Week 10: Greenwood Cemetery Metadata

It has been a week since I last finished Ronald Muse's collection. While there is still more to do before the internship officially comes to an end, I will miss that project the most, as I worked exclusively with his family's stories for about two months. Afterwards, I immediately started working on materials from the Greenwood Cemetery History Harvest from Spring 2024. I actually attended this harvest as a volunteer; it was the first one I had ever been to or ever heard of, and it was my initial meeting with other students and staff from the History Department while being an online student. That day was also the first time I had heard of Dr. French; his name was mentioned so frequently by the other students that I got the feeling he was a celebrity in the department. I have fond memories of the harvest because I took a chance and went outside to gain some real-life experiences in archival work. I'm elated to have a role in the post-harvest process, a year later. To start, I worked on Charlie Meder, who, unfortunately, did not physically attend the event, but made a fantastic contribution to the community with his artifacts. Initially, I couldn't tell what was happening in the photographs, but I learned that he grew up with Greenwood Cemetery right in his backyard.

Charlie Meder's childhood home, 1957

His folder required the metadata forms and spreadsheet to be filled out, so I was responsible for gathering information from scratch again. Building on lessons learned from the last assignment, I reached out to Charlie early in the week to gauge his thoughts on the artifacts and the people depicted in them. His comments were incredibly helpful for making connections for the description category and overall context. Our conversation was great, as I received his firsthand accounts about the area and how it has evolved, since he knows the area more intimately than I do, and for much longer. He had a great sense of humor, and one of the last memories he shared with me was how his father would always say, "They're the quietest neighbors you'll ever have!"

How amazing it must have been to live next to a cemetery, and the various feelings the children might have had on especially spooky nights. More importantly, it's a significant historic site for the African American community, including those who had settled in Jonestown, Florida. Charlie's photos, in particular, provide insight into how, many years after the development and gradual disappearance of the neighborhood, whole new families began renovating their homes right next to the cemetery, particularly in the late 1950s. The last photograph in the collection shows Charlie's brother playing with stilts. Since there are so many stories of African American Civil War veterans, residents of Jonestown, or even the lynching victim, July Perry, being buried there, I found it to be a profound contrast to the life and death of the area.

Bill Meder playing with stilts, ca. 1968, Greenwood Cemetery behind him

Since I have finished Charlie's collection, I'll continue with Greenwood Cemetery until next week, until we have everything absolutely completed and uploaded to Teams. Until then, I'll work on Francina Boykin's collection, which is split into three parts. The goal is to accomplish as much as possible, aiming for at least two folders. In between working on the spreadsheet, I will also be brainstorming ideas for the showcase, and I'm excited to see what everyone else on my team will bring to Monday's meeting.