AARL Archives

Greatest Hits

2011-12-31T22:39:00.001-05:00

As 2011 ends, many lists of greatest hits and memorials to famous men and women circulate; Joe Frazier was and could deliver one of the greatest “hits” of all time. As a tribute to his passing in November, this post highlights the long legacy of African American achievement in the sport of boxing through two jewels in the holdings of the Auburn Avenue archives. The first African American world heavyweight champ, Jack Johnson became a lightning rod for the racial politics of the Jim Crow era and, as Mark Scott observes, also “contributed to the world of music by opening a nightclub, in Harlem, the Club Deluxe, that was later bought by gangsters and turned into the Cotton Club” (216). According to Scott, Mohammed Ali’s coaches would evoke Jack Johnson for ringside support: “Ghost in the house, the ghost of Jack Johnson is watching” (216). In a 1909 poster declaring Johnson the “Champion of the World” in the archival holdings, the newly-crowned heavyweight champion is portrayed in his fighting stance, flanked by two ovals, the one on the lower-left depicting his humble origins in Galveston, Texas and the other on the lower-right showing him in the driver's seat of the latest automobile.


Brandt and Scheible Poster Commemorating Jack Johnson's World Heavyweight Title

As the writer Ralph Ellison would later note, Jack Johnson “was rejected by most whites and by many respectable Negroes, but he was nevertheless a hero among veterans of the Spanish-American War who rejoiced in the skill and élan with which Johnson set off the now-outrageous search for a ‘White Hope’” (215). While the 1909 Brandt and Scheible poster chronicles Johnson’s rise to power, a gorgeous oversized, collectible book from Taschen (made available to the public in 2004) documents the life of the “Greatest of All Time.” Of a limited edition run of nine thousand, the archives of AARL boast copy number 5,362 of this one-of-a-kind monograph, GOAT: A Tribute to Mohammed Ali. This heavyweight (literally) homage to the most famous heavyweight ever can only be described as an experience: a textual, photographic, and artistic montage of Ali’s life and times. A fitting testament to Ali’s larger-than-life status, this biography also collects his many quotable dictums, both comic and prophetic: “I am America. I am the part you won’t recognize, but get used to me. Black, confident, cocky—my name not yours. My religion, not yours. My goals, my own. Get used to me” (588).

References

Ellison, Ralph. Going to the Territory. New York: Random House, 1986.

Scott, Mark. "Jack Johnson: World Heavyweight Champion." In The First Black Boxing Champions: Essays on Fighters of the 1800s to the 1920s, Colleen Aycock and Mark Scott, 200-217. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, 2010.

Posted by Joy Bracewell, AARL Intern

World AIDS Day 2011: Collection highlights LGBTQ advocate and activist Duncan Teague

2011-12-01T13:58:00.002-05:00

A quick look at personal photos and ephemera from the Duncan Teague Collection, which is available for research. photo courtesy Kesah Peace

Over twenty years ago, HIV/AIDS awareness got its first global platform via World AIDS Day. Celebrated every year on Dec. 1, the day of global unity was created in honor of those whose lives had been claimed by the pandemic and to spread awareness about the nearly 33 million people infected today. In commitment to our mission, AARL has made efforts to contribute to the fight against HIV/AIDS by providing materials that highlight the unselfish work of activists like Duncan Teague.

In August 2009, AARL welcomed and celebrated the donation of the Duncan Teague Collection. Teague, a socio-political activist, writer, performance artist, minister, and advocate of the black gay and lesbian community, has been working in HIV/AIDS prevention for the last twenty years. A former two-time grand marshal of the Atlanta Gay Pride, Teague is deeply rooted in advocacy and the Atlanta community, having served in the African American Lesbian Gay Alliance, Georgia Equality, AID Atlanta, Georgia Equality, the National Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum, and ARCA (AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta).

At almost 50 cubic feet, the collection contains Teague’s papers, those of artist/activist Tony Daniels, and the records of ADODI Muse: A Gay Negro Ensemble.

For more information on Teague and his legacy of fighting to combat HIV/AIDS in the Atlanta community, visit AARL to browse our African American Gay and Lesbian Print Collection.

Also, to learn more about World Aids Day go to: www.worldaidsday.org.

Yewande Addie, AARL Intern

Mrs. Dorothy Lee Bolden, Founder and President of The National Domestic Worker's of America, Inc.

2011-11-19T02:04:00.000-05:00

The Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street movements have brought to the forefront many social issues not prevalent in mainstream media. These movements garnered national and international support via social media. However, there have been strong voices that have been working and organizing on behalf of the underrepresented citizens for many years.

Dorothy Lee Bolden was the founder and president of the National Domestic Worker's Union of America. Mrs. Bolden started as a Domestic Worker at the tender age of nine and continued working in the trade for forty-one years. She was involved in the civil rights movement with her then neighbor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He encouraged her in community organizing against the Atlanta School Board decision to condemn a neighborhood school. She used the experience as a catalyst to organize her colleagues. Mrs. Bolden became a sounding board for many women and their experiences working for families residing in the exclusive areas of Atlanta. Domestic workers endured 13-hour days with low pay from $ 3.50 to $5.00 in 1960. In 1968 Dorothy Bolden started discussions with other unions about a national union for maids.

Organization and education were critical for community organizing. Maids were negotiating with private families and not corporations. With the assistance of the Urban League, Atlanta radio station WAOK and wider community support, these women were able to improve their working conditions. Dorothy Bolden exclaimed, “We aren’t Aunt Jemima women, and I am sure to God don’t want people to think we are. We are politically strong and independent.” Her organizing efforts gained the attention of the Nixon Administration and she was later appointed to an advisory committee on social services and welfare. Mrs. Bolden spent her time advocating for training and education for domestic workers, while tirelessly supporting community efforts for affordable city services and housing.

Dorothy Lee Bolden eventually organized 10 cities and had 13,000 women benefiting from job referrals and organizing. An Atlanta icon, Mrs. Bolden stated “These women are still struggling. These women have built this country with the sweat of their brow. Their parents worked in the fields. You look over your shoulder and wonder if the field is still there.” Dorothy Lee Bolden started a grassroots movement in the South that went national. Her story might offer some insight for social and political movements on the fine skills of organizing and negotiation.

AARL houses and makes available the Dorothy Lee Bolden Papers http://tinyurl.com/6wy8hgg
Posted by Ayannah Zafir, Archives Library Associate

Forthcoming children's book collection to pave new path toward discovery

2011-11-11T00:25:00.000-05:00

Award-winning children’s book author and illustrator Ashley Bryan once said:

“There are so many ways in which we learn about life and self. Each day opens paths to this exploration. For many of us, books play a major role in that adventure.”

Blazing the trail of self-exploration for children, Bryan has published and illustrated a number of children’s books through the years. With generous donations of some of Bryan’s original artwork, the Auburn Avenue Research Library (AARL) established the Ashley Bryan Children’s Picture Book Art collection. This collection contains sensitive images of children of African descent by national and international children’s picture book illustrators.

Illustration from Ashley Bryan's Walk Together Children, March 1981

In recent years, the AARL Ashley Bryan Literary Festival partnered with the National Black Arts Festival. During this three-day festival organizers engage children, parents, and educators in the Africana experience, in addition to honoring the work of other children’s book illustrators with the same mission. Previous recipients of the Ashley Bryan Children’s Picture Book Award are Bryan Collier and Colin Bootman. Their work has also been included in the children’s picture book art collection. Among Bootman, Bryan, and Collier, Jonathan Green, an illustrator and advocate of artistic literacy, is also featured.

The Ashley Bryan Children’s Picture Book Art collection highlights nearly 60 illustrations from about 20 different works and not only includes autographed published versions, but also drafts and sketches that document a good portion of the artistic process. Artist Bryan Collier has lively illustrations detailing the boxing career and Islamic journey of heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali. Whether in the ring or prayer position, Ali comes to life and pops off the pages of Collier’s work. “Walk Together Children,” is a fascinating Ashley Bryan piece that features illustrated scores and lyrics of black spirituals. It is a wonderful way to expose children to the historical significance of how black slaves in America gained strength and interpreted coded messages from these songs.

Is there anybody here? by Ashley Bryan

In the spirit of staying true to Bryan’s quote and the AARL mission of being a resource for educators and the community at large, we hope the collection inspires and influences educators to build picture book art collections within their own organizations/schools and serve as a guide in detailing how artists address Africana-related issues through images. This collection could also be used in research to gauge the impact and effectiveness of communicating ideas to children through reflective illustration.

The Ashley Bryan Children’s Picture Book Art collection is currently being processed and will be accessible via online descriptive inventory. Also the AARL’s joint Children’s Literature Conference with the University of Georgia will be a great way to experience an extension of the illustrative work in the picture book collection. It can also be an insightful prelude to the annual Ashley Bryan Literary Festival.

Posted by Yewande Addie, AARL Intern

Women Writing History and Biography: Looking Back and Thinking Forward

2011-10-30T01:10:00.003-04:00

Two pamphlets published within five years of each other on the cusp of the Harlem Renaissance display very different perspectives towards the nation’s past, implicitly imagining divergent paths for the country’s future. The women who penned these records chose subject matter in accordance with their stances on what was valuable in American history. Listing herself as editor and publisher, Mildred Lewis Rutherford wrote several volumes of a pamphlet-like monthly periodical (1923-1926), entitled, Miss Rutherford’s Scrap Book: Valuable Information about the South, which was printed in her hometown of Athens, Georgia, while Laura E. Wilkes, described as a “teacher in the primary schools, Washington, D. C.” by the title page of her first publication, produced two histories, the title of the second acknowledging the gap in history that she was seeking to fill: Missing Pages in American History, Revealing the Services of Negroes in the Early Wars of America.

Rutherford’s views on the Civil War are immediately hinted by her designation for it in the first volume of her “scrapbook”: The Causes That Led to the War Between the States (1923), one of the holdings of the AARL archival collections. Covering topics that highlight the contentious events splitting the northern and southern states leading up to the bloody conflict, Rutherford recasts history in the light of an explanation that espouses the “Lost Cause," a term that describes a set of beliefs conflating religion with ideology. Proponents of the Lost Cause espoused a heroic interpretation of the South’s involvement in the Civil War. For instance, under her heading about “The Cotton Gin,” Rutherford notes that its “invention undoubtedly led to jealousy,” implying that the warmer climate of the South and its dependence on “free labor” (her euphemism for the work extracted from enslaved peoples) led to more political power for the South (6-7). In her pamphlet, Rutherford not only focuses on her version of the political and economic events leading up to “War Between the States,” but also spars with the ghosts of literary and social history, questioning the accuracy of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s depiction of slavery, while not denying the book's efficacy in garnering support for the abolitionist cause: “In 1852 ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ appeared. This was such a misrepresentation of the institution of slavery in the South that it brought just indignation to Southern people” (9).

On the other hand, historian Pero Gaglo Dagbovie (2004) situates Laura Eliza Wilkes within “the ranks of early black women ‘historians without portfolio,’” a term used by Earl E. Thorpe to describe a “group of nonprofessional persons […] who have a fondness for the discipline of history, feeling that their life experiences peculiarly fit them for chronicling some historical events” (243). In his article, “Black Women Historians from the Late 19^th Century to the Dawning of the Civil Rights Movement,” Dagbovie shows that Wilkes sought to highlight the sacrifices of African American soldiers in fighting for the United States in World War I and prior wars, thereby demonstrating “to white Americans that the denial of fundamental citizenship rights to African Americans was unjust” (249). Along with three early editions of each of Frederick Douglass’s biographies, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845), My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1882), the AARL Archives division also owns the first of Wilkes’s pamphlets, The Story of Frederick Douglass: With Quotations and Extracts (1918), initially copyrighted and published by Howard University in 1899 (Dagbovie 2004, 248). In the Preface, Wilkes outlines her audience as “the young folks of the race, because I believe the life of Frederick Douglass will serve as an inspiration to every schoolboy and girl.” In this condensed version of Douglass’s story, Wilkes emphasizes his attempts to further his own education as a boy and young man (9, 11). She ends her sketch of his life with a written portrait, a fitting tribute to Douglass’s attempts at both visual and verbal self-fashioning in his autobiographies, which also foreshadows the beautiful woodcut illustrations of Michael McCurdy’s later version of Douglass’s life as juvenile literature: “Personally he had a magnetic force which drew all to him—of noble bearing, a physique of handsome proportions, crowned by a glorious head of silvery-white hair” (14).

Rutherford and Wilkes’s projects were strikingly different, one retrogressive and backward-looking, the other progressive and forward-thinking. While Rutherford was an outspoken “anti," Wilkes championed Douglass for his support of woman’s suffrage. In supporting the “Rightful Place” of the South in history (words used in the title of one of her books), Rutherford emphasized the divisions between the states according to their placement relative to the Mason Dixon line, whereas Wilkes, writing in the nation’s capital, presented a wider scope of place and time, following the international movements of Douglass’s life. Wilkes’s work was recommended in the Crisis, the journal of the NAACP edited by W. E. B. Du Bois, while Rutherford compiled her own list of “Books for Southern Libraries,” including Thomas Nelson Page’s Two Little Confederates (20-21). Thus, Robert S. Levine’s description of identity as unstable within autobiography in his discussion of Frederick Douglass’s work could also apply to the re-writing of history: “it is tied to the contingencies of the historical moment and to the problematics (and challenges) of the autobiographer’s art” (31).

References

Dagbovie, Pero Gaglo. "Black Women Historians from the Late 19^th Century to the Dawning of the Civil Rights Movement." Journal of African American History 89, no. 1 (2004): 241-261.

Levine, Robert S. "Identity in the Autobiographies." In Cambridge Companion to Frederick Douglass, Maurice Lee, 31-45. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

"The Looking Glass." Crisis 16, no. 6 (1918): 276-279.

Marshall, Anne E. "Mildred Lewis Rutherford." New Georgia Encyclopedia. Accessed October 29, 2011. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-3178.

McCurdy, Michael, ed. Escape from Slavery: The Boyhood of Frederick Douglass in His Own Words. New York: Knopf, 1994.

Williams, David S. "Lost Cause Religion." New Georgia Encyclopedia. Accessed October 29, 2011. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2723.

Posted by Joy Bracewell, AARL Intern

AARL Salutes Civil Rights Veteran

2011-10-06T19:19:00.000-04:00

Joseph Lowery poses in front of the Motor Voter Bus. Since integration, Lowery has continued his civil rights work in such areas as black voter registration, affirmative action, and AIDS education.

Ninety years ago today, Civil Rights activist Joseph Echols Lowery was born in Huntsville, Alabama. Lowery is a founding member and former president of the civil rights organization SCLC, or the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. A graduate of Paine College and Paine’s Theological Seminary in Augusta, Ga., Lowery also received his doctorate in divinity at the Chicago Ecumenical Institute. Though he has pastored churches in both Alabama and Georgia, Rev. Lowery is well- known for his role in leading the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 and the March on Selma with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For over 40 years Lowery has dedicated his life to preaching and advocating for those in need.

Joseph Lowery stands before the SCLC headquarters in Atlanta. In 1977 Lowery succeeded Ralph Abernathy as president of the SCLC, which has been based in Atlanta since its inception in 1957.

An undying supporter of nonviolent resistance, Lowery used this peaceful method to combat segregation, and encourage the improvement of black voting rights, labor rights, affirmative action, and education. A seasoned expert in mobilizing, Lowery forged ahead into the 21^st century, remaining just as relevant in challenging contemporary ails of the day, including police brutality and other global pertinent issues.

He was even instrumental in fighting against the unjust system of apartheid that put former South African president Nelson Mandela in jail. One of his more recent accomplishments took place in 2009, when Lowery performed the benediction for President Barack Obama’s inaugural ceremony. In celebration of the resilient mover and shaker he is, the Auburn Avenue Research Library would like to wish Rev. Lowery a happy 90th birthday.

Though Lowery is still hanging on to his personal papers and memoirs, many of his countless honors and work in the community has been documented within AARL’s collections. More specifically in our collections on Andrew Young and Hosea Williams. Come thumb through our archives division to see some of our exclusive materials.

The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery will be celebrating his birthday Sunday evening, in a star-studded soiree at the Atlanta Symphony Hall. For information on tickets, visit www.loweryinstitute.org.

References:

Kirkland, W M. "Joseph Lowery." The New Georgia Encyclopedia.

The HistoryMakers. "Rev. Joseph Lowery Biography ."

Posted by Yewande Addie, AARL Intern

MLK and Monuments

2011-09-23T12:07:00.007-04:00

September 21st has been designated by the United Nations as International Day of Peace, an event that highlights the legacy of one of the most famous peacemakers in American history: Martin Luther King, Jr. In August, the monument commemorating his life and legacy was opened in a place of prominence in between the Lincoln and the Jefferson Memorials, comprising what the National Memorial Project Foundation’s website terms “a line of leadership." Despite setbacks surrounding the fund-raising efforts for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and differing opinions about its final design, its opening is a landmark achievement. Dr. King’s standing likeness almost mythically emerges from the “Stone of Peace,” which is encompassed by an ample tree-lined space, prompting reflection. While this statue features a stance of power that symbolizes the agency of African Americans in the fight for Civil Rights in the 1960s, Thomas Ball’s Freedman’s Memorial, or Emancipation Monument, in Lincoln Park (Washington, D. C.), remains a testament to the movement towards national conciliation at the expense of equal rights, a circumstance underscored by its dedication on the centennial of the nation’s founding.

An 1863 Currier and Ives lithograph from the Print Collection of the AARL demonstrates “the standard representation of emancipation” from which Ball’s grouping is derived (Savage 1997, 56). As Kirk Savage explains in his monograph, Standing Soldiers, Kneeling Slaves, “The Freedman’s Memorial became the nation’s monument to emancipation even though the design might have better commemorated slavery” (129). Like Ball’s statue, this image also features a standing Abraham Lincoln and a kneeling enslaved African American man, but, unlike the Ball grouping, a mother figure with her children, presumably the formerly enslaved man’s family, are featured in the middle-ground of the composition. In the lithograph, Lincoln’s authority is reinforced through his positioning as the tallest figure, a stance that is exaggerated through the exaggerated through the extension of his right arm into the air and his upward-pointing index finger.

"Freedom to the Slaves," Lithograph, Currier and Ives (1863)

Proclaimed January 1^st 1863, by Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States

“Proclaim liberty throughout All the land unto All the inhabitants thereof.” Lev XXV.10

Though similar to and resonant of the juxtaposition of Lincoln’s erectness against the subservience of the newly emancipated man in Ball’s Freedman’s Memorial, as a production of print culture, this image had the potential for a wider circulation and would be produced perhaps to ornament the home; by the mid-nineteenth century, the names of Currier and Ives were synonymous with pictorial reproductions that were meant to be available and affordable to all Americans. In the caption, a quotation from Leviticus frames the announcement of “Freedom to the Slaves,” as “Proclaimed” by Lincoln, conflating national events with biblical narratives, a rhetorical device that would have been welcomed by and comforting to many nineteenth-century viewers. The presence of the family grouping would thus possibly mirror the sacred place of home and family, negotiating a nuanced layering of God, nation, and home.

Engraving of The Freed Slave, Illustration for Frank Leslie's Historical Register of the Centennial Exposition (1877)

At the Centennial Exposition in 1876, the same year that Thomas Ball’s statue was unveiled, however, Francesco Pezzicar’s The Freed Slave presented a very different picture of how the “freedman” could be represented. In his sculpture, a black man with outstretched arms looks upward, clutching a copy of the Emancipation Act in his left hand. Along with the Currier and Ives print, the collections of the AARL contain the reproduction of this statue in the pages of Frank Leslie's Historical Register of the Centennial Exposition. This picture also features a family combination of mother and children, but the most prominent member of this grouping is an African American boy, gazing up at the active and assertive man represented in the statue before him. The contrast between the Currier and Ives lithograph and the illustration in Frank Leslie’s Historical Register displays the prevailing sentiment promoting racial inequality during the Civil War and Reconstruction that would prompt the need for drastic social change one hundred years after emancipation; as King stated in his 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” These two images are among the many such examples of the richness of print and periodical culture located in the Print Collection at the AARL.

References:

Brown, Josh. "Another View of the Statue of Emancipation." Picturing U.S. History. Accessed September 23, 2011. http://picturinghistory.gc.cuny.edu/?p=1045.

National Memorial Project Foundation. "Build the Dream." Accessed September 23, 2011. http://www.mlkmemorial.org.

Savage, Kirk. Standing Soldiers, Kneeling Slaves: Race, War, and Monument in Nineteenth-Century America. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.

Posted by Joy Bracewell, AARL Intern

Questionable verdict reminds some of Ga.'s flawed judicial past

2011-09-22T20:02:00.002-04:00

Atlanta Civil Rights Attorney, Donald L. Hollowell 1917-2004

Troy Davis is a name that many will never forget. Convicted in 1989 for killing a Chatham county police officer, Davis was sentenced to death by lethal injection. After 20 years of proceedings, appeals, and denials, Davis was scheduled to be executed on September 21, 2011. The state, nation, and world waited on pins and needles as the U.S. Supreme Court halted the execution for one more appeal; although eventually, it was denied.

But this is not the first time Georgia has made headlines for questionable judicial rulings. Davis’s story is quite similar to Preston Cobb. Preston, a native of Monticello, GA, was accused and convicted in 1961 of killing Frank Coleman Dumas, a 70-year-old white farmer, who owned the land on which he and his family worked. At the time Cobb was just 15 years old. At the mercy of an all-white jury, he too was sentenced to death.

Cobb’s case went through the Georgia courts and was appealed to the US Supreme court by the NAACP’s General Counsel Robert L. Carter and an NAACP Atlanta lawyer, Donald L. Hollowell.

The same outrage and concern Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and many other human rights organizations expressed over Davis’s case, was also reflected in the support Cobb received.
Women’s societies protested the sentencing and the judicial decision to transfer Cobb to a facility for “hardened criminals.” Also many international student groups created petitions and campaigns requesting his clemency. A Dutch delegation even came to the states to plead on Cobb’s behalf to the governor.

At the time of Cobb’s case, Georgia law permitted the execution of convicted children as young as 14 years old. But global attention surrounding the case persuaded Georgia Gov. S. Ernest Vandiver to recommend the law’s revision, setting precedence for those under the age of 18 convicted of crimes and sentenced to death. With the unrelenting help of the NAACP and global support, Cobb’s fate as being the youngest to die by execution in Georgia was never realized. Although he still served a substantial sentence of 18 years in jail.

Though many are saddened or conflicted over Troy Davis’s execution, we remain hopeful that the Davis case will be just as influential as Cobb’s in reforming the justice system and our penal legislation.

If you are interested in seeking more information on this historic case and the tireless work of Donald L. Hollowell , please visit the Auburn Avenue Research Library to access primary and secondary sources in the Reference & Research and Archives Divisions. The Donald L. Hollowell Papers are currently being processed and will soon be available for research.

References:

"Ga. Legislature to Decide Boy's Future." Atlanta Daily World, October 10, 1961, p. 1.

"Hearing in Cobb Case October 26." Atlanta Daily World, October 24, 1961, p. 4.

"The Curtains Fall on The Preston Cobb Case." Atlanta Daily World, February 25, 1968, p. 4.

Posted by Yewande Addie, AARL Intern

From Natchez to Buckingham Palace

2011-09-15T23:39:00.001-04:00

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield became the first and one of the most celebrated African American singers to gain recognition in both Europe and the United States. Her determination, talents, and gifts took her to places beyond what anyone could imagine for a slave from Mississippi during the 1850's. Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, also known as The Black Swan, possessed an incredible and powerful clear 27-31 note voice range. She sang soprano, tenor, and bass. James Trotter, one of her vocal contemporaries, described her as having “remarkably sweet tones and wide vocal compass.” She worked hard and persevered to overcome the challenges surrounding her.

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield was born a slave in Natchez, Mississippi as Elizabeth Taylor in 1824. At the tender age of one, she was taken to Philadelphia by her namesake and owner Mrs. Elizabeth Greenfield, who she was named for. Once settled in Philadelphia, Mrs. Elizabeth Greenfield joined the Society of Friends and freed the slaves she owned. However, Miss Elizabeth continued to serve as a maid and companion. A self-taught vocalist and musician Miss Elizabeth learned to play the piano, guitar, and harp, often providing entertainment for Mrs. Greenfield’s guests. After Mrs. Greenfield’s death, she supported herself by giving public and private performances, gaining significant recognition throughout the Northeast.

On March 31, 1853, in a landmark engagement, Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield made her New York City debut at Metropolitan Hall, drawing an all-white audience that exceeded nearly 4,000 people. Though she had quite a following among white audiences, some of her contemporaries were not as favorable of her success. In a very critical review, well-known abolitionist and orator Fredrick Douglass, stated: “We marvel that Miss Greenfield can allow herself to be treated with such palpable disrespect; for the insult is to her, not less than to her race. She must have felt deep humiliation and depression while attempting to sing in the presence of an audience and under arrangements which had thus degraded and dishonored the people to which she belongs...She is quite mistaken if she supposes that her success, as an artist depends upon her entire abandonment of self-respect…We warn her also, that this yielding, on her part, to the cowardly and contemptible exactions of the negro haters of this country may meet her in a distant land in a manner which she little imagines.“

Nevertheless, a few days following her recital, she traveled to Europe for engagements in England, Scotland, and Ireland, in hopes of finding a good teacher to further develop her vocal technique. Shortly after her arrival in England, she was abandoned and left penniless by her manager in London. Luckily Greenfield crossed paths with Harriet Beecher Stowe, a zealous American abolitionist and author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, while in London. With Stowe’s assistance, she was able to sing for the Duchess of Norfolk, the Duchess of Argyle, and the Duchess of Sutherland. She even received a royal invitation to sing for Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace.

Illustrated News, 2 April 1853

The Prints Collection at AARL

Upon returning to America, Greenfield received anything but the royal treatment. She was refused entrance to a university music class because of her race. Determined, Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield opened a music studio in Philadelphia, where she created and directed an opera troupe in the 1860s. Greenfield used music and her opera troupe to fight the oppressive systems of American slavery and racism. Her troupe traveled the world singing for integrated audiences and donating proceeds to colored nursing homes and orphanages. Ironically, Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield’s efforts brought her side-by-side with one of her harshest detractors, Frederick Douglass. Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield continued to perform until she died suddenly in Philadelphia on March 31, 1876 of paralysis.

Check out the Auburn Avenue Research Library’s archives to learn more about the artistic and socially conscious contributions of people like Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield.

References

Southern, Eileen. The Music of Black Americans: A History. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997.

Trotter, James. Music and Some Highly Musical People. New York: General Books, 1997.

Posted by Debra Coulter & Yewande Addie, AARL Interns

Remembering a Labor Day Hero: Dorothy Lee Bolden Thompson

2011-09-08T16:40:00.005-04:00

Dorothy Lee Bolden Thompson, circa 1970

Although many of us enjoy celebrating the Labor Day holiday weekend with cookouts, parties, or restful leisure activities, reflection over the holiday’s purpose is often the last thing on our minds. The federal holiday was made official in the 1890s to atone for the country’s violent response to the infamous Pullman Strike. It was also a way to commemorate the hard work of American employees and the courage of labor organizations that lobbied to improve ill-working conditions, reduce work hours, increase wages, and to act as mediators between profit-driven industries and neglected employees.

There is evidence of the undeterred efforts of labor unions and the people that were instrumental in creating union branches within our very own archive. Dorothy Lee Bolden Thompson mobilized community members and organized protests with her then neighbor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., during the Civil Rights movement. As a community activist, she drew from her Civil Rights organizing experience and personal employment past to develop the National Domestic Workers Union of America, Inc., which successfully improved the wages and working conditions of domestic workers in Atlanta, and other U.S. cities.

With bestsellers and blockbuster hits like “The Help” reminding today’s moviegoers of the daunting task of caretaking for Southern white families in the 1960s, it is empowering to know one of Atlanta’s very own was instrumental in improving the lives of domestic workers who really did in fact endure challenges and inequalities. Let us never neglect to remember our labor champions, the reason for the holiday.

For more information on the life and achievements of Dorothy Lee Bolden Thompson and her work with the National Domestic Workers Union of America, Inc., visit AARL to view the Dorothy Lee Bolden Thompson Collection. Also have a look at a recent blog post from one of our researchers, Daniel Horowitz Garcia, which features even more additional resources.

References:

Green, James. Death In the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America. New York: Anchor Books, 2007.

Posted by Yewande Addie, AARL Intern

AARL home to Amelia Boynton-Robinson papers

2011-09-01T18:16:00.000-04:00

Left to right, Dick Gregory and Amelia Boynton-Robinson, Auburn Avenue Research Library, August 2011

The Auburn Avenue Research Library is now home to the Amelia Boynton-Robinson papers. At 100 years old, Mrs. Boynton-Robinson, pictured above right, is an activist/organizer, speaker, playwright and author. Born in Savannah, Georgia, she is the oldest living graduate of Tuskegee University. Mrs. Boynton-Robinson worked closely with civil rights leaders to plan and strategize rural and regional efforts. Her home in Selma, Alabama, was a meeting place for leaders during the 1960s, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Joan Baez, John Lewis, and Andrew Young. Mrs. Boynton-Robinson along with her husband, Samuel, organized Alabama residents in voting rights campaigns and civil rights activities. Mrs. Boynton-Robinson’s collection reflects her wide range of activities and includes, newspaper clippings, awards, letters, ephemera and photographs. The collection is approximately 8 cubic feet and will be open for research once processed.

Posted by Kerrie Cotten Williams, Archivist

Full Circle: Mentoring and Internship Programs in Archives

2011-08-21T16:40:00.006-04:00

Pictured above is former AARL Archives Intern Maya Thomas, who processed the Charmayne Johnson family papers.

On Saturday, August 27th, Kerrie Cotten Williams and I participate on the panel "Fostering a Diverse Profession: Mentoring and Internship Programs," at the annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists in Chicago. We will be joined by Erika B. Castaño (University of Arizona), Steven D. Booth (National Archives and Records Administration), and former AARL intern Krystal Appiah.

Kerrie is moderating the panel, while I present about AARL's Archives Internship Program, which I coordinate and manage. As I prepare my presentation, I am reflecting on the role mentoring plays in the program. In Archival Internships: A Guide for Faculty, Supervisors, and Students -- one of the only texts on the subject -- authors Jeannette A. Bastian and Donna Webber write mentoring "may be the most valuable contribution that supervisors can make to an intern's education" (42). Though I'm still formalizing my ideas on "value" in the contexts of professional development, education, and ethics, I certainly agree with the authors that mentorship is a subject that deserves greater attention than it has received in professional literature.

As I continue to think about meaningful measures and outcomes for AARL's Archives Internship Program, it is gratifying to take pause and acknowledge the successes that former interns have achieved in a highly competitive job market. Towards the end of her internship, Krystal Appiah's blog entries caught the attention of the editor of the African American National Biography, who asked her to write an entry about Mary Parks Washington, which is now published. Since graduating from Brown University in May, she has kept busy as a participant in the HistoryMakers' Increasing African American Diversity in Archives Fellowship. Nicole Carmolingo, a major contributor to the blog, published an entry on Henry Rutherford Butler for the New Georgia Encyclopedia. Her second entry about the Big Bethel A.M.E. Church in Atlanta is forthcoming, and she recently began work fulltime as a project archivist in a for-profit setting. Another former intern, Rico Hall, just began the new Master of Archival Studies program at Clayton State University and is working on a special project at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.

While I cannot take credit for their successes, I can say that mentorship plays an important role in AARL's Archives Internship Program. Here, informal conversations about the profession are common, and for interns who ask (and do good work), letters of recommendation and referrals are easy to come by. We intentionally foster a supportive environment for discovery, exploration, and dialog because the intern and mentor relationship is reciprocal and mutually beneficial. All the time and energy comes back full circle.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

Donors as Advocates: Duncan E. Teague

2011-08-15T10:00:00.001-04:00

I was doing a bit of housekeeping recently when I came across an overdue idea for a post -- donors as advocates. Earlier this year, February 11th-12th, readers may recall that AARL held a two day program to announce and celebrate the donation of the Duncan E. Teague collection, which includes the invitation pictured above. (Teague is a founding member of ADODI Muse.) On Saturday, February 12th, WABE aired Rose Scott's interview with Teague, who spoke about the importance of preserving the past, especially that of underrepresented communities. Listen here.

While advocacy in the field is not a new topic, per say, it is one that remains relevant, especially in uncertain economic times. These days we all are expected to do more with less, and AARL is grateful to have the support of patrons and donors, like Duncan Teague, whose familial, social and professional networks reach far beyond the walls of the library.

Two publications are listed below for those interested in reading about advocacy and archives.

References:

Finch, Elsie Freeman. Advocating Archives: An Introduction to Public Relations for Archivists. Chicago: Society of American Archivists and Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1994.

Hackman, Larry J., ed. Many Happy Returns: Advocacy and the Development of Archives. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2011.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

GHRAB Award: UGA's Dr. Barbara McCaskill and Christina L. Davis

2011-08-09T10:39:00.029-04:00

Yesterday, I was informed that the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board (GHRAB) selected Dr. Barbara McCaskill and Christina L. Davis's project “J. Richardson Jones: The Atom Bomb of Auburn Avenue” for a 2011 “Research Using the Holdings of an Archives” Award.

A statewide program, GHRAB awards exceptional efforts in archives and records work. To appreciate the scope and depth of their project, which included many research hours in AARL's Archives Division, read the 1-page description below. The poster pictured above, from the Atlanta Life Insurance Company Records, advertises one of Richardson's works, "Parade of Negro Progress."

GHRAB_Project_Description_J_Richardson_Jones_CD_2_Final_Edits

Congratulations!

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

Exhibit on African Name Origins on loan from Emory @ AARL

2011-07-20T16:00:00.003-04:00

"African Origins: Africa's History in a Name," an exhibition of materials from the Emory University libraries, is currently on exhibit at Auburn Avenue. The exhibit is located on the first floor of the building, in the library's reading and reference room.

The exhibit features reproductions of photographs and drawings from the slave trade, as well as route maps and other historical information. A focus of the African Origins project is getting public involvement in collecting information about African names of those slaves transported over the Atlantic. You can both search and contribute information to their database at African Origins. The exhibit will be on display during library hours through October 30, 2011.

Posted by Jessica Epstein, AARL Archives Intern

Life & Times of Robert Small, freed slave and U.S. Congressman

2011-07-15T15:44:00.000-04:00

Currently on display in the Cary McPheeters Gallery @ Auburn Avenue: The Life and Times of Robert Small. Small lived from 1839-1915. Born into slavery in South Carolina, Small went on to free himself and his family by comandeering a Confederate ship to Charleston harbor. He later served in the South Carolina state legislature and represented South Carolina as a U.S. Congressman.

Photographs, drawings, ship models and other documents and artifacts representing Small's personal and political life are currently on view in the gallery on the library's first floor. The opening event is next Sunday, July 24, and Donald Sweeper will be performing a reenactment as Robert Small. The exhibit will continue to show through September 18, 2011. You can read more about the exhibit here.

Posted by Jessica Epstein, AARL Archives Intern

Archives and Publics: "Harriet Rising"

2011-07-07T13:45:00.000-04:00

The Archives and Publics series highlights connections between archives and various publics – artists, scholars, genealogists, students, documentary filmmakers, authors, and others – and the ways in which different groups access and use archives, with a focus on AARL's constituents.

Today's post features Harriet Rising, a collaboration between artist Lisa Tuttle and writer and activist Alice Lovelace, part of a large temporary public art project titled Elevate: Art Above Underground, presented by the Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs. Harriet Rising and other installations open August 26th in downtown Atlanta.

Tuttle contacted the Archives Division, hoping to locate images of Harriet Tubman, which will cover various portions of eight four-sided columns, installed in clusters of four on either side of Pryor Street, along the Upper Alabama pedestrian corridor above Underground Atlanta. Since some of the images will be enlarged to cover the 8' x 3' columns, she needed high resolution images, which AARL was able to deliver.

In Tuttle and Lovelace's narrative description of the project, they identify several goals that Harriet Rising will accomplish:

1. Bring renewed attention to Harriet Tubman and her historical importance as an American hero.
2. Draw parallels between the historical significance (Civil War to Civil Rights) of Underground Atlanta and the Underground Railroad.
3. Lifting the visibility of courageous women and organizations working today in the Atlanta community for human rights, particularly those working on behalf of minorities and women, often unrecognized.
4. Add dynamic visual, poetic, educational content to visitors' experiences as they walk along Upper Alabama Street this fall.

Tuttle and Lovelace will bring attention to a number of individuals, among them Glory Kilanko (Director and CEO of Women Watch Afrika, Inc.), Azadeh N. Shahshahani (National Security/Immigrants' Rights Project Director, ACLU of Georgia and the chair of Refugee Women's Network), Loretta Ross (a founder and the National Coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective) and Ella Ruth Hunnicutt, Minnie Ruffin, Ann Mauney, and Judy "Artemis" Conder of Grandmothers for Peace. Organizations highlighted include 9 to 5 and WAND.

Tuttle and Lovelace write:

In the United States, there are many women who embody the spirit of Harriet Tubman, working everyday to make life better for women (and therefore entire families) and working for a better world. The lives of these women are not as transparent as Tubman's. They should be.

The Archives Division is pleased to support Lisa Tuttle and Alice Lovelace's work.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

“Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum!”

2011-06-29T17:40:00.005-04:00

Disney’s latest film release in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise continues a long standing fascination with pirates and images commonly associated with them – ships, parrots, scenes of debauchery, and the token bottle of rum. While piracy has a rich history, its ever present companion, rum, has a history that connects to colonization, slavery, and the appropriation of African and African American imagery in advertising, evidenced by rum bottle labels from the early twentieth century, part of AARL’s Ephemera collection.

While the Portuguese were the first to corner the market on the European slave trade in the 15th century, it was their Spanish neighbors who introduced African slaves to the Caribbean, or West Indies, at the beginning of the 16th century. During this period, Spanish and Portuguese colonists realized that the climate of the Caribbean proved ideal for sugarcane cultivation, leading to the development of sugar mills throughout the islands. As other European powers began to establish their presence in the Caribbean and North and South America, they too began to exploit imported Africans for slave labor.

According to the Trans-Atlanta Slave Trade Database, the exportation of sugar from the Eastern Caribbean began in 1641. The industry spread quickly to mainland Central and South America. After 1650, sugar had become “king” of the Caribbean, especially in the English, Dutch, and French colonies. The process of converting sugarcane into sugar produces multiple by-products, including cane juice and molasses. Islanders discovered that these products could be used to create crude, cheap liquor – rum. As the alcoholic beverage was refined, its popularity soared in both the New and Old Worlds. At the height of rum’s popularity in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was consumed by seafaring adventurers and common families in Colonial North America alike, and utilized as currency in the transatlantic slave trade. As slavery was abolished throughout the world in the 19th century, rum began its decline along with sugar production. However, the industry remained embedded in the Caribbean economy and consumer imagination.

The labels pictured here are from rum producers located in the Caribbean, with the majority originating from islands under French sovereignty. The featured labels come from rum production in the 1930s and 40s. Earlier product labels depicted sea or island images, including ships or beach scenes. A fascinating topic for further research and examination would be the period when advertisements in the industry shifted to images and stereotypes of people of African descent, a commercial practice that occurred in the United States during the same time period that the pictured rum labels were produced.

In American product advertising, the Aunt Jemima logo (before the 1989 make-over), which is based on the mammy archetype that developed in minstrel shows during the mid-1800s, is perhaps one of the most relatable examples. The archetypal mammy was usually dark skinned, overweight, large breasted and adorned with a head covering – the happy slave of romanticized plantation life born of the white imagination. Despite differences, these labels visually reference the mammy figure. The female characters wear headscarves or wraps, large loop earrings, are mostly darker in complexion, and are smiling. These depictions represent an exoticism and idealism of blackness, specifically female blackness, for white consumers. Like the Aunt Jemima image, those depicted in rum labels represent a historical moment shaped by racism, consumerism, and colonialism – a complex and troubled past documented in this post through ephemera.

(The rum labels that appear are currently unprocessed. For access, please contact the Archives Division. The books mentioned below, used for this post, are available for research at AARL.)

References:
Alderman, Clifford L. Rum, Slaves, and Molasses: The Story of New England’s Triangular Trade. Crowell-Collier Press, 1972.

Kern-Foxworth, Marilyn. Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben and Rastus: Blacks in Advertising, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Greenwood Press, 1994.

Manring, M.M. Slave In a Box: The Strange Career of Aunt Jemima. University of Virginia Press, 1998.

McElya, Micki. Clinging to Mammy: The Faithful Slave in Twentieth Century America. Harvard University Press, 2007.

Thompson, Barbara. Black Womanhood: Images, Icons and Ideologies of the African Body. University of Washington Press, 2008.

Wallace-Sanders, Kimberly. Mammy: A Century of Race, Gender, and Southern-Memory. University of Michigan Press, 2008.

Posted by Nicole Carmolingo, AARL Archives Intern

The Final Touches: Opening a Collection for Use

2011-06-22T17:23:00.001-04:00

For an archivist, one of the most satisfying moments before a collection officially opens to researchers is affixing labels to boxes. In terms of the tasks associated with processing, there is no more to do. All arrangement and description is complete. All folders are labeled. All extraneous bits and boxes have a home. Everything is in its final place.

Pictured above, AARL Intern Nicole Carmolingo attaches the last label to the Shirlene Holmes papers, which opens soon, after final revisions are made to the finding aid. Details about the collection will accompany the announcement posted here. For now, Nicole has a deserved happy moment for processing, arranging, and describing 35.19 linear feet of materials comprising 50 boxes and 5 oversize boxes.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

YouTube and Outreach

2011-06-18T13:50:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Nicole Carmolingo and Jessica Epstein, two amazing interns at AARL, the Research Library is increasing its Web presence via YouTube. Take a look.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

African American Art & Artifacts

2011-06-08T13:09:00.002-04:00

Mary Parks Washington, "Progress in Education," 1996, acrylic on wood figures 1 1/4 to 5 3/4 inches

Today’s post is about opportunities the AARL has as a result of a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Preservation Assistance Grant. NEH support will enable AARL staff to provide optimum care and access for one its fastest growing collections, Arts and Artifacts (AA), through consultation services provided by two art conservators. The goals of the project, which is currently underway, include:

1. Assess current conditions of the individual items included in the AA collection.

2. Obtain recommendations for the care, conservation, and storage of the collection.

3. Incorporate recommendations in AARL’s renovation and expansion project plans.

4. Increase awareness and skill level of Archives staff in the identification of conservation needs for artwork on paper.

Pictured above is Progress in Education, a series of nesting dolls in the style of Russian matryoshkas, one of the items examined for the grant. It was created by Mary Parks Washington, a native Atlantan educator and artist, whose work and background have been featured in this blog. Washington benefitted from higher education despite the racist policies and practices of her time. Progress in Education shows in visual form the increased opportunities available to African American students following abolition.

Washington’s example follows some aspects of the traditional Russian model; it has five figures, all on the same theme (in this case, people representing stages of African American education after emancipation). It does not feature a woman, as do most traditional matryoshkas. Generally, matryoshkas portray the innermost figure as a small child, infant, or earliest point in a chronological period. Washington’s example matches this, with the smallest doll as a grade school student. As the dolls grow larger in size, they represent achievement of educational degrees with higher esteem (high school, college, master’s level graduate work, and finally doctoral level graduate work).

The work of Washington and other artists in the AA collection is used by patrons for research, as well was AARL staff for educational outreach activities, including exhibitions and donor development. As planning begins for the expansion and renovation of our current building, the conservators’ assessment will help guide architects’ designs for space, housing, and environmental needs of the collection. Furthermore, the assessment will provide direction for the collection's overall growth and care.

Posted by Jessica Epstein, AARL Intern

Digital Tools for Archives: Movies and Music and Comics...Oh My!

2011-05-23T16:02:00.003-04:00

Nicole Carmolingo, AARL intern, was at a recent Society of Georgia Archivists workshop called "Technology for Advocacy and Outreach: A Bootcamp for Archivists Going Digital." The seminar was held Saturday, May 14, on campus at the University of West Georgia. In one day, participants created both a web comic and a video relating to part of their institutional collections. Nicole chose to focus her creations on Henry Rutherford Butler.

Henry Rutherford Butler lived from 1862-1931, attended medical school and became one of the first African American physicians to open a practice in Atlanta. Butler and his wife were highly active in both Atlanta and national African American organizations, both as members and founders. The Selena Sloan Butler papers, held by the AARL, contain valuable material about Butler, his wife and their son, as well as life in Atlanta in this era.

As you can see, Nicole used Comic Life and Moviemaker, two open source media programs, to create the content above and below. We hope you enjoy learning a little more about Butler's life. You can click here to link to the AARL finding aid for the Selena Sloan Butler Collection. We would love to hear from you about whether you would like to see more video and comic strip content from us.

Posted by Jessica Epstein, AARL Archives Intern

Archives and Publics: Freedom Riders Redux

2011-05-18T15:14:00.006-04:00

As a quick refresher, the archives and publics series draws attention to relationships between repositories and users. Part advocacy, part outreach, posts highlight research developments, institutional partnerships, community projects that use primary sources, and much more. Below is an excerpt from an e-mail I received recently from UGA's Dr. Barbara McCaskill. In it, she shares good news, which I happily pass along.

Hi Wesley! JoyEllen Freeman, who has been helping Christina and me on the J. Richardson Jones project and visited AARL with us last time, was selected as one of the 40 college students re-enacting the Freedom Rides between May 6 and May 16. If you think it's appropriate, we'd love for you to announce this on the AARL blog, and also to include the link below to the PBS website. JoyEllen has begun to post blogs and pictures from the trip and your readers can follow them on this link and respond.

I'll be sending pictures from the Jacksonville trip, along with information about two terrific students for the graduate internships, in a few days--I am knee deep in grading and exams right now. I also have received new information about Mr. Jones's radio shows from a collector who has contacted us, and who is sending us copies of the shows. I'll send more information about that for a new blog entry when I contact you again soon. Thanks!

Below is an introductory video to JoyEllen, one of the inspirational 2011 Student Freedom Riders.

Watch the full episode. See more American Experience.

We congratulate JoyEllen, and look forward to sharing more updates on the J. Richardson Jones project and to announcing a creative, new internship partnership developed by Dr. Barbara McCaskill.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

From Tuskegee to Tokyo

2011-04-28T17:41:00.012-04:00

Selena Sloan Butler family papers, Archives Division, AARL

During a review of scans of the Selena Sloan Butler family papers, one of the eleven collections being digitized for the NHPRC funded collaborative with the Digital Library of Georgia, I was struck by images from an album of postcards. From 1902 to 1908, Butler kept postcards from friends and colleagues travelling for business as well as leisure. They cover a broad geographic swath, from Tuskegee to Toronto to Tokyo, and shed light on the lives of an elite class of African Americans who navigated the constraints of the Jim Crow South.

Selena Sloan Butler family papers, Archives Division, AARL

The postcards also represent events, places, and moments related to African American history in the United States. For example, in 1907 Butler received a postcard mailed from the Colored State Fair in Macon, Georgia, which documents segregation and the Georgia State Fair during the early twentieth century. Another from the same year contains an image of (Dr. J. T.) Wilson's Infirmary, a now-vanished hospital for African Americans in Nashville, Tennessee. On September 05, 1906, Dr. Henry R. Butler, Selena's husband, received a postcard of Richmond, Virginia, from a colleague. At the end of month, a bloody race riot erupted near the Butler family's home in Atlanta, Georgia.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Reseach Associate

Digitizing Historic African American Education Collections: Inventory

2011-04-20T10:37:00.002-04:00

AARL and DLG serve diverse communities of library patrons including scholars, graduate and undergraduate students, educators, genealogists, and general users. The selected collections for this project represent varied and diverse voices that inform, expand and/or complicate existing historical narratives about African American education. Four of the eleven collections document the founding and development of black colleges and universities, the emergence of black professionals in education, the establishment of industrial and vocational schools, and the struggles to establish education in rural communities.

The Atlanta University Collection, bulking 1865 to 1955, contains materials that span its beginnings after the Civil War through its later incarnation as Clark Atlanta University (the consolidation of Clark College and Atlanta University), as well as materials about other current (Morehouse and Spelman Colleges, and Morehouse School of Medicine) and former members (Morris Brown College and the Interdenominational Theological Center) comprising the Atlanta University Center, the nation’s largest consortium of African American higher education, located in Atlanta, Georgia. Correspondence from the American Missionary Association and the Freedman’s Bureau highlight the founding and early development of the Atlanta College (later University) from 1865 through the 1870s and the school’s role in supplying teachers and librarians across the South. Also included are correspondence files from several early presidents of the University – Edmund A. Ware (1869-1885), Horace Bumstead (1888-1907), Edward T. Ware (1907-1922), Myron W. Adams (1922-1929), and John Hope (1929-1936) – and communications with the main Northern philanthropic organizations involved in funding African American colleges – the Jeanes Fund, the John F. Slater Fund, and the Phelps Stokes Fund.

The Adam Knight Spence and John Wesley Work Collection, 1851-1936, consists of materials related to music education, Fisk University, and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Of particular interest is extensive correspondence (1888-1891) from Henrietta Matson, principal of the Akola Girls’ English School in Berar, India, to Elizabeth and Mary Spence regarding the area’s education and social conditions. Adam Knight Spence served in various capacities at Fisk University, which was founded by the American Missionary Association and the Freedman’s Bureau in 1865. John Wesley Work, Jr. was a leader in the movement to preserve, study, and perform Negro spirituals, and served as director for the internationally recognized Fisk Jubilee Singers. Both Spence’s and Work’s contributions to Fisk University and the community are well-documented in the collection.

The Samuel Howard Archer Collection spans from 1898 to 1941 and documents through correspondence, clippings, and printed material his relationship with scholars and administration at various colleges and vocational schools, among them Morehouse College, Spelman College, and the Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State College (now Tennessee State University). After teaching in rural schools in Virginia, he was a professor of mathematics at Morehouse. Later, he served as president.

The Sanford Henry Lee Papers range from 1929 to 1955 and include correspondence, photographs, and printed material related to Lee’s work as an educator in Alabama and Georgia school systems. From 1929 to 1948, Lee served as a farm demonstration extension agent of Georgia. His role in providing education in rural parts of the South is documented in proclamations, awards, and certificates from the Fort Valley State University and Tuskegee University.

Two collections, the Auburn Branch Library Records and the Annie L. McPheeters Papers, illustrate the role of public libraries in the education of African American children and adults and community development. Bulking 1934 to 1954, photographs, programs, brochures, and correspondence document the educational and community activities of the Auburn and West Hunter Branches of the Atlanta Public Library (now AFPLS), whose historic core collections are housed at AARL.

Five collections document the development of elementary and secondary schools for African American youth, the contributions of black educators, and the connections between institutions of early and higher education to local communities. The Helen Adele Johnson Whiting Papers highlight Whiting’s pioneering work in the field of elementary progressive education and the education of African American children, mainly from 1929-1950, through correspondence to and from W. E. B. Du Bois; Ambrose Caliver, senior specialist in the education of Negroes, United States Office of Education; John Hope; and James Weldon Johnson. Printed material includes programs, announcements, and invitations pertaining to the National Conference on the Fundamental Problems in the Education of Negroes and the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection.

The Peyton Austin Allen Papers, bulking 1887-1889, document Allen’s role as an educator in Atlanta schools for African American youth, show his ties to Atlanta University, and highlight the contributions of Richard R. Wright and Booker T. Washington to the field of higher education.

The James Frank Harrison Family Collection documents the Harrison and Partridge families’ work in Atlanta public schools for African Americans and connections to Howard University and Haines Institute (later the Haines Normal and Industrial Institute) in Augusta, Georgia, mainly from 1922 to 1950. Included in this collection is a lengthy series of correspondence between James Harrison, Jr. and black philosopher Alain Locke, who was active in the Adult Education Movements in Harlem and Atlanta.

The William B. Matthews Papers, 1899-1925, document the activities of both Matthews and his wife, Josephine Ophelia Beale, in the field of education. Josephine was an accomplished teacher and William served two decades as principal of the Houston Street School in Atlanta. After 1910, he became principal of Central Colored High School in Louisville, Kentucky. Highlights include tintypes and albumen prints of black educators, schools and students; correspondence from Booker T. Washington; and letters to the top administration of several colleges and universities, among them Atlanta University, Fort Valley High and Industrial School, and Morris Brown College.

The Selena Sloan Butler Family Papers consist of correspondence and printed materials related to her work organizing the first National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers and co-founding the National Congress of Parents and Teachers. Correspondence between family and friends documents the ties between black educators and various community organizations in Atlanta and across the nation. Of particular interest are the documents related to Booker T. Washington’s address to the 1895 Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition.

Digitized collections breathe life into history and serve as testaments, both sweeping and intimate, to African American social and cultural experiences, which are national experiences. Providing these materials online will expand AARL’s institutional reach to those who may never come to Atlanta to gain access to these U.S. treasures.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

Digitizing Historic African American Education Collections: Methods

2011-04-07T13:51:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, Kerrie Cotten Williams and I met with Sheila McAlister and Mary Willoughby of the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) to have them review the first batch of scans, close to 4,000, for quality control and feedback. We are relieved to report all is well and on track, thanks in part to the meticulous work of Colleen Carrington, who struck a balance between speed and excellence early on in the project. Though we have 8 more collections to digitize, about 70,000 scans, we've settled into a comfortable pace for production. In an earlier post, we provided a summary of the scope and goals of the grant. (See here.) Today's entry focuses in depth on the project's methods.

For the digitization grant, collection and series selection was based on three criteria – subject, format and copyright. We identified 11 collections with folder and item level EAD-encoded finding aids, totaling 50 linear feet. Random files were selected from boxes and sampled to obtain an estimation of 74,000 pages. AARL owns the physical property of its collections through deeds of gift or sale. Of the material proposed for this project, 97% is either in public domain or AARL/A-FPLS owns intellectual copyright. Material whose copyright remains with original creators will not be digitized and is available for use onsite. AARL and DLG abide by current laws and regulations regarding copyright and fair use. Patrons must obtain permission from both institutions and the copyright holders, if any, to publish, broadcast, perform, or exhibit materials held in either repository. AARL and DLG provide robust reprographic services for patrons, though the onus of securing permission from copyright holders is the patron’s responsibility. Both institutions facilitate access to copyright holders when the information is known.

When completed, access to the digitized materials will be through the AARL finding aids database, DLG Web site, and via Web search engines. Since 2004, the DLG has presented folder and item level EAD-encoded finding aids of AARL’s holdings as part of a project of the Georgia HomePLACE initiative, supported with federal LSTA funds administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Georgia Public Library Service. AARL’s finding aids are discoverable through any major internet search engine. Furthermore, AARL creates MARC21 bibliographic records for archival collections in WorldCat that are downloaded into the institution’s local online catalog. DLG personnel will add digital archival object links to the EAD inventories for each digitized folder. In viewing the container list for a given collection, users will discover which folders are available online, as well as those available only at AARL. The finding aids also communicate the content, context, and structure of AARL’s collections.

For two years, AARL grant staff will scan, crop, and deskew content using flatbed scanner work stations and Adobe Photoshop. During this period, AARL and DLG personnel will review images for quality control. From the EAD files, the DLG will automatically generate folder-level Dublin Core records using a Perl script and metadata mapping/subject heading assignment protocol developed and tested in the 2007 NHPRC-funded Troup County (GA) Archives digitization project. (See project results here, specifically Series IV and V.) The DLG will load the Dublin Core records into its union metadata catalog (META), which will support access to the material both via the DLG site and Web search engines.

The project will proceed according to national standards and best practices for digital imaging and description. The finding aids are encoded using EAD version 2002 and adhere to best practices developed by the Research Libraries Group. The folder-level metadata records will use Dublin Core as the data structure. The DLG will employ the following content standards: AACR2, DACS, LCSH, LCNAF, AAT, and the local DLG name authority database. Master images will be 400 dpi, uncompressed TIF 6 images in 24-bit RGB color at 100% size. File-level access versions will be layered PDF, with DjVu as an alternate choice. DLG personnel will generate derivatives (PDF and DjVu files) for each folder of content for Web display; load master images to the DLG archival storage system for migration, disaster recovery, and other uses; load PDF and DjVu files to the DLG public Web server; and implement format selector pages.

Patron demand for AARL's archival collections has increased steadily since 2004, when we partnered with the DLG to create and host EAD records for our processed collections. Within the Archives Division, usage statistics capture the number of archives patrons inside and outside the library, as well as the collections requested and used. Between 2005 and 2009, there have been 4,448 patrons in AARL's Archives Division. During the same period there were 5,817 requests for archives and special collections. Also, staff has identified which collections have more frequent request and use. In particular, requests for and use of materials that document African American education, civil rights, and African American business have increased. Beginning in March 2009, the Archives Division began using Google Analytics to track Web site use by remote visitors, hoping to better identify the specific archival finding aids viewed by these users. Since implementing Google Analytics, staff has tracked use of archival finding aids that specifically represent the collections in this grant. Analysis of these statistics allows us to make better informed decisions about collection processing priorities and collection delivery methods, including digitization.

In future posts, we will address a summary of the collections, lessons learned, and project outcomes. Keep checking in, and please comment.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

Archives and Publics: Dynamic Women = Relevant & Engaged Work

2011-03-24T16:59:00.007-04:00

For visitors just finding the blog or regulars who may have forgotten, the Archives and Publics series is about connections between archives and various publics – scholars, interns, genealogists, students, documentary filmmakers, authors, artists, and others. The series highlights the ways in which different groups access and use archives with a focus on AARL's constituents. Today, we have two features about faculty and graduate students from the University of Georgia and the University of West Georgia -- all dynamic women doing relevant and engaged work related to African American culture and history. Another connection is that they've all conducted research in AARL's Archives Division.

In the past, we've included posts (here and here) from graduate students in the Public History program in the History Department at the University of West Georgia. Today, our first feature is UWG’s Dusty Marie Dye, who over a year ago visited AARL regarding a public history project about African American burial sites in Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery. In February of this year, her contributions to the project came to fruition when the Historic Oakland Foundation launched “African American Voices,” a cell phone walking tour and outdoor exhibition that interprets the cemetery's African American history; see the image above. You can read more about it here, and in the Spring 2011 issue of the Oakland Herald. See also UWG's Center for Public History's project on African American shape note singing, which Dye served on as a graduate research assistant.

Next is an update on UGA's Dr. Barbara McCaskill, Christina L. Davis, and JoyEllen Freeman's research project about the life and work of Joseph Richardson Jones. For months we've chronicled their work here, here, here and here. Below is an e-mail from McCaskill about a recent visit to Jacksonville, Florida, where Jones was born. It's amazing to see how their research evolves, where some details about Jones's life remain elusive, while others surface through meticulous and thorough investigation.

A short two days later, McCaskill shared articles featuring separate (and fantastic) research projects conducted by Davis and Freeman. To read about Davis's collabortive work with Dr. Ron Butchart on Reconstruction-era teachers, follow this link. For information about Freeman's research about nineteenth century African American pianist Thomas Bethune or "Blind Tom," visit here.

Research databases, articles and encyclopedia entries, community programs, oral histories, audio walking tours -- these diverse projects reach a variety of publics in meaningful ways. They also demonstrate how archives live outside of little (sometimes large) gray boxes.

We look forward to sharing more from our colleagues and constituents.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

One Woman's Dream: The Unfolding Legacy of Evelyn J. Frazier

2011-03-16T11:20:00.002-04:00

Just in time for Women's History Month, here is a peek at One Woman's Dream: The Unfolding Legacy of Evelyn J. Frazier, an exhibition about the business, civic, educational, and political life of an incredibly dynamic individual. From now until Sunday, May 29, 2011, the exhibit is open in the small gallery on the first floor at AARL. Curators Pennye Hicks (Frazier's niece) and Kenneth Green of Spelman College did a wonderful job of converting 200 square feet into an eye-catching, interactive user experience.

Tall panels flank the left and center walls of the space, providing viewers with biographical information, historical context, and a timeline of important dates and events related to Frazier's life, and with a subtle cue about the exhibit's left-to-right flow. "Evelyn's Journey," the tallest panel, contains a video component installed midway through the timeline. Using the headphones provided, viewers encounter a visual and audio narration of Frazier's personal and professional development.

Anchoring the center wall is a panel titled, "The Two Steeples," which includes information about Frazier's activities in the historic Big Bethel A.M.E. Church and Morris Brown College. Mounted to the wall to the right of "The Two Steeples" are a series of black hinged boxes. The face of each is covered with a reproduction photograph or document. Upon opening a box, viewers read details and descriptions about the exterior image. It’s a clever way to add depth to two-dimensional objects and to engage viewers physically.

Anchoring the right is the show-stopper, a small reproduction of the interior of Frazier's Cafe Society, a popular African American eatery, complete with booth, counter, and framed original ephemera -- a menu, matches, napkins, full page ad -- and much more. It's a visual treat.

Through this exhibit, the book The Silent Warrior: An Autobiography of Evelyn J Frazier, and the donation of Frazier's papers to AARL, Pennye Hicks is ensuring the contributions and accomplishments of her aunt are remembered. To see the collection finding aid, go here. And plan a visit soon!

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

Open for Research: Andrew J. Young Papers + Jean Childs Young Papers

2011-03-09T14:41:00.014-05:00

On Sunday, March 06, the Auburn Avenue Research Library celebrated the opening of the Andrew J. Young Papers, as well as those of his first wife Jean Childs Young. Close to 400 people attended the event, which included a conversation between Ambassador Andrew Young and the Honorable Kasim Reed, Mayor of the City of Atlanta, a display of rare and unique items from the collection, and a catered reception. It also received widespread media coverage. You can view the event here, listen to a report here, and read about it here, here, here, and here.

AARL's Adiministrator Francine Henderson, Archivist Kerrie Cotten Williams, and Project Archivist Cheryl Oestreicher were part of the program. Each spoke eloquently about the importance of public libraries, research libraries, and archives. For Oestreicher, it was an occassion to highlight the experience of working closely with Young's papers. You can read her address below.

Comments for Andrew Young Event - .

If you are interested in perusing the finding aids, visit our online finding aids here.

Next up for Oestreicher and team is the Atlanta Chapter of the NAACP records. Stay tuned.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

Research 2.0: Henry Rutherford Butler + Internet + Internet Archive

2011-03-04T14:26:00.000-05:00

Archives and technology. It’s difficult to summarize in a post how technology has and continues to radically change research. Suffice it to say we have taken the digital turn, an exhilarating if not dizzying shift. This is a case in point.

Recently Nicole Carmolingo, a former AARL intern, wrote an entry about Henry Rutherford Butler for publication in the New Georgia Encyclopedia. Butler, one of the first African American physicians to establish a practice in Atlanta, lived from 1862 to 1931. While this date range is significant in terms of United States and African American history, one way to view Butler’s life span is through the lens of copyright law. Most of the written traces that document his education, career, and fraternal affiliations are in the public domain, that legal space where technology giants like Google Books thrive, and repositories, including AARL, turn for digitization projects, see here. (Note: AARL holds the Selena Sloan Butler family papers, which include materials related to her husband Henry Rutherford Butler and son Henry Rutherford Butler Jr.)

In addition to traditional research methods, Carmolingo surfed the internet to gather a great deal of biographical information using published secondary sources that are now online. Examples include Daniel Wallace Culp’s Twentieth Century Negro Literature (Or a Cyclopedia of Thought on the Vital Topics Relating to the American Negro, by One Hundred of America's Greatest Negroes), published in 1902, and Edward. R. Carter’s The Black Side: A Partial History of the Business, Religious, and Educational Side of the Negro in Atlanta, Ga. from 1894. My fact checking of her entry, part of the editorial process, also was aided by Google Books and online repositories, such as the Internet Archive. (I credit the Atlanta History Center’s now-defunct blog, Pardon Our Backlog, for the tip.)

In one instance, I needed to verify the name of Butler and colleague Dr. Thomas Heathe Slater’s business, Butler, Slater & Co – the first drug store licensed by the state that was owned by and operated for African Americans. As many researchers know, the Atlanta City Directory, accessible in print form and microfilm, is a go-to resource for information about the city’s people and places. The big news, however, is that some are now digitized; sample a virtual copy of the 1878 volume here. What would have taken a visit to another repository and an hour or more of research to fact check one company name turned into a few minutes of sitting and clicking, thanks to the Internet Archive.

Of course, not everything is or will be digitized. Today’s researchers must balance traditional and contemporary practices to yield the best results. But at this moment in time – when each day holds new online discoveries – technology-enabled changes that facilitate access to the records of our collective past are still something to marvel.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

Research 2.0: Black History Month + Southern Cultures

2011-02-24T12:23:00.004-05:00

Researchers take note. Southern Cultures, a quarterly publication of the University of North Carolina’s Center for the Study of the American South, celebrates Black History Month this year with a special and permanent feature you will want to see.

Dave Shaw, the publication's Executive Editor, wrote in an announcement circulated on the H-Net List on Memory Studies :

In celebration of Black History Month, Southern Cultures permanently has dedicated a new section of our website to all of our essays and features from the last decade on AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE. This material includes interviews with many famous figures (and lesser known ones, too), as well as material which explores many aspects of the experiences of African Americans inside and outside the South. In addition, we've also been presenting featured content on our homepage to commemorate African American history: an essay from Timothy B. Tyson, author of Blood Done Sign My Name, who reveals why Martin Luther King's memory endures and what he means to the South and the nation.

To go to Southern Culture’s website, follow this link.

Also in celebration of Black History Month, Rebecca Burns gave an author’s talk last night at AARL about her new book Burial for a King: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Funeral and the Week That Transformed Atlanta and Rocked the Nation. If you get a chance to hear her, do so. You will find more on the Library's other amazing programs here.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

Southern American Studies Association 2011 Conference: “Peoples, Publics, and Places of the Souths”

2011-02-17T19:27:00.003-05:00

From February 17 to February 19, 2011, Georgia State University, our institutional neighbor in downtown Atlanta, hosts the Southern American Studies Association 2011 Conference, “Peoples, Publics, and Places of the Souths.” You can read about it here or peruse the program here. The Archives Division is proud to share news of grant-funded project staff and patrons who are presenting.

Dr. Barbara McCaskill and Christina L. Davis of the University of Georgia – whose research at AARL and elsewhere we’ve covered on four occassions – are presenting “The Atom Bomb of Auburn Avenue: Transregional Civil Rights Activism of J. Richardson Jones, Atlanta Daily World Reporter” as part of the session “Black Media, Black Business, Black Power.” Cheryl Oestreicher, project archivist for the CLIR Hidden Collections grant and AARL Archives blog contributor, is presenting a paper titled “Jean Childs Young: The Activist Beside the Activist” for the session “Unveiling the Complexity of Southern Social Activism.” Grace Lynis Dubinson, a graduate student in the History Department at Georgia State University and project staff for the NHPRC digitization grant, is chairing the panel “You Are What You Eat: Farming and Food as Social Markers” and presenting “Summary of the Urban Farm Movement: Cultivating Food Production in the 2009 Growing Season ‘You Can’t Eat Grass’” as part of “Uncovering Contested Spaces/Transforming Sacred Places.” Lastly, I am participating on the panel, “Practices of Public Scholarship: What public? Whose scholarship?”

The Archives Division wishes everyone well and looks forward to hearing follow-up reports from dear friends and colleagues.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

Archives and Publics: Duncan Teague + Social Activism + Scholarship

2011-02-10T18:32:00.011-05:00

This weekend the Archives Division of the Auburn Avenue Research Library proudly presents a two day program to announce and celebrate the donation of the Duncan E. Teague collection and to bring together scholars and activists in a symposium inspired by Teague's numerous contributions to communities in Atlanta and beyond. Details are provided in the flyer above.

In the image below, Kerrie Cotten Williams, Archivist, describes the significance of the collection in the Winter 2010 edition of Traditions, AARL's newsletter. More about Teague and the event can be read in a recent article written Dyana Bagby for the GA Voice; see here. At almost 50 cubic feet, the collection contains Teague’s papers, those of artist/activist Tony Daniels, and the records of ADODI Muse: A Gay Negro Ensemble.

After moving from Kansas City (MO) to Atlanta in 1984, Teague went on to become a recognized and respected community leader and worker for social change as an artist and advocate. He has been involved in numerous civic, social, and political organizations, both local and national. Among them are the African American Lesbian Gay Alliance, In The Life Atlanta, Georgia Equality, the Lambda Center, Xtreme Entertainment, AID Atlanta, ARCA (AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta), Black and White Men Together, the National Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum, and Gay Spirit Visions. In 1993 and 2000, Teague served as grand marshal for Atlanta Gay Pride.

For more than twenty years, Teague has worked in HIV/AIDS prevention, education and research. In addition to being a senior member of ADODI Muse, he is a facilitator of spiritual and health related workshops throughout the United States. Today, Teague is a third year seminarian in the Master of Divinity program in the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He is married to his long-time companion, David Thurman.

Please join us for a memorable evening of celebration and an afternoon of engagement.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

“These Legs Were Not Made to Kick a Football”

2011-02-04T10:00:00.004-05:00

In preparation for Super Bowl XLV, earlier this week we featured a post about the Brown Bombers, a professional all-black football team based in Harlem in the 1930s. Fritz Pollard, the team’s founder, used creative methods to promote the team, including publishing The Brown Bomber Journal. Several issues of the journal are in our rare periodicals collection.

The Brown Bomber Journal was a news magazine with a bit of something for everyone. Pollard recognized that the black elite frequently came from the fields of sports and entertainment, and thus had much in common. Both top athletes and entertainers received wide acclaim for their accomplishments, were highly paid, and often had to develop signature styles to stand out and achieve success in the white-dominated establishment. Therefore, it made sense to cover topics of interest to the elite (and to the aspiring elite) in one publication.

Unsurprisingly, the Brown Bombers are highlighted throughout the magazine. The sports section introduces the players, noting their stats, honors, and playing history. The accompanying photographs, pictured above to the left, capture the Brown Bombers in poses that highlight their athleticism.

The magazine’s society pages include photographs and announcements about travel plans and social events. A photograph of a Bombers fan is also featured prominently. The fashion section, above to the right, illustrates popular designs of the Fall 1936 season, whose rich colors were influenced by the impending coronation of Edward VIII of England.

Advertisements fill the journal’s back pages, providing a glimpse into the types of services and products that were used by and marketed to African Americans. Even among the ads, there is an announcement to promote the Brown Bombers through a popularity contest for young ladies, pictured above. Women who sold the most tickets were eligible for prizes, including a raccoon fur coat, diamond ring, and clothing.

As a source of popular culture, The Brown Bomber Journal is fun to look at. At the same time, the magazine also provides a wealth of historical information about the educational levels, professions, family connections, and social activities of black New Yorkers in the 1930s.

References:

John Carroll, Fritz Pollard: A Pioneer in Racial Advancement (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992)

Posted by Krystal Appiah, Brown University, former AARL Archives Intern

Treasures from the Vertical Files: Fritz Pollard’s Brown Bombers

2011-01-31T10:00:00.007-05:00

Just in time for Super Bowl XLV, today’s treasure is a collection of football programs for the Brown Bombers, an all-black professional football team based in Harlem in the 1930s. Although many people are familiar with the Negro Baseball League, less well-known is the brief period of segregation in professional football (1933-1946), which led to the creation of all-black teams such as the Brown Bombers and Chicago Comets.

Professional football began in the 1890s in local athletic clubs. While these local teams had a small base of fans, football remained relatively obscure compared to nationally prominent pro sports, such as baseball or boxing. In an effort to popularize football, teams encouraged all talented athletes, regardless of color, to join them. Star African American players, such as Charles Follis, Paul Robeson, and Fritz Pollard, pictured below, were sought after to win games and draw spectators. Nevertheless, black players faced verbal and physical abuse from white fans and opponents. Hotels and restaurants that excluded black players caused indignities and logistical problems when teams travelled.

By the late 1920s, as football became more accepted nationally and white players vied to join teams, team owners began releasing black players. The high unemployment rates of the Great Depression put additional pressure on teams to hire white players. In addition, owners wanted to avoid the controversy of integrated teams in order to retain their new-found audiences. As a result, in 1933, white team owners in the National Football League (NFL) formed an unwritten, “gentleman’s agreement” to bar black players from the league. Although a few regional leagues continued to hire a handful of black players, the NFL dominated the sport.

In response, Fritz Pollard, a former pro football player and coach, assembled and coached the all-black Brown Bombers in 1935. Based at Dyckman Oval in Harlem, the Bombers provided a showcase where talented black players could compete professionally. Pollard hoped to counter the obviously false claims by white team owners that they could not find capable black players. Pollard also attempted to schedule exhibition games against local white teams to show that black and white football players could compete without incident. Pollard recruited former top African American players from white and black colleges, as well as some non-college players. At one point, Howard “Dixie” Matthews, pictured below, a former end for the Providence Steam Roller, anchored the Bombers.

Despite the talented roster, the Brown Bombers struggled to overcome low attendance. In order to draw audiences, Pollard instituted stunts and unusual plays. The Bombers’ truckin’ and singing as they proceeded to the scrimmage line became a trademark of the team. The Bombers also developed unorthodox formations, such as the “aeroplane shift” to mystify their opponents and entertain crowds. Although the Bombers’ showmanship was popular with Harlem fans and increased game attendance, the team still did not make enough money to generate a profit.

In 1938, a competing team gained exclusive use of Dyckman Oval, leaving the Bombers without a suitable stadium in which to play their home games. Discouraged by the loss of their home and white team owners’ continued failure to sign his players, Pollard resigned as coach of the team. The Bombers continued as a road team until the early 1940s.

Efforts by civil rights organizations eventually led to the desegregation of professional sports, including the reintegration of the NFL in 1946. Unfortunately, by that time, most of the great black players of the 1930s were too old or too injured to play in NFL. However, by creating opportunities for African Americans to play pro football and by battling segregation, Fritz Pollard and the Brown Bombers formed an underappreciated front in the Civil Rights Movement.

References:

John Carrol, Fritz Pollard: A Pioneer in Racial Advancement (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992)

Charles K. Ross, Outside the Lines: African Americans and the Integration of the National Football League (New York: New York University Press, 1999)

Posted by Krystal Appiah, Brown University, former AARL Archives Intern

Archives and Publics: Rebecca Burns + "Burial for a King" + Research

2011-01-27T16:51:00.026-05:00

On Thursday, February 24, 2011, author and journalist Rebecca Burns will discuss her new book, Burial for a King: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Funeral and the Week that Transformed Atlanta and Rocked the Nation. Read about it here. The event takes place at 7:00 p.m. in the Authors’ and Writers’ Lounge on the 3rd floor and is free and open to the public. If you are in the area, it will be an amazing opportunity to see Burns, as AARL is one of the many research libraries she used to write the book. Copies will be available for purchase.

If you aren’t familiar with Rebecca Burns, spend a few moments here. While well-known as former editor in chief and, now, interactive director at Atlanta magazine, she also is a prolific writer who has published three books in a relatively short amount of time. In addition to Burial for a King, Burns is author of Rage in the Gate City: the Story of the 1906 Atlanta Race Riot, now in its second edition, and Atlanta: Yesterday & Today.

While an accomplished journalist and author, Burns is featured in this post for another reason. She’s an advocate and user of archives. Pick up any of her books, and you will find evidence of exhaustive research through lists of primary and secondary sources, which sometimes include informative notations. I witnessed firsthand the countless hours Burns spent researching AARL collections for Atlanta: Yesterday & Today and Burial for a King; some weeks she worked concurrently on both projects. Throughout months and months of research, Burns exhibited great rigor, thoroughness, and passion.

The relationship between archivist and researcher is often a collaborative process filled with leads, dead ends, and discoveries. But there’s more to research than this one-to-one relationship. As the editors of Beyond the Archives: Research as Lived Process note, “the process [sic] of research itself creates new knowledge, not just published results” (p. 6). It is generative, transmissive. In other words, those involved in the process are changed as a result of new information and, in turn, change others through intellectual exchange. Examples at hand are an author’s talk or an archivist’s blog post. Both become settings through which findings and information are delivered and meaningful conversations can occur, whether it’s through a question and answer session or comments section.

Please join us Tuesday, February 24th, for what promises to be a wonderful evening of learning and dialogue.

References:

Rebecca Burns, Rage in the Gate City: The Story of the 1906 Atlanta Race Riot, 2nd ed., (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2009)

_______, Atlanta: Yesterday & Today (Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International, Ltd., 2010)

_______, Burial for a King: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Funeral and the Week that Transformed Atlanta and Rocked the Nation (New York: Scribner, 2011)

Gesa E. Kirsch and Liz Rohan, eds., Beyond Archives: Research as Lived Process (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2008)

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

The Opening of the Andrew J. Young Papers

2011-01-20T19:16:00.001-05:00

SAVE THE DATE!

On Sunday, March 6, the Auburn Avenue Research Library will host an event to celebrate the opening of the Andrew J. Young Papers.

In 2009, the archives received a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources to process the collection. It documents the various aspects of his career and family life spanning more than 50 years, including his positions as a minister, civil rights activist, Congressman, Ambassador to the United Nations, Mayor of Atlanta, Co-Chair of the 1996 Atlanta Committee of the Olympic Games, and his involvement with Law Companies Group, Inc. and GoodWorks International.

The collection contains correspondence, speeches, press releases, calendars, books, minutes, reports, publications, articles, photographs, artifacts, textiles, trophies and awards, artwork, posters, programs, invitations, campaign memorabilia, manuscripts, travel documents, notes, sermons, ephemera, and audio-visual material.

More details to come soon. We hope you can join us to celebrate this momentous occasion!

Posted by Cheryl Oestreicher, Project Archivist

Archives and Publics: J. (Joseph) Richardson Jones Update

2011-01-05T15:56:00.006-05:00

This Archives and Publics post provides an update to Dr. Barbara McCaskill and Christina L. Davis's continuing research on J. (Joseph) Richardson Jones. Pictured below is a revised timeline of Jones's early involvement in radio and vaudeville, which was compiled by Davis based on her research of historic black newspapers. If any blog readers have access to transcription discs or memorabilia from of any of these performances please contact Dr. McCaskill, who's information can be found here.

In addition to the updated timeline, AARL Archives Division is also proud to present a link to the New Georgia Encyclopedia article on J. (Joseph) Richardson Jones, authored by McCaskill and Davis. See here. The article is proof of the dedication and collaborative spirit they have exhibited through their research, and we congratulate them on its publication!

Posted by Nicole Carmolingo, AARL Archives Intern

Roscoe Conkling Simmons family papers

2011-01-03T09:00:00.002-05:00

Pictured above is Anita Martin of the Archives Division as she processes the Roscoe Conkling Simmons family papers. AARL Archives recently acquired the collection and would like to ring in the New Year by giving our blog readers a preview. Roscoe Conkling Simmons (1881-1951) was born in Mississippi and died in Illinois. Simmons was well known during his life as an African American orator, journalist, and political figure. He was a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, making him the first African American columnist working for a daily newspaper in Chicago. His oratorical skills were often employed by the Republican Party, of which he was a devoted member. When needed, the GOP called on Simmons to marshal black votes to support its causes. He was also the nephew of Booker T. Washington, whose third wife was his aunt. He married Althea Merchant Simmons and had three sons, William Murray Simmons, Thomas Murray Simmons, and Roscoe Conkling Simmons Jr (by a former marriage).

The Roscoe Conkling Simmons family papers consist of a variety of documents and materials. One of the largest segments of the collection is the correspondence, which contains approximately 645 letters, cards and telegrams. Many of the letters were authored by William and Thomas and sent to their mother, Althea, between 1952-1962. Coinciding with the Civil Rights Movement, they were written while the sons were at college and when William served as a captain in the United States Air Force. Another significant portion of the collection is the approximately 600 photographs, which date from the 1860s through the 1950s. About 100 of the photos document Althea’s college years at the University of Illinois. In addition to the many photographs and letters, the Roscoe Conkling Simmons family papers also contain eight books from his personal library, thirty pieces of historical ephemera, a 1916 diary written by Althea during her freshman year of college, as well as a painting of her.

The Archives Division is very excited about the opportunities this collection will offer researchers and historians. While it's currently unavailable for use, the Division hopes to announce its opening very soon. Those interested should note that the Harvard University Archives also has a Roscoe Conkling Simmons collection.

References:

Boulware, Marcus H. The Oratory of Negro Leaders, 1900-1968. Negro Universities Press, 1969.

Lentz-Smith, Adriane Dannette. Freedom Struggles: African Americans and World War I. Harvard University Press, 2009.

Posted by Nicole Carmolingo, AARL Archives Intern

Happy Kwanzaa!

2010-12-27T09:00:00.006-05:00

In celebration of Kwanzaa, today’s post features a flyer from the Atlanta Kwanzaa Committee. It highlights activities celebrating the week of Kwanzaa from December 26, 1985-January 1, 1986, including poetry readings, music and dance presentations, and a film viewing. The flyer comes from the records of the Phoenix Arts and Theatre Company, which supported and organized African American arts in Atlanta throughout the 1980s and 1990s. As the flyer indicates, Kwanzaa is a week long celebration that takes place every year from December 26 to January 1. It honors African heritage and culture and includes the lighting of a kinara, a feast, and gift giving.

Posted by Nicole Carmolingo, AARL Archives Intern

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-21T14:03:00.000-05:00

Today’s post features six holiday cards from the Selena Sloan Butler Family papers. Selena and Henry R. Butler were both equally involved in the Atlanta community through professional and civic endeavors. Henry was one of the first African American physicians to establish a permanent medical practice in the Atlanta area upon moving here in 1890. In addition, he was involved in local chapters of the Prince Hall Freemasons, Sigma Pi Phi fraternity, and Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Selena played a crucial role in the establishment of both the Georgia Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers and the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers (NCCPT). The Butlers were also involved in the creation of the Georgia Commission of Interracial Cooperation, as well as members of Big Bethel A.M.E Church. The cards pictured here were sent to the Butler family during the 1941 holiday season.

Posted by Nicole Carmolingo, AARL Archives Intern

Tis the Season!

2010-12-13T16:35:00.007-05:00

As Christmas rapidly approaches, the Archives Division thought it would be festive to share holiday related materials from various collections. This week features two different pieces. The first is a Christmas service program, “Christmas Bells,” circa 1910, from the Adam Knight Spence and John Wesley Work collection. It includes sheet music, prayers, hymns, recitations, and scripture readings. Spence and Work were involved in musical endeavors at Fisk University (Nashville, TN). Spence was the leader of the Mozart Society and Work was the director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

The second item is 1957 sheet music for “Angels We Have Heard on High” from the Henry J. and Florine D. Furlow papers. The Furlows were lifelong members of Atlanta's Big Bethel A.M.E. Church, which is reflected by the stamp on the music. In addition to their involvement in the community, both Henry and Florine taught in Atlanta public schools throughout their careers. Despite coming from two different collections, these items compliment each other because they document the involvement of African Americans in local music activities and groups.

Posted by Nicole Carmolingo, AARL Archives Intern

Archives and Publics: Andrew J. Young + Photograph Identification

2010-12-08T15:51:00.011-05:00

The Andrew J. Young Papers contain nearly 40,000 photographs and slides that document Young’s family, life, and work spanning more than 50 years. There are photos of Young, his children, and his grandchildren as babies; his first ministerial post in the mid-1950s through weddings he performed in the 1990s; the SCLC Citizenship School through his GoodWorks activities; his first Congressional campaign in 1970 through his 1990 gubernatorial campaign; his Ambassadorial trips across the globe through bidding for the Olympics through tropical vacations; and everything in between. (Below: Ambassador Andrew Young is pictured in his Waldorf-Astoria residence, late 1970s.)

Many prominent people appear in the photographs, including Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, RUN-DMC, Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, Hank and Billye Aaron, Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King Jr., Jesse Jackson, Bill Cosby, Sidney Poitier, Garth Brooks, Harry Belafonte, Cornel West, Muhammad Ali, George Bush Jr. and Sr., Bill and Hillary Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev, Billy Graham, Rosa Parks, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and Ted Turner and Jane Fonda. There are also many prominent Atlantans, such as Shirley Franklin, Sue Ross, Julian Bond, Hosea Williams, Jesse Hill, Joseph Lowery, Ralph Abernathy, Marvin Arrington, Zell Miller, Benjamin E. Mays, Bernard Scott Lee, Bill Campbell, and Maynard Jackson. (Below: Andrew Young, seated, identifies photographs for project staff, pictured left to right, Brenda Tindal, Mike Kaiser, and Cheryl Oestreicher.)

While the majority of the photographs were labeled or identifiable, many were not. On Tuesday, Andrew Young and his daughter Andrea visited the archives and helped identify the people, places, and events. Their assistance was invaluable as it not only helps us to organize the images, but will ease researchers’ use of the collection. As we documented what they said, we listened to their reminiscences about the people, the places, the events, and their lives. (Below: Pictured left to right are Mike Kaiser, Cheryl Oestreicher, and Andrew Young.)

Near the end of his time in the archives, he reflected, “We’ve really had a good life.”

For more information about the grant-funded project to process the Young papers and other civil rights related collections, see the CLIR Hidden Collections Grant blog.

Posted by Cheryl Oestreicher, Project Archivist

[The Andrew J. Young Papers at AARL are closed for processing and expect to be open in March 2011]

Happy Hanukkah!

2010-12-01T14:03:00.003-05:00

In honor of the first day of Hanukkah, we post this James Van Der Zee photograph of the Moorish Zionist Temple of Moorish Jews, which was located at 127 West 137th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. The photograph comes from the James Van Der Zee framed photograph collection here at AARL. Van Der Zee was one of the foremost African American photographers during the Harlem Renaissance. His many prints, negatives and glass plates are known for documenting the spirit of the period, while also cultivating black pride, especially between the world wars. In his portraits Van Der Zee worked to both document social life and present atheistically pleasing pieces of art. The Archives Division welcomes Hanukkah by sharing this piece of Van Der Zee artwork.

References:

Landing, James E. Black Judaism: Story of An American Movement. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 2002.

Leininger-Miller, Theresa. “Van Der Zee, James Augustus.” American National Biography Online.

Michaeli, Ethan. “Another Exodus: The Hebrew Israelites from Chicago to Dimona.” In Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism. Yvonne Patricia Chireau and Nathanial Deutsch, eds. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Wintz, Cary D. and Paul Finkelman. “Van Der Zee, James.” Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. New York: Routledge, 2004.

Posted by Nicole Carmolingo, AARL Archives Intern

Research 2.0- African Americans and Freemasonry

2010-11-23T12:36:00.006-05:00

Over the last decade author Dan Brown has brought historical subjects of intrigue into the realm of popular culture with novels such as The Da Vinci Code. Through his written works and film adaptations the general public has become familiar with the Holy Grail, the Knights Templar and Priory of Sion, the Illuminati, and most recently, the Freemasons. While Brown’s latest work, The Lost Symbol, gave readers a lesson in the history of freemasonry, it left out a vital chapter of the fraternal society’s history—African Americans. As with many institutions in the United States, freemason lodges were segregated. As a result, African American freemasons organized their own branch under Prince Hall Freemasonry.

Prince Hall Freemasonry is named after Prince Hall, one of the first African American freemasons. In 1775 Hall, along with fourteen other African American men, were initiated by a British military lodge stationed in Boston, MA. Under Hall’s leadership and over time, the first African American lodge, whose original title is argued to be African Lodge No.1 or No.459, gained recognition by the Grand Lodge of England and was given the full rights of a Masonic grand lodge. After the American Revolution, the lodge remained loyal to English counterparts because U.S. Freemasons refused to accept it. However, the Grand Lodge of England provided little support, which led what was then the African Lodge No.1 to declare independence in 1827.

Prince Hall lodges remained in Northern states until after the Civil War, since up to that point only free African Americans had the independence to establish lodges. Even after Emancipation, Prince Hall Freemasonry strove to be acknowledged by white Masonic lodges in the North and South. This effort continued into the twentieth century, and today the majority of grand lodges recognize Prince Hall Freemasonry. Like their white counterparts, Prince Hall Masons saw the development of related organizations, such as the Order of the Eastern Star, which inducted both men and women. While not a Masonic organization, members are admitted based on their relation to a brother of the Freemasons. The African American Order of the Eastern Star was founded in 1874 by Thornton Andrew Jackson, a Prince Hall Mason in Washington, D.C.

For researchers interested in the history and culture of African American freemasonry and that of similar organizations, AARL’s archives contains collections related to Prince Hall Freemasonry and the Order of the Eastern Star. By and large, these records document Atlanta and Georgia chapters during the twentieth century. The Selena Sloan Butler family papers contain materials related to Dr. Henry Rutherford Butler Sr, who was the grand master of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Georgia from 1901 to 1931. Other collections that document such groups include the Henry J. and Florine D. Furlow papers and the Douglas Evans/Prince Hall Masons collection. The Vertical Files, which inspire the “Treasures from the Vertical Files” series, also contain a handful of items, though they represent lodges in other states.

ADDENDUM: Please see archives staff regarding use/access restrictions.

References:

Butler, Henry Rutherford. The History of Masonry Among Colored Men in Georgia. Atlanta, GA, 1911. (AARL owns a copy)

Davis, Harry E. A History of Freemasonry Among Negroes In America. The United Supreme Council, Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, North Jurisdiction, USA (Prince Hall Affliation), 1946. (AARL owns a copy)

Mjagkij, Nina. Organizing Black America: An Encyclopedia of African American Associations. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 2001.

Walkes, Joseph A. Black Square and Compass: 200 Hundred Years of Prince Hall Freemasonry. Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Co., 1981.

Williams, Loretta. Black Freemasonry and Middle Class Realities. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1980.

Posted by Nicole Carmolingo, AARL Archives intern

Treasures from the Vertical Files: Gettysburg Address

2010-11-19T13:09:00.000-05:00

To commemorate the 147th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, the Archives Division presents its copy of the speech, which was handwritten and signed by President Abraham Lincoln. Just kidding! This reproduction of the address, a souvenir copy, represents a common issue archivists have to deal with—authenticity. It’s not unusual for archives to be presented with documents that deal with important events or issues in U.S. history and are supposedly genuine. However, these materials are sometimes mass produced replicas or attempted forgeries. In the case of this imitation, the Archives staff easily identified it as a reproduction due to paper and ink qualities. Reproductions and counterfeits that aren't this transparent require a more thorough study. Regardless, the Archives Division thought it would be fun to share it with our blog readers as a reminder of this day’s importance in history.

Posted by Nicole Carmolingo, AARL Archives Intern

Digitizing Historic African American Education Collections: An Introduction

2010-11-17T16:51:00.008-05:00

In a collaborative project, AARL and the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) were awarded funds in 2010 from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) to digitize and make web-accessible late nineteenth and mid-twentieth century manuscript collections that document the historical development of education for African Americans, primarily in the South. Ranging in date from the early 1860s to the early 1950s, these materials, owned and housed at AARL, are of great national significance as they were created during the near-century long struggle to improve educational opportunities for African Americans in the United States.

The project, named “Digitizing Historic African American Education Collections,” runs from April 01, 2010, to March 31, 2012. Recently, Wesley Chenault, project director for the grant, submitted the first interim narrative report, which highlighted activities, accomplishments, objectives and more for April 01, 2010, to September 30, 2010. Future posts will feature different components of the grant, discuss the project’s methodology, and share updates. For now, here is a glimpse at some of the activities and accomplishments to date.

AARL purchased equipment and hired two part-time library assistants, Colleen Carrington and Grace Lynis Dubinson. Their essential contribution – scanning tens of thousands of historical records – comprises the bulk of the work. DLG’s Sheila McAlister, Andy Carter and Mary Willoughby provided training on scanning techniques and file labeling conventions for AARL project staff. Among grant-related publicity and outreach efforts, AARL's Kerrie Cotten Williams and DLG's Toby Graham discussed the project as part of a panel, “Southern Civil Rights Collections: Bridging the Digital Divide” at the National Conference of African American Librarians in August 2010.

When completed, 74,000 pages of digital content will be made available through AARL and DLG. A couple of these files – a photograph and ledger page from the Atlanta University Collection – are included above. Stay tuned, for there is more to report about this exciting and important digitization project.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate.

Archives and Publics: Aretina Hamilton

2010-11-12T13:52:00.001-05:00

Very soon, the AARL Archives blog will feature a post by Aretina Hamilton, pictured above left. Hamilton, a doctoral candidate in Geography at the University of Kentucky, will talk about her research and relationship to AARL, but the Archives Division thought it might be fun to introduce her early – and in action no less. Here, Hamilton conducts an oral history with Henri McTerry of Atlanta. Please check back for more.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

Archives and Publics: McCaskill + Jones

2010-11-06T15:30:00.007-04:00

In this Archives and Publics post, AARL's Archives Division brings you an update on Dr. Barbara McCaskill's ongoing research into the life of J. (Joseph) Richardson Jones, a cinematographer, photographer, and reporter for the Atlanta Daily World. It's a reminder not only of the detective-like nature of research, but also its collaborative quality.

In the screen shot below, McCaskill e-mails Toby Graham and Sheila McAlister of the Digital Library of Georgia (DLG) about a discovery in the Charles Douglass Business Records at the Middle Georgia Archives and how it relates to DLG's holdings. Through much sleuthing, McCaskill was able to accurately identify a Joseph Jones from a handbill in DLG's repository as J. Richardson Jones.

The trace led McCaskill, along with Christina Davis and JoyEllen Freeman, to look for holdings in Florida that document Jones's early childhood in Jacksonville, as well as associations in black vaudeville and the LaVilla community, once known as the "Harlem of the South." A research visit is forthcoming. Then it was back to archives in Georgia, where the team visited Emory University's Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL) and uncovered important genealogical information about Jones through the Hanley's Bell Funeral Home Records.

In February next year, McCaskill and team will present their research at the Southern American Studies Association conference in Atlanta.

J. Richardson Jones's story continues to unfold, and AARL is happy to be a part in the recovery of a little-known past. Stay tuned for more.

ADDENDUM:

Here is news to celebrate. After reading the post, Dr. McCaskill responded by e-mail with the following:

"This weekend UGA's Civil Rights Digital Library received the Helen and Milton Schwartz Prize for outstanding projects in the Humanities at the national conference of the Federation of State Humanities Councils. Our research on Jones is an outgrowth of research projects for the CRDL. Also, Christina was a paid R.A. for the CRDL for one year. The timing of this prize is especially meaningful to those of us at UGA, since in January we will commemorate the 50-year anniversary of UGA's desegregation by Charlayne Hunter, Hamilton Holmes, and Mary Frances Early."

AARL sends heartfelt congratulations!

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

Treasures from the Vertical Files: Atlanta Black Crackers Ad

2010-11-02T15:52:00.000-04:00

Today’s treasure from the vertical files is an advertisement for the Atlanta Black Crackers from the June 14, 1939 edition of the Atlanta Daily World. It is a fitting theme for this week as it coincides with the end of the 2010 World Series. The ad was placed by Coca-Cola to market their product at games and to wish the team luck. The ad also includes three signatures, which are assumed to be those of team players, whose identities are unknown at this time. In addition to the ad, page five includes various articles detailing the season opening of the Black Crackers, or “Black Crax,” as the Atlanta Daily World called the team.

The League of Colored Baseball Clubs was formed in 1887 as a response to the National Association of Baseball Players banning of black players from its white league in 1867. During this period, black baseball teams in Atlanta found their beginnings at historically African American universities, including what was then Atlanta University and Clark University. The first black professional team in Atlanta, the Deppens, also formed before the start of the twentieth century. The Atlanta Cubs, a semiprofessional team of black college students, succeeded the Deppens and changed their name to the Atlanta Black Crackers in 1919. The team joined the Negro Southern League in 1919 and continued to represent Atlanta in that league until 1937.

Teams in African American leagues, including the Black Crackers, were often plagued by financial difficulty and continually found themselves under new ownership. One reason behind financial problems was the inability to sell out games because of segregation, which did not allow mixed crowds. After Reverend John Harden and his wife purchased the Black Crackers in 1938, the team later became part of the Negro American League. A year later, when the team was sold to Indianapolis, it played under the nickname ABC’s. Soon after, in 1940, a new Atlanta Black Crackers team formed. The demise of the Negro baseball leagues and their teams, including the Black Crackers, began in the mid twentieth century once the all-white major league was integrated.

References:

Darnell, Tim. “Atlanta Black Crackers.” New Georgia Encyclopedia, 2006. http://dev.ngerr.gsu.edu/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1966&hl=y

Heaphy, Leslie A. The Negro Leagues, 1869-1960. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 2003.

Lanctot, Neil. Negro Baseball League: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.

Posted by Nicole Carmolingo, AARL Archives Intern

Treasures from the Vertical Files: Salesman of Death

2010-10-26T13:48:00.000-04:00

Today’s treasure offers the opportunity for some Halloween themed fun, as well as a discussion of ephemera identification in archival processing. Pictured here is a business card of Mr. G.W. Durham, a funeral director in Campbellsville, Kentucky. One side of the card gives an interesting description of Durham’s professional expertise along with his picture and contact information, while the other lists costs and services.

In addition to aligning with the theme of death often associated with Halloween, this business card also presents the subject of ephemera identification. When processing archival collections, archivists come across a variety of materials, some which are known as ephemera. According to the Society of American Archivists, ephemera is defined as “materials, usually printed documents, created for a specific, limited purpose, and generally designed to be discarded after use.” Examples of different types of ephemera include brochures, event tickets, and advertisements.

When organizing a collection, it is necessary for an archivist to identify different types of ephemera for labeling purposes and in order to better assist researchers. However, some, including Durham’s business card, are not easily identifiable compared with modern formats. His cards fit into the category of personal cards, which Chris E. Makepeace, author of Ephemera: A Book on Its Collection, Conservation and Use, says includes visiting cards, identity cards and business cards. But they do not conform exactly to the qualifications of current day business cards and may have been called by a different title during the period used.

While the exact identifying term of Durham’s card may be unknown at this time, it is still a valuable tool for researchers. The information printed on personal cards – names, addresses, telephone numbers, professions, and even business details – might not be available otherwise, making this type of ephemera historically significant. Personal cards allow researchers to learn about individuals and businesses and are helpful for genealogical research. They may seem like things to be thrown away but are useful, important forms of documentation.

References:

Makepeace, Chris E. Ephemera: A Book on Its Collection, Conservation and Use. Vermont: Gower Publishing Company, 1985.

Moses, Richard Pearce. A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology. The Society of American Archivists. http://www.archivists.org/glossary/index.asp

Rickards, Maurice and Michael Twyman. Encyclopedia of Ephemera: A Guide to the Fragmentary Documents of Everyday Life for the Collector, Curator and Historian. Routledge: New York, 2000.

Posted by Nicole Carmolingo, AARL Archives Intern

Treasures from the Vertical Files: Harlem Uproar House Souvenir Booklet and Menu

2010-10-21T13:31:00.003-04:00

The latest treasures from the vertical files include a souvenir booklet and menu from the Harlem Uproar House, which was once located on 51st Street at Broadway in New York City during the 1930s and 1940s. The menu details the food and beverage offerings of the establishment, which was open every night from 6pm to 4am. The souvenir booklet introduces the various performers employed, who took part in the four shows given each evening.

Harlem nightclubs were a well known fixture of the Harlem Renaissance, however the existence of black nightclubs in New York City dates back to the 1860s. As the popularity of nightclubs rapidly increased during the 1910s steps were taken to make them appear more respectable. This included the adoption of the French term “cabaret,” which sounded far more sophisticated than a mere club.

With the passage of Prohibition, Harlem cabarets also took on the identity of speakeasies, illicitly serving alcohol to their patrons. As white New Yorkers began showing interest in the “exoticism” of Harlem, some nightclubs became segregated, serving only whites and sometimes light skinned African Americans. However, these establishments remained exclusively staffed by black singers, musicians, performers, cooks, and wait staff. The white practice of venturing to Harlem in order to relax their class values and morals was known as “slumming.”

Despite furthering discrimination through the practice of segregation, Harlem cabarets are also renowned for the opportunities they gave African American musicians. The nightclubs allowed black singers and musicians a variety of venues to perform in, where jazz and blues prevailed. The smaller clubs typically featured a modest sized band and solo singer, while larger ones might also include entire musical numbers as well as an assortment of performers.

Harlem cabarets and nightclubs are recognized for the role they played in fostering the development of jazz and blues music, as well as the careers of African American musicians, such as Duke Ellington. However, these establishments also were targeted by politicians and police for allegedly violating vice laws and challenging prevailing social and sexual mores. Today, clubs like the Harlem Uproar hold the fascination of researchers for this blurring of racial, class, sexual, and cultural boundaries.

References:

Mumford, Kevin. Interzones: Black/White Sex Districts in Chicago and New York in the Early Twentieth Century. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.

Vogel, Shane. The Scene of Harlem Cabaret: Race, Sexuality, Performance. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.

Wintz, Cary D. and Paul Finkelman. Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. Volume 1 and 2. New York: Routledge, 2004.

Posted by Nicole Carmolingo, AARL Archives Intern

(Public) Humanities + Archives = Activating the Cultural Footprint

2010-09-20T11:58:00.002-04:00

I recently finished a ten-week internship in the Archives Division at the Auburn Avenue Research Library as part of my master’s program in Public Humanities at Brown University. I am frequently asked about public humanities and its relationship to the work of archives.

The humanities are comprised of subject areas that analyze, interpret, and reflect on the human condition. According to the 1965 legislative act that created the National Endowment for the Humanities, the humanities are “branches of scholarly and cultural activity … [that help us] achieve a better understanding of the past, a better analysis of the present, and a better view of the future.” These include the fields of anthropology, archaeology, art history and theory, ethics, history, language, literature, jurisprudence, philosophy, and religion.

While university professors and writers are obvious examples of humanists, the interdisciplinary field of public humanities supports the tools and spaces to incorporate a wider group of participants into this sphere. This is reflected in the work of my fellow students, who connect with community historians, schoolchildren, farmers, teenaged Civil War re-enactors, and others in sites as diverse as museums, archives, rural farms, dance studios, national parks, community art centers, neighborhood porches, and cyberspace.

Public humanities recognizes that the general public is an active creator, and not merely a consumer, of humanities. Thus, public humanities also serves as a vehicle for civic engagement for all members of a community. As Thomas Ehrlich writes in Civic Responsibility and Higher Education, “Civic engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes.”

My summer internship gave me many opportunities to promote the “knowledge, skills, values, and motivation” for civic engagement through the humanities. Processing the Mary Park Washington Papers and creating the collection finding aid allowed me to provide access to Washington’s vast knowledge of African American art and artists, her process as an artist commenting on history and society, and the documentation of her civic engagement as an arts educator and advocate.

I also launched social media initiatives for the Archives Division, creating a Twitter account and this blog, and expanding the Archives’ presence on Facebook. In addition to providing a forum for sharing our collections, social media helps us communicate with our users and donors, allowing us to learn about their priorities, knowledge, and needs. One example was the post on behalf of Dr. Barbara McCaskill, seeking community knowledge about photographer J. Richardson Jones. Social media also helps potential donors (maybe you!) see the far-reaching impact of archives and the importance of donating their papers to an institution such as AARL.

Thanks to the AARL’s collaborative relationship with cultural heritage and humanities organizations in Atlanta, I was also able to work on a special project for the Georgia Humanities Council, in support of their initiative to promote civic reflection on issues of race. Last year, the GHC organized a town hall meeting for the initiative, demonstrating how ordinary people can use their knowledge of morality, history, and philosophy to reflect on ways to improve their communities. Using the insights raised in this town hall meeting as well as my knowledge of Atlanta’s history gained from working in AARL’s Archives Division, I formulated discussion questions and a reading list that will hopefully help stimulate similar discussions in community groups across Georgia.

The interconnectedness of the Archives Division’s staff, collections, donors, collaborators and community of users invigorates the humanities and promotes civic engagement. My internship reinforced the power of archives to help the public use, build upon, and share diverse forms of cultural knowledge in order to improve community life. Janice Sikes-Rogers, an AARL librarian, calls this process “activating the cultural footprint.” How do you see the Archives Division as your partner in activating the cultural footprint?

Posted by Krystal Appiah, Brown University

Research 2.0

2010-08-27T11:55:00.014-04:00

This post launches another series, Research 2.0, which will address traditional and emerging ideas and practices related to research in the digital age.

One of the greatest frustrations I encountered as a genealogical researcher twenty years ago concerned access to vital statistics and other records. Travel outside of my locale was not only difficult, but not an option. Later, as a graduate student, most of my research involved reviewing records on microfilm and requesting books through interlibrary loan. Now technological advances allow researchers to access resources online, sometimes from the comfort of home. Times have changed.

During the summer of 2010, I participated in an Advanced Archives Practicum hosted by the Auburn Avenue Research Library for the University of West Georgia. In addition to assisting with processing the James Bryant Smith Collection, I conducted research for entries on Drs. Eliza A. Grier and Henry Rutherford Butler that will be submitted to the New Georgia Encyclopedia. Whether you are tracing your family’s history or conducting research, the availability of online digital collections and databases opens doorways to information that once seemed difficult to find and was time consuming to research.

The life of Dr. Eliza A. Grier provides one example. Grier was the first African American woman to receive a license to practice medicine in Georgia in 1897, following her graduation from Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (now Drexel University College of Medicine) that year. News of her licensure traveled as far west as Utah and as far north as New York. Grier’s career as a doctor of obstetric and gynecological medicine ended abruptly, however, when she fell ill in 1901 and later died in 1902. All of this information I found with ease in online databases of historic newspapers and through digital collections. (Pictured left is a graduation program from Fisk University, where Grier graduated in 1891. She later attend the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. Courtesy of AARL.)

Another example is that of Dr. Henry Rutherford Butler, Sr, who practiced general and pediatric medicine in Atlanta in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One of the first African Americans to receive a medical license in Georgia, Butler and a former classmate, Dr. Thomas Heathe Slater, owned and operated the Butler and Slater Drug Store, the first pharmacy in Atlanta that catered to African Americans. Additionally, Butler served as a Grand Master of the Prince Hall Affiliation of Masons for the State of Georgia. Again, this brief biographical sketch was obtained from information found in online databases and collections and in a relatively short amount of time. (Pictured right is a Father's Day card given to Butler from his son, Henry Rutherford Butler, Jr, in 1927. Courtesy of AARL.)

For researchers, times have truly changed – and for the better.

Posted by Sarah Middlemast, University of West Georgia

Ostriches + summer interns, part 2

2010-08-19T18:49:00.015-04:00

What’s the connection between South African ostriches and summer interns? For the purpose of this post, it’s Krystal Appiah (pictured above), a Brown University graduate student and former summer intern in the Archives Division at the Auburn Avenue Research Library. Had she been here last week when Anita Martin, Library Associate, inventoried issues of the Penny Magazine from a recent acquisition, Appiah would have delighted in the mid 19th century publication of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, a London-based organization, and would have written an engaging, well-researched post about the aim of the publication, its intended readership, and the racialized political economy of British colonization and its affects on Africa. Alas, Appiah completed the internship and returned to Providence, Rhode Island.

That post is forthcoming, but for now Appiah’s departure offers an opportunity to reflect on the benefits of internships to interns, host institutions, and beyond. In Archival Internships: A Guide for Faculty, Supervisors, and Students – one of the few resources on the subject – authors Jeannette A. Bastian and Donna Webber write that internships have the potential to be “transformative, revelatory, and life expanding” (p. 20). While Archival Internships is written from the perspective of academic institutions, much of it can be tailored to government, corporate, and non-profit settings. Done well, internship programs can go far beyond course requirements or attractive resume add-ons for interns and, conversely, a simple means to get the tedious and mundane completed for host sites.

As a public research library specializing in the use and preservation of unique materials related to African and African American culture and history, AARL’s “public” varies in myriad ways as does the backgrounds and parent institutions of its interns. For the past two years, AARL has partnered with the International Rescue Committee’s Youth Futures Internship Program, working with Clarkston High School (Decatur, GA) students, some of whom are originally from Burma, Mexico, and Nepal. We host interns from the Georgia Archives Institute, as well as students from several Atlanta metropolitan colleges and universities, including Emory University, Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College, Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University, Morehouse College, and more. This summer, we welcomed our first out of state intern, Krystal Appiah, who literally transformed the Archives Division, giving it a welcomed “social media make-over.” That wasn’t the only change for the better.

Appiah made the very most of her time, attending library programs, assisting staff in other divisions with professional projects, visiting archivists at neighboring institutions, working with the Georgia Humanities Council, and, as a result of her post on Mary Parks Washington, catching the attention of the executive director of the African American National Biography, who asked that she submit an entry on Washington. Framed another way, that’s one intern, one university, a public research library, a state humanities council, and a publisher brought together over a relatively short amount of time through one arrangement that, at a very basic level, is designed to provide one party with a little hands-on experience and the other a free (or almost free) set of hands to work on day-to-day activities.

Archival internship programs, then, are and can be so much more. They can foster inter-institutional relationships, encourage interdisciplinary dialogues, and facilitate transnational cultural awareness and understanding. In so doing, they can create the conditions for the life expanding, the revelatory, and the transformative noted by Bastian and Webber.

Returning to the Penny Magazine, isn’t that the purpose of useful knowledge?

Works Cited:
Bastian, Jeannette A. and Donna Webber. Archival Internships: A Guide for Faculty, Supervisors, and Students. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2008.

Posted by Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

South African ostriches + summer interns

2010-08-13T16:01:00.024-04:00

If you are wondering what South African ostriches and summer interns have to do with one another, good. We have your attention. However, we will not share that information until next week, when certain individuals return from the annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists (SAA), held this year in Washington, DC. Packed with dynamic and informative guest speakers, panels, sessions, presentations, and more, "ARCHIVES*RECORDS" is being held as a joint meeting of the Council of State Archivists (CoSA), National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators (NAGARA), and SAA. To our colleagues from the Society of Georgia Archivists who are presenting, we wish you good luck!

Posted by Kerrie Cotten Williams, Archivist, and Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

Archives and Publics: Handling History

2010-07-29T17:51:00.013-04:00

Archives preserve collections of documents, records, and manuscripts that hold some level of historical interest. This can include documents of national importance, such as the Declaration of Independence, down to a local company’s financial records. However, one of the most interesting types of collections that can be found in an archives is that of the common person. As an archivist-in-training, I have the opportunity to access these pieces of history as well as to learn how to handle them and preserve them properly. According to fellow intern Sarah Warren, that is why she chose the archival field of history as her career path. “I realized that I have the chance to maintain documents, letters, and photographs,” she notes. “To have direct contact with personal stories as a full-time job seemed too good to be true.” By training how to be archivists and public historians, we can organize these documents created by everyday people and give them a value and voice that they may not have otherwise. (Right: photographs, Archives Division, AARL.)

Archival study can serve as a branch of public history because, as archivists, we are trained to preserve historical documents for public access. We learn preservation and processing techniques and put them to practical use in the public forum so that researchers can use these historical items for years to come. Archives serve a similar purpose as a museum: they maintain documents of the past for the benefit of the present and future. Shannon Danielle Smith, another University of West Georgia intern, considers the idea of “putting history into practice in the public field, rather than inside a classroom” the best part of being a historian.

The University of West Georgia’s Public History Program gives both undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to take classes and learn how best to present historical information to the public. We are trained not only to teach, but also to interpret and exhibit. Graduate students have the opportunity to earn a Museum Studies Certificate, which offers classes in conjunction with the Atlanta History Center and trains in all aspects of museum careers: exhibits, collections, administration, and education. The archival branch of the public history program offers courses in basic theory and management as well as an advanced practicum, which offers hands-on experience in the Archives Division at the Auburn Avenue Research Library. Through classes, internships, and research assistantships, we have the chance to work directly within our field so that we are prepared to pursue a career in promoting history to the public in museum and archival settings.

Through graduate internships, I have had access to rare books and artifacts that I never thought I would have access to. An education in archival and historical preservation involves handling history in a way that not only enriches our studies but also our passion for history. Archives offer direct contact with history itself, whether it includes perusing a personal collection like that of James Bryant Smith, or researching the Georgia Political Heritage Collection at the University of West Georgia. Entering the professional field of public history means that I will get to share that passion with the general population on both local and national levels. The work that I am being trained to do behind the scenes creates an accessible way for the public to interact with history on a hands-on, personal level that reaches beyond looking at a museum exhibit through plated glass. (Left: rare book by Phillis Wheatley, Archives Division, AARL.)

Posted by Tiffany Luoma, University of West Georgia Intern

Archives and Publics: A Scholar Taps Community Memory

2010-07-27T17:25:00.013-04:00

From time to time, a new feature, Archives and Publics, will focus on connections between archives and various publics – scholars, interns, genealogists, students, documentary filmmakers, authors, and others. Through this series, we hope to draw attention to the ways in which different groups access and use archives.

Here, Dr. Barbara McCaskill, one of our researchers, asks the public to share information about a little-known African American reporter, photographer, and filmmaker: J. (Joseph) Richardson Jones (b. January 12, 1900, d. February 9, 1948). While Dr. McCaskill and Christina L. Davis of the University of Georgia have conducted extensive archival research across the country, they hope to tap into community and individual memories of Richardson. The documents below summarize their findings thus far and offer contact information.

Please share. Thank you.

Posted by Krystal Appiah, Archives Intern, and Wesley Chenault, Library Research Associate

The Life and Letters of James Bryant Smith

2010-07-20T10:22:00.023-04:00

As part of the Advanced Archives Practicum class offered by the University of West Georgia's Public History Program, we are required to complete seventy-five internship hours for Auburn Avenue Research Library. Our first group project was to process the James Bryant Smith Collection, which details the life of the Tuskegee Airman from Columbus, Ohio.

A war veteran and POW, Smith’s collection contains over 750 letters to and from his wife, Florence Smith. The majority of the letters date from 1943 and 1944, when Smith left Columbus to become one of the first airmen to complete aviation training at Tuskegee Air Field. Several significant personal events are recorded in these early letters, from James and Florence’s engagement and marriage to the birth of their first child. The Smiths also corresponded about their day-to-day activities, which included his flight training and her work at an Ohio airplane assembly plant.

Smith arrived at the Tuskegee Air Field in Alabama in January 1943 and trained as a fighter pilot with the 1155th Single Engine Flying Training Squadron (S.E.F.T.S.). Smith remained a career serviceman after World War II ended, and he served in various training capacities in Hawaii and Colorado. When the Korean War began in 1950, Smith’s unit was quickly shipped out. On September 8th his family received notice that he had been missing in action since July 26th. During this time, for approximately three months, Smith was a Prisoner of War.

As a Tuskegee Airman, Smith was in a unique position to help improve race relations within the nation. Prior to the Tuskegee Airmen, no African Americans had been military pilots, and the War Department was so resistant of the notion that it attempted to eliminate the unit before it could even begin. Only those with a certain level of flight experience or higher education could apply, but it underestimated the number of eligible men who would apply. James and Florence discussed other racially-charged events, such as the Detroit Race Riots in June 1943, as well as every-day discrimination, like the segregation of train cars.

In addition to James and Florence Smith’s correspondence during World War II, the collection also highlights Smith’s subsequent military career. Smith saved many documents, publications, and artifacts from his service in the 1950s and 1960s, which would be of great interest to military enthusiasts.

Posted by Shannon Danielle Smith and Sarah Warren, University of West Georgia interns

Treasures from the Vertical Files: American Negro Exposition of 1940

2010-07-13T17:30:00.004-04:00

Today’s spotlighted treasure is the program and guide book of the American Negro Exposition, held in Chicago from July 4 through September 2, 1940. (Left: Cover art by R.S. Pious)

Organized by African Americans, this diamond jubilee of the abolition of slavery celebrated African American achievement during the previous seventy-five years. Amidst a national climate of prejudice and discrimination against African Americans, one of the Exposition's goals was to promote racial understanding and good will.

Organizers successfully solicited pledges of financial support and exhibits for display from federal and state governments, charitable foundations, businesses, and fraternal organizations. (Right: A page of local business ads in the Exposition program.)

Organizers also hoped to educate the world about the contributions of African Americans to civilization. Using dioramas, murals, and exhibits, entire sections of the exposition were devoted to representations of African American religion, music, sports, literature, art, science, and industry. A hall of fame featured portraits of 30 African Americans.
The American Negro Exposition (left) followed a century-long tradition of expositions and world’s fairs, including the 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition in London, Paris’ Exposition Universelle in 1889, and Chicago’s 1893 Columbian Exposition. These expositions gave visitors the opportunity to see and experience new technologies (electricity, Ferris wheel, Eiffel Tower), products (carbonated soda, Juicy Fruit gum and Cream of Wheat), and peoples (Lapps, Native Americans, Africans). Most world’s fairs also reinforced the imagined superiority of colonial powers, contrasting their industrial and technological inventions to anthropological exhibits of “primitive” colonized peoples. One such example at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition was an exhibit of Filipino Igorot peoples, who lived in a village on the fairgrounds, constantly on display as exotic “savages.”

The representation of people of color as inferior and uncivilized did not go unchallenged. For the 1900 Paris Exposition, W.E.B. Du Bois created the “American Negro Exhibit” to demonstrate the dramatic progress of African Americans in the thirty-five years since emancipation. This exhibit of 50 photographs featured various aspects of African American middle-class life including images of people, homes, businesses, professional organizations, schools, and churches.

Hailed as “the first real Negro World’s Fair,” the 1940 American Negro Exposition was an even more ambitious attempt for African Americans to control the representation of their achievements and aspirations. Unfortunately, despite initial support, the American Negro Exposition was plagued by poor attendance, labor strife, and withdrawal of promised sponsorship. Nevertheless, historian Adam Green cites the Exposition as an often forgotten example of African Americans proactively shaping their lives and communities. (Right: Artist William Edouard Scott painted murals depicting important scenes in African American history to surround the general exhibition hall.)

Bibliography

“American Negro Exposition,” The Crisis 1940 (June): 175, 178.

Green, Adam. Selling the Race: Culture, Community, and Black Chicago, 1940-1955. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.

Rose, Julie K. “The World’s Columbian Exposition: Idea, Experience, Aftermath.” Published August, 1, 1996. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma96/wce/title.html

Posted by Krystal Appiah, Archives Intern

Treasures from the Vertical Files

2010-07-13T17:30:00.000-04:00

We’ll be launching a new feature called Treasures from the Vertical Files, highlighting nuggets from our vertical files collection. Archivists frequently assemble vertical files of materials for quick reference about individuals, events, and organizations. Vertical files usually consist of newspaper clippings and ephemera (materials for a specific purpose, and that were generally designed to be discarded after use), such as ads, event programs, and brochures. Since vertical files are typically compiled on an as-needed basis by different people over a period of decades, sometimes little is known about the origin of the materials. In this way, vertical files often contain unexpected treasures of unusual materials.

Mary Parks Washington Papers

2010-07-07T17:03:00.063-04:00

One of the jobs that archivists do is process collections. When collections arrive at the archives, they are often unorganized or organized in a way that only makes sense to the creator of the collection. In addition, an archivist may need to treat preservation issues such as mold, acidic paper (for example, brittle, yellowed newspaper), or damaging adhesives. During processing, archivists arrange, preserve, and describe collections so that they are accessible to users.

This summer, I’ve been working on processing the papers of Mary Parks Washington, an Atlanta-born visual artist, arts educator, and arts advocate. Washington uses the art forms of drawing, painting, sculpture, and collage to explore themes of history and memory. She also developed a unique collage form which she calls “histcollage,” an assemblage of old documents (such as family photos, insurance policies, and letters) that she incorporates into her drawings and paintings.

As a young woman, Washington had several experiences that helped nurture her talents and love of the arts. Washington exhibited her artwork while she was still in high school at Atlanta’s Booker T. Washington High. The artist Hale Woodruff, a professor at Spelman College, was one of the judges and continued to mentor her when she attended Spelman to study art.

After her graduation from Spelman in 1946, Woodruff helped Washington receive a scholarship from the Rosenwald Fund to attend the Summer Art Institute at the experimental Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Washington’s experience at Black Mountain was a contrast to her life and schooling in Atlanta. In addition to being at a racially integrated institution, classes were informal with students often spreading their work on the floor to be critiqued by their instructors. Washington bought a pair of “dungarees” especially for the relaxed atmosphere since she had never before worn pants. At Black Mountain Washington studied with several renowned artists including Josef Albers, Jean Varda, Beaumont Newhall, and Gwendolyn Knight. It was at Black Mountain that Washington developed lifelong friendships with Knight, her husband artist Jacob Lawrence, and sculptor Ruth Asawa, who was one of her roommates.

Following her summer at Black Mountain, Washington began her career as a teacher at David T. Howard High School. In 1947, Washington once again used her summer vacation to study art, this time at the University of Mexico. In order to forestall desegregation attempts in higher education, the State of Georgia paid the out-of-state tuition for African American students. Using Georgia’s segregationist policies to her advantage, Washington was the first person to receive out-of-country tuition from Georgia. Her histcollage Georgia Out-of-State Tuition explores this experience.The Mary Parks Washington Papers document these events as well as Washington’s career as an arts educator, her friendships with artists; her role as arts advocate, and her participation in civic and community service organizations.

Photo credits: Mary Parks Washington at Black Mountain College,1946, Photographer: Beaumont Newhall. Marriage License and Georgia Out-of-State Tuition, excerpted from Atlanta: Remembrances, Impressions and Reflections, 1996 © Mary Parks Washington, Photographers: James Devrances & John Bremons

Posted by Krystal Appiah, Archives Intern

Welcome

2010-07-07T16:20:00.008-04:00

Welcome to the blog of the Archives Division of the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History (AARL)! Staff and interns will share news and information about the collections and activities of the AARL Archives Division. The posts will also discuss what archivists do, why archives are important, and how archives are relevant to you. Let us know if there are certain topics you’d like us to address.