Princeton ARCH Program

The inaugural Archives Research and Collaborative History (ARCH) Program occurred from July 9-13, 2018. The program welcomed 12 undergraduate and two graduate students from HBCUs across the country to Princeton’s campus including Howard University, Lincoln University, Texas Southern University, Tougaloo College and Tuskegee University.

The students received a behind-the-scenes look at how archival material is processed and preserved, as well as access to some of the University’s collections. In addition, the students heard presentations and participated in discussions with the Princeton University Library’s staff and visiting colleagues from the participating HBCUs. The students were asked to reflect on their experiences in writing which were then posted to the Mudd Library Blog.

The program was funded by Princeton University Library, the Department of African American Studies, the Princeton Histories Fund, the Humanities Council, the Center for Collaborative History, and the Princeton-Mellon Initiative in Architecture, Urbanism, and the Humanities.

Saturday, July 7

• Travel to Princeton by trains, planes, and automobiles
• 12:30-2:30 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Room check in
• 6 p.m. Dinner in Wilcox Hall Private Dining Room
  • Speaker: Ms. Shirley Satterfield, The History of Princeton’s African American Neighborhood

Sunday, July 8

• 7 am–10 am: Breakfast on your own, Wu Hall
• 10 a.m Orientation activities 
  • Caryl McFarlane and Dan Linke: Campus tour, Frist and James Johnson exhibition. Meet outside Wu Hall.
• 12 p.m. Lunch in Wilcox Hall Private Dining Room.
  • Reimbursement and other paperwork, and Public Safety talk.
• 1 p.m. Orientation activities (continued): Library access passes (bring photo ID),
  • Scavenger hunt, Mudd visit
• 6 p.m. Opening Dinner (Prospect House)
• 7 p.m. Welcome and acknowledgments
  • Speaker: Dr. Brenda Allen, President of Lincoln University

Monday, July 9

Please note: All activities in the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, 65 Olden Street, unless otherwise indicated.

• 9:00 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. Introductions and Blog Post Project
• 9:15 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Introduction to Primary Sources and Historical Research, Instructors: Dan and Alexis
• 10:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Break
• 10:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Introduction to Archival Research (finding aids, using discovery systems, reading rooms, etc.), Instructors: Sara Logue and Sophia Sotilleo, MLS, Associate Professor/Access Services Librarian at Lincoln University.
  • Note: The University Communications Office will film this session in order to create a short (3-5 minute) video that will be on the University’s home page later in July)
• 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Lunch
• AFTERNOON IN FIRESTONE LIBRARY, A-6-F (One flight down, the room right off the main staircase)
  • 1:30 p.m. Albert Murray Collection at Tuskegee University, Presenter: Dr. Jontyle Robinson
  • 1:45 p.m. to 2:45 p. m. Princeton and Slavery, Instructor: Dan; Exercise leaders: Dan, Sara?, Alexis? others?
  • 2:45 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Break
  • 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tour of Firestone RBSC Suite, Tour Guides: Kelly, Chloe, Eric, and Ian
    • Note: Pending approval, the University Communications Office will film this session in order to create a short (3-5 minute) video that will be on the University’s home page later in July.
  • 4:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Introduction to Social Justice Critiques of Archival Practice, Instructors: Valencia, Chloe, and Annalise 
    • This will introduce students to the idea of contemporary critique that will be woven throughout the week's topics and brought together on Day 5. It will prepare  them for specific explorations on archival topics discussed each day. 
  • 4:30 p.m. to 4:55 p.m. Reflections: 10 minutes of writing and 15 minutes of discussion
  • 4:55 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Summary of tomorrow’s schedule
  • 6 p.m.  HBCU professional staff dinner, La Mezzaluna, 25 Witherspoon St., Princeton, NJ 08540
• Required Readings
  • David M. Levy, “Meditation on a Receipt,” pp. 7-20
  • “What Are Documents,” pp. 21-38, in Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age (New York: Arcade, 2001)
  • Laura Millar, Archives: Principles and Practices, (New York: Neil-Schuman Publishers, Inc. 2010), Chapter 1: What Are Archives?, pp. 1-25.
  • Terry Cook, “What is Past is Prologue:  A History of Archival Ideas Since 1898, and the Future Paradigm Shift.” Archivaria 43 (Spring 1997), pp. 17-49.
  • Deborah Yaffe, "Princeton and Slavery: Our Original Sin;" Princeton Alumni Weekly, November 8, 2017. 
  • Caswell, Michelle. "Teaching to Dismantle White Supremacy in Archives," The Library Quarterly 87, no. 3 (July 2017): 222-235. https://doi.org/10.1086/692299
  • Armstrong, April, “What Archival Silence Conceals—and Reveals: Recovering Princeton University’s 19th-Century African American Graduate Alumni”: https://blogs.princeton.edu/mudd/2018/02/what-archival-silence-conceals-and-reveals-recovering-princeton-universitys-19th-century-african-american-graduate-alumni/ 

Tuesday, July 10

Please note: All activities in the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, 65 Olden Street, unless otherwise indicated.

• 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. History of Archives, Instructors: Alexis and Kelly
• 10:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Break
• 10:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Collections Overview (Types of materials, institutional vs. manuscript repositories, born-digital, etc.), Instructors: Annalise, Valencia, and Dr. Clifford L. Muse, Jr. (Howard University)
• 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Lunch
• 1:30 p.m. Tougaloo College Special Collections Presentation, Presenter: Mr. Tony Bounds, Tougaloo College
  • Note: The University Communications Office will film this session in order to create a short (3-5 minute) video that will be on the University’s home page later in July.
• 1:45 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Tour of Mudd Library, Tour Guides: Dan and Sara
  • Note: The University Communications Office will film this session in order to create a short (3-5 minute) video that will be on the University’s home page later in July.
• 3 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. Break
• 3:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.  Introduction to Archival Functions (acquisitions/appraisal, arrangement and description, preservation, and access), Instructors: Faith and Chloe
• 4:30 p.m. to 4:55 p.m.  Reflections: 10 minutes of writing and 15 minutes of discussion
• 4:55 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Summary of tomorrow’s schedule
• 6 p.m. HBCU and Princeton professionals dinner, Triumph Brewing Company, 138 Nassau Street, Princeton NJ
• Required Readings
  • Patricia Galloway.  Archives, Power, and History:  Dunbar Rowland and the Beginning of the State Archives of Mississippi (1902-1936).  American Archivist 69:1 (Spring/Summer, 2006), pp. 79-116. (E-JOURNAL)
  • William C. Wellburn.  “ To ‘Keep the Past in Lively Memory’:  William Carl Bolivar’s Efforts to Preserve African American Cultural Heritage.” Libraries & the Cultural Record.  42:2 (2007), pp. 165-79. 
  • Terry Cook, “‘We Are What We Keep; We Keep What We Are’: Archival Appraisal Past, Present and Future,” Journal of the Society of Archivists 32 (No. 2, 2011), pp. 173-189.

Wednesday, July 11 

Please note: All activities in the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, 65 Olden Street, unless otherwise indicated.

• 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.  Introduction to Archival Processing and Basic Concepts (provenance, original order, etc.), Instructors: Kelly and Chloe
• 10:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Break
• 10:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Intellectual Processing, Instructors: Alexis and Faith
• 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Lunch
• 1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. Tour of Princeton University Art Museum
• 3 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. HBCU Collection presentation
• 3:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.  Physical Processing, Instructors: Annalise and Valencia
  • Processing levels -- overview of different approaches -- traditional, tiered, MPLP, maximal -- what are HBCUs doing?
  • Note: The University Communications Office will film this session in order to create a short (3-5 minute) video that will be on the University’s home page later in July.
• 4:30 p.m. to 4:55 p.m.  Reflections: 10 minutes of writing and 15 minutes of discussion
• 4:55 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Summary of tomorrow’s schedule
• AFTER DINNER: Movie at the Garden Theater, 7:30 p.m.
• Required Readings
  • DACS Principles: https://github.com/saa-ts-dacs/dacs/blob/master/statement_of_principles.md
  • Kathleen Roe, “The Practice of Arrangement and Description,” in Arranging and Describing Archives & Manuscripts, Archival Fundamentals Series II, (Society of American Archivists, 2005), pp. 45-97. 

Thursday, July 12

Please note: All activities in the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, 65 Olden Street, unless otherwise indicated.

• 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Born-Digital Processing, Instructors: Annalise, Kelly, Chloe, and Sara Rogers (Summer Fellow) 
• 10:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Break
• 10:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Public Services (Reference and Security), Instructors: Sara and Sophia
• 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Lunch
  • Note: The University Communications Office would like to interview two students in this time slot in the Wiess Lounge for 10 minutes each for a short (3-5 minute) video that will be on the University’s home page later in July.
• AFTERNOON IN FIRESTONE LIBRARY, B-6-F (Two flights down, the room right off the main staircase)
• 1:30 p.m. HBCU Collection Presentation, Texas Southern University, Dr. Sarah Trotty
• 1:45 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Tour of Conservation Suite and Digital Studio
• 3 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. Walk back to Mudd and break there.
• 3:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.  Public Services: Outreach and Instruction, Instructors: Sara and Valencia 
• 4:30 p.m. to 4:55 p.m.  Reflections: 10 minutes of writing and 15 minutes of discussion
• 4:55 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Summary of tomorrow’s schedule
• AFTER DINNER: Art Museum open until 9 p.m.
• Required Readings
  • Dooley, Jackie. "The Archival Advantage: Integrating Archival Expertise into Management of Born-digital Library Materials"
  • Perlmutter, Marty, “The Lost Picture Show: Hollywood Archivists Can’t Outpace Obsolescence, “ IEEE Spectrum, 28 April 2017
  • Mary Jo Pugh, Providing Reference Services for Archives and Manuscripts, (Chicago:  Society of American Archivists, 2005), pp. 111-148 and 175-208.
  • “They Demanded Courageously: Exhibit honors 1968 Black student protest,” Footnotes  (Northwestern University Libraries), Spring 2018, pp. 6-9.
  • Ryan Bean and Linnea M. Anderson, “Teaching Research and Learning Skills with Primary Sources: Three Modules, University of Minnesota,” in Mitchell, Eleanor, Peggy Seiden, and Suzy Taraba. Past Or Portal?: Enhancing Undergraduate Learning Through Special Collections and Archives.

Friday, July 13

Please note: All activities in the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, 65 Olden Street, unless otherwise indicated.

• 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Social Justice Critiques and Responses/Community Archives, Instructors: Valencia, Annalise, Chloe, and Sara R.
• 10:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Break
• 10:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Trenton Film Project, Purcell Carson, Documentary Film Specialist, Woodrow Wilson School
• 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Lunch
  • Note: The University Communications Office would like to interview two students in this time slot in the Wiess Lounge for ten minutes each for a short (3-5 minute) video that will be on the University’s home page later in July.
• 1:30 p.m. HBCU Collection Presentation
• 1:45 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Sharing Professional Stories, All instructors
• 3 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. Break
• 3:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Student blog presentations
• 4:30 p.m. to 4:55 p.m.  Program evaluations 
• 4:55 p.m. to 5 p.m.  Tomorrow’s summary
• 5 p.m.  Pizza party at Wallace Hall Room 300
• 8 p.m. Princeton Summer Theater
• Required Readings
  • Zavala, Jimmy, Alda Allina Migoni, Michelle Caswell, Noah Geraci & Marika Cifor. “‘A process where we’re all at the table’: community archives challenging dominant modes of archival practice.” Archives and Manuscripts. (2017) http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01576895.2017.1377088
  • People’s Archive of Police Violence
  • South Asian American Digital Archive

Saturday, July 14

• 8 a.m. Depart from Princeton Transit Center (aka the Wawa) for all-day Washington, DC trip. Visit the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture 
• Lunch and dinner provided. Expected return to Princeton: 9:30 p.m.