March Madness

Written by Dan DelViscio

It’s March Madness month with all the college basketball teams squaring off to see who will come out on top.

That got me thinking about how we came up with the term of “March Madness.” I started doing some research and found that the phrase originated in Illinois in 1908 to describe the enthusiasm surrounding the state-wide high school basketball tournaments. "March Madness" was first coined by Henry V. Porter, who began his career as a teacher and coach at Athens High School in central Illinois.1

In 2005 the DSU men's basketball team appeared in their first NCAA tournament, but unfortunately that appearance was against Duke University. The game was held at the Charlotte Coliseum in North Carolina with the Duke Blue Devils as the #1 seed and the Delaware State Hornets the #16 seed.² Despite the loss, DSU Coach Greg Jackson was quoted saying, “It's still a loss, but I think what these kids did tonight says a lot about our conference. I think this game sent a message to the country that you have to deal with Delaware State University. I'm proud of my kids.”

Let us know who you are rooting for in the up-coming matchups! Coming from Philadelphia, I’ll be keeping an eye on Villanova, Saint Joseph, and Temple to see how they do.

1. "March Madness History." March Madness History. Accessed March 16, 2016. http://www.ihsa.org/SportsActivities/MarchMadnessExperience/MarchMadnessHistory.aspx.

2. "NCAA® March Madness®: Duke vs. Delaware State." TV.com. Accessed March 16, 2016. http://www.tv.com/shows/ncaa-march-madness/duke-vs-delaware-state-1221504/.

Donating to the Archives

Dear DSU Alumni,

It is nearly spring!  The season officially begins on March 20, but here on the DSU campus spring has already sprung. The trees are blooming, the tulips are popping up, and the grass is green.  Last week the campus facilities team cleaned and refreshed the grounds while our students celebrated spring break.  This can only mean one thing.  It’s time for spring cleaning!

Alumni, as you brave the recesses of your garage, closets, or maybe even your attic (eek!), you are likely to encounter items from your college heydays.  Have you considered donating them to Delaware State University?

The University Archives utilizes the records and artifacts gifted by alumni to support the further growth of the university.   Alumni records are used in a diversity of manners which currently include marketing initiatives, public programming and exhibits, in support of student research, and in a forthcoming coffee table book.

I have personally met many of you, and I know that you possess a wealth of information about this university and local community.  I have heard your amazing stories!  I am asking you to now consider sharing your tangible records with me.  I am confident that many of you have sports apparel, photographs, event programs, news clippings, personal correspondence with classmates, scrapbooks, and so much more.  Will you consider gifting these items to the archives?

I promise to properly care for them.  Your items will become a collection that bears your name and is accompanied by a research guide that tells your story.  Additionally, your collection will be preserved in acid-free boxes and stored in a controlled environment.

The most cherished items in the university archives do not come from the Board of Trustees, presidents, or faculty.  They come from former students who made this school home.  Please call me at 302-857-6130 or email me at rscherry@desu.edu to learn more.

 

Yours,

 Joy

Men relaxing in the T-building c. 1960. This photograph was donated

to the archives by alumnae Eula Maloy Oliver in 2015. 

Campus Couples

Written by Dan DelViscio

As you may have noticed Valentine’s Day is coming up soon and that got me thinking about the holiday here at DSU. So I started going through our photograph collections and found some really fun images of affection here on campus. 

One of our favorites is this image of a couple walking hand in hand through the snow. Unfortunately, we don’t know who the people are in this picture for obvious reasons, but it was printed in the DSU yearbook the Statesman, in 1968.

Here is another photograph of a couple on campus. This one was printed in the DSU newspaper the Hornet, in 1968. It was featured in the Campus Scenes section. 

Rejoice and I have argued about whats going on in this picture. I think its former President Dr. Luna I. Mishoe and his wife renewing their vows with Reverend R. W. Coleman. What do you guys think?

What are your plans for the holiday? Going to a concert? Maybe having a nice dinner? Clue us in on your holiday plans and take pictures. You never know if they’ll end up in an archive. Archivists love pictures.

Upcoming Events

I am pleased to invite you to two exciting events that are occurring next week!

On Wednesday, February 10 at 10:00 am the Delaware Public Archives is celebrating Black History Month by unveiling an exhibit featuring Delaware State University.  Our esteemed University President, Dr. Harry L. Williams, as well as Governor Jack Markell  and the State Archivist, Stephen Marz, will address those in attendance. This event is free and open to the public! If you can’t make it to this event it’s okay.  You are always welcome to visit the exhibit in the lobby of the Public Archives during regular hours of operation. The exhibit will be up through June 2016. To browse the Public Archives calendar, click here.

On Thursday, February 11 Delaware State University is celebrating Founder’s Day! Starting at 11:00 am Loockerman Hall will be open for interactive house tours.  There will also be items from our archives on display.  Come see some of our most prized items – a 1934 trophy, a 1951 high school yearbook, the very first student publication from 1909, and so much more! Click here.

I will be present at both events. Come say hello! I'd love to meet you. 

Yours,

Joy

Farewell

As my time at the DSU's Archives comes to end, it is time for me to say farewell. The past few months have been a struggle but also a blessing. Being a full time graduate student and having a part time job plus this internship is a lot to manage, but I have learned so much! Processing collections, creating finding aids and uploading photographs onto CONTENTdm are skills that I know will take me far in this field.

Despite being a Delaware native, I did not know much about Delaware State University. At the end of my internship, I must say, I am quite impressed. After processing the Middle States Association collection, the Hornet Student Newspaper collection and some personal collections donated to the archives by alumni, I have had an inside look at the university's history.  To see the obstacles the university has overcome along with its growth is something special.

This opportunity was not only a huge learning experience but a great way for me to network and meet some amazing new people.  Everyone I encountered was extremely knowledgeable and had a willingness to help me become more successful in this field.

As much as I am excited to finally get some days off, it saddens me that my time is over.  From the bottom of my heart I would like to give a huge THANKS to Joy and Dan!!!! You guys are great and wish you the best!

See you later DSU!
Yours Truly,
Jasmine Smith

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Written by Dan DelViscio

The notion of memorializing a day to exemplify King was first proposed by labor unions, but it took 15 years before a federal holiday was created. Following the death of Dr. King, two politicians, John Conyers and Edward Brooke, proposed a bill in Congress to make Dr. King's birthday a national holiday. The bill first came to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1979, but it wasn't until 1983 that President Ronald Reagan officially signed the holiday into law.

Delaware State University will be celebrating its 30^th annual Martin Luther King Jr. day on January 18th.  Even before Martin Luther King Jr. day was a national holiday, DSU held annual celebrations to honor one of the greatest civil rights activists in history. Thirty years ago, this historically black university  recognized that Dr. King had helped to create a brighter future for its students. 


In commemoration of this special day I thought I would riffle through the archives  and show you some of the past celebrations here at DSU. On the top right Theressa Webster as Miss DSC and Senator Herman Holloway both visit the child development lab on campus in 1978. The photograph to the right shows students posing with signs for a 1985 celebration. Finally, the  photograph below depicts Delaware State College's Gospel Choir performing in 1980.

I hope you enjoy the weekend and at the same time reflect on the significance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Reference:
Ross, Shmuel, and David Johnson. "The History of Martin Luther King Day." Infoplease. Accessed January 14, 2016. http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mlkhistory1.html.

A Christmas Letter to our Patrons

As we gear up for the holiday work parties and look forward to the President’s annual open house, we at the Delaware State University Archives want to take a moment to wish you a Merry Christmas!

2015 has been an exciting year for the archives! For the first part of the year the archives rested vacantly in a corner of the William C. Jason library.  The doors of suite 227 were locked with half-finished projects resting on the desks within.  In April I passed through those doors for the first time and made the leap from a recent graduate to University Archivist and Special Collections Librarian. To say I had only a modicum of trepidation would be lying. I was no longer an archivist in theory, but became the quintessential “lone arranger” (archivist jargon for someone who is the sole steward of an archive).   I had a lot to prove to myself and to the hiring committee who had chosen to take a chance on me.

Having now passed nearly three-quarters of a year in the DSU archives, I may proudly say I have been successful in my adaption.  I astonish myself with the recall I have for historical facts about this university, the number of acquaintances I have made on this campus, and the organization I have already imposed on the collections in my care.  The projects I have undertaken are not small feats.  I have accessioned 345 linear feet into the archive, am currently managing a $145,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and am contributing to the publication of a book in honor of the 125^th anniversary of Delaware State University in 2016.  How many can claim projects such as these in their first year of professional employment? I am so fortunate!

Speaking of the IMLS grant, this fall the archives became the workplace for two more fantastic archivists.  Jasmine Smith and Dan DelViscio joined my team and immediately set about helping me to promote the archives.  They continually introduce new ideas for problem solving, work diligently, and are enthusiastic about all projects set before them.  Our patrons can look forward to experiencing a remarkable outdoor exhibit next summer thanks to the creativity and collaboration of Jasmine and Dan.

As 2015 draws to a close I look forward to 2016.  I cannot wait to see what the 125^th anniversary year will hold.  I am confident that at times the archives will be called upon heavily and our days will be hectic, but I also know that Jasmine, Dan, and I will use  every opportunity to further instill the archives into the core of Delaware State University.  We will do our best to promote Delaware State University’s vision to be “one of America’s most highly respected Historically Black Colleges and Universities.”

Stay tuned! More exciting projects coming in 2016! Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Yours,

Joy

Samuel L. Conwell

Written by Dan DelViscio

When an archivist comes to a new archive there’s always growing pains getting familiar with the contents of the archive. Being able to answer questions about the archive, knowing the prominent people, knowing the organizations, and knowing how and why the archive came to be. But the one thing that’s always fun about working in a new archive is finding cool things like this. 

This is an excerpt from a day book of the early Delaware State University. One name that comes up in the book is Samuel L. Conwell. Conwell was the assistant to the first president of DSU, President Wesley. P Webb. He was also a faculty member from 1891-1914. The book details Sunday church services at DSU, which at the time was the State College for Colored Students. Now this may seem mundane but to an archivist like me getting a little window into what peoples’ lives were like back in history is pretty great. The book details Sunday services including the hymns they sung in church, the attendance, sermons notes, even the total offering collected. These little details tell us what life at the college was like at its early beginnings. I can also attest that trying to decipher hand writing from the early 1900s is both a frustrating and rewarding feat.   

What is a Finding Aid?

Co-written by Jasmine Smith and Joy Scherry

A finding aid is a descriptive document used by archivists to help researchers gain understanding and access to the contents of a collection.  From finding aids, researchers learn basic details about a collection including:

•          the collection’s title,
•         the creator or author of the records found within (not the archivist who wrote the finding aid),
•          the collection’s location in the archives,
•          dates of the materials found within,
•          the extent or size of the collection measured in linear or cubic feet,
•          what languages a researcher might encounter,
•          how the collection is arranged – chronological, alphabetical, by subject etc.  

Other narrative fields or sections found in a finding aid include the scope and content note which summarizes the most important features a researcher will encounter within the collection.  This typically includes a summary of the most significant dates, people and moments found within the collection and the format the collection’s records will take – journals, scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, newspapers, etc.  Finding aids additionally include a biographical history section to provide researchers with background information about the collection’s subjects and creator in order to construct a context that allows the researcher to see a bigger picture that might not be immediately clear from the records within a collection.

The second half of a finding aid is composed of the collection inventory.  Below is a chart describing the traditional, organizational hierarchy of collections and the terminology a researcher is likely to find. Click the image to enlarge it. 

Winterthur Trip

Written by Daniel DelViscio

Update from our last post:

This past week on November 4^th we at the Delaware State University Archives took a wonderful tour of the conservation facilities at the Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library. We were given a look behind the scenes at the book and library department, science analytics lab, and the paper conservation department.  

Do you remember this photograph to the right? If not, see our last post. I asked a conservator on the tour how they might go about reconditioning a photograph with rust damage. First, consideration is given to the historical value of the item. As archivists we have to consider if it is worth the time and money to restore something in your collection. Conservators have similar thought processes. They take into account how much conservation is necessary because sometimes the methods they use are detrimental to the object. With this photograph of David Warner the first step is to identify the photograph’s chemical composition. The conservator would have to decide, based on that information, what type of bleach is suitable to remove the rust stain.  The process of bleaching a photograph is like using chemotherapy to destroy cancer. A conservator can only use this method to a point before he/she has done more harm than good.

Each department at Winterthur specializes in a certain object group. We were shown labs for furniture, painting, textile conservation, and more.  Learning about the processes and techniques conservators use was fascinating, and if I wasn’t so awful at chemistry I’d love to learn how to do it myself. If you are thinking of taking a tour of Winterthur I highly recommend it. I’m told the Yuletide tours around Christmas are especially cool with nighttime events like the Yuletide Jazz and Wine and live musical performances.