Trout Library Blog - Library Guides at Charles H. Trout Library

February is Black History Month, a time when we bring to light the central role that African Americans have played in our history and highlight the achievements of the Black community as well as prominent figures within the community. Trout Library has many resources to help you learn about Black history.

We have created a Black History Month Library Guide. This guide contains links to many useful websites, including some to African American history museums, one to the 1619 project from the New York Times, one to the Rosa Parks Collection from the Library of Congress, and more. The guide also features many relevant videos from the Kanopy database. In addition to the films listed in the guide, Kanopy has curated a special collection for Black History Month. To use Kanopy, you must first create an account.

Trout Library also has an Anti-Racism Resources Library Guide. In this guide, find many useful websites, Kanopy videos, and TED talks on the topic, as well as books in the collection, eBooks, and articles. A special tab contains links to articles that will help you teach anti-racism. Links to these guides and others can be found on our Library Guides page.

On the slatwall just inside the Library entrance, we have displayed 18 books in the print collection, both old and new, that are relevant to Black history. We encourage everyone to peruse this display, as you might find something rewarding to read! The following books are new to the collection:

Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 by Ibram X. Kendi (Editor); Keisha N. Blain (Editor)

Call Number: 973.0496073 .K33 2021

A chorus of extraordinary voices tells the epic story of the four-hundred-year journey of African Americans from 1619 to the present. A #1 New York Times Best Seller.

How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith

Call Number: 973.0496073 .S644 2021

Beginning in his hometown of New Orleans, the author leads readers on a tour of monuments and landmarks that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation's collective history. One of the New York Times Best Books of 2021.

We also have a database from NewsBank called Black Life in America, which provides full-text articles about the Black experience that can be found in news sources from as far back as the 18th century. A PDF is provided for many of the older articles. The database allows you to do a general keyword search, or you may perform a more refined search using menus. The first menu allows you to select a time frame, including the following: Arrival in America (Beginning to 1783), Antebellum (1784-1860), Civil War (1861-1865), Reconstruction (1866-1877), Jim Crow (1878-1922), Great Migration (1923-1944), Civil Rights Movement (1945-1975), Late 20th Century (1976-2000), and Early 21st Century (2001-present). Within each time period, you can narrow your search further by selecting categories such as Notable People and Laws and Legislation, which are located in the second menu.

Find a link to the Black Life in America database in the A-Z Databases list as well as under the Databases tab of some of our library guides. Off-campus access to Black Life in America requires a username and password that can be found in the Library Database Password List under Quicklinks in Harcum Hatch.

Remember that if you have questions about these resources or any others, please don’t hesitate to ask us. You may visit the Library during the hours posted on the Library's homepage, email us at library@harcum.edu, use our chat service, or call us at 610-526-6085.

Bill Fanshel

Evening/Weekend Librarian

wfanshel@harcum.edu

610-229-9311

Recent Posts

The Bryn Mawr Substation

Eagle-eyed observers around campus may have noticed recent construction activity at the Bryn Mawr Substation. This work, undertaken by Amtrak, is more than just a facelift; it's part of a significant three-year project to upgrade the train line stretching from the Philadelphia Zoo to Paoli. Interestingly, this isn't the first major transformation for the Bryn Mawr Substation, a structure which has been a backdrop to our community, intertwined with the story of Harcum College.Built in 1915, the same year Harcum College first opened its doors in Melville Hall, the Bryn Mawr Substation stands as a silent witness to the college's growth. Constructed by the Pennsylvania Railroad as part of the electrification of their line, the substation's early construction would have coincided with Harcum's initial upgrades to Melville Hall, marking the beginning of a shared history within the Bryn Mawr landscape.While the Bryn Mawr Substation has become an unassuming part of the local scenery, the Harcum College Archive Collection offers glimpses into its past. The few photographs featuring the substation often capture it in the background.The earliest visual record of the substation in the Harcum College Archive appears in a photograph of Bedford Hall. Although undated, we know this image cannot predate 1947, the year Harcum acquired the building. Even in the background of this image, the Bryn Mawr Substation is visible, its structure remarkably similar to its present-day form, offering a tangible link between the college's mid-20th century and today. Decades later, in 1974, the Bryn Mawr Substation made another appearance in Harcum's history, captured in two photographs within The Harlequin, the college yearbook. These images, documenting the dedication of Harcum's new tennis courts, feature the substation in the distance. Local sportscaster Joe Pellegrino joined students for a game, watched by two hundred members of the Harcum community. The steadfast presence of the substation in the backdrop underscores its enduring place within the college's physical environment.The Bryn Mawr Substation forms the backdrop to a tennis match, The Harlequin, 1974.Two hundred members of the College community watched a tennis match on the new courts. The Bryn Mawr Substation is visible in the background, The Harlequin, 1974.Local sportscaster, Joe Pellegrino stands among Harcum College tennis players at the opening ceremony of the new tennis courts, The Harlequin, 1974Though the familiar presence of the Bryn Mawr Substation will be missed, its legacy remains embedded in the visual and historical fabric of the campus. The arrival of the new substation signals progress, a continuation of the ever-evolving relationship between the college and the infrastructure surrounding it. Just as Harcum has grown and changed over the years, so too will this space, shaping the future while carrying echoes of the past. Roxanne Sutton Reference and Special Collections Librarian 610-526-6022 rsutton@harcum.edu ...

Unveiling Harcum’s Hidden History through Advertisements

Imagine stumbling across a century-old advertisement that sheds light on the remarkable women who shaped Harcum College. This thrilling discovery recently unfolded at the Charles H. Trout Library, where the archives gained three original advertisements. ...

A Familiar Face

The bust of Dr. Charles Wharton Stork has been a permanent fixture in the Library since 1984. But why is is there? He was a prolific author and taught at Harcum. He also survived a sinking ship. We look at archival material to tell us more. ...

Elizabeth "Libbie" Hall Willis, Harcum School Principal, 1921-1929

Recently, I was asked for records from our archive relating to Elizabeth "Libbie" Hall Wilis. What we found was a new piece of Harcum College history I think is worth documenting.Willis was the Head of the Academic Department and Prinicpal from approximately 1921 to 1929 and later an advisor to Edith Harcum until approximately 1934. Elizabeth Hall Willis, who went by Libbie, obtained a degree in painting from Syracuse University. Before coming to the Harcum School, she had a career as an art teacher at the University of Arkansas and at Chatham Hall. It was while teaching art at Chatham Hall she met a student, Georgia O'Keefe. You can read about this encounter and the on-going professional relationship between Willis and O'Keefe in Linda Grasso's book Equal under the Sky: Georgia O'Keefe & Twentieth Century Feminism. Equal under the Sky by Linda M. GrassoCall Number: 759.13 .G769 2019ISBN: 9780826360731Publication Date: 2019See pages 107-115Willis came to the Harcum School to lead the academics and college preparation program. Her title in 1921 was “Head of the Academic Department” but it was later changed to Principal. Throughout her time at Harcum, she was mentioned in the yearbook, Purple Patches, especially in association with her work with college preparation studies. In the "Class Will" in 1922 the students express fond appreciation and love for her. The 1923 yearbook was dedicated to Mrs. Willis. This is quite a show of support by the student body. Her portrait finally appears in the 1929 yearbook. She left Harcum School after 1929, although she was mentioned as an advisor in the 1934 academic calendar, perhaps she stayed in touch to advise Edith Harcum. The biggest surprise of all is that we found her on video. In those years, Edith Harcum’s son Bill Harcum was given a silent film camera and he took silent moving images around the school. The films were digitized and Bill Harcum gave commentary on the films. You can see Elizabeth Willis briefly at 0:12 seconds, right at the beginning of the film. Bill Harcum mentions Mrs. Willis by name and calls her the head mistress. Libbie Hall Willis had a interesting life as an artist and academic before and after her time at Harcum College. Harcum is fortunate to be able to claim her as one of our own. Roxanne Sutton Reference and Special Collections Librarian 610-526-6022 rsutton@harcum.edu ...

Black History Month Resources