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Creator
Oliver, Elizabeth Murphy
Call number
SCP 186268
Physical description
6.92 linear feet (17 boxes)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Elizabeth Murphy Oliver photographs, Photographs and Prints Division. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library
Repository
Photographs and Prints Division. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Elizabeth Murphy Oliver was a Black American journalist and author best known for her work with the Baltimore-based newspaper, The Afro-American. The Elizabeth Murphy Oliver photographs date from 1903 to 1997 and cover Oliver's career at The Afro-American, her children's book Black Mother Goose, and her time as commissioner of the Maryland Commission on Afro-American History and Culture. The collection is represented through prints, negatives, and contact sheets.

Biographical/historical information

Elizabeth Murphy Oliver was a Black American journalist known for her long career with the Baltimore-based newspaper The Afro-American. Oliver was born in Brazil, Indiana in 1914. Her father was a physician who was born enslaved, while on her mother's side, her grandfather John H. Murphy, Sr. founded The Afro-American in 1892; generations of the Murphy family would continue to run the newspaper into the 21st century. Oliver attended Fisk University, earning a bachelor's degree in Romance languages; she would later earn a master's degree in education from Indiana State University and a doctorate in journalism from Virginia Union University.

In 1941, Oliver joined the staff of The Afro-American. She would stay at the paper until her retirement in 1986, serving in various capacities as a reporter, librarian, city editor, and columnist. She continued to assist the paper as a consultant and sometimes writer through the early 1990s. During her forty-year career with the paper, Oliver covered various stories during the Civil Rights Movement. Oliver regularly covered stories about Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., including his assassination and funeral. In addition to her coverage of the Civil Rights Movement, Oliver covered a variety of local, state, national and foreign issues, including coverage of every Presidential administration from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan, a 1979 tour of the Middle East, and a 1947-1948 tour of the South Pacific.

Outside of her career as a journalist, Oliver served on the boards of a number of Baltimore organizations and civic groups, and in the 1980s served as the commissioner of the Maryland Commission on Afro-American History and Culture. Oliver is also known for compiling the children's book Black Mother Goose, first published in 1969 with illustrations by Aaron Sopher; a second edition with illustrations by Thomas A. Stockett was published in 1981.

Oliver died in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1999.

Scope and arrangement

The Elizabeth Murphy Oliver photographs date from 1907 to 1997 covering her professional career with The Afro-American, her children's book Black Mother Goose, and her civic career as commissioner of the Maryland Commission on Afro-American Culture and History. These files are represented through prints, negatives, and contact sheets.

Files are arranged alphabetically by subject and cover a range of topics relevant to stories covered and events attended by Oliver. In addition to files covering Oliver's professional and civic career, there are also personal photographs from throughout Oliver's life, and photographs documenting Oliver's family history. Arranged at the end are unidentified photographs.

Subjects of note include: Baltimore schools, churches, and public officials; Eubie Blake; Boxers such as Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Joe Louis, and Archie Moore; Jimmy Carter's 1976 Presidential campaign and his inauguration; the Congressional Black Caucus; Joan Crawford; Beauford Delaney; Paul Laurence Dunbar; Alex Haley; Fannie Lou Hamer; Hubert Humphrey; Jesse Jackson; the Kennedy family, including shots of Oliver with John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy; Martin Luther King, Jr., including shots from his funeral and various Martin Luther King Day celebrations; the 1963 and 1983 March on Washington; Oliver's 1979 tour of the Middle East; the Mitchell Family, including files on Clarence Mitchell Jr., Juanita Jackson Mitchell, and Parren J. Mitchell; Eleanor Roosevelt; William Donald Schaefer; Adlai Stevenson; the descendants of Harriet Tubman; Dinah Washington; and writing projects by Oliver including Black Mother Goose, Black Cinderella, and Sex and the Black Man.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

The collection was donated by Oliver's daughter, Marsha Rose Joyner, in 2002.

Processing information

Processed by Christopher Arena in 2023.

Separated material

Photographs transferred from the Elizabeth Murphy Oliver papers in Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books, Schomburg Center.

Using the collection

Location

Photographs and Prints Division. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Photographs and Prints Division Reading Room