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