January 1, 2007 - December 31, 2007

The rich collections at the Amistad Research Center are sustained and made richer by donations of new collections and addenda to existing collections.  Over the years, the holdings of Amistad have grown as the result of generous donations of rare and unique materials. The Center continues to welcome such gifts in order to enhance the research value of its collections, and we are extremely grateful for collections received in 2007.

Providing physical and intellectual control of valuable collections at Amistad is expensive. Donors who are able to do so are encouraged to provide financial support for the arrangement, description, and preservation of their papers or records.  This important support ensures, not only the permanent preservation of collections, but also expands access to global researchers and scholars.

For information on contributing collections to the Center, contact Mrs. Brenda Square, Director of Archives, Amistad Research Center, Tilton Hall/Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, phone 504-862-3221.

The Amistad Research Center has made the prudent decision to "look back in order to move forward" with the goal of increasing knowledge of researchers and the use of Amistad's collections.  All registered researchers who visit the Center and request material from its collections are asked to complete a short registration form that provides information as to patron category, purpose of research, and subject interests.  This information provides staff with statistics regarding collection use, subject areas of researcher interest, and the intended outcome of research visits to the Center, ranging from undergraduate research papers to scholarly publications and news articles. Statistics are also kept on queries by researchers who are unable to visit the Center, as well as the number of tours and non-research visitors who come to Amistad.

Based on analysis of patron statistics from 2003 through 2007, approximately 80 percent of the Center's registered researchers have academic affiliation, including undergraduate and graduate students, and faculty.  Research by students and faculty has resulted in a number of monographs, dissertations/theses, and scholarly articles by master's students and faculty, as well as research papers by undergraduates. The majority of academic researchers are graduate students and faculty, while undergraduates comprise nearly 44%.  Level of use by upper level students and faculty is more in-depth based on average number of days visiting the Center, as well as the amount and variety of materials consulted while at the Center.  In the past five years, academic researchers from over 200 institutions have traveled from 35 states and the District of Columbia , as well as seven foreign countries, to consult the Center's collections, with visits ranging from one day to one month.  Percentages of researchers by distance of travel are as follows:

• 48.7% from the South (with 26.6% from Louisiana )
• 21.1% from the Northeast
• 15.6% from the Midwest/Plains
• 8.1% from the West
• 6.5% from outside the U.S.

Researchers not affiliated with an academic institution comprise 20% of the Center's registered researchers over the past five years, with the majority being writers, the media and those researching for television, and film projects.  Those researcher categories have increased since Katrina as the national spotlight has continued on New Orleans and its recovery.   

"Preserving America's Diverse Heritage" to focus on at-risk museum, library collections

Brenda B. Square, Amistad Research Center's Director of Archives, was selected to attend a national forum, January 31- February 1, 2008, in Atlanta, Georgia on "Preserving America's Diverse Heritage." More than 250 national conservation leaders, government officials, and museum, library, and archives professionals were expected to take part in the forum focusing on culturally diverse American collections.  It was held at Atlanta's High Museum of Art.

Sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and organized in cooperation with Heritage Preservation, the event underscored the perils that endanger the books, works of art, documents, and historically significant materials specific to African American, Native American and Latino collections.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas.

Heritage Preservation is the national organization dedicated to preserving our nation's heritage. Its members include libraries, museums, archives, historic preservation organizations, historical societies, conservation organizations and other professional groups concerned with saving the past for the future.

Dr. Rosanne Adderley, Associate Professor of History at Tulane, has been awarded the Wesley-Logan Prize in African Diaspora History by the American Historical Association and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History for publication of her new book, New Negroes from Africa: Slave Trade Abolition and Free African Settlement in the Nineteenth-Century Caribbean. 

Dr. Adderley's book, published by Indiana University Press, examines Africans who settled in the Caribbean after being freed from slave ships following the abolition of the international slave trade in 1807.  Her research and extensive use of primary sources provide insight into the dual African and Caribbean identities and culture of the African immigrant communities of the Bahamas and Trinidad. The Amistad Research Center offers its congratulations to Dr. Adderley for her scholarship and achievement.

Harvey W. Scott was the first graduate of Pacific University (OR) and for four decades was editor of The Oregonian.

George H. Atkinson's letters are archived among the American Home Missionary Society papers at the Amistad Research Center.  He was an alumnus of Dartmouth College (1843) and Andover Seminary (1846).  He was the first representative sent to Oregon by the (Congregational) American Home Missionary Society, arriving in 1848.  Atkinson was a Trustee of Pacific University (OR) and Whitman College (WA).  He was the first School Commissioner of Clackamas County (OR) and served three two year terms as Superintendent of Schools of Multnomah County (OR).  He is credited with preparing the education portion of the message presented to the first session of the Territorial Legislature of Oregon by Gov. Joseph Lane, which resulted in the adoption of legislation authorizing a system of common schools. 

The author, Sevetson, is a 1954 graduate of Macalester College, (St. Paul MN), a 1957 graduate of Chicago Theological Seminary, and a retired minister of the United Church of Christ.  He lives in Portland, where he is nearing completion of a biography of George Atkinson.

Edward Ellis, City Historian

The Tulane University Women's Association met recently at Amistad Research Center to tour its campus facility and become better acquainted with Amistad's history and mission.  The historic Tilton Atrium provided excellent location for reception and social gathering during the evening.  Lee Hampton, Executive Director, presented a brief overview of the Center's history and ties to international events surrounding the nineteenth century Amistad incident and trial. 

The Tulane University Women's Association was founded in 1909 by wives of the faculty and staff.  Its goal is to link old and new members of the University through common interests, social events, and services to Tulane and New Orleans.  Membership is open to all women faculty, staff, volunteers, and wives of faculty and staff. 

Since 1987, Amistad has resided in Tilton Memorial Hall on the Tulane University Campus.    The mutually beneficial partnership provides an important source of support for Amistad; and scholars, researchers, journalists, film makers, artists, and ordinary citizens from around the world converge on Tulane's campus to visit the world class Center and gain access to its collections. 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth B. Smith, Sr. (1931-2008)

Rev. Smith moved to Chicago in the late 1950s to attend Bethany Theological Seminary. Before obtaining his terminal degree and ordination in the United Church of Christ, he completed undergraduate study at Virginia Union University and received a master's degree from Drew University in Madison, NJ.  He pastored the Congregational Church of Park Manor, the Trinity United Church of Christ in the Brainerd neighborhood, and the Church of the Good Shepherd in Washington Park; all in the Chicago area. 

In the late 1970s, Dr. Smith was chairman of the Chicago Urban League's board, and in 1979, he was named to the Chicago Board of Public Education by Mayor Jane Byrne. Shortly after his appointment, he served as the board's president, working to stabilize finances and desegregate schools.

In 1984, Dr. Smith took the helm as president of the Chicago Theological Seminary and remained for 14 years.  With a network of contacts and easy going mannerisms, Dr. Smith introduced policies that helped stabilize the institution's finances while recruiting outstanding faculty and administrative staff. 

Dr. Smith was affiliated with the Chicago Community Trust for 25 years, chaired its executive committee for a two-year term beginning in 1994, and served as a Senior Fellow.  At the time of his death, Dr. Smith also served with distinction on the executive committee of the Amistad Research Center Board of Directors.  Dr. Andrea Jefferson, Chair, said that "in the death of Ken Smith, the Amistad Research Center has lost a faithful director, a willing worker, and a devoted friend".