NCWHS Virtual Event - Monet Lewis-Timmons - June 26, 2024

While Alice Dunbar-Nelson is best known for her marriage to critically acclaimed poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, materials in her collection reveal that she was much more than just a wife; she was a poet, a novelist, a suffragist, a cultural critic, and a champion for Black education who was determined to define herself on her own terms.
By centering the lifecycle model of archives, this project traces the cross-generational lineage of Alice’s archive as it transformed from a personal collection to a public/accessible archive due to preservation efforts of her niece Pauline A. Young, and recovery work and scholarship by Akasha Hull. In this talk, recent doctoral graduate Monet Lewis-Timmons will share how she turned her dissertation into a curated exhibit titled “Alice Dunbar-Nelson and the Legacy of Black Women’s Archives” to honor the life of Alice Dunbar-Nelson and her archival materials.