Jean Gordon
Wednesday, October 6, 2021 1:05 pm

Janet Sims-Wood receives the prestigious Dorothy Porter Wesley Award from Lopez D. Matthews, Jr., PhD. He is the digital production library and history subject specialist at Howard University. He is also the chair of the African American Information Profe

A Rutherford County native and a 1963 graduate of Carver High School in Spindale, Janet Sims-Wood, was awarded the Dorothy Porter Wesley Award on Tuesday evening at the African American Life and History (ASALH) Conference Awards Ceremony in Washington, D.C.

"I am so honored to receive this award named in honor of the lady who established the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University. She was a mentor to so many of us in the information profession," Sims-Wood said.

The Dorothy Porter Wesley Award was established in 2018 by the Information Professionals of the Association ASALH to honor and document the outstanding work of Information Professionals; Bibliophiles, Librarians, Archivists, Curators and Collectors.

Many of the Information Professionals have also played a major role in supporting the work of ASALH, by serving in leadership roles and as members.

Sims-Wood is former Assistant Chief Librarian in the Reference/Reader Services Department at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University. She has also taught at the University of Maryland in the Afro American Studies Department. Dr. Sims-Wood received her B.A. in Sociology from North Carolina Central University, her M.L.S. from the University of Maryland, and her Ph.D. in Women's Studies/History/Oral History from Union Institute.

She has been instrumental in the establishment of the Black History Museum on Hardin Road in Forest City.

A resident of Laurel, Maryland, Sims-Wood said she looks forward to returning to Rutherford County for a Carver High School in-person reunion again in the future.