Thread by @karlajstrand

The next #asalh2020 session I'll be tweeting is one close to my heart: "We Were There: Increasing Access to Black Women's Suffrage Histories" will include Shanee Y. Murain (@dpla), Sarah Tanner (Atlanta Univ Library), and Dana Chandler (Tuskegee Univ Archives).

Here we go! Aaisha Haykal from the College of Charleston is moderating. First up is Shanee Yvette Murrain from DPLA. #libraries #archives #critlib #librarylife #librarytwitter #asalh2020

Murrain: Describing work of @dpla - check out their website dp.la. Their new strategy includes an increased focus on historically underincluded communities. #ASALH2020

Murrain: The Black Women's #Suffrage Digital Collection fills a gap within existing histories of suffrage movement. Existing DPLA primary source collection on suffrage only included one resource on Black women. #ASALH2020

Murrain: In digitizing new histories, Black women's experiences and histories will be centered at DPLA. Curating Black stories must be intentional. Black Women's Suffrage Collection kick off event will be Sept 8 1-230pm EST. See the DPLA website for info. #ASALH2020

Murrain: Event will include discussion of how they handled offensive language in the collection in order to take care and be ethical in curation and presentation of resources. #ASALH2020

Next up is Sarah Tanner from Archives Research Center at Atlanta Univ Center. Will talk about increasing access to Black women's suffrage histories. #ASALH2020

Tanner: Library/archival subject terminology re: Black women are antiquated, out of date, or nonexistent. Right away Tanner realized that while their collections were deep and many, they were hard to find bc of the subject terms. #ASALH2020

Tanner: Black women were leading in the suffrage movement and are represented in the archival record but it's challenging to find the records. We must re-visualize these resources to make them more accessible. #ASALH2020

Tanner: Black women often participated in the suffrage movement via Black women's clubs, the church, etc. That's often where you find the records of their activism, leadership, and organization abilities. #ASALH2020

Tanner gives an overview of the archival collections included in the DPLA collection. It will include records from the Atlanta Urban League as well as Neighborhood Union founded by Lugenia Burns Hope in 1908. #ASALH2020

Tanner: Some records will illustrate behind the scenes work of these organizations like planning and carrying out voter reg drives, hiring more Black police officers, wellness of family and kids, etc. #ASALH2020

Tanner: League of Women Voters, a bipartisan interracial group, records will also be included esp info re: voter registration efforts. Also will include records from National Council of Negro Women founded in 1935 by Mary McLeod Bethune. #ASALH2020

Tanner: The goal of the project is to bring these collections to new light. To allow engagement and interaction with collections largely invisible previously. To allow access to researchers and citizens across the country. Will be available via DPLA website. #ASALH2020

Next up is Dana R Chandler from Tuskegee Univ Archives. They are the oldest archives in the nation. Focus on items specific to university and African American community more generally. Papers incl. Booker T Washington and Olivia Davidson Washington. #ASALH2020

Chandler: Olivia Davidson Washington was 2nd wife of BT Washington. She said that Black girls were the "hope of the race." In 1881, she believed not only should education be for all, but that women could teach men in a coed setting. #ASALH2020

Chandler: Tuskegee has highlighted this history throughout its time. Collections cover 1881-present. Records from Civil Rights Movement and pre-CR Movement. Suffrage and some 600 significant collections. Goal is to digitize as much as they can. #ASALH2020

Chandler: Will digitize the Tuskegee Women's Club Journal - highlights intent of the group, origins, books they read, political views, suffrage, and more between 1895-1921. #ASALH2020

Chandler: Will also digitize items from the library. Books and pamphlets that date back to the 1700s, at times, Tuskegee is the only place they are available. #ASALH2020

Chandler: Jessie Guzman collection will be digitized. She was a writer, politician, fourth archivist at Tuskegee, first African American woman to run for state office. She maintained the university's lynching records, among others. #ASALH2020

Chandler: Photos from several collections will be focused on as well, including from PH Polk, AP Bedou, and CM Battey. Many are already digitized but will now be made available. Also a full run of an abolitionist newspaper from the 1760s. #ASALH2020

Now time for questions from the attendees.

Chandler: They have more older records than newer. One is the Severa Green (sp?) collection which has 230 boxes that have never been mined. #ASALH2020

Chandler: HBCU Alliance of Libraries speaks about some HBCUs that are in danger of closing; what happens to those collections? We have to save these collections due to closures, lack of funding, or media that are going out of date and being damaged. #ASALH2020

Chandler: Many HBCU archives are dealing with inadequate resources.

Tanner: Atlanta Univ Center archives are well-resourced and haven't been overlooked like many others. People could partner with institutions in danger, volunteer, donate. #ASALH2020

Murrain: DPLA created in 2013 partly in response to Google Books project, a for-profit operation and originally didn't consult libraries. DPLA wanted instead to center collections public domain items and be more inclusive. #ASALH2020

Chandler: Tuskegee has unpublished Booker T Washington autobiography. His actual autobiography published by Tuskegee, not Up From Slavery. We need to look at these self-published books and pamphlets and make them available. #ASALH2020

Tanner: Collections might be open to filmmakers for filming depending on the collection itself. It depends on where the rights are held. Contact and work with staff on the process. They are open to the public, though. #ASALH2020

Murrain: In DPLA, you can see the rights assigned to the document. Often public domain or Creative Commons. DPLA is available to help connect people with the rights-holder. Many are already open copyright. #ASALH2020

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