Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center records
Dates
- Creation: 1975 - 2018
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1982 - 2014
Scope and Contents
These records document the work of the Thea Bowman AHANA Intercultural Center (BAIC), previously known as the Office of AHANA Student Programs (OASP). They include annual reports, fliers from student events, photographs, correspondence, planning documents, slides from presentations promoting the AHANA program, yearbooks, ceremonial ribbon and shears from the opening of the center, the AHANA Hotline newsletter, newspaper clippings of articles examining strategies for increasing retention among black students and other students of color, and audiovisual materials.
A portion of the office files were created by Dr. Donald Brown, in his role as director of OASP/BAIC from 1979 to 2005. Although most of these files relate specifically to the activities of the center, there are materials from Dr. Brown's participation in related organizations: the Boston College Black Faculty, Staff and Administrators Association (BFSAA); Bridging Bridges; and College Bound.
The clipping collections complied by BAIC contain articles on student affairs of people of color at Boston College and at colleges and universities around the United States, in addition to national recognition of the AHANA program.
Photographs are mostly in the form of albums created by BAIC's Opportunities Through Education (OTE) summer program, but there are also photographs from graduations, student events, awards ceremonies, and Reverend Jesse Jackson's 1989 visit to Boston College.
Audiovisual materials consist of video recordings of Options Through Education interviews, ceremonies, and skits and audio recordings of Black Faculty, Staff, and Administrators sessions. Also included are live recordings of community meetings and forums, focus groups, and presentations from prominent figures such as Inés Maturana Sendoya and Samuel D. Proctor.
Creator
- Boston College. Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center (Organization)
- Brown, Donald (Person)
Restrictions on access
Collection is open for research, with the exception of two marked files in the Records of the Director: Donald Brown, which require permission of the originating Boston College group or office; and six audio cassettes of Asian students focus groups in the Audiovisual materials series.
Audio and video recordings have been digitally copied; all original media were retained, but may not be played due to format. Digital content in this collection has been migrated from source media. Digital use copies of audio, video, and digital content can only be accessed in the Burns Library Reading Room.
Restrictions on use
These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The original authors may retain copyright to the materials.
Historical Note: Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center
Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center supports the Boston College undergraduate community, with a particular focus on AHANA (African, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American), multiracial, and OTE (Options Through Education) students. The Center has its origins in the 1968 Negro Talent Program, which was an effort to increase enrollment and support for students of color through recruitment and scholarships.
In the 1967-68 academic year, Boston College had only thirteen black undergraduates in the 6,975-student body; however, the first recruitment effort of the Program attracted 34 to 48 black students for the following year. In 1970 a group of black students protested for increased scholarship funds, more transportation options, more Black Studies classes, a black dorm, and tutoring services. Boston College agreed to some of these requests, and set a goal for black enrollment to reach ten percent. In 1971 the University decided that students would oversee the renamed “Black Talent Program”; this arrangement continued for five years.
Concerns over retention rates, student fatigue, and competition for resources led to a change in how the Program was managed; in 1976, the Program became the Office of Minority Student Affairs administered by Director Monroe "Bud" Mosely. In 1978, the office was renamed the Office of AHANA Student Programs, using an acronym coined by Boston College students Alfred Feliciano and Valerie Lewis as an alternative to "minority," and Donald Brown became director. On October 22, 1989, the Office was named in honor of teacher and activist Sister Thea Bowman, as Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center. Brown led this office until 2005; Inés Maturana Sendoya was appointed director in 2006 and held the position for twelve years, followed by the appointment of Michael Davidson, SJ in 2018. In 2023, Yvonne McBarnett assumed the position of director of the Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center.
Sources:
Bole, William. "Power of the People." Boston College Magazine. 2009. http://bcm.bc.edu/issues/spring_2009/features/power-of-the-people.html
Bresnahan, Christine. "Minority Ed Director Named; Students, BC Negotiate." The Heights 57, no. 3 (1976): 1.
Heaney, Cynthia. "AHANA House Renamed for Bowman." The Heights 70, no. 7 (1989): 3.
Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center. "AHANA-'We are More Than Just an Acronym.'" Boston College. 2017. http://www.bc.edu/offices/ahana/about/history/def.html.
Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center. "Historical Information." Boston College. 2017. http://www.bc.edu/offices/ahana/about/history/hisotrical_information.html
Extent
16.7 Linear Feet (18 containers)
2085.12 Gigabytes (845 files with approximately 44 hours of audio and video)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
These records document the work of the Thea Bowman AHANA Intercultural Center (BAIC), previously known as the Office of AHANA Student Programs (OASP). They include annual reports, fliers from student events, photographs, audiovisual materials, correspondence, planning documents, slides from presentations promoting the AHANA program, the AHANA Hotline newsletter, and newspaper clippings of articles examining strategies for increasing retention among black students and other students of color.
Arrangement
Arranged into four series. I: Central Office Files, II: Clippings, III: Photographs, and IV: Audiovisual materials.
Provenance
Transferred from the BAIC in multiple accessions.
Separated Materials
Published works associated with this collection have been transferred within the Burns Library and can be found in the Boston College Library catalog.
Source
- Boston College. Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center (Organization)
- Title
- Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center Records
- Status
- Completed
- Subtitle
- 1975-2018 (bulk 1982-2014)
- Author
- Ayoola White in 2017; revised by Molly Aleshire
- Date
- 2023
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2023 November: Incorporated new accrual, including ceremonial ribbon and shears, yearbooks, a poster, documents from AHANA's 30th anniversary, and audiovisual materials.
- 2025 February: Incorporated accrual of 2 VHS tapes.
Repository Details
Part of the John J. Burns Library Repository
John J. Burns Library
Boston College
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill MA 02467 USA
617-552-4861
burns@bc.libanswers.com