Scope and arrangement
The Middleton A. "Spike" Harris papers consist of original documents, newspapers, and periodicals; books and pamphlets; programs and broadsides; and research files covering his many years of research in black history, as well as the records of the Negro History Associates. Although a substantial part of the material documents black contributions to the American Revolution, the scope of the collection spans over two centuries of American history. In addition there is genealogical research and some personal papers. The collection is arranged in the following series: Family history, Correspondence, Personal papers, Negro History Associates, and Printed material.
The Middleton "Spike" Harris papers are arranged in five series:
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1775-1972
The Family history series contains research files, copies of documents (such as manumission documents, property deeds, and records of land sales from 1775 and 1819-1834), and speeches and manuscripts by Harris detailing his family's story from the colonial era through the twentieth century. The series also contains his correspondence with libraries and individuals regarding his research.
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1950-1977
The Correspondence series contains correspondence with genealogists, authors, historians, and librarians with whom Harris discussed black history, historical personalities, places, and events. There is also correspondence with publishers, particularly Random House, which published The Black Book (1975), a resource book of documents and images edited by Harris, Morris Levitt, and Roger Furman. Among Harris's correspondents are the bibliographer James de T. Abajian; founder of the Amistad Research Center, Clifton Johnson; author and historian Dorothy Sterling; and his editor at Random House, Toni Morrison, who also wrote the foreword to The Black Book.
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1932-1977
The Personal papers contain material related to Harris's position with the New York State Division of Parole, certificates, awards, clippings, and resumes. Other personal papers can be found in the Correspondence series (see correspondence with Douglas McQueen, his stepson).
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1959-1975
The Negro History Associates is the largest series and it is organized into three subseries: Correspondence; the Great American Series, and Research files. The Great American Series refers to the umbrella organization under which Harris produced several exhibitions, slide narratives, accompanying guides, and manuals as well as A Negro History Tour of Manhattan (1969), Uncle Spike: The Negro History Detective (1967), The Story of Lewis Latimer (1964), and The Doctor Is a Lady (1967).
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1802-1971
The final series, Printed material, consists of publications, possibly used as research tools by Harris; an index card file of newspapers and books; and bibliographic references compiled by Harris and the NHA for their research. The index cards are primarily arranged by subject.