AFPLS Sponsored
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| CLIR Grants $900,000 to Unearth "Hidden" Civil Rights Collections at Southern Archives |
CLIR Grants $900,000 to Unearth “Hidden” Civil Rights Collections at Southern Archives Atlanta and News Orleans Archives to Process More than a Dozen Collections
The CLIR (Council on Library and Information Resources) Cataloging Hidden and Special Collections Program recently awarded $900,000 to support “Working for Freedom: Documenting Civil Rights Organizations,” a collaborative project designed to bring to public notice more than a dozen “hidden” manuscript collections housed in Atlanta and New Orleans archives.
Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the grant will support the inventorying, cataloging and opening for research of civil rights-oriented collections at the Emory University Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (Atlanta); the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History (Atlanta); the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University (New Orleans, LA) and the Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center (Atlanta). Emory and Auburn Avenue received a joint award of $400,000, while the Woodruff Library and Amistad Research Center were awarded $250,000 each to complete the following projects:
The Emory University Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL) and Auburn Avenue Research Library (a special library of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System) will process materials relating to key civil rights organizations, leaders and activities in Atlanta, the Southeast and the nation between 1930 and 2000. The selected collections contain the records of two influential organizations – the Atlanta Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) [at Auburn Avenue] and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) [at MARBL] – as well as the personal papers of Andrew Young [at Auburn Avenue]. In addition, some of the most transformational moments and movements of the civil rights era, including the Citizenship Schools, voter education, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the fight against Jim Crow laws and desegregation are chronicled.
The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University will process and catalog nine collections documenting Civil Rights era organizational history. Emphasis will be given to unearthing branch and local chapter records hidden within the personal papers of participants or officers for civil rights groups, including the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), NAACP, National Association of Human Rights Workers, SCLC, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Urban League. Personal collections to be processed include: the James Egert Allen Papers, Lloyd Davis Papers, Arnold DeMille Papers, John Wesley Dobbs Family Papers, Rose Carver Fishman Papers, James H. Hargett Papers, Ronnie M. Moore Papers, Marr/McGee Family Papers and the A.P. Tureaud Papers Addendum.
The Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center will process, catalog and provide access to the Voter Education Project (VEP) Collection (1972-1992) documenting efforts to increase voter education and electoral participation of minorities. Founded in 1962 as a special program of the Southern Regional Council (SRC), the Atlanta-based Voter Education Project, Inc., sought to increase political participation of Blacks in the South and to develop a more informed electorate. VEP worked with other civil rights organizations, including SNCC, CORE, SCLC, NAACP and the National Urban League. Early VEP leaders included nationally known civil rights attorney Wiley A. Branton, Dekalb County CEO Vernon Jordan and U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-5).
To better inform the projects, the four institutions have developed an informal collaborative. The group will share interesting aspects of their individual arrangement and description processes, and consult on the various archival
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CLIR Hidden Collections Grant – pg. 2
software and professional standards implemented. It is hoped that by using similar methodology, the cataloged entries created by the four entities can be contributed to regional, national and international library holdings databases.
About the Institutions
The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University was established in 1966 as a division of the Race Relations Department at Fisk University. By 1969, the Amistad Research Center, now incorporated as an independent, non-profit institution, had become the official repository for the archives of the American Missionary Association, an inter-racial organization that founded hundreds of abolitionist and anti-caste churches and schools among African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, Appalachian Whites and Asian Americans. The Center has been housed on the campus of Tulane University since 1987. Amistad’s holdings include the papers of artists, educators, authors, business leaders, clergy, lawyers, factory workers, farmers, and musicians. The Amistad holds more than 15 million documents, 250,000 photographs, 20,000 books, 2,000 periodicals and 1,000 original works of art and artifacts dating from the 18th century to the present. Visit: www.amistadresearchcenter.org for more information.
Located in downtown Atlanta, the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, is a special library of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System (AFPLS) and is the first of its kind in the Southeast offering specialized reference and archival collections. AFPLS is the largest public library system in the state of Georgia, with 34 libraries and a collection of more than 2.5 million items. The system offers innovative programs, services and virtual resources tailored to meet the needs of each branch's community. Children, teens and adults may choose from a variety of classes, visit exhibitions, listen to authors discuss their work, check out videos, DVDs and CDs, attend book club discussions, get homework help, hear music and see live performances. Last year patrons borrowed more than 3.3 million items from, made 3.7 million visits to and asked 1.7 million reference questions at AFPLS libraries.
The Emory University Libraries (http://web.library.emory.edu/) in Atlanta and Oxford, Ga., are an intellectual commons for Emory University, Atlanta and the world. The nine libraries’ holdings include more than 3.1 million print and electronic volumes, 40,000-plus electronic journals, and internationally renowned special collections. Emory University (http://www.emory.edu) is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate experience, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. Perennially ranked as one of the country’s top 20 national universities by U.S. News & World Report, Emory encompasses nine academic divisions as well as the Carlos Museum, The Carter Center, the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, Georgia’s largest and most comprehensive health care system.
The Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center (AUC) is an independent entity organized and operated for the exclusive benefit of its member institutions—Clark Atlanta University, the Interdenominational Theological Center, Morehouse College and Spelman College. With a combined enrollment of nearly 10,000 students, these colleges and university represent the world’s largest consortium of historically black institutions of higher learning. The Woodruff Library Archives & Special Collections, most noted for its extensive materials documenting the African American experience and the rich history of the AUC schools, includes more than 7,000 linear feet of archival holdings. For more information, please visit http://www.auctr.edu/collections/archives-collections.asp.
For more information, contact:
Amistad Research Center Auburn Avenue Emory MARBL Woodruff Library
Laura Thomson Kelly Robinson Elaine Justice Adrian Carver
Email:
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Email: kelly.robinson Email: elaine.justice Email:
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Phone: 504-314-2137 @fultoncountyga.gov @emory.edu Phone: 404-978-2114 Phone: 404-730-1865 Phone: 404-727-0643
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