Dan Smith Archives Sent to Springfield

by David J. Kent

Washington, D.C.

Friday, August 30, 2024

Longtime Lincoln Group of DC member Dan Smith -- the son of a slave -- passed away in October of 2022 at age 90, as detailed in this earlier post by Wendy Swanson. This month, his wife and also longtime Lincoln Group member Loretta Neumann completed the year-long process of packing up thirty boxes of Dan's documents and artifacts for shipment to his alma mater, Springfield College in Massachusetts.

The sorting process took some effort. As Loretta noted in an email to friends:

Fortunately, I’ve had the help of Geneva Fields, who was Dan’s assistant with his memoirs – researching, typing, filing, etc.  Geneva was a huge help to me too, as she was able to help organize his papers – which were voluminous!  I think we started with about 100 boxes plus 6 very large file cabinets.  I used the table of contents in his book to categorize his documents, although there were, of course, lots of stories and other information that he did not include in the book.

She notes that Springfield College paid for the cost of shipping, which was quite a bit more than one might expect. But the work is not complete, as she adds:

Now I still have digital files and photos to organize.  That’s going to take a long while too.  As most of you know, I’m an inveterate photographer, and I have thousands of photos.   But I think of them as our way of freezing time, and it’s a pleasure if also a bit sad to look over past event and old friends, family etc.   Many, if not most, of you are in them.

There will be a ceremony in Springfield on October 19th "to recognize Dan's contributions to the archives" followed by "a display of some of the materials in the college's museum." On that same day, Dan will receive a posthumous award from the Springfield Alumni Association. It promises to be an emotional day, as it coincidentally falls on the second anniversary of Dan's death.

As is the case when going through the belongings of any of our loved ones when they pass, completion of this segment of the project was bittersweet, with Loretta reporting:

I cried when the moving van left – didn’t realize how it would hit me to see all his stuff go. But I’m also greatly relieved that it’s mostly over. 

In addition to the previous article linked above about Dan's life, Lincoln Group of DC members can read more about Dan and his book, Son of a Slave, in the Winter 2023 issue of the Lincolnian newsletter.

[Photo of Loretta Neumann courtesy of Loretta Neumann]