Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Duke Publishes its 2,000th Volume


Today the Scribe machine at Duke University scanned the 2,000th volume since beginning production in October of 2012. The pamphlet, entitled The Life of Cleretta Nora Avery - the Wonderful Colored Girl Preacher, focuses on the life and family background of a 10-year-old prodigy who took the 19th century United States by storm with her oratorial skills. Written by her mother, Mrs. Victoria Georgie Avery (nee Andrews) and published in 1897, the pamphlet includes biographical information on her and Cleretta's father, Moses Brown Avery. While their daughter Cleretta is the focus, Mr. and Mrs. Avery didn't lead boring lives by any stretch of the imagination.

Originally from Pensacola, Florida, Moses grew up in Mobile, Alabama. He was brought there when he and his mother were freed from slavery by his white father, and was raised as an Episcopalian. He distinguished himself in his studies, and was one of the few African American officers in the Union Navy during the Civil War. Meanwhile, Victoria (also born in Pensacola, but to Latino and African American parents) knew Moses while growing up in Mobile. She survived the Civil War, and an attempt to sell her into slavery, by fleeing first to Texas and then alone on horseback into Mexico. When she returned to Mobile at the war's conclusion, she found Moses, who was involved in publishing and post-war administration in both Louisiana and Alabama. They married, and Cleretta was born around 1887. Moses was devoted to the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church , and had been ordained therein as a minister at some point during his life. According to Mrs. Avery, Cleretta was converted at the tender age of 18 months. Intelligent and outspoken, at the age of 3 she declared her intention to follow in her father's footsteps and preach, and did give her first sermon in Raleigh several years later at the age of 6. Her mother writes:

It was certainly marvelous to behold the command of language, knowledge of the Bible and elocutionary powers exhibited by her in this first sermon, of one half hour long, delivered to a large congregation. That sermon made her famous. Invitations to preach from churches and from white and colored people in the adjoining cities and towns poured in upon this tiny little preacher. (p. 7-8)
 Cleretta Nora Avery and her mother went on an evangelical tour, continuing even after Moses' death in Aberdeen, N.C. in 1895. Cleretta preached in North and South Carolina at first, but expanded her range to include Virginia, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, among other states. This pamphlet includes letters of commendation, praise, and admiration written to her by various preachers, including Rev. Dr. J.S. Caldwell of New York and Pastor J.H. Welch of Charleston. Despite this fame and ability to preach, Cleretta seems to have been a normal child in many other aspects, which is reflected in a charming newspaper interview where she discusses her dolls at length with a reporter.

Read this short but informative pamphlet on her early life in our collection on the Internet Archive. Readers should note that while this pamphlet is written by Mrs. Avery, it does include language used to describe persons of color, which while common in the late 19th century, is considered offensive today. This short biography is a valuable and fascinating work as it not only examines the rise and popularity of an educated, young woman of color at a time when it was uncommon for women of color to receive education (the first African American woman to receive a BA, North Carolinian Mary Jane Patterson, graduated from Oberlin College in 1862, a mere 30 years earlier), but it was written and published by another educated woman of color. Its language and the image it grants us of non-white, female life in a variety of southern states before, during, and following the Civil War gives us another piece we can add to the puzzle of what the lives of women of color were like at a time of racial, social, and economic upheaval in our country.


Sources:

Avery, V.G. The Life of Cleretta Nora Avery, the Wonderful Colored Girl Preacher. Carthage, N.C.: Record Job Print, 1897.

Bailey, Richard. Neither Carpetbaggers nor Scalawags: Black Officeholders during the Reconstruction of Alabama, 1867-1878. Montgomery, AL: NewSouth Books, 2010.

Friday, November 15, 2013

The family unit

https://archive.org/details/adventchristianw111adve
The Advent Christian Witness, a serial digitized by the NC Religion Project, focuses partially on international ministry and world issues. Specifically, the publication emphasized missionary work and outreach into third-world countries. Articles in Witness advocate for active members who share their faith through dedicated evangelism.

If you are interested in the topics alluded to above, flip through one of the eleven volumes. There's a treasure trove of material there. But today I'd like to spotlight another, more localized subject within the material: the family.

https://archive.org/details/adventchristianw111adve

https://archive.org/details/adventchristianw411adve

In preparing the serial for digitization, I noticed the frequency of articles related to the family. Witness stresses the importance of nurturing the family and provides conversational pieces filled with advice on strengthening the unity of families and marriages.

https://archive.org/details/adventchristianw211adve


https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Advent%20Christian%20General%20Conference%20of%20America%22

https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Advent%20Christian%20General%20Conference%20of%20America%22

https://archive.org/details/adventchristianw411adve

Additionally, other articles discuss the perceived challenges of cultivating a Christian family. The serial recommends for devoted practice of prayer and bible study along with constant communication and affection. Spending time together and embracing traditions are also stressed. Witness contemplates family life, morality and modern day temptations. Topics of concern run the gamut from drugs and pornography to Christmas holiday advertising.

https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Advent%20Christian%20General%20Conference%20of%20America%22

https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Advent%20Christian%20General%20Conference%20of%20America%22

https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Advent%20Christian%20General%20Conference%20of%20America%22

https://archive.org/details/adventchristianw211adve

https://archive.org/details/adventchristianw411adve


 Keep on scrolling...!

https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Advent%20Christian%20General%20Conference%20of%20America%22

https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Advent%20Christian%20General%20Conference%20of%20America%22

https://archive.org/details/adventchristianw411adve

Users might find it interesting to consider conceptions and portrayals of family within the serial as well as the anxieties and advice given. Witness appreciates traditional models and comments on the changing shape of the American family. The publication reveres the bonds between married couples and families, and is dispirited by the increase in divorces, single-parent households and other trends in American life as outlined in the snippet below:

https://archive.org/details/adventchristianw211adve
As I mentioned before, the NC Religion Project digitized eleven volumes of the serial, which are available on the Internet Archive. This post features excerpts from the first five volumes. This is a photo-heavy post, but there were so many interesting bits to extract and plenty that got left out. See for yourself!