Talk:McKissack & McKissack

Latest comment: 7 months ago by Karen at McKissack in topic Removal of incorrect link in External links section

Founding date

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The Thematic Resource document contradicts itself -- at one point it says the company was founded in 1905, and at another, it says 1922. Which should we go with? --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 22:19, 13 December 2011 (UTC)Reply

http://books.google.com/books?id=k5r5cXC67igC&pg=PA386 might also be relevant.--SarekOfVulcan (talk) 22:21, 13 December 2011 (UTC)Reply
Thanks! I do think this article topic would be an easy DYK, would be happy to develop together with you if you like. Current DYK-eligible size is 338 chars, so it could wait and be done as a 5X expansion, still have the same final size (1500 char ~= 5X current size. Or could just plunge ahead now. --doncram 23:43, 13 December 2011 (UTC)Reply
Plunge away. :-) If I see something good, I'll toss it in. --SarekOfVulcan (talk) 03:56, 14 December 2011 (UTC)Reply
There is an error on the founding date - right now it is listed as 1905, which is the date when Mose III started practicing architecture under his own firm, but in 1922 the firm with both brothers was formed.[1] PigeonChickenFish (talk) 00:33, 31 January 2023 (UTC)Reply

References

  1. ^ Rust, Randal. "McKissack and McKissack Architects". Tennessee Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
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Updating infobox

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Hi, I'm Karen from McKissack & McKissack! I'm here to request updates to the firm's page as a COI editor. I'll be using the edit request system and promise to refrain from editing the page directly. I've added my COI to the banner up top, and if you would like to read my full disclosure, you can visit my user page. My first edit request concerns the page's infobox, which I think could be strengthened by including some additional key information about the firm. I'm suggesting that the Website field be updated:

And that these fields be added:

  • Industry: Construction
  • Areas served: New York,[1] Pennsylvania,[2] New Jersey,[3] Connecticut,[4] Georgia,[5] & Louisiana[6]
  • Key people: President & CEO, Cheryl McKissack[7]

References

  1. ^ "Inside the nation's oldest African-American-owned, female-run construction management firm". CBS News. June 8, 2019. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  2. ^ Jones, Ayana (March 1, 2021). "Black-owned construction firm thrives under fifth generation leadership". Philadelphia Tribune. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  3. ^ McKinney, Jeffrey (August 8, 2019). "She Took Over Her Family's 114-Year-Old Construction Company And Turned It Into a $50 Million Powerhouse". Black Enterprise. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  4. ^ Lockhart, Brian (August 21, 2013). "Finch has already raised $119K for 2015 race". CT Post. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  5. ^ "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: McKissack and McKissack Buildings in Nashville (1908-1930) Thematic Resources" (PDF). National Park Service (1985). November 21, 1984. Archived from the original on October 15, 2012.
  6. ^ La Guerre, Liam (February 14, 2018). "Why Construction Firm McKissack Added Natural Disaster Relief to Its Repertoire". Commercial Observer. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  7. ^ "Leadership". www.mckissack.com. April 4, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2023.

I'm happy to offer further clarification on any of the above, if other editors have questions. I appreciate anyone who takes the time to review this request. Thanks! ~~~~ Karen at McKissack (talk) 15:26, 21 April 2023 (UTC)Reply

  Partly done: @Karen at McKissack: Hi there - I incorporated most of your requested edits, with the exception of the website you provided. The link you provided doesn't seem to exist, and the one currently in the infobox (and the one I put in the new infobox) properly links to the company. Additionally, I left "Construction" out of the 'Services' section, as that is implied by the other services the company provides and the preceding industry section also. That Coptic Guyping me! (talk) (contribs) 17:56, 21 April 2023 (UTC)Reply
  Done The link you provided somehow wasn’t working, but manually typing in www.McKissack.com is fine. In any case, my apologies for keeping the mckinc.com link up… But it looks like it’s also affiliated with the company? What is the difference between the 2 websites? They’re designed very differently but lead to the same company - somewhat confusing... That Coptic Guyping me! (talk) (contribs) 20:21, 21 April 2023 (UTC)Reply
Thanks @That Coptic Guy:, I'm not sure what happened with the website link so I appreciate you figuring out how to add it. Your question about the two websites actually points to a bigger issue with this Wikipedia article. There are two companies operating with very similar names, one is the continuation of the legacy McKissack family business, the McKissack & McKissack led by Cheryl McKissack Daniel (mckissack.com) and the other was founded in 1991 by Deryl McKissack (mckinc.com). While the latter is described on their website as "an outgrowth of the McKissack firm founded in Nashville, TN" it also clearly states it is a separate company founded by Deryl McKissack (here's a link to that information. I'm working on some research and drafts to help clear this up in the rest of the page. Karen at McKissack (talk) 17:40, 24 April 2023 (UTC)Reply

Project removal and grammar fix

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Hello, Karen here from McKissack & McKissack back to request updates to the firm's page as a COI editor. My second edit request concerns some of the wrong information on the page regarding projects the company has worked on, a grammatical error, and an award on the page that belongs to a different company.

I'm suggesting fixing the capitalization of "west Africa" in the second paragraph of the introduction section, which should be "West Africa."

The second change I'm putting forward is to remove the following projects from the third paragraph of the introduction. These projects were worked on by Deryl McKissack's company which is a separate company and not the original company that this article represents:

My third and final request I'm suggesting is to remove the last paragraph from the introduction, as the award was granted to the offshoot company, not the original McKissack & McKissack:

  • In 2019 the company was named a Top 50 Program Management and a Top 100 Construction Management-for-Fee firm by Engineering News-Record.[3]

If editors have questions about any of the above suggestions, please do let me know. Thank you! Karen at McKissack (talk) 12:07, 16 May 2023 (UTC)Reply

I'm back following up on this to see if User:That Coptic Guy would be available to take a look at this request since we've worked together on this page before. Any feedback here would be seriously appreciated. Thank you so much. Karen at McKissack (talk) 19:47, 23 May 2023 (UTC)Reply
  Go ahead: I have reviewed these proposed changes and suggest that you go ahead and make the proposed changes to the page. Actualcpscm (talk) 11:07, 27 May 2023 (UTC)Reply
Thank you so much for reviewing, I've gone ahead and made the changes. Karen at McKissack (talk) 12:44, 31 May 2023 (UTC)Reply

History and Early projects update

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Hello, Karen from McKissack & McKissack back with another request, this time to revise the History section and the Early projects subsection. As it stands, these sections are severely lacking proper sourcing. There are hyperlinks to pages that no longer exist, and there are many sentences that have no citations at all. The page's current state does not accurately reflect the history and early days of the company.

In order to fix these sections, I've whipped up an amended History & Early projects section draft that seeks to bolster existing claims with new and improved sources, removing links to projects that don't have their own Wikipedia page (specifically the links to the West End and Turner Normal and Industrial School for Negroes), and adding new information about Moses McKissack II & III where it was missing to provide more context to the early days of the company.

History and Early projects update

History

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The firm was founded by Moses McKissack III (May 8, 1879 – December 12, 1952) in 1905, who was later joined by his brother Calvin Lunsford McKissack (February 23, 1890 – March 2, 1968) to form the McKissack & McKissack partnership in 1922.[1] The brothers were natives of Pulaski, Tennessee.[2][1] Their father (Moses McKissack II) and grandfather (Moses McKissack) were both trained builders.[2][1] Moses McKissack was sold into slavery after being captured in West Africa, and was sold to an American contractor named William McKissack of North Carolina.[3] Moses was trained to make bricks for construction projects and became a master builder.[3] When Moses was eventually granted his freedom, he began to sell his bricks.[3][4]
 
Hubbard House (1920), Nashville
 
Capers C.M.E. Church (1925), Nashville
 
Morris Memorial Building (1925), Nashville
 
Martin Luther King Magnet at Pearl High School (1937)
 
St. John's Baptist Church (1940), Miami
 
D.R. Glass Library (1948) at Texas College

Moses McKissack II went on to become a master carpenter, and built the gingerbread finishes on the Maxwell House Hotel.[5] Moses McKissack III entered the architecture trade by working as an apprentice to a builder in Pulaski who hired him in 1890 to assist with architectural designs, drawings and building construction.[6]: 3  His formal education was obtained at the Pulaski Colored High School.[6]: 3  Calvin McKissack was educated at Fisk University in Nashville, which he attended from 1905 to 1909.[6]: 5  Both brothers obtained architectural degrees through a correspondence course.[6]: 5 [1]

Early projects

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Between 1895 and 1905, Moses McKissack built houses in Decatur, Alabama, and Mount Pleasant and Columbia, Tennessee.[2] In 1905, Moses officially launched McKissack & McKissack as a construction firm.[3] Also in 1905, Moses received a commission to build a new house for the dean of architecture and engineering at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.[2] He opened his first architectural office in Nashville in 1907.[6]: 5  The firm's first major project was to design the Carnegie Library on the Fisk University campus, a two-story Classic Revival building constructed from brick with a stone columned porch, featuring an interior light well. Its cornerstone was laid in 1908 by William Howard Taft, then the U.S. Secretary of War.[7][8]

Major projects designed by Moses McKissack during the 1910s include the dormitories for Roger Williams University in Nashville and Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee.[3] From 1918 and 1922, Moses designed more than one dozen residences in Nashville and Belle Meade, largely in the Colonial Revival style.[6]: 5 

Calvin McKissack started an independent practice in Dallas, Texas, in 1912, specializing in the design and construction of dormitories and black schools.[6]: 5  In 1915, he returned to Tennessee, becoming superintendent of industries and a teacher of architectural drawing at the Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State Normal School.[3] In 1918, Calvin joined the faculty of Pearl High School as director of the industrial arts department and later became the first executive secretary of the Tennessee State Association of Teachers in Colored Schools.[7][3] In 1921, McKissack & McKissack built the historic Hubbard House in Nashville.[3] When Tennessee instituted a registration law for architects in 1922, the McKissack brothers were initially denied their licenses.[6]: 6  However, after petitioning the state and obtaining architectural degrees, the brothers got their licenses and became the first licensed black architects in the United States [6]: 2 [4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Flynn, Katherine (2021-08-11). "Pioneering Architects: The McKissack Family - AIA". The American Institute of Architects. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  2. ^ a b c d Wynn, Linda T. "McKissack and McKissack Architects". Tennessee Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Arntz, Sarah (2021-04-01). "Building Nashville: A History of the McKissack & McKissack Architecture Firm". Nashville Public Library. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  4. ^ a b Lauria-Blum, Julia (2022-03-08). "The Keeper of a Storied Legacy". Metropolitan Airport News. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  5. ^ "From Slave Labor to Thriving Business › Family Business Magazine". www.familybusinessmagazine.com. Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: McKissack and McKissack Buildings in Nashville (1908-1930) Thematic Resources" (PDF). National Park Service (1985). November 21, 1984. Archived from the original on October 15, 2012.
  7. ^ a b Wynn, Linda T. "McKissack and McKissack Architects (1905- )". Tennessee State University. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  8. ^ Daverman, Richard (2002-05-01). "McKissack & McKissack, historic African-American architecture firm, files Chapter 7". Archived from the original on 2023-01-28. Retrieved 2023-05-02.

I understand that the draft I've put together represents a significant overhaul of these sections and that it will take no small amount of effort for editors to review. I genuinely appreciate anyone who takes the time to assess my proposed changes. I also plan on submitting additional draft content in the future for the rest of the History section but figured it makes sense to start with the opening paragraph of History and the Early projects section.

Just to make it clear once again, I do have a conflict of interest as a representative of McKissack & McKissack. You can read more about my COI on my user page. Although I'm no Wikipedia expert, I've attempted to familiarize myself with the rules of the site and put together materials that fit within its content guidelines. Thank you again, and I look forward to hearing from non-COI editors. Karen at McKissack (talk) 11:22, 19 June 2023 (UTC)Reply

Popping back into this post to see if User:Actualcpscm has any interest in taking a look at this request, since they've reviewed previous content. Thank you so much, I really do appreciate it. Karen at McKissack (talk) 20:23, 23 June 2023 (UTC)Reply
Popping back in here once again to ping User:That_Coptic_Guy to gauge if there is any interest in them reviewing this request as they've been active on this page previously. Thank you so much! Karen at McKissack (talk) 20:29, 29 June 2023 (UTC)Reply

Reply 1-JUL-2023

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Of the 34 instances where the proposed text contains a ref note, 79.4% of these notes link back to company provided information:

  1. Arntz, Sarah (2021-04-01). Building Nashville: A History of the McKissack & McKissack Architecture Firm. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help) This reference, written as a history of the company itself, contains information provided by the company.
  2. Wynn, Linda T. McKissack and McKissack Architects (1905- ). Tennessee State University. This reference contains information provided by the company and published by TSU.
  3. Wynn, Linda T. "McKissack and McKissack Architects". Tennessee Encyclopedia. Tertiary sources such as encyclopedias can be problematic if it's not entirely clear how the encyclopedia obtained its information. Tennessee Encyclopedia, which allows suggestions for content, appears to have a smaller fact checking apparatus than say, Encyclopedia Britannica. This encyclopedia entry was written by the same author as in #2 above.
  4. National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: McKissack and McKissack Buildings in Nashville (1908-1930) Thematic Resources. National Park Service (1985). November 21, 1984. {{cite book}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help) This reference, an application for an Historic Register to be placed upon a building, was ostensibly completed by the same company whose building they occupied.
  • That being said, one has to recognize that historically there has been a culture of neglect with regards to journalistic coverage of black issues in general, and black owned businesses in particular,[1][2][3] with most attention being shown towards white enterprises especially throughout the South (where the firm existed pre-1990). Normally I prefer company provided sources using Meis Van der Rohe's logic - "Less is More." But in light of this under-representation, it may seem appropriate to allow a larger percentage of references that originate from the company itself in this instance. I'd like to hear feedback from other editors.

Regards,  Spintendo  22:23, 1 July 2023 (UTC)Reply

Im prepared to implement most of these requested changes into the article despite the fact that a large number of them come from sources which originate from the company's own historiography ( for reasons discussed in my earlier post) but I would at least like to have page numbers for those sources that are printed or in book form. As there is presumably several page numbers used with each source, this will necessitate using the {{rp|}} parameter, which should be placed after each instance of a ref tag's use . When ready to proceed with the requested information, kindly reopen the request by altering the {{request edit}} template's answer parameter to read from |ans=yes to |ans=no . If you have any questions about the use of the RP parameter please feel free to ask here or on my talk page. Regards,  Spintendo  05:28, 2 July 2023 (UTC)Reply
Hi User:Spintendo, thank you so much for the feedback. I've reopened the edit request and updated the draft in the initial post above.
Within that updated draft, I've added page numbers for the National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination reference. Also, I removed the Encyclopedia of African American Business and National Register Information System references. I couldn't verify the page numbers for the former or get a proper link to the latter.
I cut the mention of the Barrows School in Springfield, Massachusetts from Calvin McKissack's education, as the cited source didn't back up the claim. I also removed the National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination reference from the sentence about William Howard Taft laying the cornerstone at the Carnegie Library, as I incorrectly appended that reference to that particular claim.
I'm hoping these changes help bring the draft to a better state. Again, thank you kindly for the guidance. Karen at McKissack (talk) 11:02, 17 July 2023 (UTC)Reply

References

  1. ^ Dorsey, Sherrell. "Black tech news coverage struggles to find a home in mainstream newsrooms". Columbia Journalism Review.
  2. ^ Ross, Amy; Arguedas, Sayan; Mont'Alverne, Camila; Toff, Benjamin; Fletcher, Richard; Kleis Nielsen, Rasmus (2023). "News for the Powerful and Privileged: How Misrepresentation and Underrepresentation of Disadvantaged Communities Undermine their Trust in News". Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
  3. ^ Scott, Austin (3 October 2021). "The Media's Treatment of Blacks: A Story of Distortion". Los Angeles Times.
Thank you for these changes it's much appreciated. There were a couple of instances of the MMBTR source which were still missing page numbers. The claim "He opened his first architectural office in Nashville in 1907" and the claim "Calvin McKissack started an independent practice in Dallas, Texas, in 1912, specializing in the design and construction of dormitories and churches" are still missing page numbers. If you could supply those it would be much appreciated Thank you! Spintendo  12:11, 17 July 2023 (UTC)Reply
Hi, thank you so much for the extended feedback.
It seems that an editor added the page number to the "first architectural office" sentence you requested the page number for. Upon review, their page number looks correct for that citation.
I also took a look at the second sentence you requested the page number for and altered the sentence to say that Calvin McKissack specialized in the design and construction of dormitories and black schools, rather than churches, which is more accurate to the citation as the reference notes that Calvin worked on black schools while in Texas. I've also added a page number for the MMBTR citation there, as well.
I do hope that this brings the draft up to a more acceptable level. If there is anything else I can do to further improve the draft, please let me know. And again, thank you so much for the feedback. Karen at McKissack (talk) 21:17, 18 July 2023 (UTC)Reply
Thank you for your changes, they are much appreciated. In trying to implement these changes, I see that there are two ref names using the moniker "TNstate". Either the reference you are using in your proposal or one already existing in the article are both using this moniker (which contains different information under the moniker. Trying to implement it results in the following message " Cite error: The named reference "TNstate" was defined multiple times with different content". Thus, the reference in your edit request must align with already used reference monikers to prevent this error message from displaying. Please alter the information in your request, and reset the answer indicator to no at your earliest convenience. Regards,  Spintendo  01:27, 25 July 2023 (UTC)Reply
  Edit request implemented I've fixed the issue with the differing duplicate refnames and added the new History and Early projects sections. If anything has been overlooked, please let me know here on the talk page. Regards,  Spintendo  09:53, 25 July 2023 (UTC) and changes 19:06, 29 July 2023 (UTC)Reply
I very much appreciate the help, User:Spintendo. I'm still learning Wikipedia and apologize for the formatting errors. Thanks for working with me through this complex request. Karen at McKissack (talk) 12:43, 31 July 2023 (UTC)Reply

Establishment of partnership + National expansion and move from Nashville update

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Hello, I've returned to this talk page to propose updates to the Establishment of partnership and the National expansion and move from Nashville subsections. These subsections, particularly the latter one, are in need of revision. They contain more than a few inaccurate and/or less-than-encyclopedic claims about the firm and its history, which my drafts will seek to fix. You can view these drafts below:

Establishment of partnership update

In 1922, Calvin McKissack resigned from his job with the teacher's organization and the brothers established the partnership of McKissack & McKissack.[1][2][3] The National Baptist Convention, U.S.A, Inc., hired the firm in 1924 to design the Morris Memorial Building to house the Nashville offices of the denomination's Sunday School Publishing Board.[3] After the building was completed in 1925, the firm moved its offices into the building where they remained for many years.[1][3] In 1927, McKissack & McKissack designed the main library of Tennessee State University in Nashville.[3] The firm narrowly avoided bankruptcy in the 1930s, but bounced back after receiving Works Progress Administration contracts for the design of several public school buildings in the city, including Pearl High School.[1][4]

The firm began to expand outside of Tennessee by 1940, but architectural licensing boards in other states were skeptical of the qualifications of black architects. Tennessee authorities responded to their concerns with a statement that McKissack and McKissack was "...somewhat unique in the fact that it is one of the few Negro architectural firms in the country" and had "done some creditable work in Nashville, including several large school buildings running into a total cost of several hundred thousand dollars".[1] The firm received licenses from Alabama in 1941 and from Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, and Mississippi in 1943.[1] In 1942, McKissack & McKissack won a $5.7 million U.S. federal government contract to design and build Tuskegee Army Airfield,[5][6]home to the Tuskegee Airmen's 99th Pursuit Squadron, in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was the largest federal contract ever awarded to a black-owned company.[1][3] The company received positive attention for the successful and timely completion of the project, including one writer's observation that "no racial friction occurred among the mixed working men" in the workforce of 1,600, of whom three-fourths were black and one-fourth white.[1][3] During Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, Moses McKissack was appointed to the White House Conference on Housing Problems.[4] Moses McKissack III died on December 12, 1952,[1] and in 1954, Moses McKissack Middle School in Nashville was named in his honor.[7] Calvin McKissack became president of the firm, and stayed with the company until his death in 1968.[3][1] William DeBerry McKissack, the youngest son of Moses III, succeeded his uncle as president of the firm that same year.[3] After suffering a stroke he retired,[3][8] and his wife, Leatrice Buchanan McKissack, became chief executive officer.[4] Under her leadership, the firm won major contracts for new buildings and renovations at Fisk University, Tennessee State University, and Meharry Medical College campuses in Nashville, as well as a $50 million renovation project for Howard University in Washington, D.C. and design of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.[9][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: McKissack and McKissack Buildings in Nashville (1908-1930) Thematic Resources" (PDF). National Park Service (1985). November 21, 1984. Archived from the original on October 15, 2012.
  2. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wynn, Linda T. "McKissack and McKissack Architects (1905- )". Tennessee State University. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  4. ^ a b c Wynn, Linda T. "McKissack and McKissack Architects". Tennessee Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  5. ^ Homan, Lynn M.; Thomas Reilly (2001). Black Knights: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen. Pelican Publishing. p. 31. ISBN 9781455601257.
  6. ^ Arntz, Sarah (2021-04-01). "Building Nashville: A History of the McKissack & McKissack Architecture Firm". Nashville Public Library. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  7. ^ "Behind the School Name: McKissack Middle". Metro Nashville Public Schools. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  8. ^ a b "Leatrice McKissack, National Visionary". National Visionary Leadership Project. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  9. ^ "McKissack & McKissack". AT&T Tennessee African-American History Calendar. AT&T. July 2013. Archived from the original on January 5, 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
National expansion and move from Nashville update
  • Suggested title change: From National expansion and move from Nashville to 1990s to present

Leatrice's daughter Cheryl McKissack Daniel opened a McKissack & McKissack office in New York City in 1990.[1] That same year Cheryl's sister Deryl McKissack launched a separate company under the same name out of Washington, D.C.[1] In 2000, Cheryl McKissack Daniel bought the company from her mother and dissolved the original business, paying out shareholders and closing their offices in the south.[1][2] She then re-established McKissack & McKissack as sole owner of the company.[1] The company closed its Nashville office in May 2002, making its New York City offices its corporate headquarters.[3] As of May 2023, the firm also had offices in Philadelphia and Mount Vernon, New York.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "From Slave Labor to Thriving Business › Family Business Magazine". www.familybusinessmagazine.com. Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  2. ^ Johnson, Derrel Jazz. "Cheryl McKissack Daniel Keeps the Family's Fifth-Generation business Thriving as President & CEO of McKissack & McKissack". The Harlem Times. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  3. ^ Daverman, Richard (2002-05-01). "McKissack & McKissack, historic African-American architecture firm, files Chapter 7". Archived from the original on 2023-01-28. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  4. ^ "McKissack & McKissack". McKissack & McKissack. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  5. ^ Bandler, Jonathan (2022-08-12). "Trailblazing construction services firm pursuing affordable housing in Mount Vernon". The Journal News. Retrieved 2023-05-19.

I want to be very clear about the changes I've made in these drafts, but I also don't want to crowd the talk page too much, so I've laid them out in two collapsible boxes:

Establishment of partnership changes
  1. Removed Washington Junior High School on Nineteenth Avenue North and Ford Green School from projects the firm has worked on, since they are less notable compared to other projects listed in that sentence
  2. Rewrote the final sentence of the first paragraph, making it clear the WPA contracts the company received helped them avoid bankruptcy
  3. Removed the Spaulding Medal award the McKissack brothers received, since that's a minor award without its own Wikipedia article
National expansion and move to Nashville changes
  1. Suggested subsection title be changed to 1990s to present, to better capture the nature of the content contained in my revised version of the subsection
  2. Changed sentence about Deryl McKissack opening an office in Washington, D.C., to clarify that this was not a McKissack & McKissack office, but a separate company
  3. Removed the next sentence about the company opening offices in Chicago and Los Angeles, as there is no sourcing for those claims
  4. Added two new sentences that detail Cheryl McKissack buying McKissack & McKissack from her mother, dissolving it, and re-establishing it, with herself as sole owner
  5. Removed the sentence about the financial success of the "family-owned successor companies" as it compound's Deryl McKissack's company with McKissack & McKissack proper. (I'm aware this is confusing, but Deryl's company is indeed a separate entity from the one described in this article.)
  6. Removed part of sentence that said McKissack & McKissack offices were in Alabama and Connecticut, as this is inaccurate; M&M's non-Manhattan offices are in Mount Vernon and Philadelphia
  7. Added a new sentence about McKissack & McKissack ranking 64th on Black Enterprise's list of the nation's top 100 black businesses

I'm aware that, similar to my last edit request, I'm asking editors to review a lot of material. If the review process takes a while, that's fine with me. I will keep an eye on this talk page and reply to any editor questions or feedback as it comes. Thank you again to the Wikipedia editor community for helping me make updates to this article. I really appreciate the guidance I've received so far and look forward to working with editors further. Karen at McKissack (talk) 12:41, 31 July 2023 (UTC)Reply

The documents from author Lydia Wynn (there are two of them in your request) I think it might work out better if we went ahead and placed links for these two documents in the External links section. This could also be done for the National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form source, and it would be very easy for readers to click on the external link to access that information when they come to this article. My concern is that we follow summary style, which means the information provided on Wikipedia ought to be a summary of accepted knowledge concerning a particular subject, not a verbatim reproduction of all of that knowledge. We added a lot of information from these company sources in the last request, and it seems with this new request, we're wanting to add even more. I'm willing to step out of my comfort zone when it comes to adding company-sourced information in certain instances, but there are limits to that. We ought to avoid reproducing entire documents here on Wikipedia, especially when those same documents can be easily linked in the external links section, enabling reader access to this valuable historical information. Let me know what your thoughts are on this. Please reset the template to answer=no when ready. Regards,  Spintendo  13:54, 31 July 2023 (UTC)Reply
Thank you for the quick response here. To clarify, this request does not add any new information based on the two sources you've pointed to, as the content and the sources are already on the page. Rather, this request is focused on trimming and rewording content that uses those sources within these sections. If you believe those two sources are overly represented in this draft, I can go back in and remove references to them where possible and/or attempt to find some new sourcing. Again, thanks for the swift feedback here. Karen at McKissack (talk) 23:00, 1 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
  Problematic text omitted I've placed links to the 2 Wynn sources as well as the National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form in the External links section, so that readers interested in this part of the company's history can go there to get accurate information. The portions of text from the History section (post-1930's) including text from the section regarding the move from Nashville, which were referenced by these three sources and which may have been inaccurate has been omitted. Regards,  Spintendo  23:38, 1 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
Thank you for evaluating this request for the History section of the article. I have posted a new request to the Talk page that aims to provide a more streamlined modern history of the company if you are interested in taking a look at that as well. Karen at McKissack (talk) 20:28, 3 August 2023 (UTC)Reply

New York operations and History addition

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Hi, Karen here from McKissack & McKissack with a request once again. This one is focused on the most recent changes, where a section named New York operations was added as well as an update to the end of the History section. I'm asking non-COI editors to: 1. Remove the New York operations section 2. Add new details to the History section about the modern history of the company

The New York operations section is a little confusing as is since it only tells part of the story and presents an outdated view of the company. The New York office is now the headquarters, and the whole company is now led by Cheryl McKissack. I'd like to suggest incorporating the establishment of the New York office into History, alongside some further information that explains the more recent history of McKissack & McKissack.

My draft below starts with Cheryl opening a branch of the company in New York City in 1990, then covers how the company eventually moved its headquarters to NYC, and as of 2023, operates two offices outside of its HQ. It also details how Cheryl became sole owner of the company, and clarifies that Cheryl's sister Deryl McKissack launched a separate company under the same name out of Washington, D.C. There has been confusion on the page before between the two companies, so I think including this mention of the separate company will help readers and hopefully prevent future confusing edits.

I believe that adding this more detailed recent history of the company with improved sourcing improves the page overall and shows how the company has changed over time. You can view the draft below:

Addition to History

Leatrice's daughter Cheryl McKissack Daniel opened a McKissack & McKissack office in New York City in 1990.[1] That same year Cheryl's sister Deryl McKissack launched a separate unaffiliated company under the same name out of Washington, D.C.[1] In 2000, Cheryl McKissack Daniel bought the company from her mother and dissolved the original business, paying out shareholders and closing their offices in the south.[1][2] She then re-established McKissack & McKissack as sole owner of the company.[1] The company closed its Nashville office in May 2002, making its New York City offices its corporate headquarters.[3] As of May 2023, the firm also had offices in Philadelphia and Mount Vernon, New York.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "From Slave Labor to Thriving Business › Family Business Magazine". www.familybusinessmagazine.com. Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  2. ^ Johnson, Derrel Jazz. "Cheryl McKissack Daniel Keeps the Family's Fifth-Generation business Thriving as President & CEO of McKissack & McKissack". The Harlem Times. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  3. ^ Daverman, Richard (2002-05-01). "McKissack & McKissack, historic African-American architecture firm, files Chapter 7". Archived from the original on 2023-01-28. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  4. ^ "McKissack & McKissack". McKissack & McKissack. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  5. ^ Bandler, Jonathan (2022-08-12). "Trailblazing construction services firm pursuing affordable housing in Mount Vernon". The Journal News. Retrieved 2023-05-19.

I am ready and able to respond to any editor feedback or questions regarding this request. Thank you so much to the editor community for taking the time to evaluate this request, I am thankful for all of the feedback I've been given here. Karen at McKissack (talk) 20:26, 3 August 2023 (UTC)Reply

  Implemented  Spintendo  10:00, 6 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
Thank you so much for once again taking the time to review one of my edit requests. If you still have the time and interest to review my requests on this page, I have posted another edit request just below. Again, thank you for all the help. Karen at McKissack (talk) 12:44, 15 August 2023 (UTC)Reply

Introduction & Operations section

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Hello, this is Karen here with two suggested changes for the McKissack & McKissack page. These changes go hand-in-hand and attempt to update the page to accurately reflect the current operations of the company, and use proper sourcing to show that the company is headquartered in New York City.

For the first part of the request, I have three changes to the introduction:

1. The first suggested change to the Introduction is to change the headquarters from Washington, D.C. to New York City. The CBS News[1] piece that is already cited in that sentence has this information.

2. The second change in the Introduction section is to remove projects that McKissack & McKissack has not worked on that are currently listed. The reason the projects are listed incorrectly here is because they are Cheryl's sister, Deryl McKissack's company, which has the same name. The projects are: O'Hare International, Midway International, Ronald Reagan Washington National, and Dulles International Airports.

3. The third change in the Introduction is to remove the reference to McKissack & McKissack being an architecture firm in the first sentence of the article. While the company used to be an architecture company, since Cheryl has taken over, there is media coverage showing that the company has changed and focuses more on construction management.[2]

The second part of this request is to implement a new Operations section below the History section. This section uses Wikipedia-appropriate sourcing to paint a better picture of the current operations of the company, with key details like how many employees the company has, where the other offices are located, and who owns the company.

Operations
Operations

McKissack & McKissack is headquartered in Manhattan.[3] It also has offices in Philadelphia and Mount Vernon, New York.[4] The company's sole owner is Cheryl McKissack Daniel, who serves as the President and CEO.[5][6] As of 2019, McKissack & McKissack has approximately 150 employees.[7]

References

  1. ^ "Inside the nation's oldest African-American-owned, female-run construction management firm". CBS News. June 8, 2019. Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  2. ^ Hall, April. "McKissack & McKissack: From Slave Labor to Business Success". Famiyl Business Magazine. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  3. ^ Young, Celia (2022-06-08). "McKissack Group Moving Headquarters to 498 Seventh Avenue". Commercial Observer. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
  4. ^ Bandler, Jonathan (2022-08-12). "Trailblazing construction services firm pursuing affordable housing in Mount Vernon". The Journal News. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  5. ^ "From Slave Labor to Thriving Business › Family Business Magazine". www.familybusinessmagazine.com. Retrieved 2021-02-23.
  6. ^ Johnson, Derrel Jazz. "Cheryl McKissack Daniel Keeps the Family's Fifth-Generation business Thriving as President & CEO of McKissack & McKissack". The Harlem Times. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  7. ^ Kohler, Katie (2019-09-26). "Five Generations of Company Growth, One Strong Leader : CEG". Retrieved 2023-06-13.

With the Introduction updates and the addition of the Operations section, this page will begin to present a more clear view of how the company now operates.

If editors have any questions about this request, please feel free to reply and provide feedback. Thank you so much! Karen at McKissack (talk) 12:43, 15 August 2023 (UTC)Reply

  Partially implemented. 1: Done. 2: Removed all projects to better WP:SUMMARISE the article. 3: Said to have left architecture behind in this source 2018, more modern sources describe the company as a design and construction company 201820222022, so I updated the first sentence's language. Given the second sentence refers to a record set while being architectural company, it seems fitting to keep it there, despite any potential transition away. Will sooonish look at the Operations section. Pabsoluterince (talk) 17:30, 15 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
  Done. Pabsoluterince (talk) 00:01, 16 August 2023 (UTC)Reply
Thank you so much for evaluating the request and implementing the changes. I truly do appreciate your time and effort here. Karen at McKissack (talk) 22:16, 16 August 2023 (UTC)Reply

Adding logo to infobox

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Hello! I'm back to ask that the company's logo be added to the infobox. I pulled an image from our website and uploaded it as a fair use file: File:McKissack & McKissack logo 2023.png.

Thank you in advance to whoever handles this request. Karen at McKissack (talk) 13:10, 7 December 2023 (UTC)Reply

  Done Lewcm Talk to me! 15:42, 7 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
Thanks for the help, User:Lewcm! Karen at McKissack (talk) 19:06, 11 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
No problem :) Lewcm Talk to me! 19:07, 11 December 2023 (UTC)Reply
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Hi! I'm back on this talk page to ask for a link in the external links section to be removed. This link is the first one in the section: https://www.mckinc.com/

The reason for this removal is that it links to a separate company owned by Deryl McKissack, who is Cheryl McKissack's sister. The company has the same name but is not related to the company this article is about. This fact is established in the article. I won’t make the change myself due to my conflict of interest, so if an editor could come by and remove this link, that would be great. Thank you so much! Karen at McKissack (talk) 23:45, 25 March 2024 (UTC)Reply

  Done ARandomName123 (talk)Ping me! 01:22, 31 March 2024 (UTC)Reply
Thank you so much! 100.37.40.69 (talk) 20:41, 2 April 2024 (UTC)Reply
Thank you so much! Karen at McKissack (talk) 20:49, 2 April 2024 (UTC)Reply