February 2016

In This Issue

From the Director

2015 Donor Honor Roll

Amistad Sponsors Upcoming Talks

Center Unveils New Digital Exhibitions

Claude Clark Papers Acquired

Current Exhibition Showcases Collections

Blog Series Highlights Amistad's 50th Anniversary

Center Increases Access to STEM Collections

New Preservation of Mardi Gras Films

Center Adds Saturday Hours

From the Director

Fifty Years of History, Fifty Years Forward

The Amistad Research Center was created during the height of the Civil Rights and Black Arts movements. Born out of a necessity to preserve the legacies of African Americans and ethnic minorities, Amistad has proudly become a safe haven to many more. This year we are celebrating our 50th anniversary and I hope you will stand with us by giving.

The Amistad is an exceptional and highly regarded global research institution. From our beginnings on Fisk University's campus in 1966 to our current housing at Tulane University, Amistad remains one of the most sought-after independent public archives. Since our founding, we have continued to expand the scope of our mission. Amistad's archives now include a vast array of historical documents from many cultures and ethnic groups in the United States. The history of slavery, race relations, African American community development, and the civil rights movement have received new and thought-provoking interpretations as the result of scholarly and community research conducted using our resources. The holdings include the papers of artists, educators, authors, business leaders, clergy, lawyers, factory workers, farmers and musicians.

We want to continue serving as a gateway to the past while laying a pathway for the next fifty years. We need your help. You are integral to Amistad providing public access to over 200 years of cultural artifacts, manuscripts, legal briefs, and historical records. Together we can ensure that Amistad thrives in the 21st century. Join us on this remarkable journey.

Yours truly,

Kara Tucina Olidge, PhD

Executive Director

2015 Financial Donors

Individual and Corporate Donor Recognition

Lewis Tappan Club

$50,000+

Tulane University

Clifton H. Johnson Club

$5,000+

Tiffany Gautier Chase

Cinque Club

$1,000+

Kim Boyle

Chicago Friends of Amistad

Defend New Orleans

Deborah Elam

Entergy New Orleans Inc.

Ora Myles Sheares

Harriet Tubman Club

$500+

Beverley J. Anderson

Henry L. Coaxum Jr.

Andrea G. Jefferson

Robert Johnson*

*in memory of Clifton H. Johnson

Sybil H. Morial

Cora A. Presley

Lance D. Query

Charles Teamer Sr.

Carter G. Woodson Club

$250+

Rosanne Adderley

Anonymous

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, New Orleans Alumnae Chapter

Rachel Devlin

Joshua Guild

Christopher Harter

Charles Molesworth

Janice Sumler-Edmond

Thomas Weissinger

Ronald Wilson

Frederick Douglass Club

$100+

Raphael Cassimere Jr.

Clarence Christian

Elizabeth Collins*

*in memory of Warren Marr

William Cousins Jr.

Larry Earvin

Sylvia Frey

Christina Guillory

Leonce Hampton

Karen Harmon*

*in memory of Theresa Barker Woodruff

Martha Harris

Terri Love

Trimiko Melancon

Doris Newton*

*in memory of William and Haley Newton

Kara T. Olidge

Patricia Perkins

Joe Richardson

Anne Fausto Sterling

Margaret N. Stevens

Eric Wedig

Madeline West

Cleota P. Wilbekin

Sojourner Truth Club

$50+

Adam Beauchamp

David Bell and Katherine Newman

James & Rudine Bishop*

*in memory of Clifton H. Johnson

Edgar L. Chase III

Maxine Clarke

Michael Cunningham

Marissa Davis

Marlene Friis

Belmont Haydel

Rashauna Johnson

Shannon King

Jana Lipman

Carolyn Long

Elisabeth McMahon

Jim McMahon

Ronald E. Mickens

Olanike Orie

Sheila A. Randle

Andrew Salinas

Jennifer Spear

Laura Thomson

Carl Williams

Phillis Wheatley

$49 and under

Alice M. Adams

Gina Armstrong

Dale Bonds

James Carter

Lolita V. Cherrie

Emily Clark

Caroline Collins

Janet DeCosmos

Leroy Divinity

Chianta Dorsey

Kathryn Drabinski

Freddi Evans

Brenda Flora

M. Fraas

Guadalupe Garcia

Erin Greenwald

Sarah Haley

Pamela Harris-Coward

Ruth Harter

Karissa Haugeberg

Abram Himelstein

Andy Horowitz

Libby Horter

Mary Irey

Jessica Johnson

Theresa Lee-Whiting

Renee Lehmann

Kiyoko McCrae

Mary McMahon

Lauren Menking

Jonathan Moore

Mark Neal

Jessica Perkins-Smith

Carol Reese

Hilairie Schackai

Darryl Scott

Beretta Smith-Shomade

Walter Stern

Eleanor Strickland

Elisa White

Jerald L. White

Justin Wolfe

Erness Wright-Irvin

2015 Archives, Library, and Fine Arts Donors

Archives and Manuscripts Donors

James A. Cobb Collection (circa 1923-1957), 1.34 linear feet

Donated by Shirley Ganao

Russell Henderson Collection of Louisiana Political Ephemera (circa 1973-2008), 1.2 linear feet

Donated by Jonathan Henderson

Louisiana State Sovereignty Commission Poster (circa 1960), 1 item

Donated by Michael Wayne

Ann Allen Shockley Letter (1980), 1 item

Donated by the Estate of Robert Stuart

Roger Hamilton Spotts Papers (1947-1994), 3 folders

Donated by Woni Spotts

The Southern Area of the Links, Inc. Records (), 2.0 linear feet

Donated by Eneid A. Francis and Kimberley Sweet

Thomas H. Wirth Photograph Collection (circa 1950-2001), 11.5 linear feet

Donated by the Estate of Thomas H. Wirth

Archives and Manuscript Donors for Existing Collections

James E. Blackwell Papers (2014-2016), 2 folders

Donated by James E. Blackwell

Jinx Broussard Papers (1999-2013), 2.4 linear feet

Donated by Jinx Broussard

Marvin Ellis Papers (2014), 1 folder

Donated by Marvin Ellis

Larney Goodkind Papers (1975), 1 item

Donated by Rob Goodkind

James Hargett Papers (1957-2015), 0.4 linear feet

Donated by Louilyn Hargett

William J. Jefferson Papers (1990-2009), 6.0 linear feet

Donated by Andrea G. Jefferson

Ellis Marsalis Jr. Papers (2014), 1 item

Donated by Ellis Marsalis Jr.

Ronald E. Mickens Papers (2012-2015), 5.0 linear feet

Donated by Ronald E. Mickens

Darlene Moore Papers (2007-2013), 0.4 linear feet

Donated by Darlene Moore

Marc H. Morial Papers (1999), 2 items

Donated by Marc H. Morial

NOLA Hip Hop Archive Project Collection (2015), 20 items

Donated by Holly Hobbs

Robert L. Polk Papers (1958-2014), 3.0 linear feet

Donated by Robert L. Polk

Philip Sterling Papers (1907-1989), 1 folder

Donated by Anne Fausto Sterling

Eric Steele Wells Papers (circa 1950), 1 item

Donated by Joseph Gordon

Library Donors

Lynn Abbott

Center for the Book at the University of New Orleans

Columbia University Press

Winston De Ville

Marynell Fernandez

Jeffrey Guice

Lara Hannawi

Christopher Harter

Belmont F. Haydel

Pearlie Horace

Richard Kemp

Diane Kiesel

Richard J. Lee

New Orleans Loving Festival

Nathaniel G. Pitts

University of Georgia Press

Leon Waters

Jerald White

Fine Arts Donors

Richard Bruce Nugent Collection (circa 200 works)

Donated by the Estate of Thomas H. Wirth

Cinque (oil on canvas)

Donated by Derrick Beard

Amistad Sponsors Upcoming Discussion and Lecture

February 16: A Conversation Between Janet Mock & Alexis De Veaux

On February 16th, the Amistad Research Center will launch

conversationsincolor, a free cultural and educational series.

This inaugural event will feature Trans-advocate and MSNBC So Popular talk show host Janet Mock on stage for an intimate discussion about sexuality and identity in literature with Alexis De Veaux, 2015 Lambda Literary Best Lesbian Fiction award winner. Together they will explore the representation of sexuality and identity in De Veaux's Yabo and Mock's Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More.

The event will be held from 6:00-8:00 pm in the Kendall Cram Lecture Hall in Tulane University's Lavin-Bernick Center. Details on the event and registration can be found on Amistad's website. The event is free and open to the public, although we ask that attendees register for tickets before the 16th.

Amistad would like to thank its co-sponsors: The Gender Exploration Society; The Tulane Society for Sexuality, Health, and Gender; The Tulane University Office of Gender and Sexual Diversity; The Tulane University Queer Student Alliance; and Tulane University Campus Programming.

February 22: Lecture by Dr. Sylviane A. Diouf

Amistad is also pleased to co-sponsor a free talk by award-winning historian Dr. Sylviane A. Diouf on February 22nd. Dr. Diouf is the Director of the Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public Library. Her lecture will focus on her latest book, Slavery's Exiles: The Story of the American Maroons.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the New Orleans Center for the Gulf Coast South, Newcomb College Institute, Tulane University's Department of History and Africana Studies Program, and will take place from 6:00-8:00 pm at the Ashe Power House Theater, 1731 Baronne Street in New Orleans.

Please join us for these two outstanding events!

Center Unveils New Digital Exhibitions

Landing page for Amistad's digital exhibitions.

On February 1, 2016, Amistad introduced three digital exhibitions in partnership with the Google Cultural Institute (GCI). GCI was launched by Google in 2011 with a primary mission, "to publicize cultural material, make it accessible to everyone, and digitally preserve it to educate and inspire future generations." The digital exhibitions were part of GCI's themed launch of African American History and Culture for Black History Month. Amistad is engaging in various digital initiatives to make primary source materials more publicly accessible for K-12 educators. These exhibitions were created with generous support from the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation, which has funded Amistad's recent K-12 initiatives. Amistad gratefully acknowledges both the Taylor Foundation and the Google Cultural Institute for their assistance. Below is a synopsis of Amistad's new digital exhibitions:

Education for Liberation: The Legacy of the American Missionary Association Schools highlights the history of the American Missionary Association in educating freedmen, building African American educational institutions, and training African American teachers from the post-Civil War period to the mid-20th century.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Print Culture in the Civil Rights Movement showcases the modes of communication for civil rights activists and allies during the American Black Power and Civil Rights Movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

Free Southern Theater: Foundations of a Southern Black Arts Movement provides a historical account of the theater company and how the visions of its founders and members galvanized a new literary and visual arts movement in the South amongst African Americans.

All three of Amistad's digital exhibitions with the Google Cultural Institute can be found here. Please explore the exhibitions and spread the word about this exciting new way to connect with the Center's collections. More exhibitions will be unveiled in the coming months.

Papers of Artist Claude Clark Expand Center's Holdings

Claude Clark etching a plate prior to printing, 1940.

The Amistad Research Center is pleased to announce the acquisition of the papers of printmaker, painter, and art educator Claude Clark. This donation by the estate of the artist expands the Center's holdings of personal papers of notable African American artists since the collection documents not only the life and work of Clark, but also includes numerous letters from fellow artists and collected materials.

Claude Clark was born in 1915, in Rockingham, Georgia, and moved to Manayunk, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, where Claude received his elementary and high school training. Clark developed an interest in art and received a scholarship to The Pennsylvania School of Industrial Arts in 1935. Following his graduation, Clark worked for the Works Public Administration in the Graphic Arts (printmaking) division and he painted in his spare time.

Clark was accepted to the Barnes Foundation in 1939 where he studied painting while teaching in the Pennsylvania public schools. It was while in Philadelphia that he met and wed Effie Lockhart. Clark taught art at Talladega College in Alabama and Sacramento State College and Merritt College in California until his retirement in 1981. He designed and wrote the first curriculum for African and African American Art while at Merritt in 1970. Clark's artwork reflected his interest in the diaspora of African culture within the United States and the Caribbean, West African art, and social realism, which was prominent in his early years.

The Claude Clark papers, measuring 1.20 linear feet and dating from circa 1935 to 2001, consist of correspondence, exhibition catalogs and invitations, teaching materials, writings, photographs, and moving image formats. The earliest documents are reproductions of family photographs and Clark's contributions to The Wissahickson, the school magazine at Roxborough High School in Philadelphia. The photographs, in the form of reprints and color reproductions, include those of the Clark family from the 1920s and 1930s after their move to Pennsylvania; Claude Clark working for the WPA and at Talladega College during the 1940s and 1950s; Clark's older brother and studio photographer John Henry Clark Jr. and his models; as well as Clark with family and fellow artists, including Selma Burke, Aaron Douglas, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence, Lois Mailou Jones, Charles White, Irene Clark, Elton Fax, Ruth Waddy, David C. Driskell, and others, from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Front cover to Clark's curriculum for Black Visual Art.

Exhibition programs and catalogs date from 1947 to 1991, while newspaper and magazine clippings about Clark date from 1944 to 2000. Also present are various essays and writings by Clark. Of significance is a bound copy of the booklet produced by Clark in 1970 while a painter and instructor in African and Afro-American Art at Merritt College in Oakland, California. The work is entitled "A Black Art Perspective: A Black Teacher's Guide to a Black Visual Art Curriculum" and includes drawings by Clark's son, Claude Lockhart Clark. A series of DVDs contain various interviews with Clark.

Prominent within the collection is correspondence to Clark from fellow artists, as well as materials on various artists received and collected by Clark. Correspondence dates from 1942 to 2000 and includes incoming correspondence from: Romare Bearden, Julius Bloch, Elizabeth Catlett, Irene Clark, Allan Crite, Aaron Douglas, David Driskell, Elton Fax, Reggie Gammon, John Harris, Palmer Hayden, Humbert Howard, Lois Mailou Jones, Suda Minoru, Paul Keene, Jacob Lawrence, Samella Lewis, Alain Locke, David Mora, Norma Morgan, William Pajaud, Regina Perry, Stephanie Pougue, James Porter, Van Slater, Franklin Watkins, Charles White, and Ellis Wilson. Collected materials include those for John Biggers, Sarah Fabio, Oliver Jackson, Horace Pippin, and Alma Thomas.

Also present is a 1940 letter from Alain Locke to Effie Lockhart (later Daima Clark) and documents related to Daima's work with the Association of Africans and African-Americans.

Exhibition Highlights Amistad Collections

In January, the Center debuted its new exhibition, "Here I Found a Goldmine...": Celebrating 50 Years of the Amistad Research Center. "Here I found a goldmine" were the exact words of Amistad's founding director, Dr. Clifton H. Johnson, when he began research in the records of the American Missionary Association (AMA) for his doctoral dissertation in the 1950s. The historical importance of the AMA records to the field of African American history is what led Johnson to advocate for establishing the Center. A wide-ranging goldmine of history is exactly what the Center represents and what is on display in the current exhibition.

Fifty years has passed since Amistad opened in 1966 and this exhibition, which will be presented in two parts, shows the breadth of Amistad's holdings. The topics being highlighted in part one of the exhibition are the transatlantic slave trade, LGBTQ activists and themes, freemasonry, education, Africana, women, photography, and various social justice movements. The exhibition is open during our public hours Monday through Friday from 8:30 am until 4:30 pm and Saturdays from 9 am to 1 pm. It runs through April 29, 2016. The second portion of the exhibition will showcase the Center's literary, dramatic, and fine arts collections and will run from May to August 2016.

Blog Series Showcases History of Amistad Acquisitions

AMA teacher's report from Cicero A. Harris, 1867.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Amistad Research Center. Since 1966, the Center has built an outstanding collection of manuscripts, books, photographs, audiovisual materials, and artwork that are central to Amistad's role as a research institution, its programing and outreach, and its daily operations. To celebrate a half century of acquiring, preserving, and providing access to its collections, the Amistad Research Center has launched its "50 Years / 50 Collections" blog series.

Running each week throughout the year, the Center will feature information about one collection acquired during each year of its existence from 1966 to 2016. Blog posts in this series will be authored by the Center's current and former staff, researchers familiar with particular collections, and other guest writers. We hope you enjoy this year-long review of the collections that form the foundation of one of the world's outstanding research centers. You can catch up on previous blog posts and read more throughout the year here.

Center Increases Access to STEM Collections

Newspaper article on mathematics instructor Raymond J. Pitts, 1964.

Over the past few months, Amistad staff and interns have processed four more Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) collections thanks to a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to process African American STEM collections.

The Parson v. Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation records opened to researchers at the end of January. The Parson v. Kaiser records document an employment discrimination class action lawsuit filed by African American workers against Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corp. of Chalmette, Louisiana, in 1967. The case lasted almost two decades and ended in a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in favor of the plaintiffs. The records include court documents, correspondence between the plaintiffs and defense teams, legal research, and calculations related to the back pay the Fifth Circuit court awarded the plaintiffs.

The Alexander Louis Jackson II papers just opened at the beginning of February and document the life of the Chicago businessman and civil rights and civic leader. Jackson's papers range from the late 1890s to the early 1970s and include correspondence, photographs, and newspaper articles. Of note is correspondence from Carter Woodson related to his and Jackson's work as co-founders of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. In addition, the collection includes materials highlighting Jackson's 15-year tenure as President of the board of trustees for Provident Hospital in Chicago, and materials related to his involvement in many other civil rights and community organizations, including The Chicago Defender, the Wabash YMCA, and the Southside Boys Club Foundation. Jackson's papers also include photographs and awards documenting his lifelong involvement in alumni organizations for his alma maters, Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and Harvard University.

1921 report for Provident Hospital in Chicago.

In October, the Raymond J. Pitts papers were opened to researchers. Pitts was a mathematics educator, community college dean, and school administrator in California in the 1960s and 1970s. Pitts' papers show his various leadership roles in mathematics and teacher education for the California State Department of Education and several school districts. His papers include meeting and conference agendas and notes, newsletters, charts, and audio recordings, and illuminate public education in California, including information on the desegregation of schools in Riverside, California, in 1965.

Over the summer, the papers of New Orleans physician Dr. Henry E. Braden III, were completed and opened to researchers. Dr. Braden was the Chief of Staff at New Orleans' Flint-Goodridge Hospital and the first African American member of the Orleans Parish Medical Society. In addition to his medical work and professional memberships, he was active in the NAACP, a board member at the Amistad Research Center, and a member of several local carnival organizations. His papers span the 1930s-2000 and provide insight into medical practices and medical organizations, New Orleans social and political organizations, and racial tension in Louisiana during the middle part of the twentieth century.

Since processing work began on these IMLS-funded STEM collections in January 2015, seven collections have been completed, for a total of 134 linear feet, and eight additional collections are slated for processing during the grant cycle. These collections will help position Amistad as a leader in African American STEM papers and offer a wide variety of topics for researchers to study.

New Preservation of Mardi Gras Films

A scene from one of Robert Green's Mardi Gras films.

The Amistad Research Center has received new preservation masters of two films from the Robert S. and Lillie Mae Green collection thanks to a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation. Brand new 16mm copies of the 30 minute films will replace the decaying original 8mm reels as masters, and will be preserved in the Center's climate controlled offsite facility. The grant also provided new screening copies of the films and digitization of the footage. New DVD copies of the film will be available to researchers at the Center, and we hope to soon make the material available online, as well.

Robert Green was a photographer in New Orleans, and the film collection is comprised of his home movies depicting African American life in the city from the 1950s to the 1970s. They are among some of the most requested audiovisual items in Amistad's collections, and have until now been largely inaccessible to researchers. Visitors to Amistad's book sale last November were treated to the first public screening of the new DVDs, which feature images of balls and parades organized by New Orleans carnival clubs in the mid-1950s.

The preserved home movies are rare visual records of private African American balls, which were traditionally closed to non-members. Intriguing themes like "Satan's Inferno" and "Symphony Variations" provide a lively backdrop to the vintage costumes. Carnival royalty is presented ceremoniously to the hall. Louis Jordan's band performs silently, and the dancing, costumed audience members smile for Green's camera. A portion of one of the films depicts a parade, with a marching band and costumed youngsters riding floats. Hosting organizations have been tentatively identified as the African American Catholic lay organization Knights of Peter Claver, the Jolly Bunch and Young Men's Illinois Club.

Every year, the National Film Preservation Foundation awards grants to nonprofit and public institutions for laboratory work to preserve culturally and historically significant film materials. These Green films were preserved by a grant from the 2014 cycle. In the coming year, the program will fund the preservation of 57 more films from around the country, including a third carnival film from the Green collection. See the full list here.

Center Adds Saturday Hours

The Amistad Research Center is pleased to return to Saturday hours beginning this Saturday, February 13th. The Center will be open from 9:00am to 1:00pm to accommodate more researchers and to expand access to our collections on the weekend. Limited reference services will be available during our weekend hours, so please come and join us!