Week Seven: "Rocket Man"

Photograph of Michael Gladden Jr. Standing Beside a Car, c. 1940

Hello, reader! This week, a lot of progress has been made on discussing the potential for an exciting Gladden Exhibit. On Thursday, Dr. French and I met with Sarah Norris of UCF Digital Scholarship to discuss our plans for a Gladden Digital Exhibit to be hosted on UCF’s STARS platform. During our meeting, I introduced Sarah to the Gladden Collection’s history and introduced Michael Gladden Jr.’s vital role in Apopka’s Black community as an intermediary, a banker, and an unexpected recordkeeper. From there, we discussed my needs to support a Gladden Exhibit and what it would likely contain: a section for Michael Gladden Jr., Marie Stapler Gladden, and the community members that Mr. Gladden safeguarded. I emphasized that it was imperative to explore the behavior of safekeeping in Black communities in this exhibit, highlighting how arifactual examples collected by Black community archivists simply do not exist in the mainstream archival space, nor is Black safekeeping discussed in academia aside from governmental institutions such as the Freedman’s Bureau. Sarah was extremely receptive to the needs of the Gladden Exhibit, and I’m happy to tell you, reader, that we will start working together on the development of the Gladden Exhibit in a couple of weeks! 

Sarah discussed a wonderful pathway of collaboration going forward, starting with posting the digital exhibit on STARS’ repository. Because STARS has some creative limitations, Sarah proposed that a more detailed version be created using UCF Libraries' experimental exhibit functionality. My exhibit would likely be the first of its kind created by a student, which is extremely exciting to think about. From there, Sarah even proposed that an exhibit be created for the UCF Libraries Digital Exploration Center (DEC), which has a gorgeous projector room that is now interactive! One of the ideas for the DEC exhibit was to recreate the inside of M. Gladden Staple and Fancy Groceries. Building on that, I think having a digital representation of Mr. Gladden’s store vault would be a great visual representation for students and researchers to grasp the weight behind his safekeeping practices fully. I am truly grateful to see the Gladden Exhibit finally come to fruition after introducing the idea of it many times. I can’t wait to get “STAR”ted with STARS in the coming weeks, learning the ropes of the base software with Sarah, and get the chance to be the exhibit “guinea pig!” Dr. French and I met afterwards to discuss the good news, hopeful that this opportunity will continue to evolve and expand as time passes and my research progresses. Above all, I’m glad Mr. Gladden’s memory will be shared in multiple places, including a resource that has the potential to inform future researchers worldwide. 

Aside from the successful STARS meeting, Ms. Boykin had some compelling news. Recently, she came in contact with Carolyn Gladden-McBain, the daughter of William Gladden Sr. Carolyn is in her 90s and currently resides in New York City. She mentioned to Ms. Boykin that she’s in possession of artifacts related to her father. Ms. Boykin told me that one day, she was going to arrange a phone call with Carolyn in order to potentially arrange the shipment of these artifacts- a better fate for them than being sent to the shredder! I’m hoping that we can acquire these items to preserve them long-term on the Gladden Archive, adding more depth to the William Gladden Sr. Collection as a result. More good news to come next week, reader! I’ll see you then!