Joanna Banks collection of African American authors and artists, foodways, and memorabilia, 1948-2016.

Format:

Other

Author/Creator:

Banks, Joanna

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African American cooking.

Artists.

Authors.

Authors, Black.

Book collectors.

Collectors and collecting.

Cooking.

Genre:

Bibliographies.

Newsletters.

Photographs.

Recipes.

articles.

clippings (information artifacts)

Penn Provenance:

Gift of Joanna Banks, 2019.

Physical Description:

7 boxes (6.5 linear feet)

Arrangement:

Organized into six series: I: African American foodways and recipes; II: Black authors and artists; III: Black history and culture; IV: Photographs; V: Joanna Banks papers; and VI. Ephemera

Place of Publication:

1948-2016.

Biography/History:

Joanna Banks is a retired Museum Educator and book collector, specializing in the writing of Black authors, with a particular focus on works by and about Black women, children's books, and African American cooking and foodways. She also makes and collects dolls. Joanna Banks was born March 28, 1943, in Louisville, Kentucky, to parents Wheeler H. Banks and Mary Fawbush. She grew up in Louisville's Shepards Square housing project with her parents and older brother, Charles H. Banks. She remembers that she "always loved to read" and that one of the proudest moments of her life was getting her first library card. Frustrated by the limited job opportunities for Black women in Louisville, Joanna Banks moved to Washington D.C. in 1964 and found a job working for the Bureau of Public Debt. A year later, she began working for AT&T, where she remained employed for over twenty-two years. In 1987 she lost her job at AT&T following an episode of downsizing, but this led to her volunteering at the Smithsonian Institution's Anacostia Community Museum, eventually becoming a full-time Museum Educator. Joanna Banks credits reading of the "Langston Hughes Reader" in 1965 with sparking her curiosity about other Black writers and the desire to collect whatever books she could find. She became acquainted with the literary scene in Washington D.C. and attended many events held at the libraries, museums, and bookshops in the area. She also attended an annual writers conference at Howard University, where she met and photographed many Black authors. Banks also began attending meetings of a reading group called, the Black Women's Arts Resource Collective or BWARC. It was at these meetings that she met Barbara D. Savage, a professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Savage played a key role in helping Joanna Banks decide to donate her extensive collection to the University of Pennsylvania Libraries in 2018.

Summary:

This collection contains collected material relating to African American cooking and foodways, Black authors (including a significant number o, and Black history and culture. Material documenting these topics includes periodical articles, newspaper clippings, photocopies, newsletters, catalogs, recipes, photographs, and ephemera. Series I: African American foodways and recipes contains a large assortment or recipes and articles on African American cooking and foodways. Many are clippings or photocopies taken from a variety of periodicals, but some recipes are taken from cookbooks, pamphlets, or ephemeral sources. A few cookbooks are reproduced in their entirety as photocopies. Arranged chronologically. Series II: Black authors and artists contains a large assortment of articles, event ephemera, and newsletters about black authors and artists. Some of this material is focused on specific authors or artists, but the topics of storytelling and children's literature is also present. Also included are newsletters from the Black Women's Arts Resource Collective or BWARC. Arranged alphabetically. Series III: Black history and culture contains academic articles, newspaper clippings, catalogs, newsletters, and other materials that explore a variety of topics in Black history and contemporary culture. Arranged alphabetically. Series IV: Photographs contains photographs, most of which were taken by Joanna Banks at events featuring a large variety of Black authors. Arranged chronologically. A small number of unlabeled candid photographs are also present. Series V: Joanna Banks papers contains a variety of works by Joanna Banks. It includes academic papers she wrote, bibliographies of her personal book collection, and a small selection of poetry and correspondence. The correspondence is mainly between Banks and Barbara Neely or Darlene Clark Hine, and appears to be informal conversations between friends. Arranged chronologically. Series VI: Ephemera contains a variety of ephemera, mostly pamphlets and event related fliers for art exhibits or cultural events. A fair amount of this material is from the Anacostia Community Museum. Arranged alphabetically.

OCLC:

1444039996