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!