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Archive for the Acquisitions Category (26 posts)

Remembering the impact of AIDS on the library community

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This is a guest post by American Folklife Center archivist Charles Hosale.

Two blocks of the AIDS Memorial Quilt

Block 2388 of the AIDS Memorial Quilt (left) includes a panel honoring Library of Congress employees, while panel 2793 (right) includes a commemoration of New York Public Library employees.

A little more than one year ago, the American Folklife Center announced the acquisition of the AIDS Memorial Quilt records . My colleagues and I continue work to preserve the records and make them accessible. This year, living under the weight of another pandemic, we’re pausing to celebrate World AIDS Day by participating in the first virtual exhibit of AIDS Quilt panels. The National AIDS Memorial, as part of their World AIDS Day events, has worked with organizations from all 50 states and territories to curate the large virtual exhibit. The AIDS Quilt is composed of individual panels commemorating one or more people, which are further organized into larger blocks. The American Folklife Center has selected eight of these blocks for inclusion. The blocks were chosen for their significance to the Library of Congress, the American Folklife Center, and the broader GLAM (gallery, library, archive, and museum) industry. The exhibit can be found at this link, but I’ll elaborate a bit more on the selections here.

Two blocks of panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Quilt Block 3227 (left) includes a panel commemorating employees of the Pasadena Public Library, while Quilt Block 5431 (right) honors employees of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

Six blocks were chosen because they communicate the direct impact the AIDS crisis had on the Library of Congress and the GLAM industry. Quilt block 2388 includes a large panel made by the Library of Congress Professional Association in memory of our colleagues lost to AIDS. The panel was originally part of a memorial service for Library staff on April 28 and 29, 1992. The panel was on display at the Library that May and sent for inclusion in the Quilt ahead of the national Quilt display in October 1992. Blocks 2793 (New York Public Library Guild), 3227 (Pasadena Public Library), 5431 (Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago), and 5796 (Indianapolis Museum of Art) all also contain panels made by GLAM organizations in memory of their colleagues. Block 0625 has a panel memorializing Rick Haas, Records Management Officer in the Harvard University Archives. Haas was active in national and northeastern GLAM professional organizations, including the New England Archivists, the Society of American Archivists, and the Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA). His panel features the ARMA logo. These panels, along with many others, show the tragic toll that AIDS took on our profession.

Two blocks of panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt

Quilt Block 5796 (left) contains the panel for employees of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, while Quilt Block 0625 (right) has a panel memorializing Rick Haas, Records Management Officer in the Harvard University Archives, which features the logo of the Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA). 

Because the American Folklife Center is America’s home for our stories and traditions, the stories told by the Quilt naturally have connections to other collections in our care. Block 0919 was chosen as an example of these kinds of connections. It contains a panel memorializing Joseph F. Lomax. Joseph was the grandson of John A. Lomax and the nephew of Alan Lomax, both of whom are integral figures in the history of American folk studies and ethnomusicology. As you might know, the Lomax family collections are foundational to the Center’s history–John A. Lomax was the second honorary curator of the Library’s Archive of Folk Song, and Alan Lomax was its first employee. The archive would later become part of the American Folklife Center, so both are considered former heads of what is now the AFC archive. This panel highlights the ways that, like the Quilt, the Center is a home for the many threads and connections that together form the United States.

Two blocks of panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt

Quilt Block 0919 (left) contains a panel memorializing Joseph F. Lomax, the grandson of John A. Lomax and the nephew of Alan Lomax, two former heads of our archive. Quilt Block 0040 (right) contains a panel memorializing James Byron Smith, which features a book motif. 

The final block selected is 0040, which contains a panel memorializing James Byron Smith. This early panel was made by an employee of the Golden Gate University Bookstore in San Francisco. We’ve selected it because it features a book motif. Books, literature, and language are common themes in Quilt panels. Favorite quotes are often shared, and whole books are even sewn into the fabric! This is understandable, because language and books form the basis of our shared culture. They’re literally how we communicate. Love for language and books is also deeply personal – the words we love become part of our identity. These aspects of language and books make words a particularly powerful tool for panel makers. They use words and books to communicate meaning and inspire empathy through their quilt art. Even just the simple image of a book in motion – is it opening or closing? – on James Byron Smith’s panel communicates a lot about what he loved, those who loved him, and those who never got the chance to know him. Smith’s panel highlights the ways thousands of panel makers have communicated AIDS victims’ love for literature and their most cherished words.

Please enjoy the opportunity to visit the virtual exhibit, which is online until March 31, 2021. On this World AIDS Day, through the exhibit and our thoughts, the American Folklife Center and the Library of Congress celebrate the memory of our colleagues and peers, and of every reader lost to AIDS.

 

 

Bess Lomax Hawes Digital Collection Launches

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This is a guest post by reference librarian Todd Harvey, who curates the Lomax family papers at the American Folklife Center. Today, the American Folklife Center announces the launch of the Bess Lomax Hawes (1921-2009) digital collection, now available at this link. A scholar, teacher, performer, writer, and filmmaker, Bess established and stewarded the Folk […]

AFC Is Acquiring the Archival Collections of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt

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The NAMES Project Foundation (NPF) today announced that the National AIDS Memorial will become the new caretaker of the AIDS Memorial Quilt and NAMES Project programs.  As part of the transition, the NAMES Project and the National AIDS Memorial have agreed to jointly gift care and stewardship of The Quilt’s archival collections to the prestigious American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, making this collection available through the world’s largest public library.

Brooklyn Rediscovered through 1980s Documentation

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This is a guest post by American Folklife Center archivist Maya Lerman. Imagine a time before hipsters started migrating to Brooklyn, and gentrification hadn’t taken hold. Though celebrations by immigrant communities throughout the calendar year are still quite evident in Brooklyn today, the early 1980s was an especially fruitful time to witness these traditions. The Brooklyn Rediscovery Folklife Study Project […]

Collection of music and dance from New York immigrant groups now available for research

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This is a guest blog post by 2018 summer project archivist Jesse Hocking, who is pursuing a master’s degree in library and information studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I grew up in West Virginia and Georgia and spent my undergraduate years in film and ethnic studies, so in many ways the American Folklife Center […]

Collections documenting cultures in Brazil, the Sudan region, New Mexico and California are now richly described online

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A handful of recently published online finding aids describing American Folklife Center collections provide detailed windows into collections documenting a range of traditions, from New Mexican Midwinter Masquerades to traditional music from the Sudan region. The following round-up draws heavily on descriptions created by the archivists who processed these amazing collections. Roxane Connick Carlisle Collection, […]

No ordinary banjo

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This is a guest post by acquisitions coordinator Todd Harvey of the American Folklife Center. Today the American Folklife Center accessioned an extraordinary, hand-crafted North Carolina banjo. The instrument was built in 1961 by Frank Proffitt, Sr., of western North Carolina, and given to the eminent folk musician and dancer Douglas Kennedy, of the English […]

“Roll On, Columbia”: Newly-discovered Woody Guthrie discs acquired by AFC

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This is a guest post by AFC acquisitions coordinator, Todd Harvey. “Big things come in small packages,” they say. I coordinate acquisitions for the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and I can attest to the wisdom of this adage. Our archive accessions about a quarter-million items annually and they range from the […]

So you want to donate your documentary collection to an archives?

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At the American Folklife Center, we regularly get questions from fieldworkers about how to find an archival home for their collections. This post aims to consolidate some of that information in one place, and benefits from thoughtful feedback from several staff members. Disclaimer: This is general guidance and does not necessarily reflect the Library’s acquisitions policies. You or […]