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ALBANY CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM MINI-INTERNSHIP Holly Stiegel

Collection Name: Danny Lyon: Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement Inventory: 28 framed black and white photographs by Danny Lyon Dates: 1962-1964 Accession Numbers: Lyon 001-001 through Lyon 001-028 Library of Congress Subject Headings: African-AmericansCivil rightsSouthern States African-AmericansCivil rightsSouthern StatesPictorial works Civil rights movementsSouthern StatesHistory20th Century Civil rights movementsSouthern StatesHistory20th CenturyPictorial works Civil rights workersSouthern StatesBiography Lyon, Danny Southern StatesRace relations References: Lyon, Danny. Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1992. LOC: E185.615 .L96 1992; DDC: 323.0975. Owens, Donna M. (2006, June). Stolen girls. Essence, 37(2), 162, 9 p. Retrieved November 18, 2010, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1042701691). Westbrooks-Griffin, Lulu. Freedom is Not Free: 45 Days in the Leesburg Stockade. Hamlin, NY: Heirloom Publishers, 1998. DDC: 323.1196

ALBANY CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM MINI-INTERNSHIP

Biography: Danny Lyon (1949- ) is a white, Jewish native of Brooklyn, New York. In the early 1960s he was also a photographer and history major at the University of Chicago during the turbulent era when Jim Crow laws and segregation still dominated southern society. Influenced by national activists like John Lewis and Tom Hayden, he became a primary photographer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), joining the movement and recording on film the brave people, and often violent events, which would change a nation: students organizing in church basements and sanctuaries, peacefully marching in street protests, holding sit-ins, riding freedom trains, getting beaten and arrested.

Scope Note: This collection of 28 framed black and white photos, posters, and contact proof sheets was donated to the Albany Civil Rights Institute by the photographer, Danny Lyon. They document the segregated conditions, people and events involved with the Civil Rights Movement in the early 1960s in Albany, Atlanta, Savannah, and Southwest Georgia. Many of the photos can be found in the donors 1992 book entitled, Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement, (which includes a foreword by Julian Bond), and in Lulu Westbrooks-Griffins Freedom is Not Free: 45 Days in the Leesburg Stockade.

ALBANY CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM MINI-INTERNSHIP Inventory List by Series I. Albany A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. J. K. II. Lyon 001-001 Lyon 001-006 Lyon 001-009 Lyon 001-010 Lyon 001-011 Lyon 001-012 Lyon 001-013 Lyon 001-018 Lyon 001-021 Lyon 001-022 Lyon 001-028 Arrest for Loitering SNCC worker in front of Old Mt. Zion church Rev. C. W. Heath Albany street sweeper

Contact Proof Sheet Albany courthouse & church service Young men sitting on a car A street in Albany Wyatt Walker at Mt. Zion Eddie Brown arrest MLK leaving courthouse Church meeting

Leesburg Stockade A. B. C. D. E. Lyon 001-002 Lyon 001-003 Lyon 001-024 Lyon 001-025 Lyon 001-027 Stockade women Stockade girls (standing) Stockade floor used for bed Stockade girl (Lulu) Contact Proof Sheet Stockade

III.

Southwest Georgia A. B. C. D. Lyon 001-008 Lyon 001-017 Lyon 001-023 Lyon 001-026 SNCC worker in front of jail (location unknown) Southwest Georgia 1963 Sherrod in Southwest Georgia Carolyn Daniels house

ALBANY CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM MINI-INTERNSHIP IV. Atlanta A. B. C. D. E. V. Lyon 001-007 Lyon 001-014 Lyon 001-015 Lyon 001-016 Lyon 001-019 White woman confronting white men protesters Taylor Washingtons yell Toddle House restaurant counter Forman arrest Singing in Atlanta

Savannah A. Lyon 001-020 Savannah

VI.

Posters A. B. Lyon 001-004 Lyon 001-005 Is He Protecting You? One Man, One Vote

ALBANY CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM MINI-INTERNSHIP

Albany Civil Rights Institute and Museum


My adopted archivist (Cathy Flohre) arranged for me to help Dr. Lee Formwalt, a former Albany State University history professor, and Director of the Albany Civil Rights Institute and Museum (ACRIM) arrange, describe, and do conservation work on an exhibit of photographs taken during the height of the civil rights movement in Albany and the surrounding area.

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The photos had been hung in the old Mt. Zion Church (next door) in an alcove set aside as a mini-museum. The display had included mounted captions for each photo. Since the closing of the church and the subsequent move to the new building last year, 4 of the pictures and 1 poster seem to have walked. Captions are missing as well. The original collection had 30 framed photos and three framed posters, but now consists of 26 photos and two posters. There are no official transfer or donor documents from Mt. Zion to ACRIM. These are essential to establish the right of an archives to have custody. (Roe, 2005, p. 47) There was no archivist available to pack up the collection and move it, nor was there any paper or computer inventory of the collections contents.

ALBANY CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM MINI-INTERNSHIP Day 1: November 15 (3.5 hours) Cathy Flohre and I met with Lee Formwalt to outline his needs. He gave us a tour of the

archives: a rectangular, interior, carpeted room of about 1000 square feet. The compact shelving module (which was 90 percent empty) had two stationary ranges which bookended four movable ranges that turned with wheel cranks. (Ritzenthaler, 2010, p.178-179). While the room was air conditioned, neither the temperature nor the humidity would meet archival standards (72 degrees and 52 percent RH), and the overhead lights were not purchased with low UV emission standards in mind (Ritzenthaler, 2010, p. 138).

ALBANY CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM MINI-INTERNSHIP

Two metal glass-front bookshelves, two chairs (one broken and one plastic), a folding table, and a trash can (full of rolled-up maps) rounded out the furnishings.

Materials from the church had been randomly hand-carried to the archives and haphazardly placed in the room. Newly acquired materials were partially boxed on top of the bookshelves with no documentation.

ALBANY CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM MINI-INTERNSHIP The framed photos I was to work with were taken by author and photographer Danny

Lyon. The materials were stacked on the floor, leaning against one another, in no particular order, with no protection between frames. Dr. Formwalt plans to exhibit the collection in the ACRIM in November, 2011 for the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Riders, all of whom he plans to invite to celebrate their achievements.

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While Dr. Formwalt went to gather several pictures which were hanging in other offices, I began taking inventory. Nothing had been accessioned, arranged, or described; several frames were in need of touch-up paint, and three plexiglass covers were too scratched for display. Several photos had simply slipped down inside their frames, and several un-matted items had become ribboned and warped. After assembling all the items, he tried to remember which photos and poster were missing but could not. In searching the Archives, we found many of the display captions thrown together in different boxes but they were too damaged to be re-usable. We arranged the photos into six series: Albany, Leesburg Stockade, Southwest Georgia, Atlanta, Savannah, and Posters. His budget for repairs was $100, but he preferred to spend less if possible. I took on the assignment to organize, arrange, and describe the collection, purchase archival materials to affix the photos in their frames, replace plexiglass where needed, and if possible, flatten the ribboned materials. I would make both paper finding aids for each item and one for the collection (as a start to organizing his archives), and provide an Excel spreadsheet with the same information but with more details tailored to the needs of the collection (e.g., extra fields for display panel text, a cross-reference to contact proof sheets, and reference pages on which photos appear in Danny Lyons book).

ALBANY CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM MINI-INTERNSHIP Day 2: November 16 (3 hours)

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I drove across town to the public library to retrieve the only copy of Danny Lyons book in the county library system. This was to be the primary resource to help identify photos which did not have captions. I then drove back across town to Thronateeska to pick up paper finding aids and measuring supplies. Cathy noted the price of cloth tape and said she would order one roll ($28 including S&H).

At ACRIM I built an Excel spreadsheet based on subject headings taken from Thronateeskas finding aids, and added appropriate fields for ACRIMs needs, then carried all the photos from the archives into the offices with computer access. My plan was to do all the arranging and describing, creating finding aids and a spreadsheet before taking the entire collection to Thronateeska for conservation.

ALBANY CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM MINI-INTERNSHIP Day 3: November 17 (4 hours)

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I began filling out paper finding aids for each item, assigning accession numbers (starting with Lyon 001-001), measuring both the frame and the actual photograph, describing the composition, location, date, identifying people in the photos, condition, and comments (references to contact proof sheets and any applicable page in the Lyon book). I used the Thronateeska color coding system: one green 5 x 7 pre-printed card for each photograph, and one 8 x 10 blue card for the collection. Then I entered the same information into the spreadsheet with additional details and comments, using the same color coding. A Caption field includes text which can be printed to make new display panels next year closer to the time of the exhibit.

ALBANY CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM MINI-INTERNSHIP I spent a great deal of time trying to identify people in the photographs based on a first-

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hand identification made many years ago by two of the subjects who appear in the photographs. I also had to rely on Dr. Formwalts memory of events from 1994 when the photos were previously exhibited, but he was not able to remember every name. Danny Lyons book proved to be less reliable, as the author had tried to identify several people in his photographs 30 years after having taken the pictures. Several of the display panel quotes had been copied verbatim from the Lyon book, but did not accurately represent the people in the photograph, so more research was in order. Day 4: November 18 (5 hours) I continued with my research trying to identify subjects in the photographs, and continued with cross referencing the items with each other and with the Lyon book. Research about an unknown girl in the Leesburg Stockade photos led to the Administrator (Irene Turner) remembering a magazine article entitled, Stolen Girls, which was published several years ago by Essence Magazine. It turns out that the same girl (named Lulu Westbrooks) wrote a book about her experiences as a teenage prisoner, but PINES only copy of her book was in special collections in a branch 45 minutes away. I did a search in GALILEO, found the Essence article in a ProQuest database, and printed out three copies along with enlargements of the photos (making sure to place the information in several places so hopefully it wont be lost again).

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Lulu Westbrooks-Griffin

ALBANY CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM MINI-INTERNSHIP Day 5: November 19 (4.5 hours)

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Doing more research produced information about a documentary about the girls who were imprisoned in the Leesburg Stockade entitled, Lulu and the Americus Girls. I found out who owns the rights to it and gave the information to Dr. Formwalt in case he wanted to contact the company about possibly donating a copy to the institute. When the name Lulu Westbrooks came up, Dr. Formwalt started thinking, and then searched Ms. Turners desk and discovered a copy of Lulus book! The title: Freedom Is Not Free: 45 Days in the Leesburg Stockade by Lulu Westbrooks-Griffin. Using her book, I was able to identify more people in the collection, and cross referenced the photos from her book to the ones in the Lyon collection. I finished describing all the photos, printed out the spreadsheet for Dr. Formwalt (and put a copy of it, along with the magazine article and information about the documentary films owner) on a shelf in the archives. I backed up the spreadsheet on a thumb drive and kept the separate copy. Then I carted all the photos to Thronateeska where I would begin taking them apart the following week. The fact that Ms. Turner did not remember she had a copy of Lulus book, much less that it was in her desk drawer, is, unfortunately, indicative of the disorganization facing ACRIM. They have the space, and a modest budget, but no one to do archive-quality work. There is no intellectual arrangement pattern in the archives (Roe, 2005, p. 65), and their situation highlights their inability to explain either the context or content of their archival material in order to promote its accessibility. (Roe, 2005, p. 6) It also demonstrates that mismanagement of recordscan result in loss or damageand is the responsibility of top management. (Ritzenthaler, 2010, p. 106)

ALBANY CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM MINI-INTERNSHIP Day 6, November 22 (2 hours) I spent the morning at Thronateeska labeling the back of each framed photo with its accession number, and organizing the finding aids in numerical order. Cathy and I determined

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that only 16 of the 28 photographs need to be taken apart for conservation. As it turns out, each picture sits in four clear adhesive-mounted corners (they look like archival quality). The photos had either slipped out of the corners, or the corners were not placed properly to hold the photos securely. Cathy thinks that I can use the cloth tape shes ordered to bolster the corners into place before re-framing the pictures. I wrote accession numbers (in pencil) on the photos which I took out of the frames.

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Day 7, November 23 (4 hours) I spent another morning disassembling the frames and labeling photos with accession numbers. Since three of the plexiglass covers needed to be replaced, I called Dr. Formwalt who said to use my best judgment in finding replacements, whether they be plexiglass or glass. I comparison shopped at a glass and mirror store but got a better price by purchasing three frames at Michaels (with real glass) for about $35. Unassembled photos are sitting at Thronateeska waiting for the cloth adhesive tape that will be used to re-mount the photos so they dont slip (now it will be after Thanksgiving).

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Day 8, December 3 (3 hours) I began constructing a formal finding aid (like the one used for VSU President Thaxtons papers) and did research for the biography and scope notes, organized the collection by series, and found and copied photos for the final paper. Day 8, December 3, 7:15 PM There wasnt a specific category for this on the Preservation Assessment to plan for disasters. The driver was taken to the local hospital, treated, and released.

Pickup driver tries to kill self by driving into Albany museum

http://www.albanyherald.com/home/headlines/Pickup_driver_tries_to_kill_self_by_driving_into _Albany_museum_111261354.html Retrieved December 4, 2010

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Day 9, December 5 (4 hours) Today I organized the final paper and inserted photos. I wont have Dr. Formwalts collection put back together by the time the paper is due, as the cloth tape is still in the mail but I plan to re-assemble the materials for him next week. Total cost: $63.

Irene Turner, ACRIM Administrator

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Day 10, December 7th (2 hours) The cloth tape came in yesterday so I started to re-assemble the collection.

Boxed photographs and posters waiting to be reassembled

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Previous attempts at mounting allowed the photographs to slip under the Plexiglass frames.

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Reassembled photos

Prepared 12/10/10. Holly Stiegel, MLIS Graduate Student, Valdosta State University

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