Linda Janet Holmes oral histories of African-American midwives
Scope and Contents
The collection contains sixty oral history interviews (audio recordings) with African-American midwives who practiced in the southern United States, primarily Alabama. Interviews were conducted by Holmes in 1981, with support from an National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship. The interviews "...provide an extraordinary snapshot of midwifery, African American traditions, spiritual beliefs, and personal birthing experiences. Many of these women practiced in rural and impoverished areas and others broke ground attending births in hospital delivery rooms when doctors were unwilling to provide black women with medical care."[from donor's description of her papers]
The collection also contains digital photos of the "Reclaiming Midwives: Pillars of Community Support" exhibit at the American College of Nurse-Midwives.
Dates of Materials
- Creation: 1979 - 2010
Creator
- Holmes, Linda Janet, 1949- (Interviewer, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
At the direction of the donor, this collection is closed to research.
Conditions Governing Use
To the extent that she owns copyright, Linda Janet Holmes has retained copyright in her works donated to Smith College. Copyright in other items in this collection may be held by their respective creators. For reproductions of materials that are governed by fair use as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission to cite or publish is required. For those few instances beyond fair use, or which may regard materials in the collection not created by Linda Janet Holmes, researchers are responsible for determining who may hold materials' copyrights and obtaining approval from them. Researchers do not need anything further from Smith College Special Collections to move forward with their use.
Donor permission required for posting any interviews online.
Biographical Note
Linda Janet Holmes is a women's health researcher, writer, independent scholar, and activist. She is a research scientist for the New Jersey Department of Public Health, has served as executived director of the New Jersey Office of Minority and Multicultural Affairs, and a board member of the National Black Women's Health Project. She is widely recognized for having conducted interviews with sixty African-American midwives in 1981, with support from an National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship. The research led to numerous publications and multi-media productions, as well as book chapters in The American Way of Birth, and The Black Women's Health Book. She co-authored, with Margaret Charles Smith, the award-winning book Listen To Me Good: The Life Story of an Alabama Midwife (1996), and also curated a traveling exhibition titled Reclaiming Midwives: Stills From All My Babies, that documents the work of still photographer, Robert Galbraith.
Extent
6.458 linear feet (8 containers)
0.138 Gigabytes
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Linda Janet Holmes is a women's health researcher, writer, independent scholar, and activist. She is a research scientist for the New Jersey Department of Public Health, has served as executive director of the New Jersey Office of Minority and Multicultural Affairs, and a board member of the National Black Women's Health Project. This collection contains sixty oral history interviews (audio recordings) with African-American midwives who practiced in the southern United States, primarily Alabama. The interviews were conducted by Holmes in 1981, with support from an National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship.
Arrangement
This collection has been added to over time in multiple "accessions." An accession is a group of materials received from the same source at approximately the same time.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
This collection contains materials received from the donor in digital form that are not currently available online. Please consult with Special Collections staff to request access to this digital content.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Collection was donated to the SSC by Linda Janet Holmes in 2011 and 2015.
Processing Information
The contents of computer media in this collection have been copied to networked storage for preservation and access; the original directory and file structure was retained and file lists were created.
Processing Information
Between September 2022 and February 2023, Smith College Special Collections renumbered many boxes to eliminate duplicate numbers within collections in order to improve researcher experience. A full crosswalk of old to new numbers is available.
Subject
- Holmes, Linda Janet, 1949- (Person)
- Aaron, Mary (Person)
- Benjamin, Louvenia Taylor (Person)
- Burns, Ollie (Person)
- Carver, Rev. George Washington (Person)
- Candle, Pearl (Person)
- Cook, Sara (Person)
- Crenshaw, Katie (Person)
- Davis, Bessie Mae (Person)
- Drake, Maudie (Person)
- Flowers, Gladys (Person)
- Goodwin, Hattie Mae (Person)
- Hereford, Mattie (Person)
- Holiday, Lula (Person)
- Howard, Dr. Jesse (Person)
- Hosea, Ollie (Person)
- Hurry, Louie (Person)
- Jackson, Mary (Person)
- James, Annie Lee (Person)
- Johnson, Elvira (Person)
- Johnson, Hattie (Person)
- Kincey, Lillian (Person)
- Kines, Ethel (Person)
- Le Grand, Nannie (Person)
- Logan, Onnie Lee (Person)
- Marshall, Cora Bell (Person)
- Martin, Mary (Person)
- Moten, Lula "Bey" (Person)
- Motley, Alberta (Person)
- Nix, Pinkey (Person)
- Norman, Maggie (Person)
- Olds, Ellen (Person)
- Osborne, Katie Mae (Person)
- Pettway, Parzie (Person)
- Poole, Vera (Person)
- Price, Rosie (Person)
- Rawlinson, Jennie (Person)
- Richardson, Georgia (Person)
- Smith, Julia (Person)
- Smith, Margaret Charles, 1906- (Person)
- Smith, Mary (Person)
- Smith, Rosie Aaron (Person)
- Taylor, Mary (Person)
- White, Shirley (Person)
- Williams, Hannah (Person)
- Midwives' Alliance of North America (Organization)
Source
- Holmes, Linda Janet, 1949- (Donor, Person)
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- African American women
- African American women -- Social conditions
- Anti-racism
- Audiotapes
- Black women
- Childbirth -- United States -- 20th century
- Electronic records
- Maternal and infant welfare -- 20th century
- Maternal health services -- United States -- 20th century
- Midwives
- Natural childbirth -- 20th century
- Reproductive and sexual health
- Reproductive rights
- Rural health services -- United States -- 20th century
- Women in medicine
- Women's health services
- Title
- Finding aid to the Linda Janet Holmes oral histories of African-American midwives
- Status
- Legacy Finding Aid (Updated)
- Author
- Ellice Amanna
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2017-07-26T17:48:24-04:00: This record was migrated from InMagic DB Textworks to ArchivesSpace.
- 2020-04-09: Description added for born-digital content.
- 2020-06-04: Added agents and access and use notes to the interviews. Also added General note and amended Access note.
- 2021-07-02: Content description added from accession inventories
Repository Details
Part of the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History Repository
