By Amber Spratlin and Felecia T. Moore
So much has happened this year that many feel the passage of time at a different pace from usual – time seems to be moving too quickly as we lose track of weeks and months, but the days seem to crawl by. It is easy to feel as though current events are far away from us if we are not personally impacted by them. But they are not far away from us. These events directly impact the communities we serve. Several institutions throughout Georgia have been working to preserve contemporary history, not only so that it is not lost in the confusion that is 2020, but also to draw connections between people in what can feel like a very divisive, isolating time.
Clayton State University libraries have been working to gather COVID-19 stories from their students in an online repository. University Archivist and Head of Special Collections, Feechi Hall, created a web portal where students, faculty, staff, and community members can submit their COVID-19 experience through their writings, art, recordings, or other documentation collected from this time. Hall notes that, with help from Clayton State’s marketing department, they are having slow success in gathering electronic materials:
With the community still being in the thick of the pandemic, I try to keep in mind that I will be receiving donations well into the future. For many, it may not be the right time to donate materials. With this in mind, I understand that this process will be a marathon, not a quick sprint to growing and making this archival collection accessible.
Feechi Hall – University Archivist and Head of Special Collections at Clayton State University
But COVID-19 is not the only historical event taking place this year. The strong presence of the Black Lives Matter movement, felt in ongoing protests across the US, has impacted many of our Georgia communities. Randy Gue, Curator of Political, Cultural and Social Movements Collections at Emory’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, worked with Atlanta photographer and artist Alli Royce Soble, to acquire photographs from recent events. These events include the George Floyd/Black Lives Matter protests in Atlanta, the Rayshard Brooks impromptu memorial and protests at the University Ave. Wendy’s where he was killed, and the Georgia NAACP’s “March on Georgia” which led to the State Capitol. (These photographs will be made available online soon, but if you would like to see another example of their work, you can find that in Emory’s collection “Our Archives Could Be Your Life: The Photographs of Jon Arge and Alli Royce Soble”.)
Gue was kind enough to offer some wisdom to librarians and archivists across the state who wish to preserve materials from 2020. First, he says, finding and procuring materials can rely heavily on your connections. Gue says, “For the contemporary materials, I rely on my connections in the Atlanta community. I have a relatively active social media presence and that is one way to let folks know what we are interested in, and what we have going on (like the drag show we hosted in January).”
The question of what should be preserved often comes to mind, when we think of the vast amount of materials that are being created every day. Gue suggests emphasizing those items that reverberate in your own community:
Librarians and archivists are perfectly positioned to recognize what constitutes an historic event or shift in their communities. Be imaginative in what you think of as evidence at this time.”
Randy Gue – Curator of Political, Cultural and Social Movements Collections at Emory’s Rose Library
For example, BLM protest signs were left at the base of a Confederate monument in Decatur, and found a home with the Dekalb History Center. Gue says that we often worry too much about the “how” of preservation of items (like poster board), and leave them behind thinking that the preservation will be too difficult. “The signs were visually compelling materials commenting on the moment. I am sure these signs will have preservation issues, but I would hate to think about them not having a home because of preservation concerns.”
Preservation work does not only impact our future understanding of modern events. It also impacts our understanding, now, of our communities and the people who comprise them. When asked about the importance of documenting modern social movements, Gue said:
Whenever I do an instruction session at the Rose, I start by asking students “What do we have here at the Rose Library?” There is always a period of silence until someone tentatively raises their hand and offers a variation of “Old stuff.” They are right—we have old stuff—but the implication of this answer is that these materials and the Rose don’t have any relevance to their lives or their times. We are working hard to shorten the timeline for getting materials into the archive. We are doing this so the community can see themselves and their stories reflected in our holdings.
Randy Gue – Curator of Political, Cultural and Social Movements Collections at Emory’s Rose Library