Annual Christmas Letter, 2020

 Dear Friends, 

No need to tell you what a year it's been as we have all faced challenges and insecurities. As we close out this year, I hope that each of you is well and looking forward to the future. 

2020 started out as a great year as the project to digitize the course catalogs was progressing smoothly. I had just finished uploading them to DSpace when the library team started to get the feeling that something was coming. The week before Delawareans were given stay-at-home orders the library team dropped everything and hustled to produce a series of YouTube tutorials demonstrating our virtual services and live chat. After a well-deserved weekend we suddenly found ourselves on our couches asking, "what now?" We thought that by the Easter season we'd be back in the office, but that possibility became bleaker. As an archivist without anything to archive a slow month quickly became a slow year.  Some of you were able to send reference requests that were able to be fulfilled long-distance, and for that I was grateful. The value of having things digitized became apparently clear during this time. 

This past fall we were able to return to the library two-days a week. When I came to my office for the first time in many months, I found everything exactly as I had left it...half finished. Piles of paper were spread out across the room.  The stacks were separated into some sort of order that had once made sense to me, but that I was then straining remember.  Why didn't I make notes? It took me a few weeks to review it all and reorganize it. During those endless spring and summer days at home I had been looking forward to once again making progress, but now I found myself with the odd sensation of moving backwards. With perseverance I eventually dug out my desk and found the bottom of my conference table. 

At the beginning of this month, hope was once again in sight. Digitization projects have resumed! You can expect to see the Hornet newspapers (dating from 1928 to 2015) hitting our DSpace repository in early 2021. It is a relief to once again have a goal and see progress being made.  Nothing makes me happier in my work than the manifestation of a new collection or resource. Speaking of "new", next year promises to be a significant milestone as we anticipate the acquisition of Wesley College and all of its records. Exciting adventures into unchartered territories are ahead! 

I hope that you too are looking toward a brighter 2021, and I hope that you feel the warmth and peace of the Christmas season. Merry Christmas! I'll see you again next year. 

Love, 

Joy

Me and Busy, my coworker for 2020

Accessing the archives during COVID-19

Hey Friends! I hope you're all safe and well.  The William C. Jason Library is open to the campus community on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The University Archives, specifically, is open on Monday and Wednesday.  As always, I am eager to assist you in whatever capacity I can, however, I must beg your patience and make you aware of some protocol:

• If you are a university community member, and need to access archival collections I ask that you email me (rscherry@desu.edu) well in advance to schedule a visit. This is necessary to ensure that the appropriate health and safety arrangements have been undertaken.  
• If you are an alumni or member of the public, please email me to determine how I can best assist you.  In most cases, I will conduct research on your behalf and provide a limited number of digitized records pertinent to your request. 
• Please be aware that myself and my fellow librarians are working remotely on the days when the building is not open.  Toward that end, we are not reachable by office phone. Email is the best method of communication (rscherry@desu.edu). 

While COVID-19 may seem like a significant barrier to accessing the archives, it can also be a benefit.  For example, I recently had a request for records of the 1968 student unrest.  In meeting the patron's needs, I was actually able to upload the 1968 unrest collection to our digital repository (https://desu.dspacedirect.org/handle/20.500.12090/345).  So while I share your frustrations, I am also pleased to be able to increase our digitized collections.  I hope that you will enjoy exploring the new records. 

Collection Spotlight: Eula Maloy Oliver collection

This month we are showing off another tiny, but fascinating, collection at the Delaware State University Archives.  Like the Viola Young Scrivens collection highlighted last month, The Eula Maloy Oliver collection is small in stature, but it is representative of an era in DSU history that is not well documented.  

Beginning in the late 1950s Eula Maloy Oliver attended the DuPont High School, more commonly referred to as the laboratory school on the campus of Delaware State College.  After completion of the high school division, Eula continued her DSC education at the collegiate level.  She attained a bachelors degree in education in 1962. While in attendance, Eula was very active socially and became a member of the then-newly established Delta Lambda chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.  Eula also married one of her classmates, William A. Oliver.

The Eula Maloy Oliver collection is a treasure trove of black and white photographs depicting 1950s Delaware State College.  The subject matter ranges from campus scenery to athletics, to student organizations and more. The individuals most commonly shown are Mr. and Mrs. Oliver and their mutual friends. The images found here are just two examples: Above - two female students promenade on the campus circle, a popular spot for croquet games and relaxation, and a hangout for the children of faculty members. Below - Students typically enjoyed dancing and card games in "the canteen" located in the basement of Conrad Hall.  The canteen was one of the few social locations on campus where male and female students could enjoy time together. Dorm visitations at this time were very strict.

Other contents in this collection include a 1952 Dupont High School yearbook, a 1962 DSC yearbook, and a letter written by Eula to Dr. Claibourne Smill dated November 9, 2005 in which she addresses concerns for the further expansion of the campus and maintaining a diverse student population.

Through her DSC degree, Mrs. Eula Oliver was employed as an elementary school teacher for 35 years. She was an influential individual in Delaware Education and served on a great number of local, state, and national committees. Perhaps most significantly, she worked to formulate the Delaware State Assessment Standards in the areas of math, science and social studies. 

Mrs. Oliver had two sisters who additionally attended Delaware State College, Mrs. Mary Scott and Mrs. Bertha Turner. Please note that Mrs. Scott also has an archival collection of photographic scrapbooks available for public viewing.  

Collection Spotlight: Viola Young Scrivens collection

Today I am spotlighting a collection that could easily be undervalued and overlooked in the Delaware State University archives. The Viola Young Scrivens collection is tiny at a mere 0.25 linear feet, but it holds contents for an era of DSU documentary history that is not well represented by other photographs and records. 

In 1933 Viola Scrivens was a high school student at the laboratory high school on the campus of the State College for Colored Students.  Although she had a long association with the college, she did not pursue a collegiate education.  Beginning in the 1940's, Viola did, however, serve as a cook for  Delaware State College, and she seems to have been an active alumna and member of the campus community. Her collection therefore contains event programs for student theater productions, concerts, building dedications, and Founder's Day events dated between 1931 and 1983. 

Alumni play a valuable role at Delaware State University and are sincerely appreciated by administrators and students alike.  Alumni, as always, are welcome to donate any documentary evidence of their collegiate experiences to the archives.  The students who conduct research at the archives are always eager to learn how their experiences differ from their predecessors, and they value the life lessons that are often by only be conveyed through the archival collections curated by alumni. 

A full description of the collection is available as a finding aid on the DSU archive's LibGuide: https://desu.libguides.com/ld.php?content_id=34904850

A 1931 program for a twelfth grade play. 

Viola Young Scrivens' card of admission for the SCCS
laboratory school. Click to enlarge the image.

Course Catalogs now online

The DSU archives' online repository is continuing to grow!

This month marks the completion of yet another collection in DSpace. All of the course catalogs housed in the University Archives, 95 in total, have been digitized and made publicly available. It is hoped that the online catalogs will be a resource for alumni and university departments alike who need to access historic degree requirements and course descriptions.  Additionally, the digitization of the course catalogs is a helpful step as the university prepares for the Middle States re-accreditation process.

Besides the obvious purpose of outlining educational requirements, the course catalogs also reveal a picture of the university as it once was.  The catalogs, dated between 1893 and the current academic year, are a wealth of historic information about faculty employment, calendars, campus infrastructure growth, academic and student life regulations (rules that seem comical today), student clubs and social activities, athletics, and support services. In my opinion, the catalogs have long been undervalued, and it is my hope that the new, digitized format of the catalogs will make them more accessible and better appreciated. Take a look for yourself here: https://desu.dspacedirect.org/handle/20.500.12090/399.

This month marks the end of the first year in the digitization effort.  All in all, there are now 131 volumes of yearbooks and catalogs available. It has been a transformative year  as reference questions involving these materials are being answered with greater speed and in many cases, patrons are discovering independence in pursuing their interests.

But wait! There's more! Be on the lookout for digitized Board of Trustee minutes to start appearing soon. 

Partnering with the Delaware Historical Society to examine Unequal Justice in DE

Happy New Year! This week we are welcoming our students back and settling into new classes and routines. As I look forward to another exciting semester, I would like to announce an ongoing partnership between the Delaware Historical Society, University of Delaware and of course Delaware State University.  We are embarking on a journey to shed light on unequal justice and other disparities experienced by the African American community in historic Delaware.

We are actively seeking to define our project in terms of era and scope, but our purpose is to tell the story of lynchings, riots, and other racially charged events perpetrated against African American Delawareans. A small piece of the project will focus on educational disparity and segregation in the schools. While DSU has faculty and staff from numerous professional disciplines participating in the project, the examination of education will be my primary contribution.

Alumni, if you would like to contribute to the project or have a story you would like to share with us, please reach out to me at rscherry@desu.edu.  Alternatively, you can contact the Delaware Historical Society through Stephanie Lampkin at slampkin@dehistory.org.

The following is the official press release from the Delaware Historical Society:

Partnership Formed to Research Unequal Justice in Delaware

Wilmington, DE– A project to unearth the forgotten and unknown instances of unequal justice in the First State is underway through the Delaware Historical Society’s Jane and Littleton Mitchell Center for African American Heritage, the University of Delaware, Delaware State University, and the Delaware Social Justice Remembrance Coalition.

The project, “Unequal Justice in Delaware – Rewriting the Narrative,” will explore the history of racial violence, remembrance, and social justice throughout Delaware’s history and across all three counties.  The project will merge rigorous academic research from various higher education departments with grassroots community engagement and activism. 

“The University of Delaware is extremely excited to be a partner in this important project,” said James Jones, Director of the University’s Center for the Study of Diversity, which is coordinating UD’s participation.  “The talent, dedication and expertise of our community is a natural and important source of support for this valuable effort to better understand Delaware’s racial history and to raise awareness and implement reforms to guide us toward a more just society for all Delawareans.”

Support for the project at UD, said Jones, will include the Provost, and broad engagement from faculty, students and staff in the Morris Library, Africana Studies, History Department, Department of Sociology, Office of Community Engagement, School of Education, and the School for Public Policy and Administration.

The stories revealed through research and public engagement events will be brought to light through oral and digital histories, as well as curriculum development.  The project will also explore how research and public engagement can inform policy.  It is inspired by Bryan Stevenson’s groundbreaking work with the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, AL.

Wide participation is also planned at Delaware State University (DSU), said Dr. Akwasi Osei, Associate Dean of the College of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences and Director of the Global Societies.  “This joint effort on Delaware History will bring together faculty, staff, students, and others to contribute to the further edification of all of Delaware and the nation,” said Dr. Osei.  “It will go to show that despite our current ‘tribalism,’ we have always been in this together, and will continue to be.”

Dr. Osei said the project will help tell the American story. “That magic moment, well over two hundred years ago, when we declared the basic humanity of all is perhaps the greatest moment in that history,” he said. “That we have to ‘rewrite’ the narrative of the actual unfolding of that story is indicative of how rocky the journey has been.”

The partnership also includes the Delaware Social Justice Remembrance Coalition. “The Delaware Social Justice Coalition (DSJC) is thrilled to be a part of this collaborative that will continue the work of illuminating and memorializing past incidents of racial terror in the state of Delaware,” said Amy Shepherd, an officer of DSJC.  “We appreciate our state's willingness to understand how such incidents have impacted life as we know it today and we look forward to Delaware's propulsion toward becoming a leader in changing the narrative around race and poverty, as Bryan Stevenson urges.”

A website for the project is currently under development, which will be essential for the progress of the historical initiative and dissemination of the narratives it yields.

For questions about the project, contact Stephanie Lampkin, Director of the Jane and Littleton Mitchell Center for African American Heritage, at slampkin@dehistory.org.