Happy Thanksgiving from the SHC!

What would Thanksgiving be without the turkey? Below is an excerpt from an article written by Doug Storer called “Let’s Talk Turkey.” It explains how the turkey became synonymous with Thanksgiving. Doug Storer was a radio producer, talent agent, and writer responsible for creating and producing radio programs from the 1930s – 1960s, including Ripley’s Believe It or Not. In 1960, he started a similar franchise and titled it Amazing But True. It included books, radio shows, newspaper columns, and films. The article below was written for Amazing But True in 1971. To read the whole thing, come visit us after the holiday!

 

Folder 197, in the Doug and Hazel Anderson Storer Collection #5231, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Folder 197, in the Doug and Hazel Anderson Storer Collection #5231, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

 

As you can see, turkey has been enjoyed on Thanksgiving by Americans for a very long time. Below is an extravagant Thanksgiving Menu from 1916, where they are planning to eat “Roast young Vermont turkey, English dressing, cranberry jelly.”

Folder 4, in the Emily London Short Papers #5181, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Folder 4, in the Emily London Short Papers #5181, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

 

We hope that you have a delicious day!

Ms. Powell goes to the State of Black Research Collections Conference (New York, NY)

As you can tell the staff of the Southern Historical Collection is working hard to bring fresh content to our new and improved blog platform. For my part, I will be sharing the most recent highlights of my experience in the stacks, on campus, and around the town, state, country, or the world (wishful thinking). I imagine that this will be helpful for aspiring archivists and anyone who enjoys the process of discovery.

The facade of the Bryant Park branch of the New York Public Library, October 31, 2014.
The facade of the Bryant Park branch of the New York Public Library, October 31, 2014.

During Halloween weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the State of Black Research Collections conference at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City. The conference was intended for anyone who had an interest in African American archives which included museum directors, teachers, archivists, artists, and scholars. The sessions were highly interactive and all of the participants were encouraged to speak up in order to have our comments and observations featured in an upcoming white paper. The organizers were able to host the conference with funds from a Mellon grant, apparently a gathering like this had not happened in the last 20 years! Do you know how much could happen in 20 years? Not the least of which is the evolution of an entire segment of the archives. To give you the proverbial gut check, Kurt Cobain and TuPac Shakur both died 20 years ago, it feels like we have been living without them for a lifetime.

Some of the issues discussed in the conference included funding, supporting young professionals, aggregating collections, collecting current events, working with audio visual materials, and outreach to communities other than traditional scholars. Representatives from the Amistad Research Center (New Orleans, LA), Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (Washington, D.C.), and the California African American Museum (Los Angeles, CA) and many places in between gave presentations. The director of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University, Howard Dodson, gave the key note address, focusing on the growth of Black collections from the rare books of Mr. Schomburg himself to the highly disparate collections that we steward today. I appreciated the way that museums, libraries, and archives of all sizes were asked to participate and we were able to see how many of our challenges and goals are essentially the same. After the first day of traditional sessions and plenaries, the second day was all about “moving the needle forward”, where we worked as a group to share ideas about what the next steps might be. I’ll save this content for the white paper, but one popular idea was the establishment of a professional organization that serves black research collections, wouldn’t that be a sight to see!

I would be remiss if I did not share with you sense of wonder just outside the walls of the Schomburg, located on 135th Street and Malcom X Blvd, also known as Lenox Ave. Directly across the street is the Harlem Hospital Center, which has murals, paintings, and sculptures, from Work Progress Administration artists like Charles Alston (papers at the SHC), Alfred Crimi, and Georgette Seabrooke. The sculpture adorning the entrance, Untitled (Family) is by John Rhoden.

Facade of the Harlem Hospital Center, October 31, 2014
Facade of the Harlem Hospital Center, October 31, 2014

Ten blocks south is the incomparable Apollo Theater, Studio Museum of Harlem, and the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building. 125th Street is considered Harlem’s main street as it is serviced by buses and trains and has been the site of so many commercial and entertainment options for African Americans for close to 100 years. This was the home of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920’s, where poets like Langston Hughes, and musicians like Duke Ellington, and writers like Zora Neale Hurston. The Cotton Club where a young Lena Horne got her start was on 142nd and Lenox Ave. Ella Fitzgerald was the first winner of amateur night at the Apollo Theater and went on to perform with the band at the Savoy Ballroom (140th and Lenox Ave.) in 1934.

Chaitra rubbing the famed, "tree of hope" on statge at the iconic Apollo Theater, November 1, 2014.
Chaitra rubbing the famed, “tree of hope” on statge at the iconic Apollo Theater, November 1, 2014.

As a sophomore in high school, I was completely enchanted by these figures and to be fortunate enough to occupy the spaces of my idols was a real treat indeed. Perhaps Billy Strayhorn and I have something in common as we have lived in Orange County, NC but our hearts stay on an “A train” uptown.

 

 

Staff Profile: Bryan Giemza, Director of the Southern Historical Collection

Contributed by Bryan Giemza, Director of the Southern Historical Collection

What do you do for the Southern Historical Collection? 

My chief responsibility is to build and develop a high-research-value Collection, and to preserve the items in our care.  An important part of that process is connecting talented people who are passionate about the Collection with the resources to achieve its vision.  I’m enjoying playing a part in shaping that vision, too.

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At work in a storage unit in Oxford, Mississippi

My work as director is tremendously varied, which is one of the fun things about the position.  On any given day I might be traveling a backroad or rummaging in an attic to appraise a collection, meeting with donors and colleagues to solicit input, or making a presentation on some aspect of the work we do.  It’s my astonishing good fortune to meet with cultural creators and innovators of every description, and to take part in the larger exchange of ideas about the history and culture of a fascinating region.

What did you do before joining the Southern Historical Collection?

My journey to the SHC unfolded as part of an academic path.  You can learn more about my background by having a look at my curriculum vitae. I’m a graduate of Notre Dame and UNC (tarheel born and bred), and I count myself a “graduate” of the Appalachian Trail, too.  As a graduate of UNC Law, I’ve taught courses in law, the environment, and the humanities, too.

Prior to arriving at the SHC, I was a tenured associate professor of American Literature at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. So, what I did was what professors do: I wrote and edited five books, I taught lots of courses in history and literature, and, most rewarding, I tried to make a difference in my students’ lives in my capacity as a teacher, mentor, fellow sojourner. I’m continuing on the academic journey, with several books in the pipeline, and teaching opportunities—but with the SHC, I have a wonderful new canvas and new ways of directing my energies.

How did you get into this line of work?

As a literary scholar with a historical turn of mind, it might be said that the SHC has always been a central part of my work, always been a companion. I’ve benefited immensely from its resources as a researcher, and my career has been shaped by its centrality in the academic understanding of American and regional culture.  I’ve been inspired by, and benefited from, the organizations, publications, and partners that have grown out of the Collection: The Center for the Study of the American South, the Southern Oral History Project, the Southern Folklife Collection, and the journal Southern Cultures. Not to mention the great programs in American studies, folklore, history, and literature.  For someone with my intense curiosity, it’s a delight to be at the hub where all these things come together.

I have some other important jobs, too: I’m a father and husband and occasional swamper. I love to write, and I’m currently at work on a novel. It’s a kind of morally purposeful thriller, set in the coastal Carolinas and Central Americas of the 1970s, about a Vietnam veteran turned smuggler.

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With Mayor Darryl Johnson of Mound Bayou, MS

What do you like about your job?

E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.  And I’m not exaggerating.  There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t marvel at how fortunate I am to be a part of the Southern Historical Collection and the University.  We have a young, energetic, and inspired team here at the SHC, and I learn from my colleagues every day.  I get to see how circles of generosity ripple outward. As I like to say, we’re in the business of outrageous generosity, which is the very best business, after all.  Most of all, I like the way the job allows me to pursue service to others, which, as Bill Friday often suggested, is key to a meaningful life.

I recently heard an anecdote from friends in the North Carolina Collection about Charles Kuralt’s father.  It was said that he planted trees and worked on landscaping at every place the family lived, even when they were renters.  This didn’t quite compute for young Charles, since they would be moving on, but his father pointed out that you should always leave a place better than you found it.  When I was moonlighting in wetland restoration during graduate school, I saw the truth of that as we planted trees to establish forests that we would not see during our lifetime.  The best jobs, I think, are never finished, and you may not get to see the ends.  Similarly, the best stories don’t end, and the SHC is a continuously written chapter in the larger volume of history.  We might be the longest-standing collection of our type, and we are only beginning….

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A Mississippi delta sunrise on the horizon

What are you working on right now? What are some new and exciting projects on the horizon?

Right now I’m focused on leading the strategic planning process for the Southern Historical Collection, and aligning our work with the vision of Wilson Library, the University Library, and the many academic communities and constituencies we serve.  We have a clear sense of where we want to be in five years, and we are setting out with a unified plan and sense of purpose. I’m excited about gathering the resources to realize our vision, and to grow the collection in new areas and with new initiatives. For example, I’m developing plans to reach out to the Latino communities that are an important part of our state and region, and that will make crucial contributors to our collections.

I’m just coming back from an energizing trip in which Biff Hollingsworth and I crisscrossed the state of Mississippi: four days, five collections, six or more donor meetings, and over 700 miles. And at least two catfish suppers.  One promising element from the trip that is on the horizon: a chance to support the Historic Black Towns and Settlements Alliance.  We are privileged to have a chance to participate in building sustainable communities through historic preservation!

P.S. I’m going to follow Chaitra and offer a little help in pronouncing my (Polish) surname: it’s pronounced GEM-za, with a hard G, to rhyme with stem-za…!