The Amistad Research Center is pleased to introduce its new Project Archivist, Amber L. Moore.  Born and raised in Massachusetts, Amber received her B.A. in African American History from Spelman College and an M.L.S. in Archives Management from Simmons College.  She will assist both the Director of Processing and the Director of Archives to arrange, describe, and preserve the personal papers of individuals who were members of key civil rights organizations and the official records of the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries of the United Church of Christ.   
 
It was the discovery of a signed copy of Booker T. Washington's book, Up from Slavery, that propelled Amber to pursue a career within the archival field.  "When I saw the signature, I remember looking around the Special Collections for someone to share my excitement...I wanted to show everyone!"  She credits this experience as greatly influencing her decision to become an archivist in order to share her love of history and make sure others would have access to its evidence. Amber's work and internship experiences include the Museum of African American History in Boston, the Civil Rights Digital Library Initiative at the Digital Library of Georgia, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Papers at the Atlanta History Center, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Archive at Boston University, the Special Collections at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

 

Like many non-profits, Amistad Research Center often benefits from the dedicated time and assistance of volunteers and student interns. The Center has been fortunate to host a number of student interns over the summer, who contributed hours of work on projects to process, catalog, and preserve the collections. Our interns have come to the Center from a variety of institutions seeking an introduction and practical experience in the field of archives and library work. The internship program has greatly benefited the Center with completed projects and allowed staff the opportunity to mentor future members of our field. Our student interns are not only learning about the care and preservation of archival collections, but all have been trained to work with the Center's new collections management database, Archon, to publish information about its holdings online and provide greater access to researchers.
 
"When one thinks of an intern a few things come to mind. That person will most likely do all the dirty work in a particular business. However, at the Amistad Research Center this was not the case. I was given the opportunity to do independent research quite frequently. Also, everyone on the staff had wonderful ideas that have helped me to develop a topic of interest for my senior project," reports Andrew Albert, a senior at Lusher Charter School in New Orleans. Early this summer Amistad assisted Andrew as he began a year-long project examining race, identity, and power in New Orleans using his own family as a framing device for his research. Andrew is considering a future in medicine, so during his internship he assisted with the arrangement and description of various collections related to medicine in New Orleans. His internship provided an exposure to archival collections as sources for historical research, and he will be visiting the Center in the coming months to conduct more research under the mentorship of Christopher Harter, Amistad's Director of Library and Reference Services.
 
Deja Trudeaux is an art history major at Louisiana State University and started her internship in June to arrange, describe, and preserve the papers of Harlem Renaissance sculptor Richmond Barthé. With the upcoming exhibition in April 2010 of selections from Amistad's fine art collections at the New Orleans Museum of Art, the work Deja has done over the last three months will not only assist staff with a related exhibit at the Center of documents from the collections, but provide access to the papers for anticipated interest throughout the weeks of the NOMA exhibition. "I believe that this experience was valuable because I am unsure of which career path I am most interested in. This work has helped me to expand my horizons and attain about eighty hours of experience in a field that I had never been exposed to," says Deja. "I am glad to have spent my summer doing something that is mutually beneficial for the Center and myself. I have actually accomplished saving history, which is what I care about most."
 
Luliana "Lana" Mars came to work with Executive Director Lee Hampton and staff to complete a practicum internship for her course work as a graduate student in arts administration at the University of New Orleans. Lana has done excellent work on entering documentation about the Center's fine art collections into the collections management database. This will greatly assist staff to answer questions about our art holdings and the artists that are represented in the Center's collections. She has also received an introduction to non-profit financial management, which Lana believes will assist her in her future endeavors. "I am aspiring to produce art exhibits and community art and cultural events and programs with the content based on African American art and cultural history, as well as preserving and archiving history through the arts. The programs that I will develop will be proven resourceful and successful because of the Amistad Research Center."

 

Theresa L. Butler, a graduate student in the Museum Studies Program at Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO), is receiving an introduction to various aspects of archival studies to supplement her coursework at SUNO. She has worked with the Center's Archon database in order to gain an understanding of how it compares to collections management software typically used by museums, and has assisted staff with preservation projects on collections related to Louisiana's oldest active African American newspaper, The Louisiana Weekly. "My experience at the Amistad Research Center was both enjoyable and exciting," reports Theresa. "Everyone that I came in contact with at the Center was a pleasure to work with, and I appreciated having the opportunity to work with the photograph collection of The Louisiana Weekly."
 
The Center would also like to welcome our new graduate assistant, Nika Carter, who is assisting the processing department with the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) grant project reported in the December 2008 e-Amistad Reports. Nika just started in August and will be working at the Center for the fall and spring semesters. She is working on entering legacy finding aids in the collections management database for publication online, as well as the arrangement, description, and preservation of collections. Nika is a graduate student in Museum Studies at SUNO.

 
"By doubling our display space, the Amistad Research Center is expanding public access to our important manuscript and printed collections. It also provides additional space that complements and aesthetically enhances exhibitions of art and sculpture," says Executive Director Lee Hampton.
 
Amistad staff are already designing exhibitions for 2010 to honor poet, playwright, and oral historian Tom Dent and to acknowledge the 50th anniversary of public school desegregation in New Orleans. The Center will also exhibit material related to its holdings on African American artists in conjunction with the exhibition Beyond the Blues: Reflections on African America from the Fine Arts Collection of the Amistad Research Center to be held at the New Orleans Museum of Art from April 11-July 11, 2010.