From Archives to Art: Inspiration for activists in Kislak Center collections

This post was authored and originally shared by Penn Libraries.

Penn Libraries Civic Engagement Curator Samantha Hill recently hosted young activists from the organization #VoteThatJawn at the Kislak Center, where they responded to historical materials through the lens of poetry.

Whether browsing rare finds at the ABAA New York Antiquarian Book Fair or exploring a collector’s archive that's destined for the Penn Libraries, Samantha Hill feels a spark of excitement each time she discovers an item that illuminates an important story or historical moment. As Curator of Civic Engagement, one of Hill's favorite aspects of her role is hunting down and collecting exciting new materials – both historical and current – for the collections housed in the Kislak Center for Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. 

"There is no bigger thrill than finding that perfect item," Hill explained to a group of 16- to 19-year old activists as they gathered around a display in the Kislak Center's Lea Library over the summer. Hill had curated a selection of historical materials related to activism and civic engagement, as well as contemporary records of community organization and political advocacy, to help these ambitious and civically-active young people understand their roles within both local and national historical contexts. The group came to interact firsthand with those materials and apply them to creative projects. 

This event came about after Hill serendipitously met Lorene Cary, a longtime faculty member in Penn's Department of English, as well as an author and playwright, who founded #VoteThatJawn, an organization that advocates for young people to pursue a lifetime of civic engagement. Hill and Cary quickly identified the overlap in their work and realized that the young people participating in #VoteThatJawn as summer interns were the perfect audience for some of Hill's recent acquisitions as well as her broader goals to introduce more Philadelphia community members to the Kislak Center's resources. 

"Every time I purchase an exciting item, I tell everyone I can about it in the hopes that they will come to the Kislak Center to see it," Hill said. "This time it worked to bring a group of amazing youth activists and teachers to the Kislak Center." 

Indeed, the library visit slotted smoothly into the summer curriculum for the organization. #VoteThatJawn Program Director Beth Feldman Brandt, a poet, supports a team of student leaders who guided the group through projects that address current issues they find important, with the goal "to amplify the impact of their voices through artmaking, anchored by spoken word," she explained. Students will showcase work throughout the next year through a variety of performances, video productions, and social media posts, culminating in contributions to ArtPhilly's 2026 festival. 

"These creative pieces were anchored in a journalistic approach to the issues they cared about most, so it was important that they had access to original materials that could spark some of their creative work," Feldman Brandt said. "We also wanted them to feel connected to resources in [Philadelphia] like the Kislak Center and to learn how to navigate in spaces that are new to them." 

It did not take long for the interns to begin exploring the materials Hill had curated for their visit, as she explained the philosophy behind her selections: "My goal for the #VoteThatJawn visit was to select items that directly connected to their experiences as young activists and creatives. ... material that would be more relatable to the students' lived experiences as youth activists and artists." 

Connecting experiences through time 

Some of these items included the newspaper insert Black Panther Party: On the Constitution; photos of youth activism from 2006 by Philadelphia documentary photographer Harvey Finkle; and posters and ephemera from the David Toccafondi Collection of Activist Street Art. 

Following the theme of youth activism, Hill also highlighted materials related to two Civil Rights-era organizations with powerful legacies: the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), founded and led by Martin Luther King Jr., which focused on nonviolent protest and political lobbying; and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC (pronounced “SNICK”), a youth-led grassroots organization which emphasized peaceful direct action. The success of SNCC's 1964 voter registration campaign, known as Freedom Summer, is credited as a major contributor to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. 

Cary's student writers are vividly aware of the legacy of SNCC and hosted their own Freedom Summer activities in celebration of the original Freedom Summer's 60-year anniversary, just last year. 

To honor and further explore this connection, Hill gave students the chance to peruse the booklet Black Power: SNCC Speaks for Itself: A Collection of Interviews and Statements. "I selected this item because #VoteThatJawn students are also active writers," Hill said. "The SNCC [booklet] is an opportunity for students to read the writings of youth activists from the Civil Rights Movement who participated in similar activities while inspiring them to consider their own writing as to tool for outreach and social change." 

To further probe this link from the past to the present, Hill also included two SCLC items: A series of reports from SLCL interns, which Hill explained "narrate the experience of two women college interns registering people to vote in Georga in 1970," and a photobook that documents various SLCL activities. 

Feldman Brandt said, "There is something powerful about physically holding the report that a student intern wrote during their summer with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1970. Those interns were pretty much the same age as our interns, connected by their commitment to, in the words of John Lewis, get in 'good trouble'." 

Finding poetry in unexpected places 

As the group moved to a nearby Kislak classroom, Feldman Brandt explained how the lens of found poetry could help offer a deeper exploration of archival materials and give each young person the opportunity to express connections to their own lives. As the name indicates, found poetry involves creating a poem out of words within an existing text, thus "finding" a poem that is "hidden" within the text. This type of exercise pushes the reader to delve into the text more deeply than a quick skim. 

As Feldman Brandt explained, "Found poems that are extracted from original materials require a close read, word-by-word, of the document in a way that we are not really encouraged to do in this high-paced media environment. The original documents give us firsthand accounts, and found poems invite us to respond to these accounts — whether to amplify or argue — through our own contemporary lens." 

The interns practiced creating their own found poem from a portion of the SLCL intern reports they viewed, in which two young women describe their passion for equal rights for Black citizens and their efforts to help elect C.B. King as Georgia's first Black governor. The interns will have multiple opportunities to share their found poems — many of which focused on key words like "freedom," "equality," and "democracy" — with their communities through artistic events such as open mic and spoken word events. 

The art these young people create, in all its forms, is meant to ultimately become part of a broader conversation about civic engagement and activism. Hill added another component to this conversation: collecting and archiving for future generations. 

"There can be a misconception that historic experiences that occurred 50 years ago have a greater historical significance than documents that record our stories from 5 years ago," Hill explained. "I wanted to show the students that saving evidence of current activism will eventually document a new historic movement for future education." 

Some examples Hill shared included posters, photos, and even street art from recent protests, labor movements, and political demonstrations occurring in nearby neighborhoods, particularly in West Philly. 

"I hoped to inspire the students to engage in the practice of collecting as a form of activism because saving the evidence from our activities is also a way to preserve our stories for future generations," she said. 

Archives for everyone 

Feldman Brandt said the visit was both thought-provoking and inspiring for the group: "I appreciate how librarians and curators like Samantha Hill are redefining what history is and whose stories belong in a university archive," she said. "In a time when truth seems to be open to interpretation, it’s important that young people have the opportunity to go to the source of original documents and make up their own minds." 

Milan Harrison, Summer Jawn Intern and rising senior at Parkway Center City Middle College as well as student at the Community College of Philadelphia, said she enjoyed visiting the Lea Library and seeing source materials firsthand, especially exploring "the pictures and the stories told behind those images." 

Rayquan Vance, Summer Jawn Intern and rising senior at John Bartram High School, said, “What I liked the most about the Kislak Center was our tour guide [Samantha Hill]'s ability to give us insightful and informative answers to each of our questions. It was an amazing experience and opportunity.” 

Hill hopes the successful visit will inspire other Philadelphians of all ages to visit the Kislak Center and explore the Penn Libraries' collections: " Archives contain amazing stories to explore, so please stop on by for a visit.  We would love to have you here!" 

To follow the creative works produced by the Summer Jawn 2025 interns, follow @votethatjawn on social media and look for them at the ArtPhilly 2026 festival.