NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A national effort is underway to help preserve and digitize stories of Black history. A team's been on the road, and they're in Nashville right now.
"I think they've replaced all the table tops so that all the etchings are gone, which is either a good or bad thing, I'm not sure," laughed Doretha Williams, walking through the library at Fisk University.
The memories are just so clear for Doretha of sitting in her favorite library spot and studying, Class of 1998.
"I found refuge in the library," she said. "I was definitely a nerd, definitely in my studies."
Being back was not just for the memories. Doretha was here with a purpose.
"I am the center director for the Center for the Digitization and Curation of African American History at the Museum of African American History and Culture Smithsonian Institution," Doretha said. "What we do is preserve local histories wherever we are."
A team with the Smithsonian traveling the country on a community curation project, helping digitize items for institutions including Historically Black Colleges and Universities. At Fisk, there's a special interest in the long story of the Fisk Jubilee Singers and other performers on campus.
"This is a concert of the Fisk University Choir from Opryland in 1974," said CK Ming, playing back some video. "This print was heavily faded to red."
CK has been working on the color correction of a 16-millimeter film.
"I assume it was broadcast on local TV, and it's two reels," CK said. "The concert was called I Owe It All To Thee I Sing."
The items they're working with go so much further back than this.
"The Fisk Jubilee Singers Collection, which is from the original 1871 group, includes correspondence, photographs, and other collectible items they carried in their original tour in North America and Europe," Delisa Minor Harris, director of library services at Fisk said.
"It was a really exciting time for the singers," she continued, handling delicate papers. "Items of that age tend to deteriorate over time."
"So it's so important to preserve them," Doretha added.
Doretha explained nothing will be removed from places like Fisk. The team's work is to help the institutions tell their own stories by getting them a few steps into uploading the material to their own platforms.
"It's really moving is all I can say, and it's what I love most about my job," CK said. "The Jubilee Singers were a record of how early we were breaking barriers."
"I can bring back this work to preserve this history that I worked with as a student," Doretha added. "It's such a wonderful experience."
While the group from the Smithsonian is in Nashville they're also doing work at TSU, Meharry, and American Baptist College.
