Guest blogger, Bianca Farmer, is a CatholicU Library Science student who did a class practicum working with CUA Special Collections.

In the Fall semester of 2024, I enrolled in the Archives Management course. For our final assignment there was an option of completing a 16–18-page paper or volunteer to do a 50-hour practicum, I opted for the practicum to gain hands-on experience in the archival field. This decision led me to an exciting opportunity to work with CUA’s Special Collections, where I collaborated with Shane MacDonald, the curator of the digital and museum collections, and W. John Shepherd, CUA’s Archivist and Head of Special Collections.

I was given the freedom to choose which collection I would like to do. After reviewing several options, I chose the Fr. Clarence Rufus Joseph Rivers Ph.D. collection because of his work on incorporating black culture into Catholic liturgy, which I found historically and culturally significant.  My task was to organize and process the collection and create a finding aid, all of which seemed daunting to me at the time, but the collection was relatively small, and it consisted of 4 boxes. The collection was donated in 2022 by Gerald Rape and Bonnie Leal, both who were lifelong friends of Fr. Rivers. They both believed that it was the wishes of Fr. Rivers to have some of his items at CUA because it was his alma mater. In contrast, there is another Fr. Rivers collection at Boston College that consist of 30 boxes, the CUA collection is much smaller, but no less historically valuable.   The CUA collection consist of a wide range of materials such as vinyl records, DVD’s, CD’s, books, sheet music, hymnals, magazines, musical plays, correspondences, newspaper clippings, honorary certificates, photographs, and biographical notes.

Fr. Rivers was a priest, composer, liturgist, education, writer, activist, and community leader. Born in Selma, Alabama he became Catholic as a child when his family later moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the first African American to be ordained a priest in the Archdioceses of Cincinnati in 1956. He served as a priest at the St. Joseph Church in the West End neighborhood of Cincinnati and was an English teacher at Purcell High School. Fr. Rivers was a graduate of CUA and continued his graduate studies at Catholic University of Paris, ultimately earning a  Ph.D.  in African American culture and Catholic liturgy for Union Institute in 1978.  Fr. Rivers work was revolutionary particularly after the Vatican II council, which significantly altered Catholic liturgical practices by removing Latin as the dominant language for Mass. This directly influenced Fr. Rivers to incorporate Black gospel music into Catholic liturgy, he was the first to do so. His music was featured at the first English-language Mass in the United States in 1964.

Although the practicum seemed intimidating initially, it provided me with hands-on experience that enhanced my understanding of the information we were covering in class. Each week I would attend class on Tuesday and on Wednesday I spent time working in Special Collections. My class work and practicum were perfectly aligned. It allowed me to apply what I gained in class to a tangible project.

On my first day, I carefully looked over the acquisition and I looked through each of the boxes to get more of a sense of what was in the collection. I did not make any changes to the materials or reorganize anything. Instead, I created and initial survey and documented everything in the boxes to a shared Google Doc. The collection itself was in excellent condition, there weren’t any items that were deteriorating, and the materials seemed to be in their own order. The vinyl records were in their own box and the books were mostly together. The fourth box only had two items, it consisted of a foot and a half long frame of a certificate to Bonnie Leal signed by Fr. Rivers with two photographs. What stood out the most, were these two binders that were arranged by the donor Gerald Rape. The binders’ items seemed to be in an order. It was an array of items, from photographs, biographical notes, an obituary, newspaper clippings and correspondences. There was also a photograph of Fr. Rivers wearing boxing gloves; it was refreshing to see him in a setting beyond his role as a priest.

I arranged the collection into four series, the first is “Audiovisuals” which consisted of CD’s DVD’s, and vinyl records. Second, was “Publications,” that had books, hymnals, sheet music, magazines, and musical plays. Next, was “Binders,” with this series, I kept the items from the binders in their original order and transferred the materials to acid free folders. My decision to keep the binders in their original order was helpful when it came to organizing the collection. Finally, there was “Oversize,” which was just the certificate to Bonnie Leal and the two photographs.  Initially, the process was tedious, but once I organized each item in the Google Doc, physically organizing the items was effortless. I removed rusty staples and replaced them with paper clips, luckily, I did not damage any papers in the process.

Once the collection was organized, I began creating the finding aid in ArchivesSpace. The week prior, I had a class assignment to create a mock collection in ArchivesSpace which helped me become familiar with the process. Despite some initial challenges, I received guidance from Abigail Hibbs and Shane MacDonald, and in the end, it was done successfully. Creating the finding aid was my most exciting venture. When it was completed, I sent it to my family and friends, I was very proud.

My most memorable part of the practicum was being with the staff and students in Special Collections and learning about Fr. Rivers. The atmosphere of the Special Collections office was welcoming, and I had the opportunity to learn from everyone. I was able to foster professional relationships. The research I conducted on Fr. Rivers connected me to the collection and I was inspired and eager to process the collection to the best of my ability. Processing this collection assured me that I made the right decision about pursuing a career in Library Information Science.

Special thanks to Shane MacDonald, Alexis Howlett, and Abigail Hibbs for their support and guidance throughout the practicum. For questions about how to access the Fr. Clarence Rufus Joseph Rivers Ph.D. Collection or any others, please visit our contact page.