rhonda jones: person, peer, patron: scholarly interactions among local communities, archivists, and...
TRANSCRIPT
Person, Peer, Patron: Scholarly Interactions Among Local Communities, Archivists & Librarians
Rhonda Jones, Ph.D.University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
April 27, 2015
COMBINING RESEARCH & PEDAGOGY
STUDENT PRACTICUMS
COMMUNITY SERVICE & OUTREACH
COMMUNITY ARCHIVES
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
2ND yr. master’s student at UNC Chapel Hill’s School of Library & Information Science with a concentration in archives and records management
Assistant Professor/Director of Public History• Introduction to Public History • Oral History• Museum Studies• Introduction to Archives• Arrangement and Description• Collections Management
WHAT IS PUBLIC HISTORY?Commonly referred to as “people’s history” or “applied history” the theory and methodology of public history is firmly rooted in the discipline of history and shared authority. At its core, the fundamentals of research and interpretation rests on sound scholarship and is useful in public practice.
Offering a multi-disciplinary approach it emphasizes collaborative work with academic institutions, community members, stakeholders, and professional organizations
As with all public scholarship, digital technologies play an increasingly important role in the work of public historians, creating new spaces where they can share their work and broaden access to varied audiences.
BEHIND THE VEIL ORAL HISTORY PROJECTCENTER FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES
DUKE UNIVERSITYMaintained electronic, subject-index database for 1,250 narratives on African Americans’ experiences in the Jim Crow South. • Coordinated accessioned
interviews• Liaison for researchers’
requests• Facilitated library transfers • Provided content knowledge
to have a small percentage of the collection digitized
Chowan Discovery GroupAhoskie, North Carolina
“Kin and Community”
Historic Stagville Planation and UNC’S Wilson Library
Hands-on-experiences in archival fundamentals, museum curatorship, and collections management
Five week summer internship in archival theory and methodology Museum of Confederacy’s Eleanor S. Brockenbrough Library, 2009-2014• Arrangement, description, cataloging,
preservation, and records management according to Society of American Archivists standards
• Research & cultural interpretation
Project RIGHT Now Carolinas (Research, Interpretation, Gather, Historic, Treasures), a coalition of librarians, archivists, and historians who engage in collaborative research projects with churches, schools, institutions, and local organizations
ST. PAUL’S A.M.E CHURCH
PATICIPATORY ARCHIVES, PROGAMMING & PUBLIC OUTREACH
JACKSON CENTER FOR SAVING AND MAKING HISTORY
Working with UNC’s Southern Oral History Program (SOHP) the Marian Cheek Jackson Center for Saving and Making History recognizes the legacy of the multiplicity of voices within the Northside and Pine Knoll neighborhoods in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
The Center has preserved hundreds of recorded oral history interviews from local residents with a social justice orientation, and implemented communication technology to transform them into a physical and digital archive.
Published and unpublished materials: manuscripts, letters, photographs, moving images and sound materials, artwork, books, artifacts, and the digital equivalents of all of these things. Broadly speaking community archives are defined as a collection of “living archive” materials that serve to document and preserve the communities’ triumphs and struggles, while educating, inspiring, and empowering the users they serve. The process of creating the collection has to involve the community. Typically, this means that volunteers have played a key role, sometimes alongside scholars and professional archivists.
What are community archives?
• Youth radio audio recordings
• Photographs and other files
• Oral history recordings & transcripts
• Manuscripts
Working with Omeka
Implications of archival custody and the future for wider use
Digitization vs. digital preservationIs it an archive?• Accessible & searchable… but are
unprocessed• Finding aid
FINAL THOUGHTS…
ANY QUESTIONS?