THE QUARTERLY

In this Issue:

FROM THE CHAIR by Jim Cassedy

NEWS FEATURES
Activities of DC Caucus Members at the Society of American Archivists Meeting
Tour and Presentations at the Archives Center at the National Museum of American History on July 12, 2001

ANNOUNCEMENTS
MARAC Fall Meeting In Richmond
National Archives Assembly Offers Assistance to MARAC
Meeting in Richmond
Archives Week Events

SPECIAL INSERT
The DC Caucus of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference
Invites you to its Fourth Annual Archives Fair

October 2, 2001

Dear Colleague:

No thanks to the irregular efforts of the current DC Caucus Representative, Michele Lee, editor of The Quarterly, is finally able to put out a "Summer/Fall" edition.

Many thanks to Deborra Richardson, John Fleckner, Susan Strange, Cathy Keen, Mimi Minnick, David Haberstich, and the rest of the staff of the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, for terrific presentations, tour, and refreshments, on July 12, 2001.

Susan Strange, Cathy Keen, and David Haberstich were able to contribute outstanding articles based on their presentations on various collections held by the Archives Center, and I thank them very much for their efforts. Please follow in their good footsteps, and tell the rest of us something about yourselves and the records and manuscripts with which you work.

Kristine Kaske and colleagues are planning a terrific Archives Fair, scheduled for October 11, 2001. Our main speaker at the fair will be Ms. Nina Gilden Seavey of the George Washington University’s Documentary Center. She wrote, produced, and directed the Emmy Award winning documentary, A PARALYZING FEAR: The Story of Polio in America. If you wish to participate in this exciting event, please contact Kristine Kaske at (202) 357-3133, or kaskek@si.edu.

In this edition of the Quarterly, you will find a flyer for the fair. We need all the publicity we can get, so please feel free to post this item in several places within your institution. We will also continue to produce ongoing updates on the fair at http://www.dcarchivists.org, so please check in on a regular basis.

Activities of DC Caucus Members at the Society of American Archivists Meeting

Many DC Caucus members provided exemplary service to the Society of American Archivists during the organization’s meeting here in Washington, DC. Marisa Keller chaired the Host Committee, ably assisted by LaNina Clayton, Susan McElrath, Cheryl Stadel-Bevans, Kristine Kaske, Susan Mitchem, Sue Koutsky, and Sarah Turner. Danna Bell-Russel served on the Program Committee. Danna also serves on the SAA Council, with Tom Connors of the University of Maryland, and Thomas Battle of Howard University. Wilda Logan Willis leaves the Council after three years of service. DC Caucus members Richard Cameron, Susan McElrath, Lauren Brown, Maygene Daniels, LaNina Clayton, Sharon Thibodeau and Jennie Guilbaud made presentations at the SAA Meeting. The session chaired by Ms. Guilbaud, Panama Canal Records in Transition, was recorded and televised by C-Span on Sunday, September 2. Members of the panel included Thomas Cotter of the National Archives and Records Administration, Michael Bragale of the Panama Canal Commission, and E. Ariel Camargo of the Panama Canal Authority. The presentation will be repeated, in a slightly altered form, during MARAC’s meeting in Richmond, Virginia, this fall.

Please note the MARAC Fall 2001 Program at http://www.lib.umd.edu/MARAC/fall2001a.htm. Many of our DC Caucus colleagues are taking active part in this terrific program.

Tour and Presentations at the Archives Center at the National Museum of American History on July 12, 2001

Meeting of the DC Caucus at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, July 12, 2001.

Several staff members Cathy Keen, Susan Strange, and David Haberstich, gave presentations on specific collections at Archives Center. The following are excerpts from their presentations.

Baseball-Related Archival Collections

The NMAH Archives Center has been the fortunate repository for a number of baseball-related archival collections. These collections lend insight into not just the modern major leagues, but American baseball as it was and is played on sandlots, school playgrounds, in minor league stadiums, in "Grapefruit League" and "Cactus League&" ballparks during pre-season, and more. One of the more colorful and interesting collections was received by the Archives Center in 1999 from a donor in New York named Lou Newman. Mr. Newman is a third generation baseball fan and collector, and like his father and grandfather, Mr. Newman collected anything and everything on baseball. He has a massive collection filling his entire home. His collection includes baseball books numbering in the thousands, baseball games and toys, coin banks, watches and charms, pennants, advertising, baseball art, ball, baseball cards, products with player endorsements, buttons, pins, and numerous other types of items. Mr. Newman, in his travels throughout the U.S., expanded on the collection by gathering souvenirs and memorabilia from games and stadiums in the many places he visited. Of special interest to the Archives Center, which has strong interest in advertising and business history, are team programs, some with the scorecards filled out, dating back to 1895. These programs are rich with advertising imagery and are a wonderful resource for local historians. Mr. Newman's collection also includes postcards featuring team photographs, baseball venues, and the comical and humorous baseball images, some containing ethnic imagery and political humor. In 2000, the Archives Center mounted a small display on the Newman Collection and other baseball-related collections. For further information, images, and a finding for this collection, see http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/d9696.htm
—Cathy Keen

Frances Baker Product Cookbook Collection

The Frances Baker Product Cookbook Collection arrived unannounced at the Archives Center in 1997 with a note to throw away any and all materials the Smithsonian did not want. The donor, who was cleaning out her house in Washington state in anticipation of moving into an assisted-living facility, turned out to be a charming, educated woman known for her bountiful garden and numerous prizes won at the county fair. The bulk of the material was food related but some materials, such as early almanacs, went elsewhere including the Dibner Library. From notations in the product cookbooks, it is obvious that Mrs. Baker tried many of the recipes, and those that were found wanting were annotated with suggestions for the next time she attempted them. By examining the ephemera in the two boxes of materials in this collection, it is possible to get a picture of who Mrs. Baker was and what her interests were, such as that she liked baking, enjoyed dates and plums, and canned many jams and jellies. Product cookbooks from this collection have been used in an Archives Center display and by researchers interested in the history of food, canning, women's roles, and decorative arts. For further information on this collection, please check http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/archives/d7612.htm.
— Susan Strange

The Scurlock Studio Collection

One of the most significant and challenging collections in the Archives Center is its Scurlock Studio Collection, acquired after Washington photographer Robert S. Scurlock died in 1994. Robert was the last operator of this well-known studio, where four members of the Scurlock family were once active in the family business - Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964), who founded it in 1911, his wife Mamie, and their sons Robert and George. The studio served Washington's African American community for nearly a century. It developed studio portraits that document the gamut of African American life - weddings, school and social events, entertainment and cultural affairs, religion, and commerce of the black "secret city" as the segregated enclave has been called - in the nation's capital. The Scurlocks recorded their changing city, including the civil rights activities that helped bring integration. Eventually the studio served a more diverse clientele, and later photographs vividly illustrate how integration altered the business. This collection contains business records and photographic images that the studio created over the years.

Addison Scurlock was noted for flattering portraits that instilled a sense of personal and collective pride within the African American community. Many black Washingtonians fondly recall checking the studio window after church to see the new portraits on view, as the display was changed weekly. Addison also was renowned for his distinguished portraits of great African American leaders in many fields who lived in or visited Washington. Notable figures included Booker T. Washington, Ernest Just, Alain Locke, and W.E.B. DuBois to Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and Lena Horne. The collection is rich with these kinds of images. It also contains a lively record of places and events, such as schools, organizations, churches, businesses, sports, the black community's interaction with politicians and presidents, and many other subjects and themes.

David Haberstich making his presentation during the meeting of the DC Caucus Meeting at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, July 12, 2001

An adjunct business, the Capital School of Photography, operated on the studio premises under the direction of George and Robert from 1948 to 1952, providing formal training in professional photography for up to a three-year program. Jacqueline Bouvier once studied there. Since the records of the school are included in the studio archive, we hope to locate student work by the future Mrs. John F. Kennedy.

Robert, who was interested in both photojournalism and color photography, added another innovative sideline after closing the school - custom craft. This photographic innovation offered color processing and printing services to other professional photographers. Examples of custom craft photographs are also in the collection.

The size and scope of the Scurlock Studio Collection present the museum with both great opportunities and challenges. The collection has many acetate negatives that are deteriorating (some in advanced stages) and that require preservation and/or reformatting to retain their historical information. In a race against time, the search for appropriate funding for such work continues. Another challenge is the identification of uncaptioned prints. We solicit help from a number of sources, including George Scurlock, who retired from the business in the 1970s, but remains an enthusiastic collaborator.
—David E. Haberstich

ANNOUNCEMENTS

MARAC Fall Meeting in Richmond

Join colleagues in Richmond this fall for the joint meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) and the Society of North Carolina Archivists (SNCA). The meeting will be held October 25-27 at the Omni Richmond Hotel.

The theme for the meeting is Old Bites, New Bytes: Archival Collections - Past, Present, and Future. Session topics to be presented include documenting communities and events, working with various groups (such as students and film crews), and handling technology in the archives.

The plenary speaker will be Charles F. Bryan, director of the Virginia Historical Society and co-editor of Eye of the Storm: A Civil War Odyssey written by Private Robert Knox Sneden (Free Press, 2000).

Full details for the Richmond meeting are available at http://www.lib.umd.edu/MARAC/maraccon.htm.

National Archives Assembly Offers Assistance to MARAC Meeting in Richmond

As part of its efforts to assist its membership with professional development, the National Archives Assembly is holding a drawing to help defray the conference costs for one person to attend the 2001 Fall Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) meeting. The Assembly is offering $75.00 towards the reimbursement cost of the Richmond conference. MARAC is honored by the Assembly's action.

The National Archives Assembly is an organization of present and former NARA employees who support the development of NARA as the leading archival institution in the world. The Assembly provides a forum for employee communication on NARA policies and programs. The Assembly also serves to convey its members' views to the Archivist of the United States.

In the late 1970's, the General Services Administration, NARA's then parent agency, proposed dispersing major segments of the holdings of the National Archives without regard to the records' origins or creators. In response to this plan, the Ad Hoc Committee of Concerned Employees was created in early 1980. This group was the foundation for the National Archives Assembly. Since that time the Assembly and its past presidents have provided input on such matters as NARA's independence in 1985, the designing and staffing of Archives II, the regionalization of records, and the selection of the Archivist of the United States. Recently the National Archives Assembly took the lead in expressing concerns over the appraisal process of the Census 2000 Imaged Individual Records (see http://www.governmentrecordssection.org, see also December 2000 Newsletter for further information). MARAC, and the Society of American Archivists followed up on the Assembly's concerns.

The Assembly sponsored many presentations for its members, including discussions concerning the appraisal of web sites, the establishment of Presidential libraries, the archiving of electronic mail, etc. Experts from inside and outside of NARA led the presentations, and many of these presentations are available on videotape.

For further information concerning the National Archives Assembly, please contact Wayne DeCesar, at wayne.decesar@nara.gov

Archives Week Events

District of Columbia Public Library

On Wednesday, October 10, 2001, in conjunction with Archives Week, the District of Columbia Public Library hosts a lecture Ninety Years of Scurlock by John Fleckner, Director of the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History. Mr. Fleckner will examine the photographic legacy of the Scurlock Photographic Studio in Washington, DC. He will speak about the Scurlock family and the impact of their photography studio on the thriving U Street community, and its role in documenting historical events in the city of Washington, D.C. Mr. Fleckner will also show slides from photographs in the Scurlock Studio collection that are housed at the National Museum of History. This collection provides major documentation of the African-American Community of Washington, DC, ca. 1905-1994.

Addison Scurlock was the founder of the Scurlock Photographic Studio, the most prominent African-American photography studio in Washington, D.C., from 1904 to 1983. Scurlock documented key moments in the history of Washington, D.C., with one of his most significant photographs being that of Marion Anderson singing in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939. He also took photographs of such notable people as educators Booker T. Washington and Mary McLeod Bethune, composer Samuel Coleridge Taylor, engineer Archie Alexander, political leader W.E.B. DuBois, former First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, singer Billy Eckstine, physician Charles R. Drew, opera singer Madame Lillian Evanti and poet Sterling Brown. (see David Haberstich article).

The presentation is co-sponsored by Moorland-Spingarn Research Center of Howard University, Gelman Library at The George Washington University, The Washington Historical Society and the District of Columbia Public Library. This program will be held on Wednesday, October 10, 2001, at 6:30 p.m., in the Auditorium, Room A-5, of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Washington, DC.

In addition, The Friends of the Washingtoniana Division are sponsoring a reception after Mr. Fleckner’s talk, and there will be several photo archivists available to answer questions concerning the care of an individual's own slide and photo collections. Call 202-727-1213 for additional information.

The National Archives Assembly

The National Archives Assembly will be presenting an Archives Week panel program entitled, "The Charters of Freedom: An Interim Report." The speakers include Mary Lynne Ritzenthaler and Catherine Nicholson of NARA's Document Conservation Laboratory. This program will be held at 10:45am-12:00n, on Wednesday, October 10, 2001, in the Auditorium of the National Archives at College Park.

NEXT ISSUE OF THE QUARTERLY: December 2001

Please send articles and notices about upcoming events, people, and news in the DC area to Michele Lee at
m-lee@nga.gov.

Any suggestions for improving this newsletter (format or content)? All ideas welcome.

The Quarterly is a newsletter dedicated to keeping members of the DC Caucus of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) aware of the varied activities of the Caucus. The newsletter is generally published four times a year and is electronically mailed to members and interested parties. A hard copy of the newsletter is available on request.
The DC Caucus of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference

View or print your invitation: Archives Fair Invitation