A Campus Divided? The Historic Precedent for the “Bearlin Wall”

To the Baylor Campus Community, As President Abraham Lincoln said during the dark days prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Those words may have slipped into the realm of cliche to those of us in the enlightened 21st century, but they hold truer than ever…

Unveiling the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project’s “Wall of Honor”

Any project as ambitious as our Black Gospel Music Restoration Project cannot happen in a vacuum, nor can it succeed without the willing hands and open hearts of a broad range of supporters, and after almost a decade’s worth of work toward preserving America’s black gospel heritage, we’ve made significant progress thanks to the support…

Stepping on Board with The Mighty Wonders of Aquasco, Maryland

Since the early days of the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project, we’ve been intrigued by a version of “Old Ship of Zion” by the Mighty Wonders of Aquasco, Maryland. Intrigued, because it’s a soulful, a cappella rendering of a song that offers a surefire way to salvation (“Step on board if you want to see…

A January Mystery: What Was “The Promoters” and Who Was Betsy Bolivar?

Sometimes inspiration strikes in strange ways. Take this week’s blog post, for example: while conducting a simple search in the Baylor University Libraries Digital Collections for terms related to the new year – New Year, January, cold as a well digger’s elbow, etc. – I came across a piece from the Spencer Collection of American…

An Open Letter to Darius Rucker Re: The Black Gospel Music Restoration Project

Dear Mr. Rucker, Allow us to introduce ourselves. We are the Digital Projects Group, five dedicated professionals in the world of digital collections in academia, specifically Baylor University in Waco, Texas. You probably don’t know who we are, but we know you’re familiar with Baylor: you and your buddies in Hootie and the Blowfish played…

Behind The Image: Crowdsourcing A Mystery Graphic

From time to time, materials cross our desks that we just don’t have much information on, and we like to turn to you, our readers, for  help. The above image is one such example, and we hope there’s at least one of you out there who could help us shed a little light on this…

Browning Day 2014

Several members of the DPG team were privileged to present at the Armstrong Browning Library’s annual Browning Day celebration this week. The event, held on Robert Browning’s birthday every year, celebrates the life, legacy and impact of the poet’s work and features receptions, guest speakers and more. Assistant Director Darryl Stuhr and Curator of Digital…