We, Too, Celebrate You

On August 24, 2012, the library's namesake had another birthday! To celebrate this wonderful day, the library is displaying a letter written by Barbara Jackson-Nash, a former director of the Banneker-Douglass Museum (BDM), where she says, "Mrs. Sylvia Gaither continues to do a very outstanding job in the library." The current staff of the BDM agrees with her assessment. We, too, celebrate the great accomplishments of Mrs. Garrison, for she laid the foundation for the lovely library we enjoy today!

We also invite you to schedule an appointment with the archivist by calling him at 410.216.6191 to visit the library and read the rest of the letter and some of the other outstanding materials we have on Maryland's rich African American heritage. You'll be glad you did.

Pictured from left to right: Mrs. Sylvia Gaither Garrison, library namesake, and Dr. Joni Jones, Director, Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture, and Director, BDM

Never Can Say Goodbye

The staff of the Banneker-Douglass Museum (BDM) wishes to thank Michael Janakis, Hodson Trust Intern, for all of his hard work this summer. Michael conducted research on numerous African Americans found within the Banneker-Douglass Museum Photo Archives, notably Alex Haley, Corretta Scott King, and Cab Calloway. He helped Archivist Lynn Waller preserve many photographs within the collection, and he gave a riveting presentation to the Banneker-Douglass Museum Foundation.

To tangibly express our appreciation, Lynn treated Michael to lunch at Galway Bay, an Irish restaurant in Annapolis, where he gave him a gift, An Unbroken Circle, a book about African and African American Christians.

The staff of the Banneker-Douglass Museum wishes Michael well in his quest to become an archivist.

Pictured from left to right: BDM Archivist Lynn Waller and Michael Janakis, Hodson Trust Intern

Holy Archangels Orthodox Church Visits SGGL

On Wednesday, August 8th, the Sylvia Gaither Garrison Library hosted two exciting guests from Holy Archangels Orthodox Church in Annapolis, Maryland: Father (Fr.) Robert Miclean, godfather of our SGGL intern Michael Janakis, and Brian Merriweather. Brian Merriweather is an African American convert to Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Fr. Robert and Brian came to vist Michael at the Banneker-Douglass Museum. Michael has been sharing his experiences here at the SGGL with his church family, and was very excited to show his godfather and friend the work he has been doing. In addition, Michael and our guests from Holy Archangels have been very excited to share with the staff of the Banneker-Douglass Museum the ancient African roots of Christianity, of which most people here in America

are unaware.

Michael showed Fr. Robert and Brian the photographs he has been working to preserve, and parts of the research he has been doing for his presentation which he gave to the Banneker Douglass Museum Foundation on August 11th. Michael then gave a brief tour of the museum to his church family. Fr. Robert and Brian both enjoyed the museum very much, with both Fr. Robert and Brian expressing their desire to return with their respective families. Fr. Robert's wife, and Michael's godmother, Matushka (Russian for "mama") Krissy, is about to give birth to their first son, James, so her visit will have to wait a while!

After the tour, Michael showed Fr. Robert, Brian, and Dr. Joni Jones some pictures of an Eastern Orthodox icon corner, which we had in the BDM photo archives. In the eastern corner of every Orthodox Christian home, there is an icon corner, where icons of Christ and the saints, and holy items, are placed. This is where Orthodox Christians pray in their homes. Dr. Joni Jones was able to identify that the photographs were from the house across the street from Mr. Moriah.

Our guests from Holy Archangels and Michael were able to share some African Christian history with Dr. Jones and Lynn, including stories of African saints such as St. Moses the Black, St. Anthony the Great, St. Mary of Egypt, and St. George of Damascus. Africa was the birthplace of Christian monasticism. There have always been Orthodox Christians in Africa, long before Islam and the "return" of Christianity by the Jesuits and American missionaries. Some of the native Christians are the Coptic Orthodox Church (the Copts are the native Egyptians), the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church (Tewahedo means "being made one", referring to the unified wills, human and divine, of Christ), the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, which has Orthodox churches all over Africa. Our guests from Holy Archangels were also able to inform the staff about the Brotherhood of St. Moses the Black (BSMB), an Orthodox organization headed by African American priest Fr. Moses Berry, which is dedicated to spreading knowledge of the African roots of Christianity to Americans. Fr. Moses Berry hosts the BSMB Annual Ancient Christianity and Afro-American Conference in Ligonier, PA. Fr. Robert and his parishoners extended their open invitation to anyone interested in learning more about ancient African Christianity to come visit Holy Archangels Orthodox Church, stay for a service, and enjoy some food and hospitality.

We would like to thank Fr. Robert and Brian, and everyone at Holy Archangels Orthodox Church for visiting us and sharing pieces of precious history with us.

Brotherhood of St. Moses the Black website http://www.mosestheblack.org/

Holy Archangels Orthodox Church website http://www.orthodoxannapolis.org/

Pictured: Father Robert shows Dr. Jones pictures of his child while Brian looks on.

Leon Bridges Oral History Interview

On June 19, 2012, Lynn Waller, archivist, interviewed Mr. Leon Bridges, founder of the Leon Bridges Company. The Leon Bridges Company performed the renovation/restoration work on the Mt. Moriah AME Church, now site of the Banneker-Douglass Museum (BDM). Mr. Bridges, as head of the company, was the first registered African American architect in the state of Maryland. Mr. Bridges generously agreed to an oral history interview, in which Lynn asked Mr. Bridges questions about his work on Mt. Moriah. The oral history interview went very well, and Mr. Bridges was very happy to share his memories and experiences in renovating Mt. Moriah. Mr. Bridges was full of energy and spirit during the interview, and seemed to very much enjoy sharing his experiences, and we at the BDM certainly enjoyed hearing about them.

Mr. Bridges allowed Michael Janakis, Sylvia Gaither Garrison Library (SGGL) intern, to sit in on the interview. Michael enjoyed the interview very much, and was even able to talk to Mr. Bridges privately while Lynn performed some tasks. Mr. Bridges and Michael were able to talk about the Harlem Renaissance, and Mr. Bridges recommended some books to Michael. Mr. Bridges was also able to help Michael identify his employees on the Mt. Moriah project, Shesh Shastry and Orin Bullock, in some of our archival photographs. Shesh Shastry was the Senior Designer on the renovation project.

Mr. Bridges also showed the SGGL staff and Dr. Joni Jones some slides from his company's restoration of Mt. Moriah. Mr. Bridges generously allowed us to make copies of his slides for our records.

We at the Banneker-Douglass Museum would like to express our heartfelt thanks to Mr. Bridges for taking the times to share his memories and experiences here at Mt. Moriah AME Church with us. We at the BDM were so very glad to have hosted him.

Pictured: Architect Leon Bridges

SGGL Staff Attends HBCU Photographic Preservatioin Workshop at Bowie

Lynn Waller, archivist, and Michael Janakis, intern, attended the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Photographic Preservation Workshop at Bowie State University on July 31st-August 2nd. This conference was a 3 day workshop which allowed both Lynn and Michael to gain hands-on experience and much knowledge in photographic preservation techniques.

On July 31st, the first day of the conference, Lynn and Michael learned about different archives-quality housings (housings are the storage units in which photos are "housed," including envelopes, sleeves, folders, and boxes). They were also able to learn how to create various housings, such as tuxedo boxes, folders for panoramic photographs, and other archives- quality folders from archives-approved cardstock and other materials.

On August 1st, Lynn and Michael constructed book cradles, which are used in archives facilities to protect and support fragile books while researchers examine them. In the afternoon, Lynn and Michael were treated to lectures and slide shows about digitization techniques, including tips on how to determine the best situations in which to digitize photographs, and the best ways to grant access to digitized prints.

On August 2nd, the final day of the conference, Lynn and Michael were given lectures on cold storage techniques. Cold storage is used for extended preservation of fragile or unstable graphics, such as color photographs (all color photographs are very suceptible to fading). They were also able to practice packing photographic housings for cold storage, because cold storage necessitates special wrappings in order to control humidity. In the afternoon of the final day, Lynn and Michael were allowed to practice removing old photographs from their frames, in preparation for preservation.

The HBCU Photographic Preservation Workshop was a lot of fun, and very informative. Lynn and Michael were both able to learn lots of new information and techniques from the workshops, and were allowed to keep everything they made. The conference brought together conservators, preservationists, archivists, librarians, and historians, all of whom shared information and learned together.

Bowie State Donates Key Archival Records

Bowie State University is an historically African American university located in Bowie, Maryland. It was founded on January 9, 1865, originally in Baltimore. It moved to its current location in Prince George's County, Maryland, in 1908. The school is highly respected, and its Master's degree program in technology consistently ranks first among African American graduate programs in technology. Bowie State University has donated:

• Banneker-Douglass Museum lower level, mezzanine level, and upper level floor plans.
• Banneker-Douglass Museum lower and upper level floor plans drawn by the Leon Bridges Company. Leon Bridges is a prominent Baltimore-based African American architect.
• A 1980 projected budget for restoring the museum.
• An 1878 survey map of Annapolis.
• A circa 1980 map of the Baltimore-Washington area.
• Demographic information of Anne Arundel Country during 1980.
• An October 8, 1979 Baltimore Sun article announcing the building's transition from a church to a museum.

The staff of Sylvia Gaither Garrison Library wishes to thank Bowie State University for their wonderful donation.

Pictured: A portion of the binder in which the archives were placed.

Information Sharing

On Thursday, July 26, 2012, Cara Sabolcik and Andrew P. Hastings of St. John's College visited the Sylvia Gaither Garrison Library (SGGL). Cara is the Public Services Librarian of the Greenfield Library at St. John's College, and Andrew is her student aide. Michael Janakis, Hodson Intern at the SGGL, has known Cara for a while, and they are both from Pittsburgh. Michael will attend the same Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program at the University of Pittsburgh as Cara, once he begins his studies in the fall.

The purpose of their visit today was to share information between our two institutions regarding photo preservation and organization techniques. Since this is the subject of Michael's internship, he and Cara were able to coordinate to have her come to see the work he has been doing at the SGGL. Our archivist, Lynn Waller, was able to share his knowledge and experience with Cara and Andrew regarding our photo processing and organizational techniques.

While they were here, we were able to share with them some results of research that Michael undertook, with Cara's help in the St. John's College archives, to date and contextualize a photograph of Alex Haley at St. John's College. Michael was able to fill Cara in on the results of his research since they had last spoken, and explain his research process and sources of information for the photograph. Michael spent many hours and followed a few false leads chasing down information about Alex Haley's visit to St. John's College. Unfortunately, this can often be the case when researching photographs, which is why research for collections can be so expensive and time-consuming. Michael was also able to share other research which he has been undertaking for an upcoming presentation.

Lynn was able to dialogue with Cara about various processing techniques and methods of organizing photographs, and was able to share some advice on various aspects of photo archivism. He brought out the SGGL's oldest photographs, found in an 1872 family Bible.

After we had finished our meeting, Lynn led the group on a brief tour of the BDM, highlighting especially our rare books collection and ways in which our manuscripts and rare books are incorporated into our exhibits, particularly our exhibit entitled Flee: Stories of Flight from Maryland in Black and White.

We hope that Cara and Andrew had a wonderful time at the SGGL, as we certainly had a wonderful time hosting them. We look forward very much to seeing them again in the future, and hope for further means of connecting our two institutions.

Pictured left to right: Cara Sabolcik, Andrew P. Hastings, & Michael Janakis

Donation from W.E.B. Du Bois Institute

An anonymous donor from the W.E.B. Dubois Institute has given the Sylvia Gaither Garrison Library several copies of Life Upon These Shores: Looking at African American History, 1513-2008 by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The book is a beautifully and richly illustrated (743 full color images!) coffee table type book, but is highly informative and well-written. As the title suggests, the book covers the African American experience from its beginnings in 1513 with Balboa's expedition, all the way up to nearly the present day. While the book cannot, because of its breadth, go into every event in African American history to great depth, it certainly contains a wealth of information about the big picture of African American history. The early chapters on the genesis of African Americans (both in North and South America) are particularly enlightening.

The W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, established in May 1975, is a research institute at Harvard University. Its purpose is to "facilitate the writing of doctoral dissertations in areas related to Afro American Studies". The institute awards up to 20 scholarships annually. Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the current director.

W.E.B. Dubois, the institute's namesake, was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University, in 1895. He is well known, among other accomplishments, for authoring such works as The Souls of Black Folks, helping to found the Niagara Movement, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and editing The Crisis, the magazine published by the NAACP.

Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is editor in chief of the Oxford African American Studies Center and of the daily online magazine The Root. He has received more than forty honorary degrees from institutions the world over."
-Biography from Life Upon These Shores' book jacket.

The staff at the SGGL would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the anonymous donor at the
W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for these wonderful books.

Another Exciting Donation

The Sylvia Gaither Garrison Library (SGGL) has received another new donation, this time from Ms. Fannie Alston. Ms. Alston is the daughter of Delegate Joseph A. Chester, Sr. Ms. Alston has served for over 30 years in various professorships in Maryland, as well as working in Baltimore County Public Schools and other institutions around the country.

The collection consists of 14 pieces, and is a great addition to the SGGL. Some of the exciting peices are signed copies of Blues People and Transbluesency by Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), a signed copy of Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou, and a fine edition of Black Saga: The African American Experience by Charles M. Christian, a member of the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture.

The other pieces in the collection are Invisible Man by Ralph ellison, NAACP: Triumphs of a Pressure Group 1909-1980 by Warren St. James, Ph.D., If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin, People Talk by Dorothy C. Alves, Black Poetry published by Broadside Press and edited by Dudley Randall (first edition, second printing), The Langston Hughes Reader by George Braziller, But Not Next Door: Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc.: The First Fourty Years by Michael L. Mark, Ideas For Black Studies: The Morgan State College Program by Walter Fisher, Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years by Sarah and A. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth, and a program for the 40th Spingarn Medal, Awarded to Dr. Carl Murphy, NAACP's Annual Convention Atlantic City, New Jersey, June 24, 1955.

The staff of the SGGL would like to thank Ms. Fannie Alston for her wonderful donation!

Brenda Coakley Donates Fifteen Books to the Sylvia Gaither Garrison Library

The Sylvia Gaither-Garrison Library has received some exciting new donations! Brenda Coakley has donated 15 books to our collection. Among the highlights are a first edition copy of Dr. King's Why We Can't Wait, a signed copy of To Disembark by Gwendolyn Brooks, the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and a signed copy of George Washington Williams: A Biography by preeminent historian John Hope Franklin.

Brenda Coakley is a member of the Board of Directors of the Frederick Douglass Museum and Cultural Center in Highland Beach, Maryland. Highland Beach is the site of Twin Oaks, Frederick Douglass' cottage. Construction began in 1895, but was not completed by the time of Douglass' death. Since 1995, the cottage has housed the Frederick Douglass Museum and Cultural Center.

The following are the titles of the other 12 books that Ms. Coakley donated: The World and Africa, Heart To Heart, Anti-Slavery: The Crusade for Freedom in America, Reflections in Black, My Larger Education, White Over Black, Afro-American Writing, 12 Million Black Voices, Alexander Crummell and the Creation of an African-American Church in Liberia, Repeal of the Blues, Bound With Them in Chains: A Biographical History of the Antislavery Movement, and Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement.

The staff of the Sylvia Gaither Garrison Library is grateful to Ms. Coakley for donating this wonderful collection!

Pictured: Brenda Coakley

Beating the Heat at the Maryland State Archives

Despite the sweltering heat, Lynn Waller, Banneker-Douglass Museum archivist, and I, Michael Janakis, took a trip to the Maryland State Archives (MSA). The purpose of our trip was to examine in person some daguerreotypes and tintypes, which are early photographic mediums. I was able to see some pictures of daguerreotypes and tintypes in some materials I have been reading at the Banneker-Douglass Museum, but reproductions of daguerreotypes do not reproduce the full flavor of the daguerreotype. That is, daguerreotypes were made out of a polished copper plate coated in polished silver, which results in the finished product having a mirrored finish. It looks like someone printed a photograph on a mirror. When one looks at a reproduction of a daguerreotype in a book, the mirrored finish is not visible.

Lynn and I were taken to the conversation lab of the MSA, where the staff had prepared some daguerreotypes and tintypes for us to examine. The staff reviewed some information about these photographic processes with me, and answered some questions I had. Daguerreotypes were the first photographic medium, and pose specific problems for preservationists and conservators. Daguerreotypes were placed in a sealed case with a photo mat after they had been developed (the development process involved evaporating mercury!). Anywhere that this case has not maintained its airtight seal is susceptible to a form of tarnishing known as "silver mirroring", which is devastating to the image. One of the daguerreotypes we were able to examine was suffering from silver mirroring near the edges of its case. Speaking of damage to photographic materials, we were also able to see examples of damage to tintypes and albumen prints, two types of photograph popular during the mid- to late-19th century. Tintypes were similar to daguerreotypes in that the image was "printed", as it were, on metal plates. Tintypes used polished iron instead of copper/silver plates, thus making them susceptible to rust. However, tintypes were much cheaper, allowing them to be purchased cheaply by, say, Civil War troops, and sent home to their families. Albumen prints were paper prints with an emulsion material made from albumen, or egg white. One of the characteristics of albumen prints is that over time, their white highlights take on a characteristic yellow hue. Additionally, albumen prints exhibit minute cracks over time. Despite the organic base, albumen prints are also susceptible to silver mirroring. This is because photographs use photosensitive silver salts. The staff was able to explain this to me in greater detail.

The conservator and staff discussed some aspects of dating photographs with us. One of the best ways to date photographs is by examining the fashions worn by the subjects (especially in the case of portraiture, which represents most of early photography). Often, because of the expense of photography, early photograph subjects would dress in their best clothing in the latest fashion. This is not a hard and fast rule, however, and when dating photographs the archivist must be careful of reenactors or history buffs dressing up in period clothing for a modern tintype. For example, there are photography enthusiasts who still use tintype photography for the novelty. An archivist must be careful not to be deceived. An excellent reference for anyone dating photographs is Dress for the Photographer by Joan Severa.

The staff was also able to answer some of my questions about silver mirroring in more modern photography, as well as show us a website of a modern user of tintype photography, which detailed the entire process of taking a tintype photograph. One of the staff even had a tintype of her and her husband on the website!

Another book highly recommended by the staff was Care and Identification of 19th Century Photographic Prints by James M. Reilley.

This was a very informative trip, and I was glad to be able to see daguerreotypes and tintypes
in person.

Viewing the Photographs of Paul Henderson

Lynn, Banneker-Douglass Museum archivist and I, Michael Janakis, took a trip to Baltimore to the Maryland Historical Society (MdHS), to view their exhibit on Paul Henderson. Paul Henderson was a photographer for the Baltimore Afro-American, for which he captured events in Baltimore in the struggle for civil rights. Henderson also captured everything from celebrities such as Pearl Bailey, to the day-to-day lives of Baltimore African Americans.

We left early in the morning to arrive around 10 AM. This was the first time I had been to Baltimore, so despite feeling under the weather, I was excited. Upon arriving at the MdHS, we were greeted by Jennifer Ferretti, the curator of the exhibit. She walked us through the exhibit, explaining to us some of her experiences in working with the collection, as well as difficulties which she had. Some of the work in curating the exhibit was design-oriented (Jennifer had graduated art school, specializing in photography), while other aspects, such as researching photograph date, location, coping with poor creator titles, etc., were archives-based.

We were then taken to the H. Furlong Baldwin Library, where we were allowed to see some of Henderson's original photo negatives. Henderson worked with a 4"x 5" negative format (the ones we saw were on Kodak safety film, meaning that they were acetate negatives). You could see in the few photographs of Henderson himself that this 4"x 5" format was supported by a rather bulky camera, but as Jennifer explained, formats larger than 35mm produce higher quality prints. She said that 4"x 5" give excellent reprints, and when you get to something as large as 8"x 10" negatives, the quality is unrivaled by anything in the digital medium.

Also available for us were the reference photographs of Henderson's work. Jennifer told us the story of trying to decide the safest and most cost-effective way to allow for patron access to the photograhs, while at the same time preserving the deteriorating photo-negatives. What she did was photograph the negatives on a light board with a digital camera, then she digitally reversed the image to a positive image in PhotoShop, and then she reproduced the images to be put into binders for patron access.

I found Henderson's work to be most interesting when he captured day to day moments of African American life in Baltimore, in the vein of Thomas Baden of Annapolis. I particularly enjoyed his images of youth in a segregated theater in the 1940s. The children looked so happy, and the level of detail in the shot allowed me to really feel like these could be kids which I grew up with. Such was the nature of Henderson's work. It was very easy to see that, for better or for worse, despite whatever struggles they were going through, the events captured by Henderson were parts of life for his subjects (despite some of the photographs being clearly staged).

Jennifer maintains a blog about the Henderson collection at http://hendersonphotos.wordpress.com, which she plans to continue in the future. Also, the Paul Henderson collection finding aid can be viewed online at https://www.mdhs.org/findingaid/paul-henderson-photograph-collection-overview. From there, you can follow the link "Paul Henderson photographs in Collections Online (click and scroll down)" to see some examples of

his work.

Pictured from left to right: Jennifer Ferretti, Maryland Historical Society Curator of Photographs & Digitization Coordinator & Michael Janakis, Hodson Trust Intern

Introducing Michael Janakis

Michael Janakis grew up in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, the suburb immediately to the east of the city of Pittsburgh proper. He has deep roots in the Pittsburgh region, with nearly all of the branches of his family settling in the area following their respective immigrations. Michael has recently graduated from St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, where he found a particular interest in poetry and refined his interest in languages. His senior essay was entitled, "Why Are Flowers Beautiful?", based on Goethe's Metamorphosis of Plants. Michael was brought to the Orthodox Christian faith of his anscestors while at the College, choosing to convert from Roman Catholicism to Eastern Orthodoxy.
During his senior year, Michael was awarded a Hodson Trust Internship from St. John's College to work at the Banneker-Douglass Museum (BDM). He also applied for and was accepted to the University of Pittsburgh's Master of Library and Information Science program, which he will begin in the fall. His internship at the Bannker-Douglass Museum will help him discover more about his career field and refine his interests. Growing up in Pittsburgh, Michael developed an appreciation for history and the benefits of feeling rooted in one's past. He hopes that through his internship at the BDM, and with the advice of Dr. Joni Jones and Mr. Waller, he will be able to prepare his career path to work where God intends.
In his spare time, Michael enjoys reading, fishing, gardening, observing nature, cooking, and studying Orthodox Christianity. In the summer, he plans to study New Testament Greek (since he learned Ancient Greek at St. John's College), practice poetry, and get to know Annapolis and Washington, D.C. better. He also intends to become better educated about African American history, which ties nicely into his internship.
Michael is an active member of Holy Archangels Orthodox Mission in Annapolis, where he serves with his priest and Godparents, Father Robert Miclean and Matushka (mama) Krissy Miclean, and their baby Anastasia. Michael is also an Eagle Scout.

Pictured: Michael Janakis, Hodson Trust Intern