Fisk University News: Harlem Renaissance and Other Historic Photographs Being Preserved with Andrew W. Mellon Foundation/LYRASIS Grants

http://www.fisk.edu/newsandevents/news/12-03-02/Harlem_Renaissance_and_Other_Historic_Photographs_Being_Preserved_with_Andrew_W_Mellon_Foundation_LYRASIS_Grants.aspx

March 2, 2012

Over 2,600 images in the Carl Van Vechten, Archival and Manuscript and Photograph Collections at Fisk University’s John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library are being preserved with a $61,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as part of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Photographic Preservation Project.  Awarded by LYRASIS, the nation’s largest regional membership organization serving libraries and information professionals, this grant will be used for the treatment, restoration and preservation of photographs including Aaron Douglas, James Weldon Johnson, Charles S. Johnson and Arna Bontemps, all key figures in the Harlem Renaissance. 

Since 2008, LYRASIS has granted more than $128,000 from the Mellon Foundation to the John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. In addition to the restoration work of Harlem Renaissance photographs, historically-significant portraits of notable black musicians and entertainers including Ella Fitzgerald, Bessie Smith and Marian Anderson taken by Carl Van Vechten, Fisk’s early buildings, early graduating classes, W.E.B. DuBois, 19th century photo albums of the Fisk Jubilee Singers and more will be restored.  Many items had never previously been treated, preserved or restored.

“Our photographs document important aspects of African American history and culture, with emphasis on Fisk,” said Dr. Jessie Carney Smith, Dean of the Fisk University John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. “Funding for this significant project has been used to engage consultants to advise and train staff to handle, stabilize, treat and properly store many of the at-risk photographs and documents in Special Collections and Archives. This ensures these materials are available to researchers.  We know the importance of preservation and welcome an opportunity to be a part of this growing national trend.”

For more information or a complete list of items being restored and preserved, please contact the Office of Communications and Public Relations at 615-329-8767.

Fisk University News: Harlem Renaissance and Other Historic Photographs Being Preserved with Andrew W. Mellon Foundation/LYRASIS Grants