As the inaugural university archivist at Morgan State University, Dr. Ida Jones has a unique window into Maryland’s largest HBCU. Morgan’s history is deeply entwined with the history of Black politics, activism, and media, particularly in Baltimore. In this episode, Ida provides a glimpse into the treasures housed in Morgan’s library (including the archives of the Afro-American newspaper) and the stories they contain; she also discusses the way Black female archivists changed cataloging, the necessity of mentorship, and why she’s committed to replacing herself by five.
Sources and References (in order of appearance)
- What Dorothy Porter’s Life Meant for Black Studies (JStor Daily)
- First annual Beulah Davis day celebration to occur this week (The MSU Spokesman)
- Longtime Fisk University librarian and dean Jessie Carney Smith retires
- Beulah M. Davis Special Collections, Morgan State University
- A Different World
- Spike Lee’s “School Daze”
- Morgan State: Our History
- Princess Anne Academy Begins Classes, 1886
- University of Maryland Eastern Shore: Our History (Princess Anne Academy)
- Virginia Collegiate and Industrial Institute (Lynchburg campus)
- W.E.B. Du Bois
- Booker T. Washington
- Victorine Adams
- Elktonia Beach (Chesapeake Conservancy)
- The Afro-American (PBS.org)
- The reinvention of John H. Murphy Sr.: From slave to soldier to publisher
- North Star
- Freedom’s Journal
- Sharp Street Methodist Church
- Bethel AME
- Union Baptist Church
- Mary McLeod Bethune
- The Extraordinary Life of Mary McLeod Bethune
- Local Leaders bid farewell to Washington, D.C.-bound Mary McLeod Bethune statue (the Daytona Beach News-Journal)
- National Council of Negro Women
- George Fleming
- Remaining Goon Squad Members Look Back on ‘68 Riots
- Parren Mitchell
- Kweisi Mfume
- Verda Welcome
- Harold T. Pinkett and the Lonely Crusade of African American Archivists in the Twentieth Century
- ALA 2012 Diversity Counts Report
- The Unbearable Whiteness of Librarianship by Chris Bourg
- White Librarianship in Blackface: Diversity Initiatives in LIS (April Hathcock)
- Remembering the Howard University Librarian Who Decolonized the Way Books Were Cataloged
- Morgan State University Receives Grant of Nearly $250,000 to Support Research of Pioneering Anthropologist Ellen Irene Diggs
- Steven Fullwood (creator of oral history project with Black archivists)
- Martin David Jenkins
- First they came… Martin Niemöller poem
Behind the Mic
Sharon M. Burney
Sharon M. Burney is a program officer with CLIR, where she supports the Recordings at Risk and Digitizing Hidden Special Collections grant programs. Sharon specializes in academic, cultural heritage, community, and institutional support systems, navigating administrative policy adherence with an interpersonal connection that promotes community building. Prior to joining CLIR, she spent 15 years providing program support to the University of Florida African American Studies Program, helping it to become a premiere degree program. She is also a widely respected poet and community organizer. She loves to embrace the infinite historical contributions of the African diaspora, and blends them with contemporary civil rights, activism, and social issues in her poetry. Her passion for public service, education, and humanity is exemplified in every aspect of her life, and when in rest mode you can find her enjoying the simple moments with her daughters and pets.
Ida E. Jones
Dr. Ida Jones is a noted professional archivist and historian, award-winning author, educator, and recognized leader in the field of African American women’s history. Since 2016, she has served as the inaugural university archivist at Morgan State University. In this capacity, she oversees the university’s organizational records (archival repository), along with the institution’s holdings of rare books and manuscript collections. She is expanding the digital and resource materials available for Morgan’s holdings through an active website, community outreach, and quarterly open-house gatherings in the Beulah M. Davis Special Collections Room at Morgan State.