Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 76
5.13 linear feet (15 boxes)
The Miscellaneous American Letters and Papers (MALP), spanning from 1740-2006, document the personal and professional lives of people of African descent.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 383
.8 linear feet (2 archival boxes)
The Grenada Plantation Records consist of manuscript documents from the Lataste Estate, a sugar plantation in Grenada, West Indies, dating from 1737-1845. The documents are in French, reflecting the fact that colonial control of Grenada changed...
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The Grenada Plantation Records consist of manuscript documents from the Lataste Estate, a sugar plantation in Grenada, West Indies, dating from 1737-1845. The documents are in French, reflecting the fact that colonial control of Grenada changed hands several times during the time period of this collection. Included are deeds of sale, account records for running the plantation, inventories, survey reports about the property, total amount of rum and molasses produced, and detailed account books of profits and expenses, as well as letters and copies of letters, powers of attorney, a 1756 marriage contract, and a hand drawn folio map. Most of the letters were written by John Harvey and include correspondence regarding other properties, e.g. Estate of Rochambard and estates adjoining Lataste - Brienner and Chantilly. Inventories of slaves (last dated 1834, when slavery was outlawed) include information about illness, cause of death, first names, ages, and sometimes country of origin, color and conspicuous marks (such as amputations) and scars.
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Schomburg, Arthur Alfonso, 1874-1938
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc Micro R-2798
.75 linear feet (17 boxes, 12 microfilm reels)
Papers reflecting Schomburg's endeavors as a writer and researcher, and collector and curator of books and manuscripts documenting black history and culture. Personal and professional papers, including correspondence and writings, and writings of...
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Papers reflecting Schomburg's endeavors as a writer and researcher, and collector and curator of books and manuscripts documenting black history and culture. Personal and professional papers, including correspondence and writings, and writings of others. Includes material relating to Schomburg's position as curator of the Schomburg Collection at the 135th St. branch of the New York Public Library, and to black literature, art, and history. Correspondents include John E. Bruce, Henrietta Buckmaster, W.E.B. Du Bois, Nicolás Guillén, W.C. Handy, Langston Hughes, Charles S. Johnson, James W. Johnson, Claude McKay, J.A. Rogers, Albert A. Smith, Sténio Vincent (President of Haiti), Walter White, and Carter G. Woodson. Other papers include programs, news clippings, invitations, announcements, and minutes of a variety of organizations, such as the New York Urban League, New York Public Library, Young Men's Christian Association, and several black cultural and educational groups. Also, transcriptions of eighteenth and nineteenth century historical documents pertaining to black history and culture.
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Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 418
0.54 linear feet (2 boxes, 2 boxes)
The Miscellaneous Afro-Latin American collection consists of a mix of official, private, and family papers from colonial Spanish American territories: Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The documents are all from...
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The Miscellaneous Afro-Latin American collection consists of a mix of official, private, and family papers from colonial Spanish American territories: Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The documents are all from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, except for a chronology of the history of blacks in Uruguay from 1680-1990.
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Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 119
0.96 linear feet (3 boxes)
The collection consists of individual items and small groups of Haitian documents mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries. It includes miscellaneous correspondence of Etienne Polvérel and Félicité Sonthonax, members of the Civil...
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The collection consists of individual items and small groups of Haitian documents mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries. It includes miscellaneous correspondence of Etienne Polvérel and Félicité Sonthonax, members of the Civil Commission sent by the French government to the Windward Islands "to restore order and tranquillity" in 1793, and of various Haitian heads of state, among them Nissage Saget (1874), Lysius Félicité Salomon (1883) and Tirésias Simon Sam (1897). Also included are a 1778 inventory listing the names, age, trades and physical condition of 149 slaves on the Beaugé Plantation in the former French colony of Saint-Domingue; a 1785 manumission certificate for Jeanne Aline, a sixteen year-old slave girl; miscellaneous French colonial administration documents ranging from 1791 to 1803; two letters from Henri Christophe to Tobias Lear, U.S. Consul to Saint-Domingue in 1802, and to Corneille Brelle, a French priest appointed Grand Almoner and Archbishop of Haiti in 1811; 1830s Masonic certificates from the Grande Loge d'Haiti; and a group of six autograph letters with attachments from the Haitian surrealist poet Clément Magloire-Saint-Aude (1968-1970). Diplomatic correspondence includes 35 letters from the Haitian Legation in Paris to the Haitian Ministry of Foreign Relations, 1911-1914, relating to the purchase of 10,000 guns and 500,000 rounds of ammunition in France, and to a 36-hour British ultimatum to the Haitian government. Also a group of letters from the Haitian Legation in Ciudad Trujillo (Santo Domingo) that give a sense of the general situation between the two countries prior to the October 1937 massacre of 10,000 Haitians in the Dominican Republic.
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Kobler, John, 1910-
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 140
Photocopies of material collected by Kobler in the early 1960s for an unfinished biography of Toussaint Louverture. Documents focus on the socio-economic conditions of the French colony of Saint Domingue and the political activities of Touissaint...
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Photocopies of material collected by Kobler in the early 1960s for an unfinished biography of Toussaint Louverture. Documents focus on the socio-economic conditions of the French colony of Saint Domingue and the political activities of Touissaint as Governor of the colony between 1791 and 1802. Photocopies in the collection as well as a few postcards and illustration show various historic sites and clothing of late 18th century France and Saint Domingue. Collection provides general background information on the lives of blacks in Saint Domingue, and material on the history and diplomatic relations between Haiti and the United States, including papers referring to Touissaint, Jean Jacques Dessalines, Charles Leclerc, Pauline Leclerc, and Donatien Rochambeau. Material includes information about the history of Saint Domingue from 1791 to 1804, descriptions of the Haitian war of independence, narrative describing the captivity and death of Touissaint in France, correspondence between Touissaint and the French agent Philippe Roume, and correspondence between Charles Leclerc and Rochambeau.
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Schomburg, Arthur Alfonso, 1874-1938
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc Micro R-1520
0.06 linear feet (1 box, 1 microfilm reel)
A collection of bills of sale, deeds, passes, certificates of registry, manumission papers, wills, and speeches. Also, letters relating to slavery-related court cases, including the
Amistad slave ship revolt. Also includes letters by...
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A collection of bills of sale, deeds, passes, certificates of registry, manumission papers, wills, and speeches. Also, letters relating to slavery-related court cases, including the
Amistad slave ship revolt. Also includes letters by prominent abolitionists William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, and William Lloyd Garrison with their views and comments on the abolition movement.
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Fisher, Kurt A., 1908-
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc Micro R-2228
0.63 linear feet (10 reels, 1 oversize folder)
Kurt Fisher was an archaeologist and authority on Haitian history and culture whose life-long interest in collecting included these source materials relating to Haiti. The bulk of this collection consists of the archives of the General...
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Kurt Fisher was an archaeologist and authority on Haitian history and culture whose life-long interest in collecting included these source materials relating to Haiti. The bulk of this collection consists of the archives of the General Prosecutor's office for the city of Jérémie.
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Moutoussamy-Ashe, Jeanne, 1951-
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 343
2.29 linear feet (7 boxes)
Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe is a photographer, author, and lecturer. This collection comprises Moutoussamy-Ashe's work in developing Viewfinders, a historiographic photoessay project for publication.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 186
0.67 linear feet (3 boxes)
This collection consists of documents related to various African countries during the 19th century, and to the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Selassie, Wolde
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
1 scroll : col. ill ; 180 x 11 cm
This talisman was prepared as a healing prayer for a man called Wolde Selassie against demons and the evil eye that cause disease. Prayers are made to St. Mary, St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, and the apostles. The name of an Ethiopian...
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This talisman was prepared as a healing prayer for a man called Wolde Selassie against demons and the evil eye that cause disease. Prayers are made to St. Mary, St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, and the apostles. The name of an Ethiopian saint Bishop Petros is also invoked. The prayer begins "In the name of the Father, the Son, Holy Spirit, One God." It ends with a prayer "In the name of Jesus Christ to protect and heal your servant Wolde Selassi...".
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Buckley, Gail Lumet, 1937-
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 327
2.04 linear feet (4 boxes)
This collection consists of original documents and correspondence related to the Horne family, assembled by Gail Lumet Buckley during the research and writing of her book
The Hornes: An American Family (New York: Alfred...
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This collection consists of original documents and correspondence related to the Horne family, assembled by Gail Lumet Buckley during the research and writing of her book
The Hornes: An American Family (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986). Included are articles, programs, awards, memorabilia, business correspondence and papers, financial data, and other printed material pertaining to the careers of singer Lena Horne; her uncle, Frank S. Horne, a member of the Roosevelt "Black cabinet" and poet; and other members of the extended family.
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Bey, Allan Ahmed
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 827
0.67 linear feet (2 boxes)
Moorish Science Temple of America, is an U.S. religious movement founded in Newark, N.J., in 1913 by Timothy Drew (1886–1929), known to followers as Noble Drew Ali and also as the Prophet. Drew Ali taught that all Blacks were of Moorish...
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Moorish Science Temple of America, is an U.S. religious movement founded in Newark, N.J., in 1913 by Timothy Drew (1886–1929), known to followers as Noble Drew Ali and also as the Prophet. Drew Ali taught that all Blacks were of Moorish origins but had their Muslim identity taken away from them through slavery and racial segregation. He advocated that they should "return" to the Islam of their Moorish forefathers, redeeming themselves from racial oppression by reclaiming their historical spiritual heritage. He also encouraged use of the term "Moor" rather than "Black" in self-identification. Many of the group's formal practices were derived from Muslim observances. This collection consists of materials collected by Allen Ahmed Bey for his research on the Moorish Science Temple in the United States. Included in the collection are legal briefs on the status of Moorish Nation Nationals (citizens) which contain a public declaration of national constitutional immunity. Also included are a number of documents on the history of the Moorish Nation and instructional manuals (lessons) for members.
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Schomburg, Arthur Alfonso, 1874-1938
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc Micro R-1527
.96 linear feet (1 microfilm reel, 3 boxes)
The manuscripts in this collection are mostly governmental and military documents, primarily relating to Haiti and Guadaloupe, and some to other West Indian islands.
Harris, M. A., 1908-1977
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 34
19.58 linear feet (93 boxes)
The Middleton "Spike" Harris newspaper collection consists of newspapers from various U. S. states, the majority from the East Coast and from the 19th century. There are also some newspapers from London, England. Included are multiple...
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The Middleton "Spike" Harris newspaper collection consists of newspapers from various U. S. states, the majority from the East Coast and from the 19th century. There are also some newspapers from London, England. Included are multiple publications per state, most with various issues.
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Bissainthe, Max
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 858
1.0 linear feet (1 box)
Max Bissainthe, born December 11, 1911, was an historian and archivist of Haitian literature. Bissainthe served as Haiti's Director of Libraries during the 1940s and early 1950s. In 1951, he published the
Dictionnaire de...
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Max Bissainthe, born December 11, 1911, was an historian and archivist of Haitian literature. Bissainthe served as Haiti's Director of Libraries during the 1940s and early 1950s. In 1951, he published the
Dictionnaire de bibliographie Haitienne, the first bibliography of Haitian literature. Four years later, Bissainthe was forced out of his position, and subsequently out of Haiti, by Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. He immigrated to the United States in 1965. He died in Bellerose, New York, in April 1978. The Max Bissainthe research collection consists of indices of the names of Haitian and Dominican Republic journalists and authors, articles, and book titles used to create the
Dictionnaire de bibliographie Haitienne. The collection also includes an alphabetical index of titles, subjects, and materials, and a partial bibliographic subject list ranging from the 1800s to the 1950s.
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Weltegirima
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 676
1.0 linear feet (1 box)
Written in Geez, the scroll was probably prepared for Weltegirima (Wolette Grima) by a "debteras" (Geez for non-ordained scribe) as a healing prayer against demons and disease. Illuminated manuscript scroll on vellum done with tempura and ink....
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Written in Geez, the scroll was probably prepared for Weltegirima (Wolette Grima) by a "debteras" (Geez for non-ordained scribe) as a healing prayer against demons and disease. Illuminated manuscript scroll on vellum done with tempura and ink. Full figure portrait of St. Michael holding a sword in his right hand, and the sheath in his left hand. The scroll is comprised of three strips of parchment sewn together. Prayers are made to St. Michael, St. Uriel, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, and other angels. The prayer begins with an encantation written in red, "In the name of the Father, the Son, Holy Spirit One God. The Archangel Michael told Moses ..." The Archangel Michael is asked to rescue Grima from the evil doers as he saved Moses from Pharaoh's magicians. This is followed by a series of instructions to banish the "aganen" or evil spirits. A list of diseases or maladies from which protection is sought is also given. There are five symbols below the portrait of St. Michael which may be secret chants known by the scribe to summon benevolent spirits. On the reverse side of the scroll, a list of holy personages is given, including the 24 priests of Heaven, the 318 bishops (Council of Nicea), 150 bishops at Ephesus, 12 disclipes, etc.
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Winslow, Henry, 1903-1989
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 879
1.87 linear feet (5 boxes)
This collection consists of personal and professional material related to both William Henry and Sadie Winslow. The material contains biograpical papers, such as resumes, personal correspondence, and obituaries; professional correspondence;...
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This collection consists of personal and professional material related to both William Henry and Sadie Winslow. The material contains biograpical papers, such as resumes, personal correspondence, and obituaries; professional correspondence; documents, including printed matter and research material, related to the couple's involvement in various community and political affiliations; and in the case of Henry Winslow, some writing. The bulk of the collection relates to the couple's community affiliations.
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Harris, M. A., 1908-1977
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 34
0.46 linear feet (2 boxes)
The Middleton "Spike" Harris slavery and abolition collection consists of individual documents pertaining to slavery and abolition in the United States. Included are legal documents, indentures, manumission papers, bills of sale, agreements to...
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The Middleton "Spike" Harris slavery and abolition collection consists of individual documents pertaining to slavery and abolition in the United States. Included are legal documents, indentures, manumission papers, bills of sale, agreements to hire slaves, other business records, deeds, letters, and indentures referencing specific slaves and their masters and detailing the situations for which the documents were produced. The states in which these documents were issued are Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia. There are also letters from the following abolitionists: Granville Sharp, Gerrit Smith, Charles Sumner, and Francis Jackson.
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Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 230
0.33 linear feet (2 boxes)
This collection consists of historic documents pertaining to slavery in Brazil including a royal Portuguese decree regarding punishment of slaves using forbidden weapons, 1756; ten laws dealing with various aspects of slavery, mainly in Brazil...
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This collection consists of historic documents pertaining to slavery in Brazil including a royal Portuguese decree regarding punishment of slaves using forbidden weapons, 1756; ten laws dealing with various aspects of slavery, mainly in Brazil and Angola, 1751-1773; instructions to the captain of a Portugese schooner regarding slave traffic, 1845; account book of a Brazilian official with list of slaves, their provenance, and cost, 1813; a royal Portuguese decree regarding the slave trade, 1807; Brazilian bills of sale for slaves, 1813; a manuscript of an officer moving to Portugal, 1813; and a printed decree regulating the forced draft of slaves into the Armed Forces, 1813.
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Porter, Kenneth Wiggins, 1905-1981
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 222
49.4 linear feet (67 boxes)
A professor of history, Kenneth W. Porter conducted research on African-American frontiersmen and cowboys, Black Seminoles, and American folklore and folk history. This collection consists primarily of his manuscripts and research materials...
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A professor of history, Kenneth W. Porter conducted research on African-American frontiersmen and cowboys, Black Seminoles, and American folklore and folk history. This collection consists primarily of his manuscripts and research materials pertaining to African-American and Native American studies. Porter's interests in socialism, poetry and literature, folklore, and general American and European history are also documented. Aspects of his personal life are represented in the papers as well.
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Winks, Robin W.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc Micro R-5857
8.25 linear feet (12 reels, 18 boxes)
Robin W. Winks, a professor of history at Yale University, wrote
The Blacks in Canada: A History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971). This collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, and research materials...
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Robin W. Winks, a professor of history at Yale University, wrote
The Blacks in Canada: A History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971). This collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, and research materials related to the book, and other articles concerning the history of Blacks in Canada.
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First African Baptist Church (Savannah, Ga.)
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
The records of the First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia are divided into nine series: Church Minutes; Financial Records; Membership Records; Deeds, Leases and Legal Papers; Minutes of Boards and Associations; Sunday School Records;...
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The records of the First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia are divided into nine series: Church Minutes; Financial Records; Membership Records; Deeds, Leases and Legal Papers; Minutes of Boards and Associations; Sunday School Records; Baptist Young Peoples Records; Workers Council Records; and Church Histories, Printed Matter and Miscellaneous.
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Jackson, Jesse
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 896
0.21 linear feet (1 box)
Jesse J. Jackson (1908-1983), the collector of these documents, acquired them over ten years while serving as a writer-in-residence at Appalachian State University. Jackson was born in Columbus, Ohio, and attended Ohio State University. He wrote 8...
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Jesse J. Jackson (1908-1983), the collector of these documents, acquired them over ten years while serving as a writer-in-residence at Appalachian State University. Jackson was born in Columbus, Ohio, and attended Ohio State University. He wrote 8 books for children, and often wrote for magazines, journals, and local newspapers. Jesse J. Jackson Slavery and Civil War documents collection consists of approximately 90 individual documents relating to Southern slavery and the Civil War. The majority of the documents are manuscript bills of sale and deeds of gift for enslaved persons, issued in North Carolina, 1800-1858. Each document generally gives the enslaved person's name, sex, approximate age, and occasionally other information such as occupation, prices, and names of seller and buyer. Other information provided includes mention that the enslaved person being sold is "at large" and an affidavit accusing a dealer of selling a man's runaway despite the fact that the owner had asked the dealer to hold the runaway until he could be retrieved.
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Damas, Léon-Gontran, 1912-1978
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 302
26.46 linear feet (29 boxes)
This collection consists of personal papers, professional and literary correspondence, office files, research notes, and printed matter documenting the professional and literary activities of Léon-Gontran Damas, an author, lecturer, and...
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This collection consists of personal papers, professional and literary correspondence, office files, research notes, and printed matter documenting the professional and literary activities of Léon-Gontran Damas, an author, lecturer, and acting-chairman of the department of African Studies and Research Program at Howard University (1975-1976).
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Fisher, Kurt A., 1908-
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 683
2.04 linear feet (4 boxes)
This collection contains additional Haitian historical documents from the collector Kurt Fisher, an archaeologist and scholar of Haitian history and culture.
Harris, M. A., 1908-1977
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 34
19.04 linear feet (43 boxes)
Middleton Alexander "Spike" Harris (1908-1977) was an author, historian, collector, and dealer of African Americana. In addition, he was the founder of the Negro History Associates (NHA), an organization which collected and disseminated...
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Middleton Alexander "Spike" Harris (1908-1977) was an author, historian, collector, and dealer of African Americana. In addition, he was the founder of the Negro History Associates (NHA), an organization which collected and disseminated information about African Americans. His papers primarily consist of research files created by Harris and the NHA.
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Clarke, John Henrik, 1915-1998
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 572
52 linear feet (49 boxes)
Consisting mainly of correspondence, lecture notes, course outlines, writings, research material, organizational records and printed matter, the John Henrik Clarke papers are a unique archive for the study and interpretation of African and...
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Consisting mainly of correspondence, lecture notes, course outlines, writings, research material, organizational records and printed matter, the John Henrik Clarke papers are a unique archive for the study and interpretation of African and African-American history during the second half of the 20th century. As a sergeant-major in a segregated unit in Kelly Field, Texas, during World War II, Clarke helped train African-American enlisted men for mess and other maintenance duties. The collection partially records the lives of these men, changes in their personal and military status, and disciplinary procedures against them.
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