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.