Yesterday, in
class, we discussed various “Archives in the News” stories that we had found
over the course of the semester. I brought up the Freedmen’s Bureau Project.
This project was spearheaded as a joint effort by the Smithsonian, National
Archives, the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, and Church of
Latter-Day Saints and aims to digitize 1.5 million slavery-era documents
produced by the Freedmen’s Bureau. This digitization project is being
established in hopes of allowing for new genealogical and family history
projects to flourish within the black community.[1]
As I mentioned in class, these documents, comprised of government records on
former-slaves in the Reconstruction-era South created in order to gather
information on black communities in order to provide welfare services and
assist communities in their adjustment to free life, do not necessarily
represent the intimacies of black life that the project claims. Rather, they
remain more indicative of interpretations of former slaves by white, Northern
government employees of the Freedmen’s Bureau.
Nonetheless,
this project represents a significant archival outreach program. As I learned
in my interview with NARA archivist Patrick Connelly, genealogy represents a
huge portion of archives users at the National Archive, trumping the usage of
materials by academic researchers. Timothy Ericson discusses in his article,
“Preoccupied with our own Gardens,” projects like the Freedmen’s Bureau Project
that stimulate interest in archival holdings amongst non-academic users remain
a necessity in the archival profession in their ensuring of continual use of
the archives.[2]
Regardless of
how this project is being presented historically, its creation will allow for
black communities to be further involved in genealogical work and archival
usage. Due to the lack of historical documentation regarding black thought and
daily life under slavery, it will still unfortunately more difficult for black
genealogists to assemble their family trees than it is for white genealogists.
Yet, this accessible nature of this project marks a significant step in
engaging the larger American public in the capabilities that archival
institutions offer its users. Furthermore, on the project’s website,
organizations have called for volunteer help with digitizing documents. Volunteers
are encouraged to pull up documents and enter the names and dates in spaces
provided.[3]
The information assembled by volunteers will eventually be incorporated into
the archives’ digital database. Thus, in a sense, this volunteer effort will in
a sense expose the public to the tasks of an archivist, furthering public
awareness for the profession. My only hope is that this project gets more
publicity, so that more people can benefit from the wonders of the archives.
[1] “1.5 Million Slavery Era Documents Will
Be Digitized, Helping African-Americans to Learn About Their Lost Ancestors,”
Open Culture, June 24, 2015
[2] Timothy L. Ericson, " ‘Preoccupied
With Our Own Gardens:’ Outreach and Archivists”, Archivaria 31 (1990): 115.
[3] “Home Page,” The Freedmen’s Bureau
Project, accessed November 19, 2015, http://www.discoverfreedmen.org
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