Texas Southern University Homecoming

As this weekend marks another TSU Homecoming, we thought this might be an interesting object to post--again, quite by accident, this turned up in an old newspaper clippings file. It's Jordan's acceptance letter to TSU, dated August 28, 1952. Imagine the changes that have occurred at TSU (and the world, for that matter) in the nearly 60 years since Jordan arrived on campus! In addition to Jordan's widely-renowned participation and accomplishments on the
TSU debate team (such as her win at Baylor's annual Forensic Tournament, left, in 1956; in the center is Jordan's debate coach Dr. Thomas Freeman, who is still teaching at TSU today), Jordan was also active with the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and maintained contacts with her sisters and the organization the rest of her life. We came across a link to a documentary about the founding of the sorority, called the "Black Sorority Project," and since Delta Sigma Theta was a part of Jordan's
time at TSU, we thought it deserved a look. Happy Homecoming to all you TSU Tigers both past and present!

American Archives Month--the National Archives

As American Archives Month winds down, it’s interesting to consider the wonderful and historical artifacts that can be found in archives that cover a wide range of subjects and eras--and the possibilities are endless! For example, there's the Coca Cola archives, the Warner Brothers archives, and the Hard Rock Cafe archives, to name just a few. The National Archives, established by Franklin Roosevelt in 1934, has countless collections and items pertaining to almost every aspect of American history—here’s some of the fun and interesting online exhibits related to American politics the National Archives has available:

The political cartoons of Clifford Berryman: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/running-for-office/

Presidential elections over the last 80 years: http://www.trumanlibrary.org/museum/4years/index.htm

Gifts to twelve Presidents: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/tokens_and_treasures/tokens_and_treasures_home.html

Happy hunting, everyone!

Jordan and the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings--oh, the drama...

Quite by accident we ran across this little blurb in a box of magazines--it comes from the February 27, 1993 Opera News. Fifteen newsmakers, journalists and political figures, including Barbara Jordan, were asked what 20th century real-life event would make a great plot for an opera. Jordan chose the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, which brought with them unexpected controversy in the wake of Anita Hill's testimony that rocked the nation. Very timely, considering that the Thomas-Hill scandal has surfaced in the news again in the past couple of days!

American Archives Month

Did you know that October is American Archives Month? American Archives Month was launched in 2006 by the Society of American Archivists (North America's oldest and largest national archival professional association) as a way to promote the value of archives and archivists. The Barbara Jordan Archives is celebrating the month by making as many people aware of the richness and value of archives in general—and not just our own! Click here for some general information on archives. Did you also know that Houston has its own professional organization for archivists? It’s called the Archivists of the Houston Area, or AHA for short. Part of AHA’s mission is to to promote archival repositories and activities in the greater Houston, Texas area. For instance, did you know that in the Houston area alone there are over 40 archival repositories of all sizes, collecting areas and subject matter, including science, medicine, local history, African American history, performing arts, the Holocaust, art and film, church histories, and even cookbooks? Visit the AHA webpage at http://houstonarchivists.org/ for more information.

New Beginnings

Time passes, seasons change...and it's been a long time without updates to our blog. There are some new faces at Texas Southern University's Special Collections and the Barbara Jordan Archives--processing of the Barbara Jordan Papers is getting ready to kick into overdrive, and so the adventures continue. Going forward, we will continue to share interesting finds in the collection, along with the stories behind them.

Our first post in several months feels like a new beginning--so it seems fitting that we share this letter, which was discovered in a box marked "Pamphlets." The letter is Jordan's 1971 response to the Special Collections curator at the time, D. H. Chapman, who asked Jordan to consider depositing her papers with Texas Southern University--remember, at this time, Jordan had only been in the Texas Senate since 1966 and had not yet made the jump to the House of Representatives. It is interesting to read Jordan's observations that her political and personal works were "only beginning" and that she didn't yet have a collection "suitable for deposit." We've come a long way, Ms. Jordan!

(Editor's note: this post was originally published February 11, 2010.)

There is an event on campus that is going on next week for Black History Month . This is the ad. Next year, we plan to have something for Barbara Jordan on her b-day. By then we should have more to show for the work that we have done.

(Editor's note: this post was originally published February 11, 2010.)


Good Hope Baptist Church and Responder

We are in luck, a big admirer of Barbara Jordan e-mailed me on facebook and donated a picture, located at the left of Barbara Jordan amongst other members of the Houston Chapter of the Links. (Barbara Jordan is in the top row in the center). I was so excited, that I called the admirer, and found out that she is an attorney here in Houston, and has been for a very long time. The admirer was also the National Bar Association President from 1990-1991. We made an appointment with her assistant to meet with her, and she said she has alot of other pictures and items she would like to share with us concerning Barbara Jordan and herself. I look forward to posting all of that right here on our blog, and on facebook. If you would like to visit Barbara Jordan's facebook, simply search her on facebook and request to be her friend. I manage her online accounts.Me and Mademoiselle also made efforts to get in touch with Barbara Jordan's Church so that we can try and make connections with her remaining family. Barbara Jordan attended Good Hope Baptist Church 2905 Cushing Street Houston, Texas 77026. I plan to make a visit next week with the hope that her family still attends. I want to try and see if I can get in touch with Barbara Jordan's remaining living family.
We don't know much about what is currently going on with Barbara Jordan. Some of the questions we would like answered concern her descendants, legacy, etc. We hope that in our meeting with the admirer, we can gain more incite. Barbara Jordan's b-day is comming up, and we would like to have something BIG to show for it. I plan to redo Barbara Jordan's Brochure, and do a powerpoint slide show before her b-day.Lady- signing out

(Editor's note: this post was originally published February 10, 2010.)

I forgot to post the commencement program for the first post I did, so here it is. The one on the left is the front of the commencement program and the one on the right is the back of the commencement program. Enjoy...., maybe you will also see a name you recognize on the program. I'll have to ask mademoiselle tommorrow which person on the program is her Aunt. She temporarily stepped out of the room.
Lady Signing out
Posted by Barbara at 12:59 PM 0 comments

Finally, I got the time to put these pictures up on the blog. I hope you enjoy them, if you would like a closer view of the photos, then simply click on them. I am so excited about being able to provide the images to our viewers. We have many more things we wish to show our readers, however we have to organize some more things first before we can provide more for you to view. Enjoy :-).