Week 36: Selection and Privacy

Processing the personal financial records of a collection can become a little tricky, especially for a “living donor.”  I found several income financial statements, personal tax returns, and personal bank checks concerning the revenue earned by O’Neal. Since O’Neal is still alive, and I want to respect is privacy, I will consult with managerial staff and Mr. O’Neal regarding the selection of materials in this series. 

Until next week!

Peace!

Week 35: Tell Me A Story, Sing Me a Song

This week I contributed to Amistad’s e-newsletter by writing an article about O’Neal and I continued to process O’Neal’s papers. The papers are almost complete (Yay!).  

I am working diligently to arrange and describe the Other Materials section of the papers, which is one of the largest series of the collection. An interesting find in this series include files for Tell Me A Story, Sing Me A Song, a three-day celebration of oral history and cultural identity. The traveling performance festival presented the works of the Free Southern Theater, the Roadside Theater, A Traveling Jewish Theatre, and El Teatro Campesino, and weaved together the best of Appalachian, Southern Black, urban Jewish, and Latino cultural traditions. The traveling group toured and performed at several universities such as Xavier University and the Stone Center for the Performing Arts at Jacksonville State University. 

Next week I will complete this series and process the Financial Records Series, another small series of O’Neal’s papers.

Week 34: Technology and Archives

Amistad Research Center hosted a tour of fifty freshmen students from New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA). The students toured the new exhibition gallery, talked to the reference archivist about the Center's holdings, and walked upstairs to the processing area to view documents from our ongoing projects.  I showed the students two program booklets from plays that were produced by O'Neal and mentioned various types of correspondence included in his collection.  The students were intrigued and asked about saving emails and what steps are taken to save and to provide access to audio visual materials.

Their questions made me ponder how technology in archives is very relevant to students in the 21^st century. Although I believe both paper and electronic resources are equally important for researchers, I question, do students or people in general, still write and send letters to their love ones? What measures must archivists and information professionals take to make sure that communications, either in paper or electronic format, are saved for future access?

With a little research, I found a class on the Society of American Archivists’ (SAA) website titled, Achieving E-mail Account Preservation with XML that addresses the NOCCA student's email question. I am very interested in attending this course once it becomes available – to answer their questions of course. 

Week 33: University Files

I continued to process Series 6, O’Neal’s University Files. The University Files series covers O'Neal's academic career as a college student and his professional career as a guest lecturer at Southern Illinois University (SIU).  After graduating from SIU, in 1962, O’Neal returned to his alma mater as a guest lecturer in the Theater Department (1979). He also taught playwriting as a visiting professor at Cornell University (1989-1992).  As a college student, O’Neal doubled majored in English and Philosophy and double minored in Psychology and Art. Most of the files in this series include academic term papers, class syllabi, and examination notes from his courses; materials from the Student Christian Federation (1958-1962); and meeting minutes, reports, and correspondence, as an active member and corresponding secretary of the Beta Eta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (1958).  

Week 32: American Committee on Africa (ACOA)

This week I completed Series 5 of O’Neal’s papers and started writing the series description. I also began to arrange the files from the next series, University Files, and started to compile a resource list for researchers by highlighting materials found in the Center. The list will consist of materials from manuscript collections, books, microfilm and photographs regarding Paul Robeson.

During our monthly staff meeting, we walked through the exhibition gallery to view a new exhibition titled, A Luta Continua: The Founding of the American Committee on Africa.  The exhibition highlights the history of the American Committee on Africa (ACOA) as well as other collections housed at Amistad, which documents the decolonization of African countries. It is also an excellent exhibition for all to view materials on display that examines the global influence of human rights organizations.

Week 31: Writings and Transcripts

This week I dedicated most of my time processing O’Neal’s Writings series.  The files encompass his personal and professional writings and collected writings from other playwrights, poets, and theater directors. This is a large series, and so far, the files include original manuscripts drafts of O’Neal’s plays, essays, and poetry.  Most of the plays written by O’Neal were created for the Free Southern Theater and for performances at various schools in the New Orleans community. 

An interesting find in this group of files are transcripts of interviews pertaining to O’Neal’s book proposal about SNCC. O’Neal interviewed members in the Southern Student Movement in the early sixties to identify their ideological perspectives and to associate what experiences changed their perspectives. Some of the transcripts include interviews with Bob Moses, Charles Sherrod, Ed Brown, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Stanley Wise.

Week 30: Fisk University Students

Amistad receives many visitors annually, and some of which are tourist who are generally interested in the history of the Center. This week, approximately twenty Fisk University Students stopped by Amistad for a tour. Our director talked to the students about the history of the Amistad case and the repository, and asked a staff member and me to give the students a tour of the processing area. My part of the “impromptu” presentation included a general overview of the processing area and O’Neal’s papers. I showed the students some of his writings and letters and encouraged them to start a collection of writings of their own. (The students were very intrigued to learn and hear about O'Neal's love letters)!

Week 29: Hurricane Season

I completed Series 4 of O’Neal’s papers and composed the series description. Of interest is correspondence to Douglas Turner Ward  of the Negro Ensemble Company pertaining to O’Neal’s play, Hurricane Season, in which O’Neal describes the significance of his play was to highlight the confluence of social and individual concerns. In his letter, O’Neal ponders why good people who become involved in social movements find it so difficult to balance their relationship with their families. Hurricane Season addresses this concern. 

Also of interest is a letter from writer, Tom Dent asking O’Neal to write a piece on the Free Southern Theater for the Southern Exposure magazine, Civil Rights Special Issue titled, “Civil Rights: Twenty-Five Years After Montgomery.”

Next week I will begin the Writings series of O’Neal papers.

Week 28: Decades of History

I dedicated this week mainly to processing and completed two more decades (1960’s to 1970’s) of O’Neal’s correspondence. Of note are several personal love letters written to O’Neal during the early 1960’s; memorandum from Charlie Cobb regarding the general survey of economic characteristics of Washington County, Mississippi to Jim Forman; and a letter from Gilbert Moses to O’Neal referencing a list of funding sources and foundations for the Free Southern Theater. Also included are communications from O’Neal’s parents considering his welfare as a college student and social activist and correspondence from the Ford Foundation advising O’Neal of the approval of a travel and study grant, which enabled O’Neal to complete a book on the role of Black Southern students in the Civil Rights Movement.

Week 27: Mission Completed

I completed the metadata for one my digital projects, the A.P. Tureaud Digital Collection. The project files highlight the historical material Tureaud collected, ranging from slave deeds, reports, receipts, military documents, and poetry written by and about creoles in New Orleans. Also, I completed several email reference requests for researchers.

For professional development, I attended the Inaugural Sylvia R. Frey Lecture at Tulane University, which included a keynote lecture address from distinguished University Professor from the Department of History of Maryland, Ira Berlin. His lecture, “Atlantic Creoles in the Lower Mississippi Valley: Slavery’s Long Evolution,” focused on Berlin’s perspective on connections between the Caribbean, the Gulf South, Europe and Africa, and marked the conclusion of the Global Gulf conference of 2012.

Week 26: Presentation

This week I co-presented, with Amistad staff, to Tulane University history students. My part of the class presentation included a quick overview of how archives differ from libraries in both the types of materials they hold and the way the materials are accessed.  I also focused on common tools the students might use to find useful material in archives, including finding aids (we viewed Archon for examples); subject guides; card catalogs; online catalogs and databases; online bibliographies; and digital collections and digital archives.  The students responded to our presentation with enthusiasm! 

Until next week!

Peace

Week 25: Happy Mardi Gras!

Parades, Parades are everywhere!

Yes, it is Mardi Gras, carnival season, and I am thrilled with the idea of attending the elaborative parades.

Since this is a short week, I continued to process series four of O’Neal’s papers, created metadata for my digital projects, and completed another online reference request.  I also assisted with one of two archival learning sessions, where a class of Tulane University students were introduced to the mission of the Center; learned about the history of the Amistad case and the American Missionary Association; and learned more about their contribution to their service learning course.

Until next week!

Week 24: Storing and Protecting Content

This week was very busy. I completed two online reference requests; attended the second session of the LOC digital preservation webinar; continued to create metadata for digital projects by using Dublin Core metadata standards; and continued to process the fourth series of O’Neal’s papers.  The fourth series begins with the arrangement of O’Neal’s personal correspondence. The files in this series comprise of O’Neal’s personal correspondence and other related materials, which is the largest series in the collection. Arranged chronologically, the array of material include letters which document O’Neal’s involvement as an active college student at Southern Illinois University; communications about The Free Southern Theater; correspondence regarding raising money for the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) (1963); professional reference communications; personal mail from family members; and personal greeting cards. The bulk of the correspondence ranges from 1960-1969.

During the Storing and Protecting Content webinar, the presenter asked two important questions to consider: 1) What issues are there for long-term storage? And 2) What steps are needed to protect your digital content? Things to consider are which files to store and the accompanying metadata, enabling long-term preservation and how you should store it, including storage media and repository selection of files. Lastly, when storing and protecting content, one must consider protecting content from loss or evolving technology. Thus, protecting digital content is a continuous process.

Next week is Mardi Gras, so it’s a short but busy week, including the first of two archival learning sessions with undergraduate history students at Tulane University.

Week 23: Dear John (Letters)

The third series of O’Neal’s papers, Theater Groups, is complete!  After writing the series description, I begin to arrange documents for the fourth series, Correspondence, which consists of O’Neal’s personal and professional letters involving his relationship with family members, personal love letters and several communications with Free Southern Theater board members. Most of the letters, dating from the late 1950’s and early 60’s, were personal in nature and included correspondence from students at Southern Illinois University, O’Neal’s alma mater.

For professional development, I attended the Association of Southeast Research Libraries’ Introduction to Digital Preservation Webinar, based on the Library of Congress Digital Outreach and Education (DPOE) modules. This first module, Identifying and Selecting Content, examined considerations when identifying and selecting content for long-term preservation.

Next week I will attend the webinar, Storing and Protecting Content.

Week 22: Financial Records...

This week I continued to arrange and describe series three of O’Neal’s papers and started writing the series description. It is almost complete! Interestingly, I found many financial records in this series about the Free Southern Theater and several correspondences from O’Neal in regards to obtaining grants and funding for the theater.  The philosophy of the founders of the theater felt that people need thought along with food and clothing; and, a cultural movement should coincide with the political mobilization that took place during the Civil Rights Movement. Thus, obtaining funds to support the efforts of the theater was essential to its survival.

Until next week!

Peace

Week 21: Atmospheric Science Librarians of Alaska

During week twenty-one, I lead a tour of Amistad’s processing department and gave a presentation about my current and future processing projects to the Atmospheric Science Librarians of Alaska. (Yes, Alaska). The group belongs to a larger international professional organization, The Atmospheric Science Librarians International (ASLI), dedicated to communication and dissemination of information among libraries and educational institutions involved in atmospheric science research and scholarship. The director of the Center briefly described the layout of the processing area, and afterwards, I explained the importance of the value of archival materials by showing them a few documents from the O’Neal’s papers, particularly documents about the Free Southern Theater. They appeared intrigued and asked several questions about how to access the collections located at the Center after the papers are processed.

Week 20: Let’s Get Digital!

After my digital projects meeting, I began creating metadata for one of the digital collections – The A. P. Tureaud Digital Collection. The collection will consist of approximately 55 items of collected historical documents from the A. P. Tureaud papers, focusing on the topics of African Americans during the Reconstruction South, Creoles, and African American contribution and participation in 19th and 20th century’s business and politics.

By the end of the week, I co-presented with an Amistad staff member to the New Orleans Jack & Jill of America, Inc.  The community organization held a meeting at the Center and we introduced the members to historical items in their collection, which is housed at Amistad. My part of the presentation included a brief introduction and discussion about the processing procedures.  I explained what happens after the acquisition of collections, how the materials are survey for any preservation needs, arranged into series, or categories, and described before entry into Archon.  And, of course, continuous research is essential to gain a sense of the historical context of each collection.

Until next week! Peace!

Week 19: Reference Services

This week I received reference training and completed reference requests for researchers.  The three day training comprised of basic customer service practices such as greeting researchers and visitors as they arrive and becoming more familiar with the institutions holdings to better assist each patron. We reviewed policies and guidelines for use of the Center’s materials, including access and security procedures and procedures for reproduction requests and rights. We also discussed handling rare materials and book preservation methods for the staff and researchers.   

Week 18: A Valediction Without Mourning: The Free Southern Theater (1963 - 1980)

The Free Southern Theater (FST) entered into eternal rest and produced its last play in October 1980, at the young age of 17.  Conceived at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi in 1963 as an artistic idea of John M. O’Neal, Gilbert Moses, and Doris Derby,  FST’s aim was to help African Americans in their struggle for freedom by offering theatrical productions based upon both art and politics. FST is survived by numerous supporters that were influenced by the theater, including various African American theater companies from around the United States.

The brief obituary above is representative of the kind of documents found in O'Neal's third series, Theater Groups. This series includes correspondence, press releases, and other documents about New Orleans’ jazz funerals. Traditional funeral processions in the United States arose from family, friends, and love ones who solemnly morn the deceased. However, in New Orleans, Louisiana, a unique funeral tradition evolved from a combination of African, Spanish, and French cultural influences, spiritual practices, and musical traditions.  

Of note are materials about a unique celebration, titled “A Valediction Without Mourning for the Free Southern Theater,” in which the celebration included a funeral procession commemorating the close of the theater organization. The celebration comprised of events held in Louis Armstrong Park in New Orleans to celebrate the work of this cultural based institution that was based in New Orleans since 1965, including a parade through the Faubourg-Tremé community and returning to Louis Armstrong Park. (Founded in 1810, Faubourg-Tremé is the oldest surviving African American community in the United States, and was once known as the largest and most prosperous community of free people of color in the United States. The birth of jazz, social aid and pleasure clubs, Mardi-Gras Indians, brass bands, and second line parading all originated from this community).

Week 17: Holiday Break

I spent my holiday break visiting family and friends at home in Atlanta, Georgia.

Peace!

Week 16: Motion in the Ocean...

I continued to process series three of O’Neal’s papers, finding more historical treasures! Of note is one of O’Neal’s essays titled, “Motion in the Ocean – The Political Environment of the Free Southern Theater.” O’Neal penned an essay describing his stint in the southern student movement in 1962 and meeting Gilbert Moses for the first time in Jackson, Mississippi in 1963.  O’Neal’s essay expresses his preparations for a journey to New York City to learn the craft of theater, however, several encounters with SNCC members led O’Neal from Southern Illinois, to Southeast Missouri, to Atlanta, to Southeast Georgia, to the Mississippi Delta, to Central Southern Mississippi, and finally back to Jackson, Mississippi, where he met Gilbert Moses and co-founded the Free Southern Theater. He also noted how he felt politically responsible while remaining a true artist during the southern Civil Rights Movement.  

Another interesting document is a travel study by O'Neal.  From January to February 1972,  O’Neal traveled to New York City, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Maryland, Atlanta, Georgia, and Cleveland, Ohio to observe similar African American theater groups on their training and administrative efforts. His goal was to develop relationships with other theater groups and examine creative ideas that were applicable to the Free Southern Theater.