People brought old photos, letters, and other printed materials representing Black Spokane to the Carl Maxey Center on Saturday to get them archived.
SPOKANE, Wash. — In a first of its kind of event at the Carl Maxey Center, people with photos, letters and other printed materials representing Spokane’s Black history took the opportunity to get them archived.
“There’s a really rich history of Black history here. And it is not often easy to find across the archives here,” Dana Bronson said.
Bronson works as an archivist at the Spokane Public Library and helped organize Saturday’s community scanning event. She says they’ve been planning the event since the spring.
Bronson said, “This is just a way to help elevate and make that history more accessible to people in the community.”
Angela Schwendiman was one of the first people to attend the event. She’s lived in Spokane for almost 20 years.
“This is a wonderful project and an opportunity for those of us who live in the Spokane region,” Schwendiman said.
She couldn’t be more excited when she heard of the event: “You don’t know what people have contributed unless there’s evidence there. This is not about us. This is about the future.”
Schwendiman brought in both old photos and business cards she’s kept over the years from Spokane Black businesses.
“It’s important to preserve this history, because one of the things that African Americans obviously have striven for is is equality. And without history, documenting it, you don’t have any evidence that you existed,” Schwendiman said.
Bronson hopes Saturday’s event makes it easier for more people in the Lilac City to learn about its history.
“By making it online and accessible, we hope to be able to share that more widely with the community,” she said.
The artifacts scanned on Saturday should be available online in the next couple of weeks. Organizers hope to bring back more events like these in the near future.
