Jane Martin Papers

This collection contains a wide variety of materials relating to Jane Martins professional and personal life. It mostly contains documents, copies, articles, letters, and other professional correspondence and records. These materials document Martin’s professional work, academic interests, and personal friends and relationships. Nearly all of the material relates to Africa and Liberia, which was the focus on Martin’s career and her home for many years. The collection also contains a series of diaries Martin wrote while traveling and living in Africa, as well as a series of photographs she took in Africa.

Series I contains Martin’s personal records. Included here are some financial documents, her last will and testament, some personal correspondence, and other personal matters such as insurance or money orders. This material is very helpful for biographic information on Martin. Included as well are two resumes and one personal narrative, written in the 1970s and 1990s. These are valuable resources for tracking Martin’s career and placing the broader relevance of much of the other documentation contained in the collection.

Series II is the largest series in the collection, and contains all materials related to Martin’s professional and personal life during her career (roughly from 1968 to 1999). Included here are documents related to Martin’s teaching career, such as syllabi, teaching statements, letters, research, articles, and copies of applications. Original research is also in this series, in the form of copies of articles, correspondence with scholars, bound reports and documents, interview, as well as some of Martin’s own talks and articles. So much of Martin’s teaching and academic work overlap, it is difficult to separate them. Her research interests were diverse. Martin collected material on the Kru tribe, on specific people, on organizations like youth groups, on women and their roles in education and society, and on governmental or non-profit groups in Africa. Martin’s correspondence with friends and colleagues often refer to her work, and most of her letters can be found here. Additionally, Martin was interested in and wrote about major changes that were occuring in Africa at the time, most notably the First Liberian Civil War in 1989.

Martins career with the African-American Institute, and her work with other cross-cultural and education-supporting institutions is also contained in Series II. This includes interdepartmental Memos, press releases, and other correspondence about the Institute. Currently, this series is loosely arranged based on Martin’s own organization.

Series III contains Martin’s papers after her retirement from the African-American Institute in 1998 or 1999. After this, Martin’s work changed in terms of scope and tenor, but she remained very active. This collection contains her work with her local church, as well as other smaller non-profits. She was still very interested in highlighting female achievements in Africa. Also contained in this collection is many pages of printed emails, referencing current work in and around African topics that Martin remained committed to. Also in this series are a few research projects that spanned the somewhat arbitrary divide between these two series, including material on Edwin Gahie Hodge.

Series IV contains materials related to Martin’s interest in art. Along with these papers, Martin also donated over 100 art objects from Africa. Her interest in art stretches back to her time as a professor. The materials in this collection document Martin’s interests and materials, and the sorts of artwork and objects she researched. This series also contains documentation of Martin’s work with the Everhart Museum in Scranton, PA, where as a volunteer she helped them entirely re-interpret and re-curate their African Art collection. It is not always clear when materials relate to that project or to her own collection, and there is likely overlap between the two.

Series V contains Martin’s personal diaries in bound notebooks. These date sproadically from the 1972 until 2007, with most notebooks from the 1980s and a few are undated. They seem to be mostly trip-journals, and would likely be useful as historical records of activity in Liberia as well as for their biographical information.

Series VI contains Martin’s photographs. They are arranged by series and date, and are mostly from trips Martin took in the 1960s and 1990s. Some photos have labels on the verso. There is additional information in the itemized list of these objects.

Series VII contains Letters of Recommendation Martin wrote for collegues and students, mostly related to her work with the Fulbright Program. This series is located in the same box as Series I, but it is not open to the public.