This post marks the official end of the semester and my research with the 828 Digital Archives for Historical Equity. I will be making a presentation on my research with Katherine Cutshall and others involved in the project. Specifically, I will present on the Patton family, their businesses, enslaved people, and business partners/fellow enslavers.  I am looking forward to presenting this work because it has been quite a daunting task for an undergraduate student; however, I could juggle the responsibilities while maintaining two part-time jobs, a social life, and a  thesis on a simi ..read more

This week I have been consolidating research in the form of a bubble map that will act as a story map in navigating the Pattons and their various partnerships. I am excited about the visuals the map will create in displaying these partnerships.  I am continuing newspaper research, but I believe I have run dry on the different keywords I can use. On top of that, Katherine and I will be consolidating the research conducted this week to prepare for a potential presentation on our findings. I will provide a screenshot of the Bubble Map below to show the progress in this endeavor.  The ma ..read more

James Washington Patton was a man who came into wealth at a young age to his immigrant father’s work building a fortune for the Patton family. James W. inherited his father’s vast estate, which included hotels, tanneries, blacksmith shops, and other mercantile businesses.  James W. began and ended many partnerships with wealthy local men within a few decades. Some associations operated simultaneously with others, but I have found at least five to six prominent partnerships in my research.  James W. worked with J.R. Osborne, Andrew Erwin, Albert T. Summey, Samuel Chunn’s sons, and J.F ..read more

History and folklore often coincide, the former being based on public records and primary documents, the latter on oral interpretation and a never-ending reinterpretation. In our contemporary era, there is a recognition of people of color and their plight in America being given at a rate like never before. White people and supremacists see this as an attack on a form of history they deem untrue and blown out of proportion. The opposite is true. In the case of the Porvenir massacre in Texas, heated debate sprung from an argument by wealthy ranchers against Mexican Americans seeking commemoratio ..read more

On Saturday, September 10th, 2022, I had the opportunity to attend/speak at the 14th annual Shiloh Community History Day. The event occurred at the Shiloh Community Center, located directly next to the Shiloh A.M.E. Zion cemetery. It was an absolute pleasure to inform this community about the work my fellow researchers and I have conducted on Shiloh since January 2022. The community demographic skewed to the elderly, but their appreciation for our work meant so much. I spoke specifically about my work building the Omeka database, where the cemetery surveys for Shiloh A.M.E. Zion were added. I ..read more

To start this entry, I would like to give an update on my recent work in the Pack Library Archives. I assist head Archivist Katherine Cutshall in organizing and studying the Patton-Parker Papers. I have been transcribing the personal journal of Andrew Kerr, a Charleston mercantile elite. The journal entails his travels throughout England in 1803 and encounters with bourgeois such as the Duke of York, the Prince of Wales George IV), and other wealthy people in London. Andrew’s daughter Henrietta married James Washington Patton, a mountain mercantile man who is the son of James Patton Sr.  ..read more

Working in the archives is a tedious process that reaps excellent rewards when utilized correctly. I am moving away from the Omeka database for a short period to focus on organizing the Patton-Parker collection housed in Buncombe County Special Collections. In BCSC, my work has centered on combing through the collection, taking notes on intriguing facts found, and tracking down the nearly 100 people enslaved by the Pattons between the years 1800 to 1865.  So far, I have consolidated a spreadsheet listing the names of enslaved individuals mentioned in the last will of James Patton Sr., wri ..read more

Revisiting Shiloh A.M.E. Zion cemetery this past week brought back memories of our Hands-On History class’s efforts to record headstone surveys. Whether it was cold, raining, or windy, we stayed there; this day was sunny and mildly pleasant. The cemetery looked much the same besides a fallen headstone from section three, an area I had worked in back in the Spring.  It was a sad coincidence to see that headstones succumb to the elements. Still, the knowledge of our research efforts is ensuring future grants to restore many of the monuments in bad conditions.  Among the cemeteries visi ..read more