Week Two: "Take On Me"

Hello, reader! This week had an extremely exciting start- it was time for my digitization session with STARS at UCF Libraries! As I have mentioned before in my blogs, it has been a longstanding goal of mine to digitize the larger artifacts in the Gladden Collection since I came across them while taking inventory. This group of artifacts notably includes Mr. Gladden’s directory of names and businesses that he safekept money and documents from 1926-1927, Mr. Gladden’s inventory book from 1931, Mrs. Gladden’s 1942 FAMU diploma and graduation booklet, a benevolent burial society certificate awarded to Ella Walls, a tax receipt from the property of George Oden, two copies of Mr. Gladden’s will, and William Gladden Jr.’s personal bookkeeping journal. My portable scanner could not accommodate the unique dimensions of these objects, so I was grateful that the STARS team would help me with this worthwhile endeavor. I’m ultimately grateful that the team saw the value I see in these objects and can’t wait to see them up on the Gladden digital exhibit one day soon.

After meeting Sarah Norris on the main floor of the library, I was introduced to members of the Digital Initiatives team. There, I met Page Curry, who is their fabulous digitization expert with 30 years of experience in the field. It was such a pleasure chatting with Page as she digitized the Gladden artifacts. We exchanged life stories about what inspired us to enter this field and shared memories of past artifact collections from our archival experiences. I learned that during her time at UCF Libraries, Page personally worked with the Carol Mundy Collection when certain Black Americana artifacts were posted in STARS’ repository. At the end of our session, all but one of the artifacts were digitized in full, including the two handwritten Gladden books. Page and I agreed that the FAMU booklet was too fragile to scan because its leather lacing was too fragile to unbind. At a future meeting, we hope to find a way to digitize the booklet without damaging it. For the time being, we captured front and back images of the artifact so we could include it in Mrs. Gladden’s section of the digital exhibit. I should receive these scans the week of the 21st, when I will be meeting Sarah Norris remotely for a training session in Digital Commons software. 

Mrs. Gladden's schoolbooks, from roughly the early 1930s to the late 1960s.

Alongside all of this excitement, I spoke with Ms. Boykin on the subject of digitizing Mrs. Gladden’s schoolbooks. While discussing picking those up in Apopka, Ms. Boykin mentioned that she also has Mrs. Gladden’s handwritten lesson plans, stored in her garage. The Gladden Collection is a gift that keeps on giving, reader! Naturally, I have already told Sarah Norris about this discovery, and once I acquire these artifacts, STARS will support digitizing them in the near future. I’m hoping to pick up this exciting new showpiece of a collection next week! I think that it will make a fabulous resource to host on STARS for researchers focusing on Black American education and history in the American South.

I will let you know how that goes next week, reader! See you then!