Abstract
In 2020, a school librarian volunteered to lead preservation of the papers of visionary artist M.B. Mayfield that were discovered during the restoration of the artist’s Mississippi home. In March of 2020, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic threatened the success of the community-led project, due to the project’s physical isolation, limited resources, and inability to garner support for the paper’s preservation. In early 2021, the librarian and community partners formed a shared authority and distributed archives partnership with public history faculty at the University of Mississippi that would help preserve and increase awareness of the importance of the papers. This article explores the community and university’s shared authority and distributed archives partnership for its efficacy in helping to preserve and increase awareness of the M.B. Mayfield Papers. It demonstrates how shared authority and distributed archives can assist library and information professionals in projects involving local history and community archives.
Recommended Citation
Latartara, Jeannie S.
(2026)
"A Brush with History: Shared Authority, Distributed Archives, and Artist M.B. Mayfield,"
Mississippi Libraries: Vol. 88:
No.
1, Article 7.
Available at:
https://aquila.usm.edu/ml/vol88/iss1/7