Ļć½¶Ö±²„Libraries personnel contribute to online exhibit on slavery in Southeast U.S.
Contact: James Carskadon
STARKVILLE, Miss.āMississippi State Universities Libraries personnel have helped develop a first-of-its-kind online exhibit on slavery in the Southeastern United States.
The Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL) recently launched a shared online exhibit, āEnslaved People in the Southeastā to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the beginning of the slave trade in the English Colonies. University Archivist Jessica Perkins Smith serves as co-chair of the collections group that developed the exhibit, while Coordinator of Manuscripts Jennifer McGillan served on the exhibitās curation team.
The exhibit brings together materials from 33 ASERL member institutions to create the organizations first shared online exhibit. It also includes material from three members of the HBCU Library Alliance.
āWe have member institutions all over the Southeast with fantastic collections,ā Perkins Smith said. āThey all have a variety of records and material related to the slave trade, and we were able to curate materials that show the legacy of slavery, such as Jim Crow. Our thoughts are that this exhibit can be a teaching tool and a way of building on collaborations with ASERL institutions in general.ā
Items in the exhibit include records from auctions and plantations, materials from the abolitionist movement and photographs from the Jim Crow South. Perkins Smith said contributions from MSUās archives include freedom papers, receipts for enslaved persons and letters from plantation owners relating to enslaved persons on their land.
To view the online exhibit, visit .
Founded in 1956, ASERL is one of the largest regional research library consortia in the United States, serving 38 institutional members in 11 states. For more, visit .
Ļć½¶Ö±²„is Mississippiās leading university, available online at .