Digitization and Metadata Creation: Carlos Montezuma Papers

Digitization and Metadata Creation: Carlos Montezuma Papers Digitization and Metadata Creation: Carlos Montezuma Papers Project Description: Scanning and digital preservation of correspondence, photos, and other archival material pertaining to the Yavapai and their conflict with the Indian Bureau over the plan to forcibly relocate the Yavapai at Ft McDowell to the Salt River Pima-Maricopa reservation. Of particular importance are the handwritten letters from Charles Dickens, George Dickens, and Mike Burns, who were Yavapai community leaders during the early 1900s, to their cousin, Carlos Montezuma (1866-1923), a renowned Indian Rights advocate, who led a one-man battle against the Indian Bureau and won. Dozens of items in this archive are critically important to the preservation of Yavapai history, Arizona history, and Indian affairs. Once digitized, ASU Library can easily provide access to items from the Carlos Montezuma Papers upon request.. Special Note: Distinctive Collections at ASU Library is currently closed due to the COVID-19 emergency. At this time, the grant team is unsure when the archives and reformatting lab will reopen, although we believe that it will be open for staff by the fall. However, it is possible that COVID-19 mitigation protocols may further delay the possibility of in-person work on the ASU campus and therefore may affect the completion of this grant project. The grant team is applying for funding for this project assuming that the ASU Library is once again able to operate in a face-to- face environment. Plan of work: The entire Carlos Montezuma Papers archival collection is five linear feet of material. ASU Library has scanned and provided access to a small portion of this material as part of an ASU Institute for Humanities Research seed grant, and with this AHRAB grant project we would like to scan and digitally preserve many additional items. Dr. David Martinez (faculty in the ASU American Indian Studies Department) and Joyce Martin (librarian and head of social sciences division) and Renee James (curator of the Greater Arizona Collection) will continue the work of identifying the portion of the collection most relevant to Dr. Montezumas work with the Yavapai Nation. The grant project work plan consists of hiring a student employee to help our preservation team to scan the most relevant items. The Carlos Montezuma Papers held at ASU include handwritten correspondence, typed correspondence, photographs, and ephemera (postcards, pamphlets, brochures, programs)--the highest priority will be placed on items created during Dr. Montezumas work as an advocate for Indian rights and the Ft McDowell Yavapai, items between the years of 1900-1923. The team will begin by scanning photographs from the CP-MONT Carlos Montezuma Photograph Collection. Twenty photographs have already been digitized, therefore our team will focus on any photographs of Carlos Montezuma or his family not already digitized. The next priority will be Correspondence, 1915-1919 in Box 4 folders 1-5 and Correspondence, 1920-1922 Box 5 folders 1-4. This will be approximately 400 items scanned. If the grant team has time remaining, the next items to be digitized will be selected items from Miscellaneous Papers Regarding Fort McDowell Reservation Box 12 folders 1-4 and selected items from Speeches and Notes Box 6 folders 1-1H and 2-2I. To view the finding guide for the Carlos Montezuma Papers and see the entire listing of Boxes and Folders please see http://azarchivesonline.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/asu/montezuma.xml Longer term plans for the Co-PIs outside of the scope of this project include uploading digitized items into an open access database, the ASU Digital Repository. Renee James and Joyce Martin will provide metadata for the scanned items using a metadata template created by digitization team member Timothy Provenzano. Additionally, the Co-PIs are planning an online exhibit, and an historical account of Montezumas relationship with his Yavapai family and community, which will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. Audience: Yavapai community, American Indian communities in and outside of Arizona, high school and college students, graduate students, humanities and social science researchers, the general public.