS Fellows Conference Call with The HistoryMakers to discuss final reports, paychecks, employment plans/job offers, and the 2013 SAA Conference. It was great hearing from all the fellows regarding their completed or nearly completed work (*smile*) and their plans following the fellowship. I found what Woodson Regional Library’s (Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature) IMLS Fellow, Skyla Hearn and the Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum’s IMLS Fellow, Chaitra Powell had to say particularly interesting. Ms. Hearn explained that she was in talks to do some consulting work at Northeastern Illinois University for the Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies Archives. Also Ms. Powell will be presenting next week at “Never the Same: Symposium on Grassroots Archiving” at the University of Chicago’s Logan Center for the Arts. After the meeting, I spent the rest of the day labeling and arranging folders from the Virginia Geraty Papers’ and was able to complete the collection series containing educational and instructional material.

On Wednesday, I e-mailed images of myself and from two collections which I had recently processed (i.e., The St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Records and Friendly Union Society Records) to Associate Director, Deborah Wright for inclusion in Avery’s newsletter.

Thursday, May 23^rd:

At 11AM I met with Mr. Spelbring and Processing Archivist, Georgette Mayo to discuss archival staff updates and my departure from Avery in conclusion of the fellowship. Afterwards, I continued labeling folders from the Virginia Geraty Papers’ notebooks sub-series with the help of Avery Scholar, Jada Brown and Front Desk Receptionist, Emma King. At 4PM I attended and participated in The HistoryMakers’ last monthly professional development conference call with the Head of Collections/Technical Services at Indiana University’s Archives of African American Music and Culture (AAAMC), Brenda Nelson-Strauss. During the call, she discussed the many challenges of: acquiring collections from popular musicians and music artists, preserving and storing large music collections, and digitizing older audio formats. I also asked her about: the AAAMC’s collection strengths, their providing workshops to musicians on how to create and maintain personal archives, and the status of their grant program--funded by the GRAMMY Foundation--to digitize interviews from Rhythm & Blues pioneers. With regards to the Rhythm & Blues pioneers digitization project, She noted that Indiana University and Northwestern University were currently working together to code and load audio and video interviews from the project for online access using an open source discovery interface they created called Avalon Media System.

Friday, May 24^th:

I continued labeling and arranging folders from the Virginia Geraty Papers’ notebooks sub-series with the help of my two volunteers, Ms. Brown and Ms. King. Our combined efforts brought the total number of completed boxes from the collection to nine out of eleven. I also posted an audio clip from my interview with Associate Professor in Arts Management at the College of Charleston, Dr. Karen Chandler to Black in the Lowcountry’s Tumblr page. I’m really proud of how well the page turned out. :)

Fellowship Extras Continued:

I got tickets to the final tennis match of the 2013 Family Circle Cup between Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic!

Williams and Jankovic preparing for their match, which Williams won in three sets.

Ardra Whitney: Week 15 @ Avery Research Center

 

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Monday, December 10^th:
 
I continued processing the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Records throughout the week and by Friday I had surveyed nine out of the collection’s ten boxes. I think one of the most exciting things I came across during my inventory of the collection was microfiche of the church’s register, offerings and cash books; all dating from the  early  part of the 20^th century. I was like wow microfiche, that’s really neat! I also took some more time to research the articles on James Baldwin from the James E. Campbell Papers, 1930 – 2009, for the request made by the Ph.D student from India. I followed up with him on Friday, providing him with the titles of the articles, as well as the name and date of the publications they were in.

Tuesday, December 11^th:

In the afternoon, IMLS Fellows participated in The HistoryMakers’ monthly professional development conference call with Virginia Historical Society’s (VHS) Curator of African American History, Lauranette L. Lee and Assistant Archivist, Paige Newman. The two discussed their work on the project, Unknown No Longer: A Database of Virginia Slave Names, which launched in September of this year. VHS was presented with the C. Herbert Finch Publication Award from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) for the database. Unknown No Longer launched with 1,500 names but now has over 10,000 names entered into the database. “It is the latest step by the Virginia Historical Society to increase access to its varied collections relating to Virginians of African descent.”

Wednesday, December 12^th:

I posted an article on Avery’s Facebook page about the two music professors, Mary Ellen Junda and Robert Stephens from the University of Connecticut studying Gullah culture in preparation to share their research with 80 classroom teachers from across the U.S. Introducing teachers to the Gullah people’s distinctive language and rich history is one way the professors hope to combat age old stereotypes about the culture. Junda and Stephens also want to help spread the word about Gullah culture in order to preserve its viable and distinct traditions, which are quickly giving way to assimilation. Though on a sad note I was shocked to hear of the tragedy that struck Newtown, Connecticut on Friday. My thoughts and prayers are with the entire community during their time of incredible heartbreak.

Thursday, December 13^th:

I completed my interview evaluation for Entertainment Lawyer, Lisa E. Davis. Davis hails from Queens, New York; so needless to say I was thrilled to hear her talk about how her grandmother who lived in St. Albans used to take Davis shopping on Jamaica Avenue. The avenue is a major thoroughfare that stretches from Queens all the way into Brooklyn—I know it like the back of my hand and also have many fond memories of it. Davis remarks in her interview that her paternal grandparents were the first black family to break the restrictive covenant act by moving to St. Albans, Queens in 1946. In addition, she talks about the famous jazz musicians that lived in St. Albans during the 1940s and 1950s. Jazz artists, Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane and Count Basie were all residents of the Queens neighborhood.

Friday, December 14^th:

I began research on the history of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in order to prepare a finding aid for the collection. I also completed my weekly report to Processing Archivist, Georgette Mayo and Manager of Archival Services, Aaron Spelbring, which included my considerations regarding the preservation, storage and possible digitization of the collection’s parish ledgers, registries and other historical record books.

Ardra Whitney: Week 14 @ Avery Research Center

Q: Guess who’s going to see Nas perform at Radio City Music Hall on New Year’s Eve?

A: Me!!!! “Now I'm the one that’s reppin’ Queens way beyond your wildest dreams”. Woooooooo!!!!
 

Monday, December 3^rd:

With Manager of Archival Services, Aaron Spelbring’s instruction, I made my final edits to the finding aid for the Edwina Harleston Whitlock Papers. I also photocopied all news clippings from the collection and used paper clips to fasten together loose and/or related materials. Afterwards, I continued processing St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Records. Items surveyed included church programs dating from 1939-1990, vestry proceedings from the early part of the 20^th century, and souvenir journals from the church’s 125^th anniversary celebration in 1990.

Tuesday, December 4^th:

In the morning I followed up with Avery's Executive Director, Dr. Patricia Williams Lessane regarding the writing of a description for undergraduate internship opportunities at Avery, which she had mentioned at last Thursday’s staff meeting. She also asked me to connect with one of Avery’s current undergraduate interns to write a profile on them for the Avery Messenger. After work, I participated in the monthly IMLS Fellows’ conference call with The HistoryMakers. Fellows provided The HistoryMakers' Executive Director, Julieanna Richardson, Dan Johnson and Marta Grabowski with progress reports on their work at each of their respective host institutions and learned about new changes to The HistoryMakers’ interview evaluation process.

Wednesday, December 5^th and Thursday, December 6^th:

On Wednesday I e-mailed some public program ideas I had for the upcoming year to Dr. Lessane, Mr. Spelbring and Processing Archivist, Georgette Mayo. I also forwarded the message to Avery’s recently promoted Assistant Director, Deborah Wright. Congratulations Ms. Wright! On Thursday, I provided a brief coverage of the reading room for Mr. Spelbring and monitored patrons as they viewed and handled collection materials for their research.

Friday, December 7^th:

I answered a reference request regarding race, religion and the writings of James Baldwin via Facebook— the request was from a Ph.D. student all the way from India, so that was exciting. I also posted a flyer to Avery’s Facebook page regarding the ceremony honoring South Carolina freedom fighters— Mary Moultrie, Ken Riley, William Saunders, and the Martyrs of the Orangeburg Massacre— taking place that evening. The event kicked off the 9th Bi-Annual Southern Human Rights Organizers' Conference being held from December 7-9, 2012, at the International Longshoreman’s Association’s Local 1422 Headquarters. I concluded the day by working on the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Records. During my processing, I came across some really interesting materials like a journal from the late 19^th century containing entries from parish leadership, a bible published in 1866, and an autograph from prominent Charleston architect, Louis J. Barbot, who designed St. Mark's church building.