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

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

From Tuskegee to Tokyo

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

Research 2.0: Henry Rutherford Butler + Internet + Internet Archive

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

Merry Christmas!

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

Research 2.0- African Americans and Freemasonry

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

Research 2.0

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