Abstract: The danger of retelling family stories: the story of the "conjure chest"

◆ Deana Thomas, UK Libraries

The story of the conjure chest was published posthumously in 1966 by Virginia Cary Hudson in, Flapdoodle, Trust and Obey. In 1980 the chest was donated to the Kentucky Historical Society (KHS). KHS, from the time they obtained the chest until 2020 told the story of the chest based on the published story without researching or analyzing the story. In 2017-2018, while employed as the Archivist at KHS, I discovered the letter the story is based on in an unprocessed archival collection at KHS that was donated in 1976 by the same person that donated the chest. Comparing the letter to the published story, it became evident that the published version of the story was heavily edited. Through the examination of the published version of the story I will explore how KHS's staff overlooked the racist elements of the story and the potential that the story falls into the "magical negro" trope. Furthermore, I will examine how critical analysis and research into aforementioned letter and published version, reveal new interpretative potential for the chest and its story. Additionally, the paper will examine Hudson's genealogy and how it compares to the family history detailed in the letter. This analysis will highlight the trouble curators and archivist face when relying on the stories collection donors and/or families tell them to interpret the history of an object or collection.