Paula Henry

“I feel Kuumba is a funnel through which information, feelings, political climate, racial dilemmas can be acknowledged and resolved.  In order to achieve our highest potential we must recognize ourselves, our culture and values. It’s time that we name ourselves, understand ourselves and create for ourselves!”

Paula Henry, “Spotlight on Alaska Artists.” Drum Beat.

Kuumba Black Artists Network, Inc. was a non-profit organization founded in 1981 by Paula Henry and Norma Johnson.  Kuumba is Swahili for creativity and is one of the Seven Principles of Kwanza (Nguzo Saba).  Kuumba’s mission was to “maintain a positive creative educational force that seeks to help define, recreate, and interpret the Afro-American experience through artistic creation.”   Documentation of their efforts to do so can be found in the Kuumba Black Artists Network, Inc. records at A&SC. To prepare for this blog entry, I perused the collection.  The scrapbook was my favorite part because I got a glimpse into the passion that imbued the organization. From newspaper clippings, clippings from their newsletters, to photographs of events and meetings, I was able to decipher a story of activism, art, wisdom, and hope. What do you see?

As you flip through the first few pages of the album you can see how important the order is in providing context  about each individual item while creating an overarching story.  In addition, you may notice that the scrapbook was a magnetic photograph album.  I say “was” because the materials were removed from the scrapbook and placed in acid free folders and archival safe photo enclosures. The order the materials were placed in the scrapbook was preserved.  But in order to preserve both the order and the placement these photos in the scrapbook, these pictures were taken. So that the Kuumba’s overarching  story/context can also be preserved.

If you’re just tuning in, we’re celebrating Black History Month here at the Archives & Special Collections blog (with a brief detour for some Valentine’s Day affection).  Mariecris and I have been highlighting collections from our archives that focus on the history of blacks in Alaska, and the collection that I’d like to focus on today is the Alaska Black Caucus, Inc. records.

The Alaska Black Caucus was founded in 1975 as a non-profit organization whose purpose was to advance the educational, cultural, political, and economic well-being of African Americans in Alaska.  Many prominent black Alaskans were involved in the Caucus during its heyday, including our current Democratic state senator Bettye Davis and Anchorage journalist and activist E. Louis Overstreet, who Mariecris wrote about last week.  Our collection of archival material relating to the Caucus documents the history of its operations from its founding up to 1993 and includes the organization’s business correspondence and records, newsletters, photographs of its activities, speeches of its directors, and a series of scrapbooks (shown in the photo here) that offer a window into the first decade of the Caucus’s political and social influence through newspaper clippings, photographs, and event programs.

scrapbook pages from the Alaska Black Caucus records.

For me, though, the most interesting materials in the collection are the Alaska Black Caucus’s position papers on a number of local and national concerns facing Alaskans in the late 1970s through the early 1990s.  The Caucus presented these papers to the Alaska legislature nearly every legislative session as official statements of support for or argument against proposed bills and other significant issues impacting black Alaskans.  The topics vary from issues of obvious relevance, such as sentencing patterns of minority offenders in the judicial system and affirmative action hiring practices in Alaskan industries, to more obscure concerns like the Caucus’s support of voting rights for the citizens of Washington, D.C.  Additional letters to Alaskan governors and other public officials over the years reveal the Caucus’s more personal commentaries on black appointments to government positions or the effects that changing taxation policy would have on the state’s minority populations.  It’s a fascinating glimpse into the changing concerns of Alaskans over nearly 15 years and the ways in which the Caucus sought to influence or respond to legislative opinion on issues that could impact the quality of life for black Alaskans.

In April 1955, Carleton Miller of Augusta, Maine took a job working on the setup of the White Alice sites here in Alaska.  He left his wife of eighteen years, Rita, back home in Augusta while he traveled around Alaska and wrote to her nearly daily about where he was, what he was doing, and yes, how much he missed her.  He was able to go home briefly at Christmas 1955, and she traveled to Anchorage to visit him for two weeks in April of 1956.  He wrote her a letter on April 17, 1956, the night she left Anchorage to go back to Augusta, and that’s the one we want to share with you.  We excerpted it, a little. And then we asked a great friend of ours, Scott Baker, to record it for us.  Here it is. Carleton to Rita.

Carleton’s job ended in August 1956 and he moved back to Rita in Maine.  And that’s all we know about Carleton and Rita from there on out.  But in the meantime, we have this glimpse of the two of them. On stationery and in an envelope from the Westward Hotel, with a postmark of 11:00 pm, two hours after Carleton started writing the letter.

A moment of love, preserved in time, to remind us.

Black History -Will no longer be taught in the context of slavery then freedom, of our arrival in the country before the Mayflower in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. – Yes earlier than Mayflower dropping anchor at Plymouth Rock. -As you study history the best way to acquire knowledge is after a teacher tells you what happened on a given date, you ask the question why it happened.

The above quote was taken from E. Louis Overstreet’s speech notes he used when giving a speech to Romig Middle School, February 26^th, 1986. Written in cursive on index cards, researchers can visit the Archives and view photocopies of those index cards as well as other materials in the E. Louis Overstreet papers.

E. Louis Overstreet was born in DeKalb, Mississippi on October 9^th, 1941. Overstreet moved to Alaska in 1975 to work as a staff engineer for the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company.  From 1981-1986 he was an editorial columnist for the Anchorage Times.  E. Louis Overstreet was involved with the Anchorage community, serving as president of the Alaska Black Caucus, chairman of the Municipality of Anchorage Martin Luther King Tribute Committee; member of the Alaska Pacific University Board of Trustees, on the Common Sense for Alaska Board of Directors, and the University of Alaska, Anchorage Citizen Advisory Committee.  Materials in his papers document Overstreet’s work and his commitment to education, the community, and history.

I chose the above quote for a variety of reasons.  Having a quote from a speech given about Black history by E. Louis Overstreet, who wrote Black on a Background of White: a Chronicle of Afro-Americans‘  Involvement in America’s Last Frontier,felt like perfect way to kick off Black History Month. His speech notes provide insight into the message Overstreet was conveying to his Romig middle school audience.  Overstreet talks about the importance of learning and exploring history. He illustrates the multicultural nature of American history; that American history is a compilation of varying narratives.  In describing American history as multilayered, Overstreet asks his audience to broaden the scope of African American history beyond the “context of slavery then freedom” and to learn and document a more holistic history of African Americans. To do this himself, he published a book on the history of African Americans settlers, soldiers, community members, and politicians that helped build Alaska. Part of exploring and documenting Black history involves preserving and making historical materials available for researchers.  And it is for this reason that archival collections like the E. Louis Overstreet papers are important.  The records not only document his historical researches, but become a part of the fabric of Alaskan history too.

Last week, we had a visit to the Archives by Channel 2 (KTUU) to film a segment on African American history in anticipation of February’s Black History Month.  The collection they were most interested in seeing and talking to us about – and by “us” I really mean “Arlene,” as MC and I hid in our respective offices once the camera was turned on – was the George Harper Blacks in Alaska History Project records .  Once we found that out, there was a collective sigh among us archivists, as the Harper collection is at once one of our most significant and most problematic collections.

In 1995, George Harper, a retired Anchorage computer programmer, co-founded the Blacks in Alaska History Project, Inc. The purpose of the project was to collect information and historical photographs that document the presence and contributions of African Americans in Alaska, as well as to create exhibits and lectures publicizing these resources.  The project was a success, and when Harper died in 2004, he left the entirety of what he had collected to A&SC.  At the center of this collection are over 1,000 photographic prints and negatives documenting such subjects as black U. S. Army Engineers who constructed the Alaska Highway during World War II, black women in Alaska history, and blacks who participated in the Alaska Gold Rush.  A great resource, right? Yes — but herein also lies the problem I mentioned: nearly all of these photographs are reproductions of originals that are held by other individuals and repositories.  As such, we do not own any rights to these images and therefore cannot allow researchers to reproduce or publish our copies of them.  The same is true of many of Harper’s other research materials in the collection, which are also photocopies of documents held elsewhere.  Harper did a great service to the history of African Americans in Alaska by drawing together these resources from disparate places.  However, the fact that they are not original material means that the collection can be used for little more than browsing in our research area.

All this attention on the Harper collection got us thinking about Alaska’s Black history and what other significant collections we have that relate to it–and that are more flexible, when it comes to use–than Harper.  So we decided that our next few posts will be devoted to talking about these collections and sharing our favorite parts of them, in celebration of Black History Month.

I’ll start things off with the Willard L. Bowman papers.  Willard L. Bowman was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1919 and moved to Anchorage in 1950.  He initially worked as a laborer and later as a labor management consultant and maintained an active involvement with the Anchorage NAACP.  In 1963, Bowman was appointed the first Director of the Alaska Human Rights Commission by Governor Egan.  He was elected to his first term in the Alaska State House of Representatives in 1970 and was one of the first African-Americans to hold office in the Alaska legislature.  He served as Democratic representative until his death from cancer in 1975 and maintained a consistently liberal and humanitarian record throughout his terms.  Our collection of Willard L. Bowman’s papers include his political and public addresses, papers concerning his campaigns in 1970 and 1974, photographs of the legislator, and material relating to the Alaska State Commission on Human Rights.

For me, the highlights of Bowman’s collection are the texts of several speeches he gave in 1964 and 1965 regarding civil rights and discrimination against black Alaskans.  These speeches, given in his capacity was director of the Human Rights Commission, are passionate pleas for tolerance, and the force of his words nearly leaps off the page.  “I believe discrimination based on race, religion, or national origin is morally wrong,” Bowman wrote in an undated speech in front of a white, Lutheran church congregation. “As one who has lived his whole life under its oppressive handicap, I know how it affects the strength and fibre of a people.  I can only hope and pray you believe this too.  The appeal I make to you, as Christians, and as Alaskans, is that BELIEVING IS NOT ENOUGH.  Will you help by living it?”  Bowman’s papers are a testament to man who indeed lived his commitment to equal rights for all Alaskans.

To be continued in our next post, “African American History in the Archives: Part 2.”

Earlier this week, I was busy converting some of our old finding aids to our new standards when I stumbled upon a colorful letter written by another transplant to Alaskan from the Lower 48.  Madge Stone came to Seward in the summer of 1928 with her husband, C.W., to prospect a mining claim at Moose Pass.  By mid-July, the mine had proved a waste of time and money, and Madge had tired of the “different world” of Seward and its wild life.  In a July 19^th letter home to friends in California, she wrote the following (all grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors are hers):

“I don’t care to ever see Alaska again.  we have had this wonderful trip, but the life up here does not appeal to us.  its surely the other side of life.  everybody most takes life easy, sleeps days and Parties around nights.  the night-life in this little town is as bad as a big City.  The ‘Line Women’ in theire little houses, taxies tearing around all night, out to beer houses, and boot-legging… Just drive out to some little cabin, wake up the folks, and have beer, sandwiches, wine and ‘what-have-you-and-how’… it’s all like a different world, we would not exchange the experience for anything, but are tired of it.”  (Madge Stone letter, HMC-0672).

I can’t say I’ve exactly had the same experience of Alaska as Madge (yet?), but I love that line about Alaska being “the other side of life.”  The historical record is full of letters and diaries from visitors who arrive to test out the Alaskan frontier for a new life, only to leave a few months or years later, ready to return to “real” life; as Madge, comparing her home state to her adopted one, writes, “one has to get out into these rough places to appreciate California.”  But nearly everyone who stays for even a short while seems to appreciate the magic of this state.  Even dear old Madge, tired of the rain and the booze, in the same letter encourages her friends to make the “delightful trip” to Alaska to experience its plentiful fish, moose, and wilderness.

Here’s to hoping that the “other side” of my life here in Alaska is just as wild and wonderful as I imagine it will be.  We have plenty of “what-have-you-and-how” here in the Archives, so stop in any time and say hi.

Anyone passing by the Archives the first few weeks of December may have seen a curious sight: me working behind a blockade of boxes. I wouldn’t say that I was “hiding behind my work.” But at times my work involves being immersed in boxes, folders, papers, and so forth. The collection that I was working on was a 20 cubic foot collection: UAA Athletics administrative records.  However, the amount of records will drastically decrease by the time I am done processing.  A significant portion of the Athletics department records are financial, personnel and student records; records that archives typically do not collect. Financial records are usually stored by record centers for a minimum of 7 years.  Our records fall between 1973-1987. And since archival materials are open for research I had to weed out personnel and student records.  Doing so protects the privacy of UAA students and employees, while saving precious space in our shrinking vault. Needless to say my blockade may be a fixture in the reading room in the near future.

However, I have to admit it was great working in the  general research area, interacting with researchers, and taking advantage of the glorious view through only two sets of glass!

In addition to the view, the records were pretty interesting all in themselves.  Administrative records may sound boring and dry, but these records provided an interesting look into the development of ACC’s and UAA’s athletic programs and tournaments, their goals and priorities, and how they functioned from a day-to-day basis.  As the programs grew so did the amount of their records.  Preserving these records and making them available for research will open up information that would be useful to a wide variety of researchers.  Former UAA athletes and their children can research their own history at UAA. Researchers can track the development of sports at UAA and in Alaska. Journalists can get background information and images for UAA sports related articles they write.  This collection could even provide background information relevant to decisions/policies UAA and its departments make today and in the future.  And there are probably a variety of researchers who could utilize these materials that I have yet to discover!  These were the thoughts and hopes that passed through my mind as I worked behind my blockade of boxes.

Here’s my standard answer: “It doesn’t exist.”  Let me clarify, as I do to the people to whom I say that.  Archivists usually know better than to categorically deny a document exists.  It’s a very dangerous thing because about the time we do, the document in question gets found or somebody tells us that they just saw it the day before.  So I’m saying it, mostly in hope that I’ll be proved wrong.  Wouldn’t that be wonderful?  Certainly re-creations of Mrs. Peratrovich’s speech have appeared in various sources such as Diane Benson’s play When My Spirit Raised Its Hands.  And individuals who were in the Legislative audience that day have provided their recollections in various published sources (choose your favorite search engine and you’ll find reviews pointing you to different memoirs and documentaries.)

The Peratrovich family has generously shared copies of documents in their possession with several of the libraries in Alaska.  Rare Books at the Consortium Library has a 4-binder set of these materials.  No full text there.  A lot of the quotes we’ve seen probably come from the newspaper coverage of the time like the article in the Juneau Empire which the Alaska State Library’s Historical Collections has scanned and placed on the Alaska’s Digital Archives.  Search Elizabeth Peratrovich speech on your favorite search engine, you’ll find lots of hits leading to some excellent, well-researched sites. With lots of quotes, many of which appear to have come from the Juneau Empire coverage.  Take a look at the Territorial Legislature’s Journals and you’ll discover that while those do document what the Legislature was doing in 1945, there is no full-text record of what was said in the Legislature in those volumes.

And that all leads me back to why I don’t think it exists–or perhaps hasn’t been found or published yet.  We get several questions a year from people looking for the text of the speech.  Mrs. Peratrovich is fascinating to students of Alaska history and civil rights.  Documentarians, artists, people from all walks of life have researched Mrs. Peratrovich. I can’t help but think that given her popularity and given how many requests we field every year from people seeking the full text of her speech, that if it was out there, it would have been published over and over again.  The speech extracts certainly show up a lot–why not a full text?

We haven’t done extensive research trying to locate it, I’ll admit.  Our job as archivists is to assist you with your research by putting you in touch with records in our holdings that might address your research subject.  That means we’re more likely to concentrate on describing the materials in our collections and to suggest research paths you might follow, not so much to do research ourselves. And since we’re pretty sure we don’t have a copy of the text here in A&SC, we’ve left it to our dedicated researchers to follow up in sources we don’t have.  Also, we don’t spend a lot of time working with published sources: partly because we don’t have a lot of them in archives but also because that’s something that librarians are best at. But what we’re hearing from our librarian colleagues is that they aren’t seeing it either.  So maybe it’s not out there.  If you know better–and we hope you do–we look forward to hearing from you.  We meet a lot of people who are seeking the answer you have.  We hope you’re willing to share.

In the meantime, we’d like to point you to two great images that two of our archival institutions here in Alaska have placed online in the Alaska’s Digital Archives.  The Alaska State Library’s Historical Collections and the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center both have images of the signing of the Alaska Civil Rights law where Mrs. Peratrovich was in attendance.  Thank you to both institutions for sharing those with all of us.

Monday: Megan Friedel, our new archivist, started work. We did a tour of the building, requested a university email account, she obtained her University ID card, and we got her started on some other basics.

Tuesday:  A&SC departmental breakfast meeting.  More Megan training. MC started training her on reference duties and we did the A&SC supplies and locations tour. MC & Megan spent a good portion of the afternoon in the Library Faculty meeting.

Wednesday: Fire drill!  Or possible problem with the alarm system, we’re not quite sure.  But we–and everybody else in the Library–spent some time outside the building in the morning.  We got Megan up and running on A&SC’s collection management database and MC continued with reference training.

Thursday: Realized that Megan still hadn’t been issued a university email address–which affects log-in ability to a lot of university systems.  One of the University Help Desk guys came to visit us on his lunch break and was drafted into fixing the problem.  (We’ll see if he ever comes back.)  Reference training continues.

Friday remains to be seen.  But all in all, not a bad first week for Megan.  One of my previous supervisors always said that it’s good enough the first week to learn where the bathrooms and fire exits are.  Megan has not only learned where the fire exits are, she’s learned the whole drill!  Including grabbing a coat on your way out.  And it looks like she’s retaining a bunch of the other information too, so that’s just wonderful.