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 The collection will consist of approximately 55 items of collected historical documents from the A. P. Tureaud papers, focusing on the topics of African Americans during the Reconstruction South, Creoles, and African American contribution and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.