Digitizing the Gwendolyn Brooks Papers

The Gwendolyn Brooks Papers are one of the premier literary collections available in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Brooks was the first African American to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her poetry work. Acquired in 2013, the collection is comprised of correspondence, manuscripts and journals detailing her early writing efforts, photographs, and scrapbooks, among the most notable objects. This collection truly provides a window into Brooks’ personal world as a daughter, a wife and a mother, and her professional career as a writer, educator, and influencer of young African Americans and minorities looking to carve their place in the literary world.

Providing global, and hopefully unrestricted, access to research the contents of the Gwendolyn Brooks Papers is an urgent priority for the Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Through the Save America’s Treasures grant we have been able to coordinate targeted conservation treatments and plan the digitization of selected materials.

Gwendolyn Brooks

Black & white portrait photograph of Gwendolyn Brooks. Photo was taken by The Seattle Times. 

Undated. 25.8 x 20.5 cm.

 

 

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Nora Brooks Blakely for supporting our exhibit.

We would also like to thank our partners in the Library for collaborating with us on this exhibit.

Special thanks to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for it's support through the Save America's Treasure Grant. 

Our Library Partners

Rare Book & Manuscript Library - Ana Rodriguez (Digitization Coordinator and Registrar), Ruthann Mowry (Curator of Rare Book and Manuscripts), Lynne M. Thomas (Head of RBML), Kate M. Vasquez-Braun (RBML Graduate Assistant), Ben Ostermeier (RBML Graduate Assistant and Omeka Support)

Ricker Library of Architecture and Art - Siobhan McKissic (Visiting Design & Materials Research Librarian)
Acquisitions and Cataloging Services - Myung-Ja Han (Head of Acquisitions and Cataloging), Stephanie Luke (Metadata Librarian)
Conservation - Yungjin Shin (Visiting Project Conservator), Quinn Ferris (Senior Conservator for Special Collections)
Preservation Jennifer Hain Teper (Head of Preservation Services) , Dan Green (Media Preservation Graduate Assistant)
Digitization Services - Rachael Johns (Digital Imaging Specialist II), Jenna Courtade (Digitization Services Graduate Assistant), Angela Waarala (Digital Collections Project Manager) 
Scholarly Communication and Publishing support for Omeka - Alex Dryden (Visiting Research Programmer)
Library IT and Facilities