{"id":70730,"date":"2021-02-26T13:44:22","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T18:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=70730"},"modified":"2021-02-26T15:32:34","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T20:32:34","slug":"new-online-exhibit-highlights-brocks-rick-bell-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2021\/02\/new-online-exhibit-highlights-brocks-rick-bell-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"New online exhibit highlights Brock\u2019s Rick Bell collection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not much is known about them.<\/p>\n

They appear in formal attire before a plain backdrop, their hair perfectly coiffed and their faces without expression. The Black men and women in the compelling tintype photos immediately demand attention with their gaze, and yet their names remain a mystery.<\/p>\n

But Edie Williams, Brock\u2019s Archives and Special Collections Assistant, is hopeful we will someday learn more details of the striking photographs contained within the University\u2019s Rick Bell collection.<\/p>\n

Williams recently completed an online exhibit<\/a> featuring pieces from the remarkable collection that was donated to the University by Rick Bell in 2010. The collection features more than 300 photos and various papers spanning more than a century and documenting the Bell and Sloman families, who descended from former slaves in the American south and later laid roots in Niagara.<\/p>\n

Although the people in the tintype photos are unidentified, the pictures tell a story and were deemed important enough to the family to be kept all these years, Williams said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose photographs were cherished by someone in the family. Someone knew who they were at some point and they were valuable to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams has spent time studying the photos and believes several of the tintypes were taken in the same studio \u2014 identified through similarities in the pictures, including use of the same iron chair.<\/p>\n

The images provide a snapshot in time of the family\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n

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A trio of women \u2014 the one standing believed to possibly be Rick Bell’s grandmother Mary Tyrrell Bell \u2014 is pictured in a tintype photograph contained in the Rick Bell collection donated to Brock University in 2010.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThey say \u2018We have come a long way. Look at how we\u2019re dressed. We are able to have a photograph taken. We look like we\u2019ve arrived and are doing well. We\u2019ve come so far out of slavery,\u2019\u201d Williams said. \u201cWe don\u2019t know their slavery story, but I think other researchers should take up the challenge to find out that piece of the puzzle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams hopes the online exhibit inspires further exploration into the Bell family\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese digital exhibits give you a taste of what can be done with these pieces, but it\u2019s only the beginning of the story, only the beginning of research possibilities,\u201d she said. \u201cI started putting pieces of the puzzle together, but there\u2019s so much of this story left to tell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Admittedly fascinated by the collection, Williams was captivated by the pieces the family chose to keep safe for decades, including tithing receipts from the 1870s and 1880s from Salem Chapel British Methodist Episcopal Church in St. Catharines. Designated a national historic site, the church was built by Harriet Tubman and other freed slaves who arrived in Canada via the Underground Railroad.<\/p>\n

The family also kept an advertisement from William Still, an abolitionist and conductor on the Underground Railroad, who left a handwritten note in the document\u2019s margins expressing connection to St. Catharines.<\/p>\n

The Bell family fonds is Brock\u2019s most extensive Black history collection, Williams said, and the decision was made to highlight it early in the year to encourage further exploration of its contents by researchers and students alike.<\/p>\n

“We are very fortunate to have these and similar resources in the Brock Archives and Library,\u201d said David Sharron, Head of Archives and Special Collections. \u201cEvery term we have students visit us who are very keen to explore these subjects.\u00a0Moving forward, I hope that we can acquire more records that chronicle this important history from the earliest times to the present.”<\/p>\n

While Brock marked African Heritage Month \/ Black History Month with a series of virtual events<\/a>, the University continues throughout the year to encourage conversations about and research into this important aspect of history.<\/p>\n

Kattawe Henry, Human Rights and Anti-Racism Advisor in Brock\u2019s Office of Human Rights and Equity, said it is \u201cessential that we familiarize folks with learning about and learning from Black people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe discomfort that people feel when they hear of programming outside of Black History Month speaks to the undertones of anti-Blackness that permeates our society,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite often, folks feel as though we need to \u2018segregate\u2019 learning of Black histories to February, the coldest, shortest month of the year, and fail to question how anti-Blackness has impacted our histories every day, every year, all year throughout our history.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the Bell family fonds, Brock\u2019s Archives and Special Collections is home to several historical pieces that document Black history locally and beyond. They include:<\/p>\n