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This series consists of application materials submitted for consideration for the Sidney Poitier Fellowship (SPF) competition. The Sidney Poitier Fellowship for Emerging Black Filmmakers was announced by the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, Inc. (BFHFI) in 1992 as a program to award up to ten fellowships to black film/video artists in the process of beginning or completing projects. The SPF program sought to "discover and provide support to talented persons who are pursuing careers as video and film makers" and to further the BFHFI's mission to provide resources to "those who are creating new and dynamic media images from our cultural perspective" (BFHFI planning document). The BFHFI announced the first Poitier Fellowship winners, who were selected from a pool of 102 applicants, at its 20th and final Oscar Micheaux Awards Ceremony in October 1993. The Awards Ceremony souvenir program includes a listing of the Poitier Fellowship awardees. Although the BFHFI intended to present ten awards bi-annually, the Sidney Poitier Fellowship program did not continue after its initial year.

SPF applicants were required to submit budgets, treatments, scripts, or project proposals, as well as a sample work on videocassette. The applications reflect a broad spectrum of independent film and video making from the early 1990s. Proposals include feature films, film school student projects, documentaries, community television, animation, experimental short films, and new media productions submitted by applicants ranging from first-time filmmakers to experienced mid-career veterans.

Videocassettes included with applications have been arranged in a separate series. Except when unavailable, each application has a corresponding sample work on videocassette found in the Videocassettes Series

The Midwest Migrant Farm Worker collection largely consists of paper records, objects, monographs, and photographs collected by Dave Cormier, both a faculty member at Indiana University Kokomo and an active organizer in the farm labor movement. He helped to organize and worked with the Great Boycott Committee, later known as the Farm Labor Aid Committee, from 1968 to 1974. Other organizers, including Ricardo Parra and Jose Juarez from St. Joseph County, contributed personal papers.

The collection is organized into thirteen series, listed above and detailed further in the following container list. Audiovisual materials and monographs are discoverable in IUCAT, Indiana University Library's catalog, and are stored in the Special Collections Room. Photographs are available in print and have also been digitized to be made available online.

As described by Cormier, many of the materials in the collection "depict the confrontative propaganda and protest methods" used in farm worker organizing. The correspondence, research files, and news clippings are complemented by the objects in the collection, notably including buttons, jewelry, and hand-painted signs.

Note on Indexing Term - "Law": Of particular interest: Apr. 13, 1640-Mar. 28, 1681: Great Britain, Parliament, House of Commons, Journals. Oct. 21-Dec. 30, 1678. Great Britain, Parliament. House of Commons. Journal Book of the House of Commons for the Sessions of Parliament begun at Westminster... 1723. Majmuai fetawa (Legal decisions) written by 'Ali ibn Mustafþ. 18th cent. Huccatlar (Legal opinions of judges on land tenure law in Turkey).

Note on Indexing Term - "Medicine": Of particular interest are the following: 1652, Mar. 8. al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (The canon of medicine) by Avicenna, physician. 1730?. Extract from the Pen-ts'ao chang-mu by Li Chi Tsin [written by Jacques Francois Vandermonde, physician.] This item discusses the practice of Chinese medicine. 1780-1829. Compendium of Physic and Surgery, attributed to Joseph Flowerden, published London, 1769. n.d. Manafai ' al-nas written by Nida'i, head medicine man of Sultan Salim II. It deals with medicine in Turkey during the 16th century.

Note on Indexing Term - "Music": Of particular interest is a 1884-1909 album of autographs, signatures, and letters of musicians and others. Many of the autographs are accompanied by bars of music.

Note on Indexing Term - "Voyages and travels": Of interest are the following items: Jan. 24, 1587: Passport granting safe conduct to St. John of Lisbon, Portuguese ship, sailing to Brazil for a cargo of sugar, wood, etc. Nov. 16, 1652-Sept. 20, 1653: "Naval affairs, the Dutch war in K. Charles ye 2d's reign..." written by Sir John Lawson. Aug. 15, 1683: Letter from Governor of Jamaica, Sir Thomas Lynch to Charles II, King of Britain. Concerns recovering sunken treasure off the coast of Hispaniola, George Churchill who commanded the frigate "Falcon" and piracy. 1794. Navigational profiles-sailing directions from the Isle of Wight to the Anamba Islands...written by John Cottrell, naval officer. Sept. 6, 1803: Letter from Horatio Nelson, deals with desertion of seamen and marines. Dec. 24, 1812-Apr. 17, 1818: Volume of copies or drafts of letters from and to the ship brokers, McNeill Co. Jan. 1-Dec. 28, 1816: Account book of a merchant who lists costs of various voyages to Jamaica, Hamburg and Lisbon. Oct. 7, 1820-June 12, 1821: Log of Proceedings on board the "Albion" of London. Apr. 21, 1866: Certificate of the arrival and departure of the "Barca" Louisa Cook.

Note on Indexing Term - "Religion": n.d. G.R. Steele, Notes on the history of the Covenanters in Scotland and on the life of David Jamison Shaw. n.d. Thai book of Buddhist religious literature. n.d. (folio). The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Verses ('phags pa shes rab kyi pha rol du phyin pa brgyad stong pa).

Note on Indexing Term - "Science": Of interest: 1795 astrophysical text entitled, Elementa Philosophie Universe written by professor Thoma Garcia de Zuniga. March 24, 1820 letter from astronomer Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre to mathematician Joseph Nicolas Nicollet. 1845 copy of a text in Turkish which deals with medical and pharmaceutical chemistry. Undated German text written by Indiana University botany professor Frank Marion Andrews entitled Zoologie.

Note on Indexing Term - "Travel": Of interest is a 1834-1841 journal and memorandum book of the plantation "Thomas" in British Guiana and travels in Great Britain. Includes descriptions of several trips to the United Kingdom written by plantation owner R.G. Butts. Also, an 1834-1835 journal of an European tour written by Henry Bertie and an anonymous 1849 diary of boat and overland trips in the U.S. and Canada.

Note on Indexing Terms - "West (U.S.)" and "Americana": Of particular interest is a diary of boat and overland trips in the U.S. and Canada dated Jan. 1- Nov. 14, 1849.

Note on Indexing Term - "World War, 1914-1918": Of particular interest is a 1914- 1916 diary of Philip Sass, soldier and businessman. Written in German, this diary gives a day to day account of a German soldier fighting Russian troops.

Note on Indexing Term - "World War, 1939-1945": Of interest is a Jan. 24, 1940 letter from Margaret Steggall to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Burke of Bloomington, Indiana which contains a description of London in wartime.