Dr. Mab Segrest, Fuller-Maathai Professor of Gender & Women’s Studies at Connecticut College, received her M.A. and Ph.D. from Duke University, and became active in lesbian-feminist political and cultural work in North Carolina and nationally during the late 1970s and early 1980s. She left the academy in the early 1980s to work full-time in social movements for the next decade. She is a co-founder of North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence, an organization focused on targeting neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan activity. Segrest’s 1995 book, Memoir of a Race Traitor, narrates this experience. Segrest’s 2002 book, Born to Belonging: Writings on Spirit and Justice, uses travel memoirs in a search for alternatives to the apartheid of her southern childhood.
She is currently working on a social history of Georgia’s state mental hospital at Milledgeville that grows out of her continuing interest in the interface between the intimate and the historical, specifically what constitutes that redundancy of Southern insanity when viewed through archives of an iconic Southern state hospital. Segrest’s personal papers are held by the Sallie Bingham Center.
This program is the culminating event for the Women’s Studies Senior Seminar, which combines feminist and queer theory with historical research on local activists. Co-sponsored by the Sallie Bingham Center, Durham County Library, and Duke Program in Women’s Studies.
Charles “Chuck” Stone Jr. died on April 6 at the age of 89. Stone was a pioneering journalist, a long-time columnist with the Philadelphia Daily News, and co-founder and first president of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Among his notable career accomplishments, Stone was a Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, served as special assistant to Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. from 1965-67, and was a key mediator between alleged criminals and the Philadelphia Police Department. Stone served as Walter Spearman Professor of Journalism at the University of Carolina-Chapel Hill from 1991-2005.
The Chuck Stone Papers were donated to the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture in 2004.
Post contributed by John Gartrell, Director of the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture.
“Alas! My teacher Rabbi Professor Abraham Joshua Heschel is no more…He left this troubled world immensely enriched by his brief presence and sojourn thereon. Demanding of none but himself, Rabbi Heschel’s life was a model for others to follow.”
The Weekly Original Gospel, 1973
The Abraham Joshua Heschel papers abound with examples of Heschel’s commitment to interfaith work as well as commemorations written after Heschel’s death, and the commemoration quoted above highlights both of these aspects. Jacob Teshima, the author of the commemoration above, was a student of Heschel’s at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS). He was also the son of Ikuro Teshima, founder of the Japanese Makuya (tabernacle) movement, or the Original Gospel Movement. The Makuya movement is made up of Japanese Christians who are dedicated to a return to the faith of Hebraic Christianity. This commemoration appeared in a publication of the movement, The Weekly Original Gospel. As part of his commitment to Israel and its people, Ikuro Teshima encouraged Makuya members to learn Hebrew and visit Israel. Ikuro Teshima met with many Jewish leaders in his lifetime including Martin Buber and Zvi Yehuda Kook and spread their teachings to Makuya members.
After helping his father lead the Makuya movement for a few years, Jacob Teshima traveled to New York to work towards his Doctorate of Hebrew Letters (DHL) at JTS. He studied Hasidism under Heschel at JTS and his thesis was entitled “Zen Buddhism and Hasidism: A Comparative Study.” Jacob Teshima’s commemoration reveals his deep respect for Heschel as a teacher and as a religious leader: “Ah, my Rabbi, my dear friend, Abraham Heschel, God’s spokesman in the 20th century of this Earth.”
Heschel addresses the Makuya Pilgrims
When Jacob Teshima was learning from Heschel at JTS, Ikuro Teshima and Heschel began corresponding. According to the letters we have in the Abraham Joshua Heschel papers, Ikuro Teshima hoped to bring Heschel to Japan. On April 23, 1971, Teshima wrote that his son Jacob was “thoroughly enjoying” Heschel’s class and invited Heschel to give lectures in Tokyo and Osaka. He offered to book the round trip air-ticket and was eagerly awaiting his arrival. “Shalom from Japan!” another letter from July 22, 1971 began excitedly. The letter continued, “Our prayer is that, after your visit to Japan, you will remember Japan as your third home, perhaps dearer than America.” Besides extending these invitations to Heschel, Ikuro Teshima also translated God in Search of Man into Japanese and published his translation.
Heschel in his study
In his commemoration, Jacob Teshima included a vignette about a meeting with Heschel on December 22, 1972. Jacob quoted Heschel’s words that afternoon: “Jacob, when I regain my strength, but who knows when that will be; maybe February if I’m lucky; anyhow in May, I hope to visit Japan. I hope you’ll accompany me, Jacob. I’d like to meet your father and see the Makuya people who are so aflame with God’s love.” Unfortunately, Heschel passed away the next day and never fulfilled his wish to visit Japan. But thanks to the Makuya movement’s translation of his books and their dedication to his teachings, Heschel’s presence is alive and well in Japan.
Post contributed by Adrienne Krone, Heschel Processing Assistant
Louisa Van Velsor Whitman. From the Trent Collection of Whitmaniana.
Wesley Raabe, Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Kent State University, has published an edition of the letters of Walt Whitman’s mother, Louisa Van Velsor Whitman, on the Walt Whitman Archive website. Entitled “walter dear”: The Letters from Louisa Van Velsor Whitman to Her Son Walt, the edition includes a critical introduction, images of the original letters, transcriptions, and extensive explanatory annotations on each letter. 144 of the 170 letters in the edition are held in the Trent Collection of Whitmaniana here at the Rubenstein Library.
In addition, Prof. Raabe shares thoughts on editing these fragile letters, and on the treatment they have received from our Conservation Services Department here at Duke, in a thought-provoking blog post entitled “Restoring Fragile Remains: Two Louisa Van Velsor Whitman Letters.” If it strikes a chord with you, please consider adopting an item from the Trent Collection of Whitmaniana or another selection in the Libraries’ new Adopt-a-Book program to support the conservation of our materials.
Finally, Prof. Raabe has created a Twitter account to share excerpts from Louisa’s eminently quotable letters. Follow @MotherWhitman for such gems as:
"so your writin[g?] again leaves of grass well if it dont hurt you i am glad" (To Walt Whitman, February 1868) http://t.co/ntwo3BOn9e
During renovations to the Rubenstein Library, a new carving was discovered in a remote corner of the stacks. The image of a fairly grumpy looking cat is a tribute to a campus friend named Steven Frownington McWhiskers—affectionately known as Steve.
Steve was a local farm cat who took a great interest in the construction on West Campus between 1927 and 1932. Present for everything from the placement of the cornerstone in the Union to the erection of the Chapel spire, Steve was a steadfast friend and critic. His smoldering glare reminded the stonecarvers that even a single errant stone would mar the beauty of the campus. With a low growl and a hiss, Steve reminded all that he watched over them—and did not approve of anything short of perfection.
We fondly remember Steve today for his efforts to ensure that Duke University would be a place of great beauty for people and cats alike.
Post contributed by Valerie Gillispie, Duke University Archivist.
Jean Dominique and Michèle Montas celebrating the anniversary of the station in the Radio Haiti newsroom, 1990. From the Radio Haiti Records.
The Human Rights Archive at Duke University’s Rubenstein Library and the estate of broadcaster Jean Dominique have announced a partnership to preserve the broadcast archives of the journalist’s iconic Radio Haiti station. From the 1960s to 2002, Radio Haiti was that country’s first independent radio station, promoting democratic freedoms, speaking out against human rights abuses, and celebrating Haitian life and culture. The station’s archive includes approximately 2,500 audio recordings of programs, as well as 28 boxes of paper records. Recordings include daily coverage of events, cultural programs, interviews on public affairs, political analysis, and roundtable discussions on different aspects of Haiti’s recent history.
“The Radio Haiti collection is an incredibly important resource for understanding the recent history of Haiti,” said Laurent Dubois, Marcello Lotti Professor of Romance Studies and History at Duke. “Because the station broadcast news and reportage largely in Creole and extensively covered events both in Port-au-Prince and the rural areas of Haiti, the collection gives us unequalled access to an understanding of one of the most important grassroots democratic movements in recent history: the movement that overthrew the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986.”
The Radio Haiti archives were donated to the Rubenstein Library by Michèle Montas, station co-anchor and widow of Jean Dominique. Dominique had an unquenchable passion for Haiti and its people, and his quest for truth and justice may have led to his assassination in 2000.
According to Montas the archives “capture a time and place in which journalists and broadcast journalism played a major role in redefining a country and reaching a people. Beyond Haiti, they bear witness to the turbulent transition from a dictatorship to a functioning democracy. ”
Montas stressed that the archives matter today because they touch on and track issues that remain of paramount importance in Haitian society. “By saving these archives and making them once more accessible to large audiences, Duke and the Rubenstein Library are playing a crucial role in advancing the dialogue about Haiti and its future.”
On April 3, Montas will be at Duke to discuss the history of Radio Haiti and its archive. Archivists from the Rubenstein Library will also share some of the challenges of preserving such a large audio collection and discuss the importance this archive has for the broader Haitian community and the human rights movement. Those interested in learning more about preserving Radio Haiti can visit Duke Library’s Youtube channel. The event is free and open to the public and will be held at 12 p.m. in the Forum for Scholars and Publics, Old Chemistry Building Room 011, on Duke’s West Campus. Lunch will be provided.
The Radio Haiti archives join other recent acquisitions by the Rubenstein Library documenting the history of Haiti, including the records of the National Coalition for Haitian Rights, the Mark Danner Papers, and a scribal copy of the Haitian Declaration of Independence dating from 1804.
The Radio Haiti archives will open for research after conservation review and archival processing are complete. For more information, contact Patrick Stawski, Human Rights Archivist.
The Radio Haiti Records are the fruit of the work of Haitian dissident and “agronomist” Jean Dominique, and chronicle the station’s role in fighting for the people of Haiti. Jean Dominique was assassinated on April 3, 2000. His widow and Radio Haiti partner, former UN Spokesperson Michele Montas, brought the Radio Haiti Records to the Rubenstein Library last year, and while it has its challenges – its primary language is Haitian Kreyol and its 3,420 analog tape recordings have spent the better of their lives in a mold-inducing tropical climate – it is that rare collection where value (historical, cultural, human) outweighs almost any conceivable obstacle to making it accessible.
To begin the process of digitizing the recordings, as a first step to transcription and translation, we have created a small pilot project that tests our capabilities and captures the kinds of numbers we need to evaluate the costs associated with preserving Radio Haiti in the long term. We made the video below to demonstrate some of the basic considerations in approaching the preservation of this important collection. For more information, check out the Preservation Underground blog, where Head of Conservation Beth Doyle discusses the process we used to clean the mold off the tapes.
Post contributed by Craig Breaden, Audiovisual Archivist
Date: Monday, March 31, 2014 Time: 5:30 p.m. Location: Room 102, Duke Medical Center Library Contact: Rachel Ingold, rachel.ingold@duke.edu or 919-684-8549
Please join the History of Medicine Collections for our spring Trent History of Medicine Lecture Series event. We are pleased Dr. Edward C. Halperin, M.D., M.A., will be presenting, “A Defense of the Humanities in Medical Education.” In his lecture, Dr. Halperin will distinguish between medical humanism and the medical humanities, discuss the role of the medical humanities in medical education with particular emphasis on the role of medical history, and provide some specific examples of the value of the humanities in the education of physicians.
Dr. Halperin was on the faculty at Duke from 1983 to 2006. He was the LR Prosnitz Professor of Radiation Oncology and the RJ Reynolds Professor of Medical Education. From 2006 to 2012 Dr. Halperin was dean of the School of Medicine, Ford Foundation Professor of Medical Education, and professor of radiation oncology, pediatrics, and history at the University of Louisville and university vice provost.
Dr. Halperin’s research has focused on pediatric cancer and the history of racial, religious, and gender discrimination in higher education. He is the co-author/editor of the first five editions of the textbook Pediatric Radiation Oncology and of the fifth and sixth editions of Principles and Practice of Radiation Oncology. He has published more than 200 articles in the peer-reviewed scientific, historical, education, and ethics literature.
Dr. Halperin is currently Chancellor for Health Affairs and Chief Executive Officer at New York Medical College and Professor of Radiation Oncology, Pediatrics, and History as well as Provost for Biomedical Affairs at Touro College.
Date: Thursday, March 27, 2014 Time: 6:00 p.m. Location: Room 217, Perkins Library Contact: Kelly Wooten, kelly.wooten@duke.edu
In honor of its 25th anniversary, the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture will host an evening with author, playwright, teacher, and feminist activist, Sallie Bingham, who will reflect on 25 years of documenting women’s history at Duke and offer her vision for the Center’s next 25 years.
Rachel Seidman, Associate Director, Southern Oral History Program, at UNC-Chapel Hill and visiting lecturer in Women’s Studies at Duke University, will begin the program with her perspective on Bingham Center contributions to preservation, teaching, and activism.
In 1988, the Women’s Studies Archivist position was created thanks to the generosity of author, playwright, teacher and feminist activist Sallie Bingham. In collaboration with pioneering historian Anne Firor Scott, Duke Women’s Studies’ Founding Director Jean Fox O’Barr and then head of Special Collections Robert Byrd, Sallie Bingham determined that Duke was the right place to create a new archive for women’s history. The center was permanently endowed in 1993 and named the “Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture” in 1999 to honor Bingham’s vision and legacy.
Thought “Dirty Durham” was new? Turns out, in the early 20th century people already thought Durham was dirty, as this undated flyer from our collections shows. However, they weren’t saying “Keep it Dirty, Durham.” They wanted to change “Dirty Durham to Cleaner Durham.”
Post contributed by Kate Collins, Research Services Librarian
Dispatches from the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Duke University
