Birmingham Black Radio Museum

Hi Friends of the BBRM,

I’m excited to present this report of our work over the past two years, and I am asking for your financial support for a major 2016 project as well. 

Please view the above pictorial carousel for images referenced in the following paragraphs.

Over the past two years, we have presented programs on the impact of Birmingham Black radio on the Black community, aiding in its political and economic education and advancement, and its socialization into the broader community.  Presentations were made at University of Alabama, UAB, Birmingham Southern, University of North Alabama, as well as the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, at many libraries and organizations and on the big screen at the historic Carver Theater.

The Carver Theater/Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame (AJHF) continues to provide research and storage space and are now displaying some of our larger collection pieces, including a donated display case which is in the process of being designed.  We have an understanding with AJHF leadership.  We wish to grow with them as they expand.

We are entering our seventh year of joint work with the University of Alabama’s School of Library and Information Sciences (UA-SLIS).  They have provided us with excellent volunteer interns who continue to help with collection organization, in particular, with oral history transcription.  The museum has approximately 80 oral history recordings of individuals that have has some connection with Birmingham Black radio between the years 1935-89.

Our emerging public face, as well as the transcription work, has created the groundwork and impetus for two major steps forward:

 

1. the volunteering of a professional web site designer – Ms. Emily Bibb, herself an overseer of one of the University of Alabama’s museum collections – who will work with  SLIS interns and the Director to gather and arrange a universally accessible collection of BBRM memorabilia ( a public archive) on line.
2. the awarding of a $2,500 grant from the Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH) to purchase some of the necessary equipment for archive preparation. 

This round of tax exempt fund raising will attempt to match the ADAH grant in order to raise funds for archive software, back-up hardware, and training, in particular, for administering the program, “PastPerfect,” the industry standard for archive preparation. Before we can have a physical museum, we have to have a professional archive.

I hope you will see fit to include us in your end-of-the-year giving and thanks for taking the time to review our request.

 

Best Regards,

Bob Friedman

Project Director

(205) 902-9487