In July 2016, I joined the Ingram Library as University Archivist and Assistant Professor at the University of West Georgia. A colleague encouraged me to apply to the position where there was an opportunity for me to create and lead a church-based community archives initiative. I also desperately wanted to move back down South to be closer to family, especially my newborn nephew.
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| Director of Special Collections and I at History Day |
As University Archivist, my work primarily involves capturing, preserving, and making accessible content that is administratively and culturally significant to our campus, the stories of University Life. I delight in hearing folk thoughtfully share the stories of their lives whether on campus or in the church. I still deeply enjoy doing public outreach to local churches and am thankful that my new position affords me opportunities continue this work. You can take the girl out the seminary library/church but you can't take the seminary library/church out of the girl.
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Just days into my tenure at UWG, I was invited to talk about preserving church records and family papers at Antioch AME Church History Day, Antioch A.M.E. Church has an incredibly rich history, being the first black church to be founded in Decatur, Georgia, after the Civil War (1868). In order to find and preserve the church’s past, members partnered with historians from the University of West Georgia (Center for Public History) and Agnes Scott College to collect, digitize and share records about Antioch. The result is the Antioch A.M.E Digital Archive (http://antiochamehistory.org/archive), an example of the recent turn in archival practice to building “community archives.”
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| At the lectern but never lecturing |
I also participated as a panelist in "Telling Our Own Stories: Developing a Community Archives Project at Antioch A.M.E. Church" at the historic Auburn Avenue Research Library. The panel explored the concept of “community archives,” the genesis and creation of the Antioch A.M.E. Digital Archive, and the opportunities and challenges of partnership between community organizations and academic institutions at the Auburn Avenue Research Library, Atlanta, GA. I contributed perspective on Community Archives and applications for the study of Black Church history in the academy and incorporating local church history in Christian Education at the congregational level.
Check out this article I wrote about Sharing Community Stories http://saportareport.com/sharing-saving-community-stories/
