Please allow me to tell you a story about that one time I hung out with The Archivist of the United States. So that one time at Duke Libraries in the Gothic Reading Room in the Rubenstein Library on Friday, May 10 around 3:00 p.m. ish I met David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States http://www.archives.gov/about/archivist/. We took a picture and I gave him my business card. I thought it would be cleaver and extremely BOLD to give Mr. Ferriero my business card with "Future Archivist of the Untied States" written on the back. Career counselors, faculty, and mentors always tell us to seek out people doing the work we want to do. If I want to be the First African American and Woman Archivist of the United States, who better to than to meet and network with than the man who's job I want one day.
I wrote the forecast on a Duke Divinity School business card noting my position as the Project Coordinator for The Religion in North Carolina Digital Collection before leaving my office in Divinity to head over Rubenstein. I settled into my seat in the Gothic Reading for "A Conversation with David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States" and noticed that me and a woman I would later learn was Dianne Vernese Pledger were the only African Americans in attendance. Dianne spoke up during the question and answer period thanking Sir Archivist (Is that an official title?) for allowing the original draft of the Emancipation Proclaimation to be loaned to the North Carolina Museum of History for display. Information on the exhibit can be found here: http://www.ncfmp.org/
After the lecture was over, I joined the line to greet David. Dianne stood behind me. This was the perfect time to network and find out more about her work. I introduced myself and ask if she was working with my former supervisor on the Civil Rights Team during my internship with the museum and current mentor Earl Ijames, Curator. She said yes and we chatted a bit about the exhibit and how the Triangle was such a small world. Dianne then asked me to take a picture of her with the Archivist when her turn came. I could've slapped myself in the face! Grabbing my cell phone before leaving my office for a photo op did not cross my mind! What did cross my mind was writing "Future Archivist of the United States" on a business card. Good enough, right? When my turn in line came I introduced myself, told him how much I enjoyed his presentation, shared a bit about my work in the Divinity School Library after he asked, and then I went in for the kill. I told Mr. Ferriero about my ambitions. He chuckled, took the card and stuck it in his jacket pocket. See my cheesy grin above!
The crazy part about this whole exercise in boldness was that David shared the letter that he wrote to President Kennedy about passing the Civil Rights Act back in the day as a major part of his presentation. This letter became a part of his government profile (they must really keep everything!). I suggested to David that he could keep my business card and it be added to my government file so I can talk about it one day when I am Archivist of the United States.
Dianne emailed me the picture from her Iphone with this short message: You are welcome! I am glad we met. Go for your dreams....
WILL DO!
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