Vision
The Billie Holiday Center for Liberation Arts Digital Humanities Van is a mobile digital “preservation station” that digitizes photos and memorabilia, and records the oral histories of people living in various communities in Baltimore.
Mission
The mission is to collect and preserve stories, documents and memorabilia of African Americans in Baltimore City and beyond. “Educate, Celebrate, and Preserve Black Baltimore!”
Goals
To promote a co-stewardship model with Baltimore community donors and JHU MSEL Sheridan Library Inheritance Baltimore Archives. To provide community heritage documentation and preservation assistance to community groups/churches in Baltimore City neighborhoods surrounding JHU.
Services Provided
- Free digitization of personal, family, and community organizations historical and cultural materials (photos, historic documents, ephemera, etc.)
- Audio and/or video oral history recording
- Invite visitors to scan their photos, family/historical documents and digitize their video and audio cassette recordings
- Host workshops with IB’s Community Archives Project on digitization
- Partner with existing organizations to supplement the need for additional digital tech resources, if needed
- Establish partnerships with organizations/institutions who specialize in training and providing digitization services and digital archival storage
BHCLA’S Black Baltimore Stories
Mobile tour of Black Baltimore with Dr. Lawrence Jackson and Elder Charles Duggar (Part 1)
Mobile tour of Baltimore City with JHU’s Center for Social Concern and Inheritance Baltimore cohort members, captures Baltimore’s African American history, from the 19th century until today. Tour highlights include Druid Hill Park and Frederick Law Olmstead, Frederick Douglass, Billie Holiday, North Avenue and Black social clubs, geography of Antebellum Black Baltimore, Preston Gardens, Colored school system, several West Baltimore churches, such as Union Baptist Church and St. James Episcopal Church. Featuring Dr. Lawrence Jackson and Elder Charles Duggar. Recorded on January 27, 2023.
Mobile tour of Black Baltimore with Dr. Lawrence Jackson and Elder Charles Duggar (Part 2)
Mobile tour of Baltimore City with JHU’s Center for Social Concern and Inheritance Baltimore cohort members, Elder Charles Duggar’s reflections on his life as a Baltimore City educator, beginning with his first teaching position at Forest Park High School, his training in Haiti, his work at BCCC and return to working at Baltimore City Public Schools. He also discusses the Cherry Hill neighborhood and several public housing projects (Murphy Homes, Lexington Terrace, McCulloch, Gilmore, Lafayette Homes), and the importance of their evolution and demise in Baltimore City. Recorded on January 27, 2023.
Mobile tour of Black Baltimore with Dr. Lawrence Jackson and Elder Charles Duggar (Part 3)
Mobile tour of Baltimore City with JHU’s Center for Social Concern and Inheritance Baltimore cohort members, Dr. Lawrence Jackson shares information about Billie Holiday’s whereabouts when she lived in Baltimore, and his work to understand the communities that she lived in. Also discusses crime, gentrification and public housing. Featuring Dr. Lawrence Jackson and Elder Charles Duggar. Recorded on January 27, 2023.
For more information about the BHCLA Digital Humanities Lab, please contact: Tonika Berkley, Africana Archivist, JHU Sheridan Libraries, [email protected].