Library News

Elma Lewis, Black Art, and Black Joy

A Black woman with a large smile clutches her hands in front of her chest. She is wearing a multicolored top and her hair is in a large bun on the top of her head. Behind her is a bouquet of flowers.
“Elma Ina Lewis candid,” ca. 1981. National Center of Afro-American Artists records, Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections.

Northeastern University’s Archives and Special Collections holds many records documenting Boston’s Black history. Several of these that celebrate Black joy and creativity come from Elma Ina Lewis, a leader in Boston’s performing arts scene throughout the mid-20th century. The Elma Ina Lewis papers document her early life and her professional activities, like establishing the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts in 1950, the National Center of Afro-American Artists in 1968, and the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists in 1969.

Black and white image of a Black man playing a drum with his hands. Children sit before him with their own drums.
“Babatunde Olatunji teaches heritage and drums,” ca. 1961. National Center of Afro-American Artists records, Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections.

The Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts records document the history of the school and administrative information regarding its formation as well as productions of Blakrhythms, which uplifted Black voices and cultural concepts. The National Center of Afro-American Artists records also feature performances like those put on by the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, and the Digital Repository Service (DRS) holds a selection of photos from the Center’s performances and rehearsals, as well as scenes from everyday life to form a well-rounded understanding of the Black community and art in Boston between the 1950s and 1990s.

Become familiar with Elma Lewis’ legacy in our Finding Elma Lewis research guide.

To learn more about Elma Lewis and her work, check out the resources available through the DRS and the Archives and Special Collections.

Sources:
“Babatunde Olatunji teaches heritage and drums.” National Center of Afro-American Artists records (M042). Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections Department.
“Elma Ina Lewis candid.” National Center of Afro-American Artists records (M042). Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections Department.

Research in the Archives: NERFC 2023-2024 Grant Applications Open

Archival photos, books, documents, and papers are spread around a round pink table. A hand on the left side of the frame points to one of the documents.
09/24/19 – BOSTON, MA. – A view of articles and photographs from Northeastern’s archive at Snell Library. Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University

Northeastern University’s Archives and Special Collections is proud to be a member of the New England Regional Fellowship Consortium (NERFC), which is a collaboration of 31 cultural institutions across New England.

The fellowship program’s aim is to promote research across a wide variety of institutions and regions in New England. NERFC grants at least two dozen awards every year. Fellows receive a stipend of $5,000 with the requirement that they conduct their research in at least three of the participating institutions for periods of two weeks each. The diverse group of institutions in NERFC offer research opportunities in collections that span the region’s time period, from pre–European contact to the present day. Past awards have funded research on a wide array of topics conducted by scholars and independent researchers from across the US.

As one of the participating institutions, we encourage you to apply to make use of our records documenting Boston’s history of social justice activism, neighborhoods and public infrastructure, as well as records from individuals and organizations part of the city’s African American, Asian American, LGBTQA, Latinx, and other communities and make connections between our records and other NERFC institutions’. 

Past NERFC fellows’ projects using Northeastern’s archival collections examined feminist health care centers, gay art and photography in 1970s Boston, links between socialist and feminist thought in Boston, and the history of Black intellectuals, to name a few. 

The Archives and Special Collections encourages researchers in the Northeastern community and beyond to apply to NERFC’s fellowship program by the February 1, 2023, deadline.

Have questions about how to get started? Email Reference and Outreach Archivist Molly Brown: mo.brown@northeastern.edu. 

To learn more about the application requirements and other participating institutions, please visit the New England Regional Fellowship Consortium website.

Systematic Reviews—From 1753 to Today

This year is an eventful year in evidence synthesis. Besides marking the launch of the Northeastern University Library’s Evidence Synthesis Service, this year also marks the 270th anniversary of the publication of one of the earliest progenitors of the modern systematic review: James Lind’s A treatise of the scurvy (1753). 

James Lind was a Scottish naval surgeon who is frequently credited with conducting the first clinical trial in history,  a controlled experiment which evaluated the effectiveness of citrus fruits for preventing scurvy among British sailors. He published the results of this trial in 1753 in the aforementioned treatise.

The front page of Lind's "A Treatise of the Scurvy"
Photo courtesy of the James Lind Library.

As was common in 18th century literature, the full title of the publication was significantly more verbose: A treatise of the scurvy. In three parts. Containing an inquiry into the nature, causes and cure, of that disease. Together with a critical and chronological view of what has been published on the subject. 

Yes, that’s just the title.

And it’s the final bit of that title–“a critical and chronological view of what has been published on the subject”–which should pique our interest. In providing a comprehensive review and critical evaluation of the published literature on scurvy, Lind essentially conducted an early version of a systematic review. 

However, researchers from the 20th and 21st centuries have since pointed out that Lind’s ‘chronological view’ was not truly comprehensive. As Jeremy Hugh Baron of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai wrote in a 2009 paper:

“Lind failed to scrutinize Woodall’s 1617 publication The Surgions Mate with its clear recommendation of equipping ships to the East Indies with lemon juice to prevent scurvy. Nor did Lind cite books by other authors recommending citrus fruits such as Farfan, Hawkins, Clowes, Smith, Ferrari, Moyle, and Esteyneffer, presumably because they were not then in the library of the Edinburgh College.”

Lind missed relevant publications because he relied on only one source: the library at the Edinburgh College. If Lind had searched one of the libraries at the University of Oxford, in addition to Edinburgh College, perhaps he would have found those other relevant texts.

Nowadays we obviously aren’t searching physical libraries when we conduct a systematic review; rather, we’re searching online databases of research articles. And so, you can see a modern parallel in a common mistake made by some systematic review authors: searching only one database. If the authors were conducting a systematic review on a particular nursing-led educational intervention, and the authors only searched the database CINAHL, they may miss out on relevant studies which appear in PubMed, but are not included in CINAHL. 

It’s for this reason that those conducting systematic reviews and other forms of evidence synthesis are recommended to search multiple databases. We don’t want to end up like Lind, missing highly relevant material because we failed to search multiple sources.

Unfortunately Lind did not have access to Northeastern University Library’s Evidence Synthesis Service (ESS). But you do! If you are planning to conduct a systematic review or another form of evidence synthesis, we’re here to help. Learn more about the ESS and how we can support your evidence synthesis project here: https://subjectguides.lib.neu.edu/systematicreview 

You can read more about the history of systematic reviews here: https://ebm.bmj.com/content/23/4/121 

Happy searching!

Snell Library Renovation Continues; 4th Floor Closed

Work on the Snell Library renovation continued in earnest over the winter break. With construction moving to the 4th floor, furniture was removed from that area and reorganize on the 3rd floor. Temporary walls were also installed on the 3rd floor to cut down on construction noises throughout the building.

While work is being completed on the 4th floor, please note that that level will be closed for the spring 2023 semester. Library users should relocate to the first three floors of the library or visit the Northeastern University Spaces page to find other suitable areas on the Boston campus. The Curry Student Center, Marino Center, 300 Mass. Ave, and most academic buildings have open seating available for study purposes.

The basement level also remains closed for the semester.

The Snell Library renovation project is a top-to-bottom redesign that will provide:

Improved study space, including:

  • a major increase in seating to accommodate both quiet and group study
  • bookable group study rooms on several floors
  • single-person pods for phone and video calls
  • new study space on the lower level
  • a larger, enhanced graduate study room
  • improved acoustic dampening throughout the building

Creative and collaborative opportunities, such as:

  • an expanded creative and design production zone on the 2nd floor
  • a research-focused area that brings together advanced digital scholarship projects from across the university
  • a new café and large event space open to the public on the 1st floor

Improved access to our collections and services, including:

  • more space to highlight our unique archives and special collections
  • on-site access to high-use books
  • easier access to library and information technology services

Compelling views, inside and out:

  • welcoming, light-filled areas with panoramas of the campus
  • a glass-enclosed central staircase showcasing newly opened areas of the library
  • a wrap-around glass façade on the 1st floor with new, larger entrances

Please follow us on Instagram and Twitter or visit our website for up-to-date construction and renovation news.

Remembering Christine McVie: An Interview with Larry Katz

Christine McVie standing in front of a microphone holding three maracas. She has long blonde hair and is wearing black.
Christine McVie
(Photo by Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

Christine McVie, long-time keyboardist for the band Fleetwood Mac, died at the age of 79 on November 30, 2022. 

Records of McVie’s life and legacy can be found in the Northeastern University Archives and Special Collections’ Larry Katz Tapes, a collection of audio recordings between Boston arts and music writer Larry Katz and numerous musicians from 1980 to 2005. 

This interview with McVie took place shortly after Fleetwood Mac’s fourteenth studio album Tango in the Night was released in 1987, which marked the band’s triumphant return after a five-year hiatus. This hiatus saw the band’s members pursuing solo careers in music, but they ultimately came back together to create more music for, as McVie calls it, “the entity called Fleetwood Mac.” 

Listeners of Katz’s interview can come to understand McVie’s view of the band as something larger than herself or the other members in it. “The end result to me is always magical,” McVie states when asked about the “magic” that Fleetwood Mac imbues on its listeners. Even though she admits that the process can be tedious at times, she also reflects on the “mystical” feeling of listening to a record she could spend an entire year working on. 

In this way, McVie describes the creation of an album “like a painting.” “[We] decide what colors we need, what depth we need, what kind of emotion we need… We sketch it in and fill in the colors as we go along.” 

When asked about her future, McVie states, “I don’t see any reason to stop…I don’t see any reason at all–it’s my life. I don’t know what else I’d do if I didn’t write songs or sing.” 

Source: “Interview with Christine McVie, English singer, songwriter, keyboardist and member of band Fleetwood Mac.” Larry Katz Tapes. University Libraries Archives and Special Collections Department.