InfoGuides: African and African American Studies: Archives, Museums & Digital Collections

Archives & Museums

African American History at Stuart A. Rose Archives
Robust primary resource materials covering six principle collecting areas--Civil Rights and Post-Civil Rights Movements, Black print Culture, Blacks and the Left, African American Literature and the Arts, Expatriate Literary and Cultural Figures, and African Americans and Sports. Located at Emory University in Atlanta, GA.
African American Museum & Library at Oakland
Holds primary and secondary materials which preserve the history of African Americans in Northern California and the Bay Area. Contains over 160 collections documenting prominent families, pioneers, churches, social and political organizations. Located in Oakland, CA.
Amistad Research Center
Collects, preserves, and provides access to original materials that reference the social and cultural importance of America's ethnic and racial history, the African Diaspora, human relations, and civil rights. Located at Tulane University.
Art | library
An online African American virtual art library, digital gallery, and repository. Provides a list of African American archives.
Atlanta University Center Archives
Includes the archives of Clark Atlanta University, Interdenominational Theological Center, Morehouse College and Spelman College. Also has many individual, familial, and organizational collections representing the breadth of African American experiences.
Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture
Holds nearly 4000 primary and secondary source materials which preserve the history and culture of African Americans in Charleston, the South Carolina Low Country, and South Carolina at large. Located at the College of Charleston.
Black Archives of Mid-America
Collects and preserves historical materials and artifacts related to the African American experience in the Midwest with an emphasis on Kansas City, MO region. Located in the historic 18th and Vine District in Kansas City, MO.
The Black Film Center/ Archive
Collects and preserves films and related materials which have substantial participation by African American writers, actors, producers, directors, musicians, and consultants as well as those which depict some aspect of the black experience. Located at Indiana University-Bloomington.
Fisk University Special Collections and Archives
Over 130 primary resource collections of African American scholars, poets, writers, artists, and businessmen including the complete Charles W. Chesnutt Papers. Located in Nashville, TN.
Henry Hampton Collection at the Film and Media Archive
Most notably known for his Eyes on the Prize documentary series chronicling the Civil Rights Movement. Henry Hampton's filmic legacy--over 58,000 items-- as well as organizational records for the historic Blackside Inc, production company are preserved here. Located at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
Hiphop Archive & Research Institute
The Hiphop Archive and Research Institute curates all forms of Hiphop material culture including recordings videos, websites, films, original papers, works, references, productions, conferences, meetings, interviews, publications, research, formal proceedings, etc.
Image of the Black Archive & Library at the Hutchins Center
Search the collection using ARTSTOR (https://library-artstor-org.mutex.gmu.edu/#/category/1034058605)
African American Imprints in Internet Archive
179 publications ranging from 1810-1921.

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The Internet Archive is a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form.
Moorland-Spingarn Research Center
One of the oldest African American archives in the country. Includes the Howard University Archive. Located in Washington, D.C.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
One of the world's leading research facilities devoted to the preservation of materials on the global African and African diasporan experiences. Contains over 11 million items in its non circulating collections. Located in New York City, NY.
Tuskegee University Archives Repository
Collection includes books (including faculty publications), manuscripts, Tuskegee University periodicals and newspapers, ephemera, photographic images, disc and tape recordings, and other archival items. Located in Tuskegee, AL.
Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection at Chicago Public Library
Largest African American history and literature collection in the Midwest with a strong focus on the black experience in Chicago. Contains photographs, manuscripts, rare books, and organizational records. Located in Chicago, IL.
The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers Project
A research project of the James S. Coleman African Studies Center at UCLA
King Library and Archives
The King Library and Archives is the largest repository of primary source materials on Dr. Martine Luther King, Jr. and the American Civil Rights Movement in the world.

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The collection consists of the papers of Dr. King and those of the organization he co-founded, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, as well as the records of 8 major civil rights organizations and of several individuals active in the Movement. The archives also include more than 200 oral history interviews with Dr. King’s teachers, friends, family and civil rights associates. Located in Atlanta, GA.
Paul Laurence Dunbar
A nearly complete, inscribed collection of Dunbar's works as well as resources.
Wishlist: Black Writers in the Public Domain in The Project Gutenberg Project
A brief comprehensive listing of African American Writers.
Rosa Parks Papers
The collection contains approximately 7,500 manuscript items as well as 2,500 photographs.

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Documents many aspects of Parks's private life and public activism on behalf of civil rights for African Americans.