Digital Liaisons: Engaging with Digital Curation Theory and Practice

The unique and irreplaceable value of objects and places that define the cultural heritage of a people, a state or a country has long been recognized and documented. This recognition of the importance in identifying and defining historically and culturally significant material has given rise to a concomitant need for accurate and detailed information that assists in placing an asset within its proper historical and cultural context. Unfortunately, for many private organizations with large and broad collections it is difficult to maintain an environment or culture that promotes preservation of and access to these materials. A. Schwab’s is a prime example of an organization of significant historical and cultural importance that has amassed a large collection of items and documents invaluable to understanding the economic dynamics of Memphis, Tennessee and the greater Mid-South region in the latter half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th. Like many companies, however, A. Schwab has had little opportunity to maintain or develop an approach in which to manage and care for their collections.

A. Schwab’s was established in 1876 by a French Jewish immigrant named Abraham Joseph Schwab and it is the oldest continually operating dry-goods store in Memphis and in the Mid-South. A. Schwab’s is located on Beale Street, a national historic landmark and the top tourist attraction in the state of Tennessee. It is also the oldest continuously operating business left on Beale Street.  In its time on Beale Street, A. Schwab’s has borne witness to and participated in the social and commercial history of Memphis, from the Yellow Fever epidemic of the 1870s to the store’s height of success in the early 1920s; to the Great Depression, World War II, and the late 1960s civil rights protests and riots in downtown Memphis. A. Schwab’s has successfully coped with the urban decay and suburban sprawl that doomed so many of their contemporaries. It has served as an anchor for later efforts at urban renewal, and has remained a cornerstone of Memphis’ history and culture. Throughout these tumultuous years, A. Schwab’s had collected a wealth of cultural artifacts and documents that remained un-catalogued, with scant resources available to devote to their preservation.

The creation of the A. Schwab Digital Archive was a collaborative partnership between University of Tennessee graduate students in Information Science and the A. Schwab Trading Co. focused on the digitization of the company’s archival holdings. This joint effort resulted in the organization, cataloging, and the facilitating of electronic access to the existing historic materials spanning the company’s long and varied history. While serving to preserve in digital form the artifacts, print and photographic materials associated with A. Schwab’s history, it was the goal of the project that the materials be made available as learning resources for scholars, students, tourists, and the general public.

This poster will demonstrate the steps taken in the creation of a digital archive that focuses on broadening digital initiatives outside academic and research environments while also documenting the efforts to protect and preserve items that represent the very distinct and important historical culture of Memphis and the Mid-South.

Krista Oldham is currently a graduate candidate in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and resides in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she is employed at the University of Arkansas Mullins Library in Special Collections as the Senior Level Archival Manager. She holds a BA and MA in history and is the Co-Director of the Arkansas Delta Oral History Project.

Brigitte Billeaudeaux is currently a graduate candidate in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and resides in Memphis, Tennessee, where she is employed at the University of Memphis Libraries in the department of Preservation & Special Collections. Brigitte’s background is in Applied Anthropology and Museum Studies. She uses these interests in her work with the National African American Photographic Archive under the University of Memphis’ University Libraries Digital Repository.

Zach Sandberg is a Library Assistant I at the University of Memphis’ University Libraries in the Circulation Department. He is a graduate student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in the School of Information Sciences, and does freelance web design in his spare time. He and his wife Lee live in downtown Memphis with their chihuahua Sarge and their border collie Max.