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Dorothy Berry

@dorothyjberry

Archives, DH, Museums, African American studies, C19 and early C20. all opinions my own, not my employer's www.dorothy-berry.com

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09.08.2023
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Latest posts by Dorothy Berry @dorothyjberry

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The Bronx Slave Market Ella Baker, the great socialist and civil rights organizer, was born this day in 1903. Here's her classic 1935 article on economic exploitation and black domestic workers in Great Depression–era New Y...

'Ella Baker, the great socialist and civil rights organizer, was born this day in 1903. Here's her classic 1935 article on economic exploitation and black domestic workers in Great Depression–era New York.'

The Bronx Slave Market | Ella Baker & Marvel Cooke
jacobin.com/2018/12/ella...

06.03.2026 21:06 👍 59 🔁 37 💬 0 📌 2

I like to think it's really you subverting the power dynamics by centering the child

06.03.2026 20:28 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

For most of my childhood my mom was a researcher at Entertainment Weekly and worked in their massive library of other magazines reporters were constantly referencing. We lose so much when reporters, or anyone else, can't access that history.

05.03.2026 20:55 👍 134 🔁 18 💬 1 📌 0
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Billy Yank & Johnny Reb Letters For the past sixteen years following my retirement, I have dedicated myself to the transcription of letters—encompassing thousands of Civil War era correspondence and diaries that have remained unp…

Some of the most engrossing 19th century prose I know of can be found on a website run by a retiree who has spent the last 16 years transcribing thousands of letters, almost all of them in private hands, written by Civil War soldiers. billyyankjohnnyreb.wordpress.com/2015/12/05/l... #19thCentury

04.03.2026 14:58 👍 50 🔁 18 💬 2 📌 3

Ha, last summer was my first in years not teaching at Dream Lab! Such a great program

04.03.2026 18:06 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

I have been awarded some professional development funds at work that are specified for "training" related to my job (digital interpretation/humanites type things). Does anyone have a conference/summer school/symposium/training option I should know about?

04.03.2026 17:56 👍 10 🔁 6 💬 8 📌 0
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Being a Luddite Is Cool and All, but Have You Seen the Hilarious Tapestries These New Looms Are Making? Don’t get me wrong, I’m as invested in keeping my job as the next weaver. When the boss brought in that big new power loom, I was pretty skeptical....

When the boss brought in that big new power loom, I was skeptical. He said once he got it running, we’d be out of a job, so when the boys started talking about breaking into the factory and smashing the thing, I was on board. Until, that is, I saw the funny tapestries it could make.

01.03.2026 14:30 👍 164 🔁 54 💬 0 📌 5
Critical Approaches to AI Working Group | Price Lab for Digital Humanities The Price Lab is the University of Pennsylvania's center for innovative uses of technology in the study and teaching of history, art, and culture.

The Price Lab’s Critical Approaches to AI Working Group has released a white paper in which we advocate for AI-free instruction in reading, writing, & research. These are fundamental skills in the humanities (& in general), & with decisive action we can keep teaching them well in the age of AI!

23.02.2026 16:41 👍 57 🔁 27 💬 2 📌 1

To me, the question is what is the end goal of the availability: broad public access? fellow niche researchers? If the former, sure upload to IA, make a public GDrive and link from your personal site/profiles. If the later, a good paper will inspire colleagues to reach out and request directly, ime

02.03.2026 12:43 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

I went to the Lewis Walpole Library in 2015 to do the research for my undergraduate dissertation. I can say with no exaggeration that I owe my research career to date to that experience. It's a truly magical place in a beautiful setting 🗃️

28.02.2026 17:23 👍 13 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 1
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Director and Curator, Special Collections and Archives - Middlebury College Reporting to the Dean of the Library, the Director and Curator of Special Collections provides leadership, vision, and budget oversight for Middlebury’s special collections, including its rare book an...

JOB ALERT! 📜📚

Who wants to be director & curator of special collections & archives at Middlebury College (Vermont!) — & work for a wonderful boss (& one of my favorite people), Rebekah Irwin?

apply.workable.com/middleburyco...

27.02.2026 22:29 👍 119 🔁 85 💬 3 📌 5

I feel like people aren't understanding that I showed up to do a reading and there were students wearing giant buttons with three different professional headshots, spanning the last 10 years

27.02.2026 23:34 👍 26 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
A diverse group of very cool library students standing around me, a short woman who is gently nestling a bottle of San Pelegrino for some reason

A diverse group of very cool library students standing around me, a short woman who is gently nestling a bottle of San Pelegrino for some reason

a table with very cool library-themed stickers and big pin-back buttons with my various headshots on them

a table with very cool library-themed stickers and big pin-back buttons with my various headshots on them

This's been a deeply heinous travel week, but a true high-point was being expertly hosted for a day of book talk/archives chatter with the amazing SILS students at UNC-Chapel Hill. Much love to the student SAA and Black Librarians groups, & esp to the rascal who made a bunch of buttons with my face

27.02.2026 19:47 👍 22 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 1

"Additionally, please note that the Legislature did not include a grace period for updating credentials... your current credential will be invalid immediately, and you may be subject to additional penalties if you are operating a vehicle without a valid credential."
www.cjonline.com/story/news/p...

26.02.2026 12:06 👍 48 🔁 33 💬 1 📌 4
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my local park is full of hundreds of snow sculptures and someone has been adding museum labels

24.02.2026 19:42 👍 8140 🔁 2121 💬 97 📌 265
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Happy birthday to me!
(Stuck out of town because of a blizzard)(flight cancelations push return back three days)

23.02.2026 13:18 👍 14 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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New York Mayor Mamdani is breaking his promise on library funding. Fitting that a few days after Valentine’s Day, New Yorkers may be reaching the end of their Mamdani honeymoon. Earlier this week, the Mayor released his preliminary budget for the 2027 fiscal year,…

“A tenth of a percent might seem paltry, but library budgets are on a tightrope (they nearly always are) and we’ve seen during previous funding deliberations that libraries need to quickly cut services and hours in response to even the smallest budgeting fluctuations.” lithub.com/new-york-may...

21.02.2026 02:45 👍 245 🔁 84 💬 1 📌 8

This England news makes waking up too early in the US worthwhile!

20.02.2026 10:57 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, by Umberto Boccioni, 1913, (cast 1931 or 1934), 📸 by Wang Zhao

19.02.2026 23:03 👍 5297 🔁 839 💬 20 📌 28

The descendants of slaves owned by Andrew Tarbutton are now fighting against a railroad company owned by his family to keep a farm that has been in their family for 100 years.

Tarbutton Hall is also the home of Emory’s political science and sociology departments.

19.02.2026 22:05 👍 183 🔁 112 💬 2 📌 4

Thank YOU for supporting

19.02.2026 16:47 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Cover Dorothy Berry's book "The House Archives Built & Other Thoughts on Black Archival Possibilities."

Cover Dorothy Berry's book "The House Archives Built & Other Thoughts on Black Archival Possibilities."

So happy this book has arrived! #BlackArchives Thank you for this work @dorothyjberry.bsky.social and @wehere.bsky.social!

19.02.2026 16:35 👍 7 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0

the moral is, if you go to the same place everyday at the same time and do the same thing, you will become recognizable

19.02.2026 14:22 👍 13 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
two panels of a nancy cartoon: in the first she is walking by a storefront with a sign that says "buy something for the one you love" and in the second she is eating an ice cream sundae

two panels of a nancy cartoon: in the first she is walking by a storefront with a sign that says "buy something for the one you love" and in the second she is eating an ice cream sundae

Most mornings, I get myself a latte, a luxury in my life I'm lucky to afford. This morning, a fellow customer stopped me and said "are you an archivist?" I confirmed in shock and they said "I saw a flyer online for your work and thought, wait isn't she always at the coffee shop?"

19.02.2026 14:17 👍 45 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
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the we here goods Shop the goods and products from We Here®️.

I've been excited to read @dorothyjberry.bsky.social's new book since I first heard about it, but I *ran* to the website to buy myself a copy when I found out that it was published by @wehere.bsky.social. Truly a dream team.

weherespace.myshopify.com

19.02.2026 00:03 👍 22 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0

Mind you, the first two printings were very limited and sold out in a couple days so it's really no explanation necessary! I'd be interested to hear your thoughts if you do read it :)

19.02.2026 00:37 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Next week in our seminar series, Monday, February 23, at 5:15 pm EST, we are thrilled to welcome Hester Blum ((Washington Univ. in St. Louis) who will speak on “Polar Erratics."

At Penn & on Zoom!
Full details at: pennmaterialtexts.org

18.02.2026 18:19 👍 8 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 2

some of you are looksmaxxing when you need to be booksmaxxing

18.02.2026 19:41 👍 14704 🔁 2450 💬 212 📌 194

To be fair, it is a long title and I just call it The House Archives Built

18.02.2026 16:12 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

I feel great about it!

18.02.2026 16:11 👍 13 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0