Teaching My Granddaughter About Research and Preservation

Jo'elle and grandmother
at the Amistad Research Center

I have one granddaughter who is the eldest grandchild.  Born with a natural desire to learn, she had a strong interest in many things. I enjoyed sharing family history with her and making the process fun at the same time. At the age of two, she started traveling along with me on my genealogy adventures. The two of us would pack lunch and snacks at make our way to the library. The children department was our first stop, where we read books and sometimes arts and crafts. Afterwards we headed upstairs to the genealogy department. 

Her childhood was filled with research adventures and journey to different parish, counties, and states. She loved traveling with me. Especially to the different parks and children museums for fun and excitement. I appreciated Jo'elle's little help very much and I rewarded her for her efforts just to let her know how much I appreciated her helping me. 

As soon as she learned how to read, we would read the signs on the highway and play games together. I always enjoyed being able to take her out of state with me.  During out trips to Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas, she saw a lot of beautiful scenery. 

I wanted to describe our experience in a blog post to so that she can read about our journey together. After her brothers arrived and they turned two, we had traveling companions and were able to enjoy the journey with triple the excitement and fun. 

She accompanied me to the Amistad Research Center in New. Orleans to see our family collection when she turn seven.  I wanted her to see what I had in the boxes, since one day it will mean something to her. 

Harrell Researching at the Hill Memorial Library on LSU Campus

Research at the Hill Memorial Library
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr.

In the course of researching my paternal and maternal family history, I traveled to many research facilities with high hopes of finding new information and new leads.There have been many visits to the local libraries, the Louisiana State Archives, the Clerk's Office, Universities, and other research facilities in the area where my ancestors lived. My ancestors were enslave on plantation in the South, so I began looking for records on them. LSU has a very helpful finding aid that I found to be very helpful. 

The finding aids are descriptions of archival collections at LSU. They provide biographical or historical information about the creator. Details about what type of materials that can be found in the collection. It is always helpful when there is a finding aid. Believe it or not, there are records that doesn't provide a finding aid. Any research will tell you how it helps to have a finding aid. 

When there isn't a finding aid, it's a disappointment, because it means that you have to physically look through every document, and hope that you find find something which his helpful to your research. Also keep in mind that looking at the finding aid online can save you a lot of time when you get there. 

One thing to note is that LSU doesn't have many collection related to African-Americans. As a matter of fact, most of the research facilities that I have researched don't have many collections dedicated specifically to African-Americans. 

My primary reason for starting my collections was because of this very reason. It had been a very problemous process getting African Americans to donate their materials for preservation. In the future, I hope that I will be able to continue to educate and promote the importance of preserving our records outside of our homes for many reasons. 

30 Years of Research is Ready for Repository

Antoinette Harrell
Photo Credit: Walter C. Black, Sr. 

The investigation and documentation of the little-known antebellum history of African Americans in the two Louisiana Florida Parish was of vital importance to me. I have collected a lot of fascinating stories from people who have lived in the parishes for decades.  Every time a person that had lived for a long time passed away, these important stories died within them.  I asked myself, why wasn't their stories documented and filmed?

Historical Association and genealogy societies are prevalent in many parishes. The organizations mission is  to collect and preserve the history of the people who live in the parishes or counties. I have not yet found and organization or society that focuses on the study and preservation of African American history in the two Florida Parishes. 

The stories, images, and other documents I gathered during my genealogy research as well as local history documents have been invaluable to me and it will be helpful to others who are researching. At this point in my research, the material needs to be processed, cataloged, and donated for future studies and research so it can be used as useful sources. 

In fact, I will need a considerable amount of time to complete the project of preservation. Approximately thirty years of collecting and researching have gone into it and if I'm calculating right, it may take me three to four years to organize all the files.

The collection will consist of audio and video files, images and documents. Once a year, I donate local research sources to the Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies due to the fact that it should preserved and archival at a local institution.