Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab Meet Our Team!
Contact Us
(+931) 265-2555
tdmoore@pvamu.edu
Hours of Operation
MON – FRI: 8:30 AM CST – 5:00 PM CST
SAT – SUN: CLOSED
Location
Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab
G. R. Woolfolk Building, Rooms 103 & 104
Prairie View, Texas 77446
Zha'mauri Howard Team Leader & Student Archivist
Zha’Mauri Howard is the lead student archivist and Digital Media Strategist at the Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab (WDPL). Since joining the lab in Fall 2025, he has developed expertise in archival processing, digitization, metadata creation, digital preservation, and public history while contributing to the preservation of historically significant African American collections.
Howard has assisted with the preparation of a Determination of Eligibility (DOE) submitted to the Texas Historical Commission in support of the National Register of Historic Places nomination for Bethlehem United Methodist Church in Hempstead, Texas. He has digitized and created metadata for the Bethlehem United Methodist Church Collection, the Dorothy Anderson Carter Collection, and multiple volumes of The Griot, the academic journal of the Southern Conference on African American Studies. He also processed and prepared the finding aid for The Griot Collection, helping improve long-term access to one of the university’s most important scholarly publications.
His work further includes recording lectures during Black History Month 2026, transcribing more than thirty audio recordings for the PVAMU Historic Audio Recordings Collection, and establishing Prairie View A&M University’s first born-digital archival collection. Howard presented his archival research at the 2026 Prairie View A&M University Student Research Day, where he showcased his work preserving The Griot Collection.
In Summer 2026, Howard was selected for the “Digitizing Black Environmental History & Community Archives” internship through PVAMU’s Gulf Scholars Program, where he continues to expand his skills in archival preservation, digital humanities, and community-engaged historical research. Through his work with the Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab, he is helping preserve African American history while preparing for a career in archives, public history, and digital preservation.
Ma'Nya Velasquez Digital Media Strategist
Ma’Nya Velasquez is a sophomore at Prairie View A&M University and serves as a Digital Media Strategist with the Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab (WDPL). Since joining the lab in Fall 2025, she has contributed to the preservation and accessibility of Prairie View A&M University’s scholarly and institutional history through digitization, digital preservation, and public history initiatives.
Velasquez has digitized and prepared more than fifty historic volumes of The Griot, Prairie View A&M University’s academic journal, for digital publication in the university’s Digital Commons repository. Her work includes producing high-quality digital surrogates and supporting the long-term preservation and online accessibility of one of the institution’s most significant scholarly publications.
In addition to her archival work, Velasquez presented a research poster at the 2026 Prairie View A&M University Student Research Day, highlighting her contributions to preserving The Griot Collection. Through her work with the Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab, she is developing professional experience in digital archives, scholarly communication, and the stewardship of African American history while preparing for a career in digital preservation and public history.
Evelyn Todd Former RISE Graduate Research Assistant
Evelyn Todd served as a Graduate Research Assistant with the Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab (WDPL) at Prairie View A&M University from Summer 2023 through December 2025, where she specialized in archival processing, digital preservation, oral history, and public history. During her tenure, she became one of the lab’s most accomplished student researchers, making significant contributions to the preservation and interpretation of African American historical collections across Texas.
Todd processed and prepared eight archival finding aids for the Texas Black Cooperative Extension and Home Demonstration (CE&HD) Collection and digitized more than 1,500 historic photographs while creating descriptive metadata to improve long-term preservation and public access. She also conducted six oral history interviews documenting community knowledge of Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery, transcribed twelve historic audio recordings, and prepared transcriptions of four nineteenth-century probate records belonging to the Jared Ellison Kirby family, expanding access to important genealogical and community history resources.
Her scholarship extended beyond archival preservation to public interpretation. Todd developed and published five digital exhibitions highlighting African American history and co-authored a peer-reviewed article published in The Griot. Her research excellence was recognized through five Prairie View A&M University Research Initiative for Scholarly Excellence (RISE) Graduate Research Assistant awards and her selection as a Texas Historical Commission Preservation Scholar during Summer 2025.
Todd completed her Master of Business Administration degree in December 2025 and was subsequently hired as a historical consultant for Dabney Hill Missionary Baptist Church, Inc. through the Texas Freedom Colonies Project Outsider Preservation Initiative, where she continues to apply her expertise in archival preservation, historical research, and community-engaged public history.
She is currently serving as Producer and Director of the forthcoming Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab documentary, “Sleep, O Brave One, in Glory’s Field”: The Reasons Why We Do Not Walk on the Grass at PVAMU (anticipated Fall 2026). The documentary explores the historical roots of Prairie View A&M University’s longstanding tradition of not walking on the grass by examining the university’s location on the former Alta Vista Plantation, where enslaved people labored, and many were buried in unmarked graves. It also investigates how generations of students transformed the campus landscape into a sacred space of collective memory by remaining on the sidewalks as an act of respect for forgotten ancestors and members of the Prairie View community, including student-athlete Abner A. Davis.
Jacob Boisrond Digital Media Strategist
Jacob Boisrond is a freshman at Prairie View A&M University and a Digital Media Strategist with the Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab (WDPL). Since joining the lab in Summer 2026, he has helped preserve the university’s institutional history through archival transcription and digital preservation projects.
Boisrond has transcribed more than a dozen recordings from the PVAMU Historic Audio Recordings Collection, helping make firsthand accounts and institutional memories searchable and accessible to students, faculty, researchers, and the broader public. His contributions support the lab’s efforts to preserve Prairie View’s historical record and connect new audiences with the voices and experiences documented in its archives.
Through this work, Boisrond is gaining practical experience in archival methods, digital humanities, and public history. He is developing the research and technical skills needed to preserve and interpret African American history while advancing the WDPL’s guiding principle: “Research is Respect.”
Kennedy Frank Digital Archivist
Kennedy Frank is a junior psychology major at Prairie View A&M University and one of the newest additions to the Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab (WDPL). With aspirations of pursuing a career in mental health and a deep commitment to her faith, Frank brings her interests in human well-being and spiritual life to a project dedicated to safeguarding a community’s historical legacy.
At the WDPL, Frank contributes to the digital preservation of Bethlehem United Methodist Church’s homecoming programs, helping protect a powerful record of faith, fellowship, and collective memory. These publications preserve the names, celebrations, relationships, and traditions through which a congregation remembers its past and affirms its future. Her work supports the preservation of those connections, helping ensure that the people represented in Bethlehem’s archive remain visible to future generations.
Through this project, Frank participates in the WDPL’s larger mission to preserve Black history and expand public memory. Her contributions demonstrate the consequential role undergraduate students can play in protecting historical materials whose significance extends far beyond the archive. Every program preserved strengthens the documentary foundation from which families, congregations, and researchers can recover stories, recognize contributions, and deepen their understanding of community life.
As she prepares for a future in mental health, Frank is helping safeguard another essential dimension of human experience: the enduring need to be remembered. Her work gives practical expression to the WDPL’s guiding principle: Research is Respect.
Andrew Rose Digital Media Strategist
Andrew Rose is a junior at Prairie View A&M University, where he is a pre-med biology major and serves as a Digital Media Strategist with the Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab (WDPL). Since joining the lab in Spring 2026, he has transcribed historical recordings from the PVAMU Historic Audio Recordings Collection and digitized issues of The Griot, contributing to the preservation of the university’s institutional history and African American history. A Dean’s List and Honor Roll honoree, Rose has also gained experience in laboratory research, experimental techniques, and data analysis. Anesthesiology shadowing and emergency room experience have strengthened his understanding of patient care and clinical teamwork. He has further developed his communication and organizational skills as Sergeant-at-Arms for the Brailsford College of Arts and Sciences and Toastmasters. Rose brings scientific curiosity, discipline, and a commitment to service to his work at the intersection of research, healthcare, and historical preservation.
Braydon Atkins Social Media Strategy Fellow
Braydon Atkins is a student at Prairie View A&M University and serves as a Social Media Strategy Fellow with the WDPL. Bringing together skills in graphic design, writing, visual art, and public speaking, Atkins contributes to the lab’s efforts to connect historical preservation with broader public engagement. His role supports a central ambition of the WDPL: ensuring that the histories preserved within its collections reach audiences who can learn from, contribute to, and carry those stories forward.
Atkins brings a varied creative background that includes drawing, painting, and mural installation. His experience helping his father develop an author business adds an interest in sharing creative work with the public. These experiences provide a foundation for communicating the significance of archival collections, highlighting student contributions, and helping audiences understand why preserving Black history matters.
His interests also extend to childhood development and community service. Through his experience with AmeriCorps at Kids-U, participation in a church youth program, and work caring for children, Atkins has pursued opportunities to support young people. He approaches his education with a stated commitment to hard work, personal growth, and using his talents to make a meaningful difference.
At the WDPL, Atkins brings these creative and community interests into the work of public history. As Social Media Strategy Fellow, he helps advance the lab’s public presence and its commitment to making historical knowledge visible, engaging, and accessible.
Kaydance Young RISE UGR Student Archivist
Kaydance Young is an Early Childhood Education major with a minor in Theatre at Prairie View A&M University and the newest addition to the WDPL. Joining the team with support from a Fall 2026 RISE Undergraduate Research (RISE UGR) award, Young brings a compelling combination of educational purpose, artistic expression, and student leadership to the lab’s mission of preserving Black history and expanding public memory.
Young’s record of campus involvement reflects her commitment to creativity, collaboration, and service. She has held leadership roles as Vice President of the Charles Gilpin Players and Vice President of Membership for Sigma Alpha Iota, while participating in the PVAMU Concert Chorale and PV Singers. Her experience managing organizational records, coordinating communication, and supporting theatrical productions provides a valuable foundation for work that requires careful documentation, teamwork, and thoughtful interpretation.
At the WDPL, Young begins a new chapter in that work through faculty-mentored undergraduate research. Supported by PVAMU’s Research & Innovation for Scholarly Excellence program, her participation connects the study of education and the expressive power of theatre with the preservation of historical knowledge. She joins a team committed to ensuring that Black families, institutions, and communities have an enduring place in the historical record—a mission grounded in the conviction that Research is Respect.
Archival Assistants From June 2022 to May 2023
Lindsay Boknight
Former Team Leader
Noah Jackson
Former Team Leader
Hannah Harden
Zynitra Durham
Caleb Brookins
Malachi McMahon
Kalayah Jammer
Kennedy Jackson
Hollie Brown
Briana Johnson
Kiliyana Williams
Jaylynn Brantley
Kendall Douglass
Allena Preston
D'Asia Johnson
Kasedi Eason
DeZhane Johnson
Dena Miles
assistant professor of history
Dr. T. DeWayne Moore
assistant professor of history in the division of social sciences
Dr. Moore is an Assistant Professor of History who directs the activities of the Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab (WDPL) at Prairie View A&M University, where he develops community-engaged approaches to archival preservation, public history, digital humanities, and African American historical recovery. Through the WDPL, he has built one of the university’s most active preservation initiatives by securing external grant funding, establishing digital preservation infrastructure, supervising undergraduate and graduate student researchers, and creating sustainable workflows for archival processing, oral history, born-digital preservation, and public interpretation. His work has resulted in the preservation of major archival collections, the creation of dozens of archival finding aids and digital exhibitions, the preparation of National Register documentation, and collaborative preservation projects with churches, descendant communities, historical organizations, and local governments throughout Texas and the Mississippi Delta.
Moore’s scholarship examines African American history, Reconstruction, historic preservation, community archives, memory, and the politics of historical erasure. His publications have appeared in The Public Historian, Southern Cultures, Public History Weekly, The Southwestern Archivist, Living Blues, and The Griot, and he is the author of a forthcoming book chapter with Texas Tech University Press. His current research focuses on the histories of Bethlehem United Methodist Church in Hempstead, Texas, Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery, Prairie View A&M University, the Texas Black Cooperative Extension and Home Demonstration Service, and the use of artificial intelligence and digital preservation technologies to expand access to historically marginalized collections. Through the Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab, he seeks to build sustainable preservation infrastructure while preparing the next generation of historians, archivists, and public humanities professionals through collaborative, community-centered research.
professor of custodial service
Smooth
professor of custodial services in the Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab
Smooth directs the custodial services for the Woolfolk Digital Preservation Lab (WDPL) at Prairie View A&M University, where he has developed a community-engaged approach to custodial services. At the WDPL, he has become an engaging and bright member of the team. He goes above and beyond to ensure the lab is ready to host visitors daily. Indeed, his aura and spirit have proven to be some of the most endearing elements of the lab.
