University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries Magazine | Page 14

THINGS UW–Madison Archives Preserves Important “Firsts” on Campus By David Null, University Archivist Above: Harry McCard pictured with Mandolin Club, 1897 Right: Mary Hinkson / Hinkson, late 1940s/S16295. All images courtesy of UW–Madison Archives. 14 | LIBRARIES Fall 2015 Staff at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Archives are often asked about firsts. Who was the first African-American student? What was the first Chicano Studies course? Who was the first female Asian graduate student? Questions like these are difficult to answer, however. The problem can be one of definition—e.g., does an 1890s student from the Philippines with a Hispanic last name count? Or, it’s simply a case of the data never having existed. For many years the University did not keep statistics on specific groups, or if it did, it kept aggregate statistics but not information on individual students. And “firsts” are often something that most people don’t think about, or think about documenting, until well after the fact. Early admissions papers at the University did ask for students’ nationality, but not their race. In later years the UW included a question about race during the admissions process, but did not keep much in the way of statistics until the 1960s, making it very difficult to identify specific students. For example, several years ago, one researcher spent a great deal of time going through admissions papers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries to identify potentially Jewish names, which he then verified through other sources, for a publication on early Jewish life in Madison. All of these issues have made it challenging for the University Archives to document underrepresented populations on campus. Fortunately, however, our department has an Association of Research Libraries/Society of American Archivists Mosaic fellow, Harvey Long, turning his attention to this very problem through the 2015–2016 academic year. The ARL/SAA Mosaic program “promotes much-needed diversification of the archives and special collections professional workforce by providing financial support, practical work experience, mentoring, career placement assistance, and leadership development to emerging professionals from traditionally underrepresented racial and ethnic minority groups.” Harvey graduated from Winston-Salem State University in 2014 with a degree in English and a minor in history. He is currently enrolled as a graduate student in the School of Library and Information Studies and is considering pursuing a Ph.D. in history or African-American studies. Beginning in the fall of 2014, he spent ten hours per week at the University Archives, and another ten in the Wisconsin Historical Society Library/ Archives Division, working with Michael Edmonds on the Summer of 1964 audiotape collection. For his first Archives project, Harvey researched the history of African Americans on campus. While the basic facts are known—e.