Exhibits, Featured, From Our Collections, Rare Books, Students and Interns

150 Years of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd

November 18, 2024 ebg17@duke.edu Leave a comment

Post contributed by Lindsey Allison, Primary Sources Teaching Fellow and MSLS student at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Stop by the Hubbard Case in Perkins Library to see some of the items mentioned in this post on display.

An archive like that at Duke University can be approached from numerous angles. Professors might partner with the Rubenstein Library to encourage student engagement with materials that are relevant to their courses. Students might flock to the reading room to fulfill requirements for a paper. Researchers from across the world might visit the Rubenstein’s collections to identify sources that pertain to their independent studies. There is also the possibility that people might visit the reading room out of pure curiosity, stumbling in search of rare books, letters, and artifacts that are simply “cool” to them. I found myself in this category while perusing the catalog for a topic that could be reflected well in an exhibit, and I was pleased to see how a streak of curiosity can lead down a rabbit hole of literary exploration.

Beginning my quest by analyzing works celebrating an anniversary year, I found myself in the middle of a pastoral tale full of drama, love, and a surprising amount of sheep, as known as Thomas Hardy’s fourth novel, Far from the Madding Crowd.

Far from the Madding Crowd as it appeared in January 1874 for Cornhill readers.

In January 1874, Thomas Hardy obliged Sir Leslie Stephen, editor of Cornhill Magazine, by publishing his novel serially for Cornhill readers to enjoy. Describing his work as a story involving “a young woman-farmer, a shepherd, and a sergeant of cavalry,” Hardy set forth on a yearlong adventure of watching the public and critics receive his novel before him (Hardy 1928, 125). Later that year on November 23, 1874, Hardy saw the publication of his work in its entire form. While reading the novel, which is an experience in and of itself, is where some people end their journey down this Victorian English path, the Rubenstein’s holdings allow for a much deeper dive of Hardy’s process to and through publication, from an exploration of his title to the aftermath of the story in his wake.

While we can give Hardy credit for the storyline and characters that emerge in his novel, the title must be attributed to another prominent figure in English poetry, Thomas Gray. Hardy’s use of Far from the Madding Crowd is a direct reference to Gray’s 1751 poem, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, where Gray writes:

“Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife

Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray;

Along the cool sequester’d vale of life

They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.”

The Rubenstein is home to various versions of Gray’s poem, many of which include illustrations to accompany the famous line later used in Hardy’s title. An 1850 edition includes illustrations by R. S. Gilbert, depicting two adults and two children in their home, with one woman gazing into the distance while the other helps a child to read. An 1861 edition includes an image, created by E.V.B. and engraved by William Meason, depicting angels in their robes. An 1887 edition includes illustrations by Alfred Woodruff, centering the focus on a cemetery, with plants overtaking the emerging gravestones on the stanza’s partnering page. An 1899 edition pictures a cottage set off from a path, surrounded by the sky and vegetation. While Gray’s poem was published nearly a century before Hardy’s birth, the Rubenstein’s holdings create the space to imagine how Hardy may have seen the poem for the first time, and how its presentation led him to use one of Gray’s lines as the title for his work.

Illustrations from two editions of Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, 1899 (left) and 1861 (right).

Jumping further down the rabbit hole of this investigation, I then pulled two books by Florence Emily Hardy, Hardy’s second wife, with the hope of learning more about the historical context surrounding Hardy’s process of creating and publishing Far from the Madding Crowd. The first of the two books, The Early Life of Thomas Hardy, which covers his life from 1840 to 1891, is where the drama began to unfold. While published under Florence Hardy’s name with an understanding that Hardy himself contributed much of the work, the reception of this book has been contested by some scholars in the field. Some believe that Florence altered much of the text from its original form, a topic covered thoroughly by Michael Millgate in The Life and Work of Thomas Hardy, which was published with Hardy’s name after Millgate edited the work to resemble Hardy’s final version. Other scholars in the field have responded to this controversy, such as Tim Dolin in the 2007 article, “The Early Life and Later Years of Thomas Hardy: An Argument for a New Edition,” calling for Florence Hardy’s text to be reinstated as a credible account. Regardless of the criticism for Florence Hardy’s Early Life, the work presents additional information on Hardy’s writing practices as his novel continued to be published serially in Cornhill.

“So Hardy went on writing Far from the Madding Crowd—sometimes indoors, sometimes out—when he would occasionally find himself without a scrap of paper at the very moment that he felt volumes. In such circumstances he would use large dead leaves, white chips left by the wood-cutters, or pieces of stone or slate that came to hand. He used to say that when he carried a pocket-book his mind was barren as the Sahara” (Hardy 1928, 127).

Florence Emily Hardy’s 1928 publications on the life of her husband, Thomas Hardy.

Duke University is also home to additional texts that provide understanding to the world that Hardy lived in and how it was brought to life on the page. One book in particular, Hardy’s Wessex by Hermann Lea, showcases the real places that served as inspiration for Hardy’s setting, including images to better understand the farmland and lifestyle in Far from the Madding Crowd.

Hermann Lea’s descriptive work on Thomas Hardy’s Wessex,
published in 1913, reprinted in 1928.

The Rubenstein also houses a few of Hardy’s papers in their archive. While they do not speak directly to this novel’s anniversary, they include some of Hardy’s correspondence and an etching of him completed by William Strang, an artist and printmaker who worked with other notable figures like Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Now 150 years old, Far from the Madding Crowd is a story that continues to see itself adapted and discussed. You may have read it in an English course, watched it unfold on-screen, or never heard of the sheep-filled tale before now. No matter the case, Duke Libraries has just enough copies for you to join the fun of guessing who Bathsheba Everdene will marry in the end!

Interested in reading more on the topic of Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd? “Far from the Madding Crowd at 150: Seven Reflections” includes writings from a group of Victorian scholars, all focusing on a different aspect of the text and bringing forth their unique perspectives on Hardy’s work.

Works Cited

Gray, Thomas. Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. London: Printed for the Guild of Women-Binders, 61 Charing Cross Road, W.C., 1899. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Hardy, Florence E. The Early Life of Thomas Hardy, 1840-1891. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1928. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Digital Collections, Featured, Franklin Research Center, From Our Collections

Digging Through the Tapes: Exploring the Behind the Veil Collection Pt. 9

November 7, 2024 John Gartrell Leave a comment

Last month in October we observed both American Archives Month and Informational Literacy Awareness Month. Within the proclamation, President Obama acknowledges the challenges that everyday citizens face as the amount of information we receive and process on a regular basis has increased exponentially over the years. He encourages us to “recognize the important role information plays in our daily lives, and appreciate the need for a greater understanding of its impact.”

Read President Obama’s National Information Literacy Awareness Month Proclamation Here [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2009-10-07/pdf/E9-24290.pdf]

And who better to highlight in this blog post than those who continually care for the information literacy of others than the librarians within the Behind the Veil Collection.

_____________

When using the occupation filter, you will find that there are a total of thirty-four librarians within the collection. One of them an archivist [link to the last blog post], others are also classified as teachers, a lawyer, and even a school librarian. Most of the oral histories belonging to these chief information officers can be found under the North Carolina location tag, with Louisiana coming in as a close second. You may find when searching through these librarians (as well as other parts of the collection) that some of these librarians cannot be accessed, such as Joan Coco’s interview and Carnell Clay, but don’t worry! You can always submit a request to receive a digital copy of the file and if you need some help submitting the request you can contact rlrepro@duke.edu.

There is much to be learned from the librarians within the collection. Much like the archivists, there are not many people that know specifically what librarians do. We often imagine them within libraries, finding and placing books on a shelf, but the interviews within the collection tell us more. Listeners learn not only about the different task that librarians did a various job, the condition of public schools during the time of segregation, and their lives outside of librarianship.

For example, Georgia Sutton who was born in New Bern, North Carolina in 1929 became what was known as a teacher librarian. She attended North Carolina College in Durham (later known as North Carolina Central) because it was one of the only Black colleges that offered a degree in Library Science. This was also the case for Arabelle Bryant who grew up in a small neighborhood not far from Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Bullock explains that when she attended the school in the early 40s, that the Library Science degree was only offered as a minor and thus those who wanted to graduate with it had to choose another major.

Part 1 43:35 “…I majored in Mathematics and minored in Library Science, which was kind of an odd combination because usually it was English or Social Studies or something like that as a major, but I didn’t want either one of those. What I really wanted to do was—my sister was a Home Economics teacher and I wanted to major in Home Economics and minor Library Science, but you couldn’t do that. So, I had to choose. I chose Mathematics. So, my major was really in mathematics. And later they did eventually break up to a full library science program. So I had to go back summers and get my degree in Library Science” (Arabelle Bulluck Bryant)

Condescendingly, after graduating Bryant went to New Bern to work within the school system and Sutton landed her first job in Quitman, Georgia. Instead of going back home, Sutton decided to go to Georgia because they paid year-round, versus in North Carolina where they only paid 9 months out of the year.

Sutton and Bryant both speak about the conditions of public schools during their tenure as teacher librarians. Bryant in New Bern mentions that the newspapers were “all showing how bad the white schools were, old, run-down toilets and things… And so, you know if the whites were like that, imagine what the Black schools were like.” She began teaching at West Street, the only public school as a librarian and math teacher, teaching only math during her first year. She did not work in the library until the current librarian left the school a year later. This is because in North Carolina, as well as all over the south, many schools did not hire full time librarians. Sutton, who also taught math was working during the time of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision. And while she could not remember her feelings toward the decision, she did look forward to Black students being “exposed to all the things that White children were exposed to because under segregation, especially in the South, there was a tremendous difference in how the schools were set up or the materials that were used or given.” Sutton would also teach world history and social studies, speaking to the challenges of being able to teach her children history that pertained to their own heritage. When Rhonda Mawhood, one of the interviewers asked Georgia Sutton whether she was able to teach her students Black history, Sutton answered bluntly:

Part 38:54 “The only way you were going to would do that, you’d have to sneak that in Now. It was just never included in textbooks. Some teachers did it. It was a part of their curriculum but not of the schools… I do know something about my cultural heritage and whatever. But the children today know very little. I will tell you why. For one thing, the White teachers are not knowledgeable of African-American history and they don’t want to be. The majority of them could care less about a Black child’s heritage and he’s being cheated. I feel very strongly about that.” (Georgia Sutton)

And while there are a lot of similarities between the two librarians, one component that sticks out from Sutton’s interview, that was not found in Bryant’s was her mentioning the reason she wanted to become a librarian.

Part 2 34:24: “You must remember there were not many avenues open to us. Teaching was one of them. In fact, it was the main one. As I told you, it was prestigious to be a teacher in the community. You were looked up to. Then too, to tell you the truth, I really liked children. I always have liked to read, and that’s why I went into library science. It was that book thing that got me involved in that, and I still read a great deal” (Georgia Sutton)

Similarly, Sandra Moye Wilson [Sandra Wilson interview record, 1994 June 09 / Behind the Veil / Duke Digital Repository, a Durham native born in 1945, spoke about her love for books and the joy that she found at the library. While she does not plainly state this is what led her into the librarianship, she does state that she knew she was an adult at the age of 10 because “I could take my other brothers and sister and walk them to the library by myself.” Wilson was listed as a librarian but does not talk much about her career. Yet, she does mention that she was active in the NAACP at an early age, helping with voter registration and protests.

Anne McKay Ducan [Anne Duncan interview recording, 1993 June 02 / Behind the Veil / Duke Digital Repository] also has a shorter interview and mentions she too participated in organizations outside of her profession. She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta and a part of the Hampton Alumni Association. She graduated from Hampton University in 1934, double majoring in English, after attending a high school in Fayetteville, North Carolina where she was born.

2:46 “Hampton was a beacon during that time. There seemed to be two choices among the young people who grew up in Fayetteville, Howard University and Hampton Institute. And if you didn’t make it to either one of those, then you were more than apt to remain at home and go Fayetteville State. It was called State Normal then. It’s now Fayetteville University.” (Anne Mackay Ducan)

Ducan would attend college at the age of fifteen, graduating at the age of nineteen. She worked as a teacher for about ten years and then obtained another bachelor’s degree, this time in Library Science from Atlanta. Within her career she would serve as a librarian at the Avery Institute in Charleston, SC and then receive her Master’s in Library Science from Catholic University in Washington. She would work at North Carolina Central’s law library for 25 years, where she enjoyed her occupation the most.

While Sadie Hugh was originally from Texarkana, TX she too was a librarian that worked in Durham, North Carolina, at not only North Carolina Central, but also at the Stanford Warren Library [The History of Stanford L. Warren Branch Library Exhibit (durhamcountylibrary.org)], which is currently located on Fayetteville St.

Group photo of adults and children in front of library — Sadie Hughley slides: On the steps of Stanford Warren Library (segregated), Durham, N.C.: Mrs. Hughley, left rear, Mrs. Merrick, right rear, 1940s [https://repository.duke.edu/dc/behindtheveil/btvst007021001

She began working at the Standofrd Warren Library in the mid-40s and from her interview you can tell that she truly enjoyed her time there. She recalled that there was a public school that was down the block from library, but it was important that they as librarians reached the parents first in order to get to the children, a common sentiment within many of these interviews that involve education.

Part 2 22:40 “But the children would come from school and the parents who were interested in helping their children, they knew that the library was the first stopping place. And we did a library, very, very wonderful things with the children…: I would take them in and develop programs for the children there— Then we decided that we should give the Children’s Library a name. And I put on a contest of the children to come up with things that they would like for their library to be. And one little girl came up with Key Corner, which was perfect. And she won first prize. So, it’s still the children’s library there for the children’s room. It’s called Key Corner.”

Group of children standing in front of desk in library room with books on shelves in background — A group of children gather around a librarian at the desk in the Key Korner. [https://durhamcountylibrary.org/exhibits/slw/archive/sw252.php]

She would continue working at the Stanford Warren Library for eleven years and then transition over to North Carolina Central, gaining her master’s degree in Library Science at the institution and working there for twenty-one years. She would work at the library within administration but mentions that she really enjoyed working with the children at the public library.

Part 2 19:57 “I enjoyed working with children very much. I really did. But I liked books and it meant that getting into more academic part of it was good for me.”

Hughley would work at North Carolina Central for twenty-one years. In that time, she would serve as the President of the Durham Library Association, serve on the National Board of Women’s International, she was a member of the Democratic National Committee and an honorary board member of the United Nations board of directors for the Orange Counties.

These are just a few of the librarians whose impactful stories can be found within the Behind the Veil Collection. Their legacies have shaped the history of Black librarianship and also serve as inspiration for future and present-day librarians. Here at the John Hope Franklin Research Center, we encourage you to delve deeper into this rich collection, where each narrative reflects a journey of resilience and historical relevance!

Image of woman behind library desk assisting young boy with books — Sadie Hughley, seated at her desk, assists a young boy in checking out books. [https://durhamcountylibrary.org/exhibits/slw/archive/sw245.php]

Featured, From Our Collections, Human Rights Archive, New at the Rubenstein Library

An Invitation to the Parker Anderson Collection of Conspiracy Theory Research

November 4, 2024 Kate Collins Leave a comment

Post contributed by Will Runyan, Ph.D., Meyer Human Rights Archive Intern

Pamphlet supporting the 1992 presidential bid of Bo Gritz and containing conspiratorial claims related to the status of George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton as members of Yale’s secret society, Skull and Bones

In the March 22, 1992 issue of the Detroit Free Press, political correspondent Hugh McDiarmid reported on “the biggest, most enthusiastic—and yes, wackiest—presidential rally that I have witnessed in Michigan this year,” which he went on to describe as “a passionately patriotic—if disconnected and, at times, historically inaccurate—journey through conspiracy land.” The candidate on stage was not Republican incumbent George H. W. Bush, Democratic challenger Bill Clinton, or even Ross Perot, the Texas businessman whose independent bid would attract 18.9% of the popular vote. Rather, it was Lt. Col. James “Bo” Gritz, a retired US Army Special Forces officer decorated for his service in Vietnam who ran as the 1992 presidential candidate for the right-wing Populist Party. As McDiarmid notes, Gritz’s candidacy represented a shift from the overtly racist and antisemitic rhetoric of the Populist Party’s 1988 presidential candidate, David Duke. Though Gritz’s two-and-a-half-hour speech in Michigan was not entirely free of slurs, his appeal to a packed community college auditorium rested on suspicions that the US government had been overrun by “unproved and unprovable plots (by international bankers, globalists, Tri-Lateral commission members, etc.) to take over the world,” as McDiarmid skeptically puts it.

Bo Gritz won just 0.1% of the 1992 popular vote, seemingly good evidence that his fringe campaign was precisely that. Yet in the context of the Parker Anderson collection of conspiracy theory research, Gritz’s campaign appears as one of many marginal forces driving the growth of a vibrant conspiratorial ecosystem. Throughout the 1990s, disparate figures, organizations, and fixations increasingly found alignment in a conspiracist worldview predicated on the rise of a tyrannical New World Order orchestrated by shadowy elites with the consent of top US officials. At the same time, this outlook gained increasing visibility and influence in the cultural and political discourse of the United States, spawning infinite variations in subsequent decades from 9/11 conspiracies to QAnon and falsehoods about the ongoing FEMA response to hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Originally published in 1992 by retired Pheonix police officer Jack McLamb, an affiliate of Bo Gritz, this document encourages police officers and members of the armed forces to resist the implementation of New World Order plots by the federal government. Its message is akin to that of today’s Oath Keepers and related militias.

The idea that emergent forms of international cooperation or global governance could endanger the rights and freedoms of average US citizens has circulated in many forms since the end of World War I, often linked to antisemitic tropes, Red Scare fears, or pervasive beliefs about secret societies. The Parker Anderson collection includes small amounts of material dating from the 1960s and 1970s that point to antecedents of the New World Order discourse that exploded in the 1990s, as well as a larger set of materials that offer glimpses of its further evolution in the past two decades—some as recent as May 2024. But the collection’s center of gravity is the period from 1987 to 2001.

To the extent that Parker Anderson, a lifelong Arizona resident and author of works on local history, was an engaged reader of local and state news from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s, exposure to conspiracist views may have been part and parcel of a morning routine—whether through reports on regional militia activity in The Arizona Republic or columns and letters to the editor expressing fears and suspicions about the New World Order in The Prescott Daily Courier. If the clippings from these and other newspapers included in the collection evoke the collector’s incidental brushes with conspiracism, a larger volume of newspaper articles obtained through electronic databases represents a concerted effort to document varied aspects of conspiracist discourse. These, in turn, provide essential context for the collection’s core, composed of conspiracist literature and promotional materials in varied formats: books, booklets, serials, pamphlets, audio and video recordings of speeches and interviews, documentary films, and mailers and catalogs from a variety of publishers and distributors of these materials.

Lecture on tape distributed by John Maffei’s Catholic Counterpoint, one of several extremist Catholic publishers represented in the Parker Anderson collection

Taken together, this body of publications represents a distinctive resource for thinking about conspiracy networks. In addition to highlighting an array of individuals and organizations involved in crafting and disseminating conspiracist content at varying scales, operating in over twenty states and Washington, DC, the collection calls attention to their variable deployment of shared vocabularies in the service of constitutionalist, libertarian, evangelical, Catholic, white supremacist, and antisemitic arguments. Clusters of materials focused on events that served as conspiracy catalysts (the Ruby Ridge standoff in 1992, the Waco siege in 1993, and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995) and on the prolific genre of conspiracy theories about Bill and Hillary Clinton richly document the evolution and convergence of ideas across distinct sources.

Antisemitic booklet from the early 1980s. Later New World Order conspiracy literature inherited the ideas boldly announced on the cover, expressed both in explicitly antisemitic terms and indirectly with references to international financial institutions.

Documentation focused on a range of organizations and individuals offers another valuable means of navigating a cacophony of New World Order conspiracies. The organization best represented in the collection is the right-wing political advocacy group Liberty Lobby, which played an outsized role in bringing conspiracist views into the mainstream through publication of the populist and anti-establishment weekly newspaper The Spotlight, sponsorship of the radio talk show Radio Free America, and distribution of books in the same vein. Among the best represented individuals is Bo Gritz, whose conspiracist trajectory extends well beyond the 1992 presidential race. Each entity draws elements of the larger collection together in a distinct way. In the case of Liberty Lobby, materials produced and distributed by the organization seamlessly integrate the most disparate conspiratorial strands, among them stolen elections, miracle cures for cancer, Holocaust denial, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the idea of FEMA as vehicle of authoritarianism. In the case of Bo Gritz, strands of conspiracism seem to grow together through an idiosyncratic life path progressing from private missions into Vietnam and Laos in the 1980s, motivated by the belief that abandoned POWs were held there, to attempts to mediate between federal authorities and white supremacist militia figures in the 1990s.

While the Parker Anderson collection captures only the early evolution of conspiracist discourse in the internet age through a variety of web publications, and subsequent developments linked to social media are largely absent, those unfamiliar with the “conspiracy land” of the 1990s may be surprised to find its degree of continuity with claims and perceptions surrounding the 2016, 2020, and 2024 US presidential elections. Anyone seeking to understand the roots of the conspiratorial present will find that the collection offers a wealth of strange, often unpleasant, but essential reading.

Article discussing Bo Gritz’s efforts to mediate between federal law enforcement and the Montana Freemen which also includes a sketch of his biography.

Featured, Franklin Research Center, From Our Collections

Digging Through the Tapes: Exploring the Behind the Veil Collection Pt. 8

October 31, 2024 John Gartrell Leave a comment

Post contributed by Mattison Bond, Outreach and Research Associate, John Hope Franklin Research Center

Behind the Veil: American Archives Month and the Celebration of Libraries

While the first thing that may come to people’s mind about the month of October is Halloween, pumpkin spice, and the beginning of the holiday season. But the month of October is also American Archives Month. Meant to remind and celebrate the importance of archives and those who protect them, American Archives Month is also the time to give a big thank you to those who work hard to protect, enhance, and make the archives accessible to everyone.

And since the Behind the Veil collection is considered a digital archive, its only right to highlight the only archivist within the collection. Florence Borders, born 1924 (in New Iberia, LA) is not just any oral history interview. Florence Edwards Borders was an influential black archivist that left a legacy not only through her papers but also through her recorded oral history which can be found here: https://repository.duke.edu/dc/behindtheveil/f0174cbd-e7f1-418d-89dc-1134add4debc

African American woman in pink suit jacket wearing glasses — Image of Florence Borders found at https://obits.nola.com/us/obituaries/nola/name/florence-borders-obituary?id=1741328

Born Florence Edwards, Borders oral history is rich with details about her family as they were living in New Orleans during a time of segregation. Har father, a teacher instilled a love for education within all of his children, regardless of the discrimination going on around them. After striving to obtain his own education, he began to focus on making sure his children received a decent education while learning to navigate through the period of Jim Crow segregation.

Part 1 8:30 “So, I had learned to read early. And as I would be going to Drive Street with my father…. I would spell out words. And one word that I kept seeing was C-O-L-O-R-E-D. And I was trying to sound out the word, and I said, “Colored. What is Colored?” He told me, “That’s Colored, and it means you.” And I was looking at things that were marked for my use that looked different from things that had W-H-I-T-E over them, and I always wanted to know why these things didn’t look as nice, why the lunch counter in the ten cent store that had Colored on it was at the back and were smaller and just less attractive in general…And so my father was trying to help me understand the kind of society in which I had to live. And he just told me that no matter what labels other people placed on me, I determined what I was. And so, I didn’t really fret a great deal about going to public schools that didn’t have enough textbooks and that did not want to let us have new ones at any rate. I got to think that the people who made these decisions were kind of stupid…”

Her love for reading and books would increase because of her father. He would collect books while he was in college and afterward begin to subscribe to Black papers and magazines. She mentions that while they did not have a library to hold all the materials, her father would continue to grow their collection. And while the materials and lessons that she received from the public school were not up to standard, her father would continue to make sure she had new books every school year. Perhaps it was during this time in her life that Borders was influenced the most to pursue a career in librarianship.

She would attend the historic McDonogh 35, the first and only four-year public high school for African Americans during that time, during her 10^th and 11^th grade years. After graduation she would start college at her father’s alma mater, Southern University in Baton Rouge. At the beginning of World War II, she would start her freshman year. She recalls listening to the radio to hear about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This would affect the college experience for many students as many of the young men begin to start preparing to leave for war. “A lot of the girls cried, sometimes because the young men involved were tehri boyfriends… This was a goodbye, and our paths might never cross again. So instead of all the joy that I had expected for my freshman year of college, within a few more weeks, the country was at war.” (Part 3 1:34)

Another effect of the war was the marriage of many of the female college grads to their male classmates as they returned from the war and re-enrolled in school under the G.I. Bill. An increase of students on college campuses also meant that that were a need for more staff. And so, after finishing library school, with a slew of jobs that needed filling in front of her, Borders, decided to work at Bethune Cookman College. It was here that she met and married her husband, James. B. Borders III, a G.I. that was returning to gain his education as well.

But Borders was not concerned about the returning G.I.s when it came to picking where she would work.

Part 3 13:15 “So I could have had my pick of jobs just about because librarians were very much in demand. And so, I chose to go to Bethune Cookman College because of Mrs. Bethune. I looked forward to meeting her, and I hoped that I was going to meet Zora Neale Hurston, who had once been employed on the campus. And I did not know that she was no longer employed there, so about the first thing I wanted to know when dawn came—I arrived in the middle of the night—where is Zora Neale Hurston?”

This would only be one of the many institutions that Borders would share her expertise with. She would serve as a catalog librarian at Tennessee State University and then a move to Grambling State University after the sudden death of her husband. The longest part of her career was spent at the Amistad Research Center where she was first considered an archivist. It was here that Borders would leave a lasting impression by constantly championing and uncovering the lives of Black women within the collection. She would retire from the Amistad in 1989.

You can view her papers that are at the Amistad Research Center here: Collection: Florence Borders papers | ArchivesSpace Public Interface (tulane.edu)

Borders would publish papers and articles that would highlight the lives of Black women in Louisiana and their legacies. She would also create a group called the Chicory Society in 1983 that would continue to honor the contributions of African American in Louisiana. She would consult on documentaries and televisions programs. “She appeared in Liberty Street Blues, a documentary movie about the history of New Orleans jazz, and worked as a researcher for The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow. The late filmmaker Marlon Riggs drew on her expertise for his documentary, Black Is, Black Ain’t, and she was consulted for the film House Divided…” (Source)

And even as she continuously worked within her passion as a researcher, writer and archivist, she was still dedicated to the people around her, wanting to bring more young black professionals into her field.

Part 4 9:39“Now I’m hoping that I can influence some of out students to become archivist because there are not that many African American archivists. We have a little what we call third world archivist within the Society of American archivist and I’d like to see more of our young people come into the pression. I’m hoping that Ill influence a couple of kids from SUNO to choose that as profession”

You can listen to her interview here: Florence Borders interview recording, 1994 June 20 / Behind the Veil / Duke Digital Repository

And check out some of the other sources:

The Black Librarians Project [https://lhrt.news/honoring-black-women-librarians/]
“Florence E. Borders: Archivist, Librarian, and Scholar (1924-2018)” [https://lhrt.news/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/borders-florence-e.docx.pdf]
Neal, Kathryn M. “Borders on Excellence: Florence Borders Carves Out Career in Libraries and Archives.” Archives & Archivists of Color Newsletter 12, no. 1 (Spring 1998). [https://files.archivists.org/groups/aac/newsletter/AACv12n1.pdf]

Featured, From Our Collections, History of Medicine, Students and Interns

Translating Ancient Medical Knowledge in a 16th-Century Gynecological Encyclopedia

October 3, 2024 ebg17@duke.edu 1 Comment

Post contributed by Madeline Huh, Trent History of Medicine Intern, MSLS student at UNC Chapel Hill.

I’ve been working as the History of Medicine intern at the Rubenstein Library for a little over a month now, and in my short time working here, I’ve had the opportunity to look at some truly remarkable materials–from the gorgeous illustrations of Elizabeth Blackwell’s A curious herbal, to handwritten notebooks by nineteenth-century Japanese physicians, to an atlas of midwifery from 1926. And, of course, I’ve also had the chance to look at fascinating historical artifacts like the 16th century Scultetus bow saw, an 18th century trephination kit, and a very intriguing little box of pills labeled as “female pills.”

One of my favorite books I’ve encountered so far has been the Gynaeciorum, an encyclopedia of obstetrics and gynecology compiled in the 16th century by Conrad Gessner and Hans Kaspar Wolf. It is the first gynecological encyclopedia to be published, and I was surprised to discover that an entire book was dedicated to this topic in the 16th century. The Gynaeciorum combines the works of several different ancient and medieval medical authors who wrote about women’s health. A few of these include Trota, a twelfth-century female physician and medical writer; Abū al-Qāsim Khalaf ibn ʻAbbās al-Zahrāwī, one of the great surgeons of the Middle Ages; and Muscio, the author of a treatise on gynecology from ca. 500 CE.

The subject matter of the book often goes beyond what we generally think of as the realm of gynecology and obstetrics, exploring neonatal and pediatric inquiries as well. One section asks, “What should be the first food that we give to an infant?” The provided answer is, “Something like bread–that is, crumbs poured into honey-wine, preserved fruit, or milk, or perhaps a drink made of spelt, or porridge” (Gynaeciorum, 79–translation from Latin is my own). Other inquiries discuss menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum health.

I was also very intrigued to find the first printed edition of Muscio’s Gynaecia at the back of the book, printed in Greek no less, which struck me as unusual. In medieval Europe, it was more common for Greek works to be translated and disseminated in Latin, rather than the other way around. Literacy and interest in Greek in the west decreased during this period before a revival of interest in Hellenistic culture and language occurred during the Renaissance. I did a little research on the medieval manuscript transmission of Muscio, and what I discovered was a very convoluted story of translation, retranslation, and misattribution.

According to Monica Green, a historian of medieval medicine and women’s health, Muscio (who is also known as Mustio in some places–not to be confused with Moscion, who is another ancient medical writer entirely) originally wrote a treatise on gynecology in Latin around 500 CE known as the Gynaecia. This was probably a translation and paraphrase of the Greek Gynaikeia by the physician Soranus of Ephesus who was active around 100 CE. Muscio’s work was copied into several manuscripts in western Europe during the 9th, 10th, and 11th centuries, and his work was popularized later in the Middle Ages, eventually being translated into French, English, Dutch, and Spanish. But intriguingly, Muscio’s treatise on gynecology was also translated into Greek within the Byzantine Empire. Finally, in 1793, the Greek translation was retranslated back into Latin by Franz Oliver Dewez! I can only wonder how close (or far) Dewez was to Muscio’s original language and phrasing.

All of this was fascinating to learn. Looking at the edition of Muscio in the back of the Gynaeciorum, we see that Gessner and Wolf, who were working in the 16th century, have chosen to present it in its Greek form. I wonder, then, did Gessner and Wolf know about the manuscript transmission of this text and that it was originally written in Latin? I assume they did, based on the fact that we see a Latin preface to Muscio’s Gynaecia included at the very beginning of the Gynaeciorum. So did Gessner and Wolf include the Greek version in the book to appeal to contemporary interest in Greek language and literature, or for another reason? And what information about women’s health and childbirth has been lost or misinterpreted in the process of translation and retranslation? My deep dive into Gessner, Muscio, Soranus, and the transmission of gynecological texts has left me with even more questions than I started with.

CHOPE 2024 Summer Institute

September 18, 2024 Leah Tams Leave a comment

Post contributed by Andy Armacost (Head of Collection Development and Curator of Collections), Laura Micham (Director, Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture and Curator, Gender and Sexuality History Collections), Zachary Tumlin (Project Archivist, Duke family papers), and Nestor Lovera Nieto (Part-time Research Scholar for the Economists’ Papers Archive and Visiting Scholar at the Center for the History of Political Economy).

Three months ago on Monday, June 10th, around two dozen participants in the Center for the History of Political Economy’s (CHOPE) 2024 Summer Institute met with four staff members from the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library for a showing of items in the Economists’ Papers Archive (a joint venture between CHOPE and the Rubenstein). The Summer Institute was started in 2010 with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and is an annual two-week long event that brings together faculty and PhD students in economics to examine various topics in the history of the field. This year’s focus was on preparing participants to design and teach their own undergraduate-level course on the history of economic thought, along with showing how such concepts and ideas might be introduced into other classes.

Andy Armacost

While many of the collections in the Economists’ Papers Archive relate to documenting the careers of individual economists, the archive also holds some related collections that offer a larger context for the history and range of work that encompasses this discipline.

A table with several archival boxes and documents laid out on top of it. — Andy Armacost’s CHOPE 2024 table

One goal of the Archive is to chronicle the historical development of the field, and a key early work in this narrative is Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, published in 1776. This work explores the role of markets, international trade, and economic decision making. In it, Smith famously describes market forces acting as an “invisible hand” that guides economic decision making.

The Archive also holds organizational papers, including those of the American Economic Association (AEA; founded in 1885) and its journal American Economic Review. These papers represent more than a century of economic thought and the participation of a broad range of economists, and include correspondence from international economists like John Maynard Keynes, who corresponded on behalf of the Royal Economic Society.

The Archive also holds the papers of economists working in government, such as Federal Reserve Chairman Arthur Burns, who served during the Nixon administration. This collection preserves correspondence between the President and Chairman and their discussions related to economic policy and decisions related to the administration’s ending of the gold standard for US currency.

Laura Micham

The Economists’ Papers Archive holds the papers of several notable women economists, such as Anita Arrow Summers, Anna Schwartz, Juanita Morris Kreps, Charlotte DeMonte Phelps, Barbara Bergmann, and Mary Morgan. Though these scholars emerged from a range of backgrounds and intellectual traditions, and each took different professional paths, they all seem to have been animated by an interest in living independent lives and a realization that financial independence was crucial to that goal.

During this event, I shared materials from each of these collections that offer a window into these women’s contributions to the field of economics and to society:

Professor Anita Arrow Summers’s graduate student work in Professor Jacob Viner’s class during the mid-1940s in the University of Chicago Economics Department.
Memos and other correspondence between Professor Juanita Morris Kreps and President Jimmy Carter when she served as Secretary of Commerce in his administration.
A hand-written manuscript detailing Professor Barbara Bergmann’s groundbreaking scholarship on women and children, “A ‘Cost-Sharing’ Formula for Child Support Payments.”
Heavily annotated writings of Professor Charlotte DeMonte Phelps documenting her contributions to behavioral economics.
A colorful box of materials from the recently acquired Mary Morgan papers alongside annotated drafts of her 2017 book chapter, “Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors: Drawing New Ontologies.”

An archival box with folders and papers of different colors, as well as a couple of documents, on a table. — The “colorful” box from the Mary Morgan papers.

Zachary Tumlin

My goal was to show different types of material to illustrate the ways in which a researcher might use our collections. Correspondence is typically the most sought-after material, but writing, teaching, and professional service files can also be valuable to researchers. We also hold electronic records and audiovisual material.

Marc L. Nerlove papers

Three folders of correspondence, ranging from a single handwritten letter from John Nash (1953) to one of five folders with Ta-Chung Liu (1959-1975). Liu was clearly not just one of Nerlove’s former professors, but also a close friend.
Lecture notes for “Introduction to Econometrics” (1948), taught by Jacob Marschak at the University of Buffalo. This collection includes a large amount of teaching material created by Nerlove over the course of his 60-year career, plus a smaller amount created by others.

Anthony B. Atkinson papers

Two of four folders for Atkinson’s article “On the Measurement of Inequality” (1970), which has been cited over 10,000 times. This file includes not only the published version but drafts and notes, which show how this notable writing came to be.
One of three folders related to Atkinson’s knighthood, including the initial offer letter (2000) asking if he would like to accept. This collection includes an atypical amount of personal material and offers insight into his hobbies and family relationships.

A table with folders and documents laid out on top of it. — Zachary Tumlin’s CHOPE 2024 table

Randall Hinshaw papers

A representative folder from the Bologna Claremont Monetary Conferences series that is full of correspondence. Hinshaw was the “primary driver” behind this conference series, which “brought together Nobel Prize winners and high-level diplomats, businessmen, and politicians to discuss current world developments.”

Raymond C. Battalio and John B. Van Huyck papers

A demo of a Bayesian learning experiment copied from a 3.5” floppy disk that can be played by a single individual against a simulated opponent using DOSBox. This experiment came from the Economic Science Laboratory at the University of Arizona and is copyrighted 1991-1993, when Vernon Smith was still there.

Paul A. Samuelson papers

A digitized copy of “The Economy Prize” (1970), which contains an interview with Samuelson, originally on 16mm film.

Nestor Lovera Nieto

“Correspondence can help researchers to better understand the development of economic thought, the public and private motives of individuals, and the process of interaction within and across intellectual communities” (Weintraub et al. 1998, 1498).

This citation was my inspiration for choosing most of the materials that I wanted to show to the participants of the Summer Institute. As a researcher in the history of economic thought, I believe that correspondence can contain valuable information that can be the starting point for not only writing a paper but also initiating a research project.

Jack L. Treynor papers

Treynor’s correspondence file on Fundamental Indexation, which contains debates between various individuals on the subject. This was unusual for him because he otherwise arranged correspondence by person or date.

Kenneth J. Arrow papers

Arrow’s correspondence file for Janet Yellen (the current US Treasury Secretary), which includes letters of recommendation from him.
One folder from Arrow’s file on ECON 200 at Stanford University, which was a course that he taught on the history of economic thought. This folder includes a syllabus and correspondence.
The certificate that accompanied Arrow’s Nobel Prize medal, which he was awarded in 1972 for his contributions to general equilibrium theory and the welfare economy.

Paul A. Samuelson papers

One folder from Samuelson’s correspondence file with Arrow, which includes exchanges that illustrate the disagreement between these two regarding the Bergson-Samuelson social welfare function.

Weintraub, E. Roy, Stephen J. Meardon, Ted Gayer, and H. Spencer Banzhaf. “Archiving the History of Economics.” Journal of Economic Literature 36, no. 3 (1998): 1496–1501.

Digital Collections, Featured, Franklin Research Center, From Our Collections

Digging Through the Tapes: Exploring the Behind the Veil Collection Pt. 7

September 11, 2024 John Gartrell 1 Comment

Welcome Back to Durham!

School is back in session and we at the John Hope Franklin Research Center would like to welcome back all the students! For September, we want to focus on the place that so many students, academics, and residents call home, Durham, North Carolina.

You cannot talk about the history of black business without mentioning the legacy of Black Wall Streets. The collective effort of African Americans through business ownership and the growth of communities through increased financial means was a product of Jim Crow and segregation throughout the South. After the Civil War, while still barred from opportunities of their white counterparts, African Americans took advantage of their new status as citizens by taking matters into their own hands and creating the American dream for themselves.

In the late 19^th, early 20^th century places like the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Auburn Historic district in Atlanta, Georgia, Farish Street in Jackson Mississippi, and West Ninth Street in Little Rock, Arkansas were filled with insurance agencies, banks, barber shops and other black owned businesses. More importantly they served as cultural hubs that fostered community collectiveness through churches, clubs and organizations, and schools.

And because we are located in the beautiful and historic city of Durham, it is only right to discuss the history of Black Wall Street that prospered in the Hayti District, once located between Pettigrew and Fayetteville Streets. This area was filled with black business and neighborhoods that were the homes of many prominent African Americans figures. Some of the people found within the Behind the Veil Collection were a part of this historic time, and speak in detail about their lives and the lives of others around them. This week, we learn about these people.

“When Harlem in New York City became the Mecca of the “New Negro” and the center of the Negro Renaissance, the capital of the black bourgeoisie was Durham, North Carolina,” Black Bourgeoisie by E. Franklin Frazier

After W.E.B. DuBois visited Durham in 1912 he wrote “Three men began the economic building of black Durham: a minister with college training, a physician with professional training, and a barber who saved his money.”( The Legacy of Durham’s Black Wall Street | Discover Durham) The three men that DuBois was referencing was Aaron M. Moore, John H. Merrick, and Charles C. Spaulding. Also known as “Triumvirate,” together they grew the first black business that would create the bridge for the creation of other businesses: the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. Started in 1898 (and moving to Parish Street in 1904) NC Mutual, as it is commonly known, would provide investment opportunities, small business loans, and life insurance. It was the first black owned insurance company in the state and the largest in the country, servicing African Americans in not only North Carolina, but later states throughout the south.

Sepia colored advertisement for North Carolina Mutual — An ad for the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association, from the Seeman’s Durham North Carolina Directory, 1911-1912. Photo Source: https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/25144?ln=en

We learn this by listening to the oral history of William (Bill) Alexander Clement [William Clement interview recording, 1993 May 28 / Behind the Veil / Duke Digital Repository]. While Clement was born in South Carolina, his father, Arthur was a North Carolina native. And after Arthur graduated from Johnson C. Smith in 1905, he began working for NC Mutual, establishing an office in Charleston. While in college, Bill knew that he wanted to go into business, and as soon as he graduated, he began working at NC Mutual. He was invited by the agency director to come to Durham and after training for six weeks, he was sent to Memphis to start working for $12.50 a week.

Part 1 31:02 “Things were pretty rough. But $12.50 a week was more than what the teachers were getting. The teachers in South Carolina and Tennessee and mostly Georgia were earning about $37.50 a month. $37.50 a month. And to ger $12.50 a week, that was the equivalent of almost $50 a month.”

NC Mutual was the only job that Clement held in his entire life. Working in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee, Clement would get to know CC Spaulding, Ed Merrick (the son of John Merrick) and Mr. John Hervey Wheeler. He would serve as the region supervisor, assisting director and agency director before named executive vice president in 1975 and retiring in 1978.

Photo of African American man with glasses, white hair and suit — Photo of William Clement from his obituary. Photo Source: https://dlg.usg.edu/record/aarl_afpc_clementwilliamalexander20010401

Ernestine Bynum [Ernestine Bynum interview recording, 1993 May 27 / Behind the Veil / Duke Digital Repository] was born and raised in Durham. Bynum was the granddaughter of a business owner. The Hargrett Funeral Service [Who We Are | Hargett Funeral Service, Inc. of Greensboro (hargettfuneralserviceinc.com)] was created by Joseph C. Hargett in Kinston, NC in 1871. He was one of the first black businessmen in the area. Her father would follow in his father-in laws footsteps creating one of the oldest funeral homes still servicing in Durham today, the Scarborough and Hargett Funeral Home [History & Staff | Scarborough & Hargett Celebration of Life Center, Inc – Durham, NC (scarboroughhargettcelebration.com)].

Black and white photo of man standing with trench coat on next to a table with a derby hat — Joseph C. Hargett. https://www.hargettfuneralserviceinc.com/who-we-are

Bynum’s interview is filled with Durham’s black business history as she details businesses and their locations. And because of where she lived and her parent’s involvement within the community, she grew up knowing some of the most influential leaders of Black Wall Street like “Triumvirate”, because “Most of them lived right up Fayetteville Street.”

Part 1 11:36 “As I said, the library was on the corner of Pedigree Street and Fayetteville Street across from it was Mr. John Merrick’s house. Then you had another house next to that, then was the street where White Rock Baptist Church set on the corner. That was on the right-hand side of the street coming down on the other side of the street. Dr. Moore’s home. And then you had businesses, drug store, Pearson’s Drug Store. Ed Green’s grocery store…Then there was cafeteria. Then on the corner was St. Joseph’s Church and next to St. Joseph’s church was the parsonage. Next to that was WG Pearson…FK Watkins, who was your first Black movie house. And coming down on this side of the street from up there, [indistinct 00:15:52] library. Then there were homes until you got those section you called—That’s what’s what you call Haiti. When they talk about Hayti. And that in there was where you had a theater on this side the street, the Southern Fidelity started on that side the street and coming.”

Along with the history of Durham’s Black Wall Street, listeners also learn about Bynum’s strong opinions about working at the funeral home. She states multiple times that she did not want to have a career in funeral services, regardless of her family legacy. But her loyalty to her father was stronger and she became the first Black women embalmer in the state and the first women president for the Funeral Directors & Morticians Association of North Carolina. She would also end up working at North Carolina Mutual and then at the Merrick Moore School and Lincoln Hospital.

Drawn image of Scarborough family members, three men and one woman looking through phot album — Photo of Scarborough Family members https://www.scarboroughhargettcelebration.com/who-we-are/history-and-staff

These two oral histories are just a tip of the iceberg. Within the collection you can also learn about Nathaniel White [Nathaniel White interview recording, 1995 February 17 / Behind the Veil / Duke Digital Repository}, printing service owner whose business also sat on Parrish Street, Alexander Rivera [Alexander Rivera interview recording, 1995 June 02 / Behind the Veil / Duke Digital Repository ] a journalist approached by Dr. James E. Shepard to start and organize a news bureau at North Carolina College (later North Carolina Central) because his father was his dentist, and many others. With fifty oral histories categorized under the Durham location tag and over one hundred within North Carolina, who knows the stories that one may find that mention Durham’s Black Wall Street!

We hope you’ve enjoyed “Digging Through the Tapes: Welcome Back to Durham” and that you continue to take the time to learn more about the history and legacy of the city you can call home!

Events, Featured, Franklin Research Center

(re)Imaging Archives: Impact of Black Voices in Community Movement, Arts and Education – Sept. 25, 2024

September 3, 2024 John Gartrell Leave a comment

Post contributed by Leah M. Kerr, Our Story, Our Terms Project Archivist

DATE: Wednesday, September 25, 2024

TIME: 11:30-1 ET, 1:30-3 ET, 3:30-5 ET

LOCATION: Zoom webinars (please register to receive links)

Please join Our Story, Our Terms (OSOT) Project Archivist, Leah M. Kerr and her colleagues explore the idea of “(re)Imaging” as the process of updating, recreating, and adding to the representation of Black activists and artists in the predominately white libraries and archives. As if a switch has been flipped, more artists are turning to primary source images for use in their expressions of their lives. More movement activists are recognizing the need to document themselves for their own records, and to provide truth to future historians. These changes also require archivists to accurately describe, arrange, and gather the materials of previously underrepresented communities.

In three conversations, Black activists, artists and archivists gather to discuss the thoughts behind capturing primary sources as art; the need to correctly document actions in movement work; and the steady change of recognizing the need for archives to reexamine traditionally white patriarchal and hierarchical practices that have limited the thoughts on the collection and availability of Blackness in special collections.

Image: (noun) a physical likeness or representation of a person, animal, or thing, photographed, painted, sculptured, or otherwise made visible.

Order of Conversations –

Conversation 1 (11:30am-1:00pm ET ): Say it Loud – Telling Our Stories - explores evolving methods of capturing, interpreting, and documenting Black stories.

jina valentine, artist

Charlie Cobb, SNCC, journalist/author

Alissa Rae Funderburk, oral historian

John Gartrell, archivist

Conversation 2 (1:30pm-3:00pm ET): Fight the Power – New Memory Keeping – offers discussions around the recognition of Memory Work, its applications, and implications for strengthening Black representation.

Zakiya Collier, archivist and memory worker

Malu Brooks, organizer, archivist, PhD candidate

Judy Richardson, SNCC, filmmaker/educator

Michael Morris, museum director

Conversation 3 (3:30pm-5pm ET): Alright – Strengthening the Black involvement in Archives – making Black memory work a movement rather than a moment requires community education, diversifying staff in libraries and archives, and simplifying methods of institutional documentation. But how do we make these things happen?

Leah M. Kerr, archivist

Ida Jones, archivist, historian

Holly Smith, College Archivist, Spelman College

*banner image credit – Aorist gris-gris: (Institutio Oratoria, anise, bearberry, mugwort) by jina valentine, 2012

Digital Collections, Featured, Franklin Research Center

Digging through the Tapes: Exploring the Behind the Veil Collection, Pt. 6

August 21, 2024 John Gartrell

Post Contributed by Mattison Bond, Project Outreach and Research Associate

Digging Through the Tapes: Celebrating Black Business Month in August.

While we celebrate Black History month in February, August also holds a number of African American commemorations and celebrations that are recognized. Marcus Garvey Day is celebrated on August 17^th. Nat Turner’s Revolt and the beginning of the Haitian Revolution also happened within the month of August. Black August, a month-long commemoration that focuses on the lives and works of political prisoners and freedom fighters is meant to be a time of educating and reflecting on the fight for black liberation and those who have risked their lives for it.

August is also Black Business Month. Started in 2004, the month is meant to recognize and support Black entrepreneurs and their businesses. And while you may have taken the time to buy from your favorite black business and support your brother/sister/ cousin/ friend who considers their selves an entrepreneur, we at the John Hope Franklin Center encourage you to take it a step further by learning about some of the black businesses that are mentioned within the Behind the Veil digital collection!

There is an array of oral histories within the collection that mention or focus on Black businesses within the South during Jim Crow. To start there are two oral histories that fall under the occupation of being “self-employed”. One of them belonging to Roosevelt Cuffie [Roosevelt Cuffie interview recording, 1994 June 29 / Behind the Veil / Duke Digital Repository] of Sylvester, GA. The other from Charles Gratton [Charles Gratton interview recording, 1994 June 22 / Behind the Veil / Duke Digital Repository] of Birmingham, AL who became a business owner in 1957/58, operating the Green Acres Café. Green Acres Café is now its own franchise, having multiple locations. It is ran by Charles Gratton’s son, Greg Gratton and has received the 5 Star Business Award, given by the Mayor of Birmingham. You can learn more about its history here: https://www.greenacrescafe.org/

Photo image of Greg Gratton with blue suit, white shirt and striped tie — “Greg Gratton CEO” Image Source: https://www.greenacrescafe.org/copy-of-4th-avenue-history

Image of store front of Green Acres Cafe, Brick building with green awning — Image Source – https://www.greenacrescafe.org/

Other interviews, while not categorized as being self-employed, list the specific occupation of the type of business the person owned. Sammy Gordon [Sammy Gordon, Jr., interview recording, 1995 July 10 / Behind the Veil / Duke Digital Repository] Jr. was a shoe store owner in South Carolina and Mozelle Riddick [Mozelle Riddick interview recording, 1995 July 25 / Behind the Veil / Duke Digital Repository] was a barbershop owner in Norfolk, VA.

When listening to many of the other interviews, you will notice that the interviewers often ask about person’s family history. Those interviewed often going into detail about the lives of their parents, grandparents, and as far back as their great grandparents. And while the person being interviewed may not be a business owner or entrepreneur, you may find that perhaps one of their elders were.

York Garrett [York Garrett interview recording, 1993 June 03 / Behind the Veil / Duke Digital Repository], born in Princeville, NC, the oldest black town within North Carolina, recalls his father owning and operating a grocery store called “Plain and Fancy” in Tarboro, NC. Garrett tells a fascinating story of how this “Black and White” store came into the possession of his father and the relationship that his father had with the previous white owners.

By the time he was born, his father had been owning the store for a few years. His experience in the store would influence his decision to be a store owner himself.

Part 1 37:26 “So after I came back home, I asked Pa, I said, “What you going to do?” I said, “Well, only thing I can see is you train me, Father. If I can get in the pharmaceutical school, I can be a druggist and I could do—All the thing you teach me to selling and all the stuff like that, that would be my field. Only thing about it, it’ll be professional.” So he said, “If that’s what you want to do, do it.” So instead of entering dental school or Howard Medical school, which I didn’t want to do, into Howard’s Pharmaceutical School. And I graduated and came out of school, passed the board. My father was still in business in this store, in Tarboro on Main Street. And saved some money and all of the trouble of it. And he had enough money to buy things that I needed, and I opened my first store. Brand new store, everything custom built, in Edgecombe County, in Tarboro. That was in 19 something. It was 1920. I finished Howard in ’20, in pharmacy, and I took the board that year. It took me a year to build the furniture and everything. The new store, I was going to put up in Tarboro. And I opened my first store May the 2nd, 1921.”

Garrett’s Drug Store was the only Black drugstore in Tarboro at the time and Garrett talks about it with much pride. His oral history not only details a unique personal history within eastern North Carolina, but also stretches into historic Hayti in Durham.

Garrett’s oral history as well as the many others that fall into the category of business owners, even those people who experienced working within a black owned business, share a since of pride and accomplishment that just like those today will pass down to others. Not even Jim Crow could stop the genius and persistence of black ingenuity. Which is why, for Black Business month, we challenge all readers and listeners to not only “buy black” but to also learn about the struggles, success, and determination of black businessmen and women throughout South.

Happy Black Business Month!

Digital Collections, Featured, Franklin Research Center, From Our Collections

Digging through the Tapes: Exploring the Behind the Veil Collection, Pt. 5

August 14, 2024 John Gartrell 1 Comment

Post contributed by Mattison Bond, Project Research and Outreach Associate

We at the John Hope Franklin Research Center are back again with another blog post to highlight some of the unique oral histories that can be found in the Behind the Veil Digital Collection. Last week’s post featured interviews from folks from Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, and South Carolina. This week, we take a deeper look into the collection by focusing on the interesting items that can be found from Tennessee and Virginia.

You can view Part 4 of this series here: Digging through the Tapes: Exploring the Behind the Veil Collection Pt 4 – The Devil’s Tale (duke.edu)

Enjoy exploring!!

Tennessee

While the Tennessee location filter contains over one hundred items, it is also home of a very unique occupation within the collection. There are three baseball players mentioned in the collection and pictures of baseball teams from different universities. Two of the oral histories were recorded in Tennessee and the other was in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Today we will focus on the oral history of Joseph Burt Scott, World War II veteran, left hander, and major league baseball player.

Scott was born and raised in North Memphis to a single mother and four other siblings (one passing in infancy). He attended Corns Avenue School and enjoyed learning and working for what he wanted. He speaks highly of the people in his life throughout the interview. Mentioning the dedication of his mother keeping his siblings within the church, and the refined principle and teachers that molded much of his early life.

At an early age he loved baseball and began playing in Memphis as a child. When moving to Chicago to attend high school, he would continue to play, joining little leagues and amateur leagues within the city. He would join the service in 1942 and play on the service team, being the only black player. Scott seems unphased by this and other instances dealing with race throughout the whole interview. He recalls a time when sitting in a restaurant with his teammates, the waitress and manager refusing to serve him, until his lieutenant threatens to make the whole team leave the restaurant. He does not press the issue, saying that he would “look for further adventures” elsewhere if need be. His upbringing and early experiences instilled in him the ability to effortlessly brush off any of the negative products of Jim Crow and persist with determination.

Part 1 16:39 “And I’ve had a lot of words said that a lot of people wouldn’t like, but in my coming up through Chicago little leagues, my coach would always say, “Let it go in one ear and out the other.” And I did that all the way through my career. I never paid any attention to the bad talk about race. And I enjoyed listening to it because I would be laughing at it. As my coach would say, “Let your bat do the talking and your legs do the running,” and that’s what I did.”

Joseph Scott Profile from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum https://nlbemuseum.com/history/players/scottj.html

Scott would go on to play for many other major professional teams such as the New York Black Yankees, the Pittsburgh Crawford, and Chicago American Giants, and of course the Memphis Red Soxs. There would be times where Scotts would be paid for playing, and other times he would just play for fun because of his love for the sport. He would also play for the Zulu Giants, a team created by Abe Saperstein, owner of the Harlem Globetrotters.

Separate accommodations were a well-known product of the Jim Crow era as it came to many entertainment and sports teams. Scott speaks about it, but never seems discouraged by the discrimination that he faced. Even when he is asked about race relations while working at Teamsters, a union trucking job he worked after getting injured during his baseball career, Scott says this:

Part 1 37:57 “Oh, what I can say, race is always going to be a problem in the world, in the entire world. It’s a culture of an animal, just like we are animals, just like a cat and a dog. They square with each other. But I don’t have no complex, like a lot of folks do. I don’t envy any race. I don’t. I will only tell you that the way I come up, not to beg and not to borrow. I don’t like that. I like to work for what I want and I like to help people. I’ve always been a type of guy that will give out a lending hand, although I may get burned later on by doing it, which I have over the years, but I don’t look back. I still look ahead”

You can listen to the oral history of Joseph Burt Scott here: Joseph Scott interview recording, 1995 June 14 / Behind the Veil / Duke Digital Repository

Virginia

Virginia has a total of 63 oral histories, with a majority of teacher within this part of the collection, most who have multiple occupations. Evelyn Peevy is in some ways no different.

Dr. Evelyn Sears Peevy 1923- 2017, Obituary from Legacy.com https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/pilotonline/name/evelyn-peevy-obituary?id=17672435

Dr. Evelyn Sears Peevy, born in 1923 was a guidance counselor, civil rights leader, and writer in Norfolk Virginia. She grew up in a well to do neighborhood as the daughter of a mother and father that owned two businesses. Her home doubled as a place to live and a commissary that her parents ran. She recalls the rest of childhood, being the seventh among fifteen children and the responsibilities that she had

6:59 “: I cooked. I sewed. I remember I had to sew my brothers’—If they lost buttons on their shirt, it was my job to sew them on because I was next to the oldest girl. Since the oldest one was gone, I did a lot of cooking and sewing, plus working in the store. I got my lessons while I was working in the store. I always felt that my mother had a heavy load, and I wanted to do all I could to help her. So, some of my brothers and sisters called me Miss Goody-Two-Shoe.”

She, along with all of her sisters, graduated from the Hampton Institute. She recalls the culture of Hampton women that was taught to her by the dean of women, having “teas on Sunday afternoon,” not smoking or wearing pants and wearing gloves and hats when going to town to shop.

After graduating from the Hampton Institute majoring in English and minoring in social studies, Dr. Peevy married her first husband. The marriage was unsuccessful and after going back to work, she was given the opportunity to study at Virginia State in counseling. Peevy attended a few different universities, deepening her education. But the running away of her two children served as the largest lesson of her life during this time.

13:35 “They were with my sister in Hampton. They said my sister was pregnant, and she was evil to them. So, the two younger children, they were about 10 and 12, got the little money that I was sending them for spending change, got on their bicycles, went to the grocery store in Hampton, bought luncheon meat and bread, and went to the recreation playground and played all day. My sister finally found them, whipped them profusely, and made them sit down and write me and tell me what they had done. I got that letter, and I cried. I said, “Here I am out here in California trying to learn what to do to help other people, and my own children are suffering.” I never left them again. I started taking them with me to all of the regional conferences and all of the national conventions, because I said it wasn’t worth it if I lose my own children.”

The rest of Dr. Peevy’s oral history details her time within the Iota Phi Lamba Sorority, serving as president for a time. When asked about the racism that she experienced in her life, Dr. Peevy admits that for her it was “like living in a colorless world”. But when she was the head of the guidance department during the time of integration, she started to noticed the effects of racism.

16:22“They sent two women over from North Side Junior High School who were counselors there. They didn’t want to come, and they didn’t want to work under a Black. I had a time with them because they were used to sitting in the lounge reading the paper. What I’d do is go through the lounge to go to the bathroom, and they were saying, “Don’t come over here checking on me.” I said, “I don’t have time to check on you. I had to use the restroom.” You see, that was when I began to realize this thing, this racism is here. Here are these ladies going to come to this Black junior high school and sit around, read the paper or sit in the lounge and could care less about counseling our children.”

While she does not talk about it, she was also the first African American to be appointed to the Norfolk Electoral Board and also served s the Chair of the Advisory Board for Tidewater Community College. She also wrote a weekly column for The New Journal and Guide, a weekly newspaper based in Norfolk Virginia.

Dr. Evelyn Sears Peevy passed in 2017 and is remembered for her work within the schools she served, her sorority, and her community.

You can read more about Dr. Peevy from The New Journal & Guide here: Passes At 94: Dr. Evelyn S. Peevy Remembered for Her Lifetime of Service » The New Journal and Guide

And more importantly listen to her oral history here: Evelyn Peevy interview recording, 1995 August 10 / Behind the Veil / Duke Digital Repository

Woman smiling with glasses, wearing a white suite with green scarf on left shoulder with banquet hall in the background — “In Loving Memory of Alpha Chi’s White Rose Queen Soror Dr. Evelyn Sears Peevy” https://iotaalphachi.org/honoring-leadership

We have come to the end of part of the series that highlights interesting oral histories that can be found under the many location filters that are listed within the collection. But no fear!! We will be back with more interesting oral histories!

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Dispatches from the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Duke University