- unitid
-
{"value"=>"186330", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc MIRS Phelps 1984-08", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b22804916", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1981", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1981"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Phelps-Stokes Fund Black U.S. Ambassadors Oral History audio collection"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"37 audio_recordings", "unit"=>"audio_recordings"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"The Phelp-Stokes Fund Black U.S. Ambassadors Oral History audio collection consists of ten interviews with Black U.S. ambassadors to African and Caribbean nations, who are also referred to as Chiefs of Mission. Funded by the Ford Foundation and sponsored by the Phelps-Stokes Fund, the project documented the contribution of Black people to the shaping of U.S. foreign policy. Interviews were conducted by oral historians Celestine Tutt and Dr. Ruth Stuts Njiri."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Phelps-Stokes Fund", "type"=>"corpname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Phelp-Stokes Fund Black U.S. Ambassadors Oral History audio collection consists of ten interviews with Black U.S. ambassadors to African and Caribbean nations, who are also referred to as Chiefs of Mission. Funded by the Ford Foundation and sponsored by the Phelps-Stokes Fund, the project documented the contribution of Black people to the shaping of U.S. foreign policy. Dr. Ruth Stuts Njiri and Mrs. Elizabeth Mason planned the project. Dr. Njiri served as secretary to Kenya's independence leader and first president, Jomo Kenyatta, and later as the Phelps-Stokes Fund project director. Mrs. Elizabeth Mason was associate director of Columbia University's Oral History Research Office. Interviews were conducted by trained oral historians Celestine Tutt and Dr. Ruth Stuts Njiri.</p> <p>The Phelps-Stokes Fund is a philanthropic nonprofit established in 1911 after the death of Caroline Phelps-Stokes, an heiress and prominent philanthropist. In her will, Phelps-Stokes detailed her wish for a fund to be set up to provide housing and improve education for African Americans, Native Americans, and \"needy and deserving white students.\" Other works have included conferences, exchange and training programs, cooperative programs with other foundations, government aid programs, and a number of cultural projects.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The collection consists of thirty-seven audio recordings comprising interviews with ten Black U.S. ambassadors to African and Caribbean nations. Since the collection's original formats are audio cassettes, many of the items contain two or more parts, one for each side of the cassette. They are arranged alphabetically and in sequence by part. There are multiple interviews per person, referred to as sessions. The session number is included in the item description.</p> <p>The interviewees include: Samuel C. Adams, William Beverly Carter, Theodore R. Britton Jr., Mercer Cook, Edward R. Dudley, John H. Morrow, Charles J. Nelson, Elliot P. Skinner, Mabel M. Smythe, and Franklin Williams. The interview for Theodore R. Britton Jr. does not have an audio recording available. In the first interview session for Mabel M. Smythe, she details her husband Hugh H. Smythe's diplomatic career serving as a Black U.S. ambassador to Syria and to Malta. The primary period of service for the interviewees was from the 1950s to 1980s. A brief bio for each is included noting their countries of ambassadorship. The scope of the interviews range from subjects' early professional career, travels abroad, events which led to their entry into diplomatic service, their diplomatic career as ambassadors, family and personal history, careers and experiences, honors, and their perspectives on Black people in U.S. foreign service.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Phelps-Stokes Fund, 1984</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Collection inventoried by <span class=\"name\">Christopher Arena</span>. Collection processed and described by <span class=\"name\">Ornella U. Baganizi</span>, archivist; and <span class=\"name\">Shola Lynch</span>, curator. Finding aid published in <span class=\"date\">2023</span>.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Phelps-Stokes Fund records, Sc MG 162. Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division.</p>"}
- sponsor
-
{"value"=>"An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection, and a grant from the Mellon Foundation supported the digitization."}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Inclusive dates corrected by Ornella U. Baganizi.", "date"=>"2024-03-06"}
{"value"=>"Item scope and content notes and AMI identifiers updated for clarity by Ornella U. Baganizi.", "date"=>"2024-04-12"}
- date_start
-
1981
- keydate
-
1981
- date_end
-
1981
- date_inclusive_start
-
1981
- date_inclusive_end
-
1981
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Phelps-Stokes Fund Black U.S. Ambassadors Oral History audio collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library"}