Visual Materials [Series I]

Ada Mae Metcalf, grandmother of Dr. Brown-Chappell, was born in 1888 -- only decades after the Civil War. Affectionately known as Big Mama – she inspired her granddaughter because she overcame poverty, domestic abuse, and racial discrimination to successfully raise 7 children and to become the matriarch for an extended family that stretches coast to coast and to international shores. Big Mama’s example was a key source of strength while Dr. Brown-Chappell successfully completed her dissertation at the University of Chicago. This incident is detailed in Open Secrets: A Poor Person’s Life in Higher Education. Big Mama’s story was also featured in a 2020 Big Hearts for Seniors presentation sponsored by the University of Michigan and in a StoryCorps oral history. Big Mama’s family photographs and oral history inspired both Dr. Brown-Chappell and her husband, Michael Chappell, to sponsor this project. The Brown-Chappell digitization project (1888-2014) focuses on genealogical organization of photographs and professional materials for this multi-generational African American family. Archival professionals Alexis Braun Marks, Michelle McKinney and Katy Schroder provided technical leadership for the project while a number of student interns were instrumental in completion of the project. Also included in this series are scrapbooks created by Brown-Chappell in her childhood and college years and travel books that include both personal and professional travel.