Jessica Brooks papers on the Brown University-Tougaloo College Partnership , 1964-1994

John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148
Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Published in 2023

Collection Overview

Title:	Jessica Brooks papers on the Brown University-Tougaloo College Partnership
Date range:	1964-1994
Creator:	Brown University
Extent:	2 Linear Feet
Abstract:	The Jessica Brooks papers on the Brown Univeristy-Tougaloo College Partnership (1964-1994) represent the research of and preparation for the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership for its 30th anniversary in 1994. The research is represented in personal accounts, interviews, newspaper and magazine clippings, and copies of original documents. The preparation materials for the event includes meeting minutes, correspondence, and programs. Materials in this collection contain documentation of Anti-Black, Anti-Asian, and Anti-Latine racism and the use of ethnic slurs.
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Collection number:	AMS.1ZUT.1

Scope & content

Materials in this collection contain documentation of Anti-Black, Anti-Asian, and Anti-Latine racism and the use of ethnic slurs.

Jessica Brooks collected and created this collection as part of her work as a researcher for the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership 30th anniversary. The papers contain Brooks’s administrative documents including reports, memoranda and correspondence. In addition, as part of her work, Brooks conducted interviews and surveys of faculty, students and administrators. The papers contain interview notes, essays and filled-out survey forms, copies of administrative records from Brown University and Tougaloo College and personal papers of students and faculty from both institutions. In 1993, Brooks and the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership published an advertismentment requesting interviews and Partnership-related materials for assesment and reflection and to create an archives of the history Partnership. Materials in Series 3-6 of this collection contain the materials generated and recieved as part of this effort.

The papers are divided into five series: Series 1, Brown-Tougaloo Partnership 30th anniversary celebration administrative records and research, 1966-1994: This series contains records gathered by Jessica Brooks during her work on the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership's 30th Anniversary. In chronological order. Includes RESTRICTED records with personal information.

Series 2, Jessica Brooks correspondence with Brown-Tougaloo Partnership participants, 1993-1994: This series contains letters and printed emails with faculty, students and alumni, mostly regarding her historical research on the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership. This series also includes Brooks' list of letters and correspondence. In chronological order.

Series 3, Student surveys and essays, 1993-1994: Filled-out surveys and essays by Brown and Tougaloo students about their experiences with the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership. In chronological order. Includes RESTRICTED records with student information.

Series 4, Notes on interviews with Brown-Tougaloo exchange participants, 1964-1994: Records of Jessica Brown's 1993 and 1994 interviews of people involved with the Brown-Tougaloo experience prior to 1993. In alphabetical order by interview subject last name. Original recordings of the interviews are in Series 5. Access to the microcassettes is restricted.

Series 5, Restricted: Microcassettes of interviews, 1993-1994: Recordings of interviews of people involved with the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership since its inception. Interviews were performed by Jessica Brooks. Brooks's notes from the interviews are located in Series 4. Access to the original microcassettes is restrcted due to the Library's policy on access to original media.

Series 6, Materials received from participants in Brown-Tougaloo Partnership, 1964-1993: Records regarding the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership accumulated by faculty and students and given to Jessica Brooks for her research. Most materials are photocopies. In alphabetical order by collector's last name.

Access Points

Subject Topics

• Brown University-Tougaloo College Partnership
• Student exchange programs--United States.
• African American college students -- History
• Black people--United States--Intellectual life--20th century.
• Historically Black colleges and universities.
• Brown University.
• Tougaloo College

Document Types

• Microcassettes

Arrangement

Series 1, Brown-Tougaloo Partnership 30th anniversary celebration administrative records and research, 1966-1994

Series 2, Jessica Brooks correspondence with Brown-Tougaloo Partnership participants, 1993-1994

Series 3, Student surveys and essays, 1993-1994

Series 4, Notes on interviews with Brown-Tougaloo Partnership participants, 1964-1994

Series 5, RESTRICTED: Microcassettes, 1993-1994

Series 6, Materials received from participants in Brown-Tougaloo Partnership, 1964-1993

Biographical / Historical

Jessica Brooks graduated from Brown in 1993. She attended Tougaloo in 1991 through the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership during the fall semester of her junior year. Brooks was hired as a researcher for the Brown-Tougaloo partnership 30th anniversary celebration. in the summer of 1993. She worked with Janet Cooper Nelson, Brown University’s chaplain and the Chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee on the Brown-Tougaloo Exchange. Brooks’s responsibilities included research, conducting interviews of Brown-Tougaloo Partnership participants, gathering artifacts and historical materials from Brown-Tougaloo participants, and organizing efforts for the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership 30th anniversary celebration in 1994. Brooks, along with Brown and Tougaloo faculty, interviewed people involved in the partnership over the years and asked program participants to share historical records in an effort to create an archives of the partnership. Brooks also acted as dramaturge for Brown’s Rites and Reason Theatre performance based on the history of Partnership. Brooks has served on the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership Advisory Council since 2018.

Tougaloo College, a historically Black college in Mississippi, and Brown University, a predominantly white institution, announced their partnership in 1964. The partnership was one of many developed nationally at that time as a result of an increased interest in Black education among progressive government leaders and educators during the civil rights and Freedom Now movements. Unlike many of the other intercollegiate relationships of that time, Brown and Tougaloo have been consistent in collaboration save for a period in the early 1970s where tensions between the mostly white community of Brown University and the mostly Black community of Tougaloo College were high. The Brown-Tougaloo Partnership, as it is called today, has been known by different names over time, including the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership, Brown-Tougaloo Exchange, the Tougaloo-Brown Exchange, Brown-Tougaloo Cooperative Exchange, and Brown-Tougaloo Relationship.

Brown University's initial programs and interactions with Tougaloo were paternalistic and extractive, borne of the white-saviourism of progressives of the time. While Tougaloo was allowed to send students and faculty to Brown with the intention to improve their education, Brown University sent professors and students to teach, tutor and examine Black students. One example of this was the Brown-Tougaloo Language Project, started in 1965, which replaced Tougaloo College's English course with a program of reading, writing and diction while using the students as the test subjects for Brown professor's linguistics studies. Brown administrators also worked to control power structures at Tougaloo, including the firing of Tougaloo's president in 1965 and the process of hiring his replacement.

The programs undertaken during the partnership have varied in content over time. Most have involved the exchange of students and faculty between the two institutions, and there have also been shared events such as concerts and seminars.

The 30th anniversary celebration took place at Tougaloo in October of 1994. Festivities included the Rites and Reason Theatre performance, music, banquets, seminars, and a convocation.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are no restrictions on access for analog materials. The collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested. Advance notice is required to view any audiovisual media that may exist in this collection. Audiovisual media in this collection have not been reformatted yet. Researchers may request access to copies by contacting the John Hay Library with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. Access to original physical audiovisual media is restricted.
Use of the materials:	Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation:	Jessica Brooks papers on the Brown Univeristy-Tougaloo College Partnership, AMS-1ZUT-1, Brown University Library.
Contact information:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts Box A Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148 Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	Donated by Jessica Brooks.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Finding aid created by Raymond Butti and Janaya Kizzie.
Encoding:	This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-09.
Descriptive rules:	Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Additional Information

Related material:

Related Materials Archival collections in the Brown University Archives Brown-Tougaloo Exchange records, 1961-1989 (OF-1ZU-2) M. Charles Bakst papers, 1927-2009 (bulk 1962-2008) (AMS-1U-B6): Brown alum '66. Tougaloo-related records 1964. Robert F. Cohen, Jr., papers, 1952-1984 (bulk 1966-1972) (AMS-1U-C8): Brown alum '68; Tougaloo exchange student 1966. Barnaby Conrad Keeney papers, 1936-1980 (OF-1C-12): Records of the twelfth president of Brown University, including records related to the early years of the partnership. Richard Ramsden papers, 1967-1984 (OF-1CA-R1): Includes records related the Brown-Tougaloo Committee 1979-1982 held by the Brown Vice President for Administration and Finance and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the University. Shaffer, Janet papers on the Tougaloo-Brown Exchange, 1986-1987 (AMS-1ZUT-2): Includes promotional materials and photographs. Merton P. Stoltz files as provost of Brown University, 1959-1978 (OF-1CA-S2): Records of the former Provost of Brown University include records related to Brown-Tougaloo Relationship, 1963-1965. Howard Robert Swearer papers, 1973-1990 (OF-1C-15): Records of the fifteenth president of Brown University contain Tougaloo subject files, 1977-1988 Archival collections in the Tougaloo College Archives George A. Owens papers: Papers of the ninth president of Tougaloo College. Adam Daniel Beittel Papers, 1957-1989: Papers of the eighth president of Tougaloo College. Current records and projects Current reports of the Brown-Tougaloo Partnership Freedom Now!:an archival project of Tougaloo College and Brown University

Inventory

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