Library and Archives Lunch Hour: The Shared Journey of CENTRO and The Schomburg
Event Organizer: Center for Puerto Rican Studies
Cost: Free
February 7, 2023 @ 12:00 pm – 12:45 pm EST
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is a research library dedicated to the collection and preservation of Black life in America and a partner of CENTRO. It’s founder, Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, was an Afro-Puerto Rican determined to uplift our stories. Nearly 100 years later, we have the Schomburg and CENTRO, whose collections ensure that our shared history, heroes, and accomplishments are public knowledge. Join us in kicking off Black History Month with a collaborative Library & Archives Lunch Hour focusing on our shared resources and primary sources detailing the intersectional history of Black Americans and Afro-Puerto Ricans.
About the Panelists
Barrye Brown is the Associate Curator of the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. She received her B.A. in History from Dillard University, M.A. in History with a focus on Atlantic World/African Diaspora from Rice University, and her MLIS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where, as a Carolina Academy Library Associate, she held dual appointments in the Southern Historical Collection and the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black History and Culture. Prior to her current position at the Schomburg Center, she served as the Reference and Outreach Archivist at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture at the College of Charleston. She is a 2022-2024 Rare Book School-Mellon Cultural Heritage Fellow.
Aníbal Arocho is the Library Manager at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies Library & Archive at CUNY Hunter College. He manages library reference services and a growing collection of over 18,000 items. He holds a Masters of Science in Library and Information Science from the Pratt Institute.
Lindsay Wittwer is the Digital Archivist and Collections Manager at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, CUNY. In this role she oversees CENTRO’s digital archives and archival collections discovery platforms, digitization program, preservation of the archive’s born-digital holdings, audiovisual archives, accessioning, arrangement and description of the physical holdings of the archives, and reproduction services. She also serves as the coordinator for archives-related grants and special projects. Lindsay is also an adjunct professor in the Archives and Public History program at New York University teaching Digital Archives. She served on the Society of American Archivists Standards Committee from 2016-2022. Lindsay holds an MA in Archival Management and in Public History from New York University and a BA in History and Spanish from Providence College
Image courtesy of the New York Public Library
This event is put on in partnership with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
This event is part of the CENTRO 50th Anniversary Celebration! Join us all of 2023 in celebrating 50 years of CENTRO’s work to strengthen, diversify, and reimagine the field of Puerto Rican Studies!