“What does it mean to be ethical stewards of archival materials?” Emma Sarconi, Reference and Outreach Specialist, asked 23 HBCU students and their mentors on Monday, June 17. 

The students were in Princeton University Library (PUL) Special Collections as part of the Research, Equity, Archives, Curation and History (REACH) Program, a week-long, hands-on look into the work of librarians and archivists at both PUL’s Firestone and Mudd Library branches. 

“By centering this question, we hoped that the students would ask critical questions about special collections librarianship while also having the opportunity for hands-on experiential learning. In partnership with the Princeton University Art Museum, we also updated the title of the program from ARCH to REACH to reflect how the program has become more unified over the past two years and to provide students with a single description for the two-week experience.

This year, REACH featured a revamped schedule that coincided with Juneteenth celebrations. On Saturday, June 15, the group visited the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum during its Freedom Forward celebration. The event featured live gospel music, original plays, interactive games, guided tours and more. 

Back on campus on Monday, the students participated in a variety of sessions, including discussions about access in Special Collections, as well as conversations about potential career paths in libraries and archives.

That afternoon, the students sat in on the “Introduction to Archives” session, in which they were tasked with surveying PUL collection items about Black life from the 1860s through the 1950s, and choosing which pieces should be added into Toni Morrison’s “The Black Book.” 

“‘The Black Book’ covers the Black experience in America,” explained Sarconi. “But that’s more than slavery and Civil Rights. Morrison often described it as ‘the kind of information you can find between the lines of history.’”

Students paged through artifacts like a photo album of Rosa Lee Miller, a young black woman who lived in Princeton, and the valedictorian oration of Francis J. Grimke at Lincoln University in 1870. 

“These are a bunch of letters to Kathleen Tankersley Young who is receiving writing from a Black writer discussing how a book comes together,” said Abigail Bailey, from Bowie State University, of an item she’d include in “The Black Book.” “These letters going into ‘The Black Book’ are important because it'd be weird to only get one side of the story from the publisher. These letters describe how the author needed his mail order checks from selling the book to make rent, but also the adventures he wants to take and the people he’s met when going to various events and galas.” 

She added, “The letters give you a window into him and what life was like during that time period.” 

As much as the students were asked to consider challenging questions about the ethics and thought processes behind archival work, the REACH program also encouraged students to ask questions about career paths (“what kinds of careers don’t require master’s level education?”), acquisitions (“Why would people donate items but put so many restrictions on them?”), and the bureaucratic and logistical challenges that libraries and archives face. 

“Is it possible to reorganize existing archives so they are not so Eurocentric?” one student asked during a session at Mudd Library. 

“It’s a difficult task. Right now, one thing the library is doing is putting more emphasis on the diversity of what is being collected and  accessibility in terms of who can access our collections,” answered Lead Processing Archivist Faith Charlton.

Archivist for Student Life Valencia Johnson added, “And then, archivists have to ask the question, ‘Is Princeton the right place to have a non-eurocentric archive?’ Alternatively, how do we preserve the historical context of our items without sanitizing it, while making sure the people who use these items in their research feel safe doing so?”

The week spent at PUL didn’t only concern tough questions in archival work. During one session in the Large Format room in Special Collections, Graphic Arts Librarian Molly Dotson and Makerspace Specialist Ariel Ackerly took the students through their Hot Printing course, which uses a 19th century Albion press to create typographic prints. 

Graphic Arts Librarian Molly Dotson shows a students and mentors how to print on the 1840s Albion Press in the Large Format Room in PUL Special Collections. Photo credit: Brandon Johnson.

“I didn’t expect to learn about niche roles within the ‘underworld’ of the library,” said Jaisri Davis, a Delaware State University student. “There are all different kinds of things you can do. I’m a graphic design student, so sessions like the Hot Printing one appeal to me.”

Later, in the Preservation and Conservation lab, the students also worked with their hands to build wrappers that house delicate books. During that session, they also learned more about the breadth of careers in the Library, some of which don’t strictly require master’s level education. 

“I’m more out of touch with art, but I’ve done some archival work,” said Travis Primrose, a student at Lincoln University. “I’m not too sure about what I want to do in the future but this program has been insightful and enjoyable.”

Media Contact: Stephanie Oster, Publicity Manager