Claude A. Barnett founded the Associated Negro Press (ANP) in March 1919 and remained its director through nearly half a century of enormous social change. The ANP was the largest and longest-lived news service to supply black newspapers in the United States with news of interest to black citizens, opinion columns, reviews of books, movies, and records, and occasionally poetry, cartoons, and photographs. The ANP provided its member newspapers with professionally written, detailed coverage of activities within black communities across the country and the latest news about national trends and events.
The Records, organized in three parts and composed mainly of documents housed in the Chicago Historical Society but supplemented by material from the Newberry Library, provide extraordinary documentation that scholars might use to help us understand further the significant history of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) and the men who built it into the first national union of black workers officially affiliated with the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and later with the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). The Records are, as well, a revealing source on the activities of the Ladies Auxiliary of the BSCP and its colorful president, Helena Wilson.
This collection, offers the core materials of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 1909 through 1970 held in the manuscript division of the Library of Congress.
· Papers of the NAACP, Part 01: Supplement, 1951-1955
· Papers of the NAACP, Part 01: Supplement, 1956-1960
· Papers of the NAACP, Part 01: Supplement, 1961-1965
· Papers of the NAACP, Part 01: Supplement, 1966-1970
Papers of the NAACP, Part 02: 1919-1939, Personal Correspondence of Selected NAACP Officials
This collection contains the "personal" correspondence of Secretary Walter White and several other prominent NAACP executives during the 1920s and 30s. More accurately described as professional and social correspondence, the material in this collection primarily focuses on activities not directly related to official NAACP business.
This collection provides an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the NAACP's efforts to fight school segregation. The documents in this collection are organized into three sections: Administrative File (three series), Legal File (five series), and Addendum File (five series). Material in the Administrative File deals with discrimination in education, discrimination in teachers' salaries, and other general educational issues. They also feature prominent figures including W. E. B. Du Bois, Charles H. Houston, James Weldon Johnson, Nathan Margold, Thurgood Marshall, Arthur B. Spingarn, Walter White, and Roy Wilkins. The Legal File folders show the NAACP educational campaign in action, including legal documents related to teachers' salary and university admission cases. The later NAACP documents in the Addendum File supplement the materials found in the previous sections. Documents in each of these series include correspondence, meeting minutes, news clippings, memoranda, reports, and legal briefs.
Papers of the NAACP, Part 04: Voting Rights Campaign, 1916-1950
The files included in Part 4 of the NAACP Papers series contain abundant correspondence between local leaders and the NAACP national office staff.
Papers of the NAACP, Part 05: Campaign against Residential Segregation, 1914-1955
Details the Association's efforts against residential segregation cover four major areas: 1) residential segregation ordinances, 2) racially restrictive covenants, 3) discriminatory aspects of federal housing programs, and 4) acts of violence and intimidation against black property owners and renters.
Part 9A of Papers of the NAACP includes all files on the United States military from the Subject File series of Group I of the NAACP collection (1909-1939), and from the General Office File series of Group II of the collection (1940-1955). The majority of the material derives from the World War II and postwar eras that are covered by Group II. However, there is a significant series of material from Group I, which covers a bit of World War I as well as the 1920s and 1930s. Each file included has been reproduced in its entirety.
This part of NAACP papers covers cases of employment discrimination, employment opportunities, and NAACP actions in the area of labor.
Papers of the NAACP, Part 14: Race Relations in the International Arena, 1940-1955
The files in Part 14 cover the development of NAACP foreign policy from 1940 through 1955.
The correspondence, reports, and minutes of committee meetings contained in these background files shed light on both the preparation for and the outcome of board meetings. Many of the most important issues that the NAACP confronted are discussed in these files, and many of the NAACP's most influential leaders are represented. The series is divided between a general chronological correspondence file and a series of committee files, which are arranged alphabetically by committee name. Although there are a few letters dating between 1915 and 1918 in the first file of the Correspondence series, the bulk of this body of material begins in 1919. With few exceptions, the Committee series covers only the 1930s.
Papers of the NAACP, Part 16: Supplement, Board of Directors File, 1966-1970
Papers of the NAACP, Part 16: Supplement. Board of Directors File, 1956-1965
Papers of the NAACP, Part 17: National Staff Files, 1940-1955
The National Staff files for the period between 1940 and 1955 document the inner workings of the NAACP national headquarters during a period of significant growth for the association. They shed light on the personal qualities of numerous NAACP leaders and provide further insights on issues that the NAACP confronted during the period.
Papers of the NAACP, Part 17: Supplement, National Staff Files, 1956-1965
Papers of the NAACP, Part 21: NAACP Relations with the Modern Civil Rights Movement
This collection features subject files documenting the role of the NAACP in the modern civil rights movement between 1956 and 1965. The collection contains files on leading organizations, individuals, and events of the modern civil rights era.
Series 1: Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford), Biographical Material, 1968-1995
American Civil Liberties Union Archives, 1917-1950
MC001 Seeley G. Mudd Library ACLU Finding aid
315 linear ft. (1886 bound volumes, 12 archival boxes on 288 reels of microfilm). Bound scrapbook volumes for the years 1912, 1917-1946, with an extensive subject card file index. Consists of the records of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), documenting its activities in protecting individual rights under the leadership of Roger Baldwin.
American Missionary Association Archives, Microfilm edition from the Amistad Research Center
Microfilm 05360 Printed guide (FilmB) Z7817.A45 261 reels
Microfilm of collection of manuscripts deposited in the Amistad Research Center, Fisk University, Nashville.
American Negro Historical Society Collection, 1790-1905
Microfilm 11981 Online guide (FilmB) E185.93.P41 A5 1998 12 reels
Reproduces a variety of materials that illustrate the black experience in the 19th and 20th centuries, chiefly in Philadelphia.
Archives of the Race Relations Department of the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries, 1942-1976
Microfilm 12000 Printed guide: none 58 reels
The collection is the complete records of the Race Relations Department, comprised of correspondence, research data, records of the self-surveys, news releases and newspaper clippings, photographs, and the records of the Institutes, which contain registers of participants, manuscript copies of lectures, reports of workshops and other records.
Black Academy of Arts and Letters Records, 1968-1980
Microfilm 11829 Online guide Printed guide: none 10 reels
Cultural organization founded in 1969 to recognize outstanding Blacks in the fields of arts and letters. Files of the Board of Directors containing correspondence, agendas, minutes, and records of three board committees. Administrative records including material on the founding of the Academy, nominations for awards, and records relating to daily operations, including correspondence, memoranda, financial papers, and mailing list. Annual meeting files which encompass planning and programming for annual meetings, 1970-1972, and related correspondence, programs, transcripts of meetings, and financial records.
Series I: Board of Directors files, 1969-1973
Series II: Administrative records, 1968-1980
Series III: Annual meetings, 1970-1972
COINTELPRO: the Counterintelligence Program of the FBI
Microfilm 05649 Printed guide: none 30 reels
Communist Party of the USA--Hoodwink (reels 1-17)--New left, Socialists Workers Party (reels 18-21)--Black nationalist hate groups(reels 22-25)--Special operations file, Espionage file (reel 26)--Nationalist groups (reel 27)--White hate groups (reels 28-30)
“FBI files on various groups such as: Communist Party, White hate groups, African American nationalist hate groups, nationalist groups and other organizations.”
Commission on Interracial Cooperation Papers, 1914-1944
Microfilm 05550 Printed guide (FilmB) E185.61.C655 55 reels
“The Commission on Interracial Cooperation (CIC) was formed in 1919 in response to these civil disturbances. The CIC was a moderate coalition of whites and blacks, who recognized that promoting nonviolent change within the archaic Southern societal structure would in the long run better serve the cause of racial harmony. Included in the collection is correspondence, minutes of CIC meetings, pamphlets and reports, and CIC educational material.” The CIC was to become the Southern Regional Council in 1944.
Communist infiltration of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and J. Edgar Hoover’s Official Confidential File on Martin Luther King, Jr.
Microfilm 05440 Printed guide: none 9 reels
Congress of Racial Equality, Papers, 1941-1967
Microfilm 04276 Printed guide: (FilmB) Z1361.N39M46 1980 49 reels
“Strategies, tactics and ideologies of CORE are documented in these papers. Internal records, reports, project files, correspondence, convention notes, newsletters and other information related to civil rights organizations are included.”
Congress of Racial Equality Papers: Addendum, 1944-1968.
Microfilm 04562 Printed guide; none 25 reels
“This collection offers materials recently released for micro-publication which were unavailable at the time of the 1980 program entitled The Papers of the Congress of Racial Equality, 1959-1976. The Addendum spans the years 1944-1968, with the largest portion of materials dealing with the 1961 to 1968 period when CORE adopted a more militant strategy in response to the Black Power movement. The collection was filmed from the holdings of the Library and Archives of The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia.”
Microfilm edition of the Detroit Urban League Papers, 1916-1950, at the University of Michigan
Microfilm 09607 Printed guide (FilmB) F574.D49 N454 35 reels
Freedmen’s Aid Society Records, 1866-1932
Microfilm 11661 Printed guide (FilmB) LC2703.F743 120 reels
Consists of the records of the Freedmen's Aid Society, which was established by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1866 to set up schools for African Americans in the South.
Series 1. Letterpress correspondence
Series 2. Receipt books
Series 3. Steward missionary foundation
Series 4. Educational institutions
Series 5. General correspondence
Series 6. Correspondence between staff members
Series 7. Correspondence of a personal nature
Series 8. Remaining documents
Series 9. Annual reports, 1866-1924
Series 10. Reports of board and committee meetings, 1866-1924.
Negro Labor Committee Record Group, 1925-1969
Microfilm 11589 Online guide Printed guide (FilmB) E184.6.G853 17 reels
Included in the manuscript collection are the personal files of Frank R. Crosswaith, founder and longtime chairman of the Negro Labor Committee.
New Deal Agencies and Black America in the 1930’s
Microfilm 05473 Online guide Printed guide (FilmB) E185.61.L47 25 reels
Materials found in this collection pertain primarily to the New Deal-black experience for the years between 1933 and 1940. Materials were drawn from the following agencies, Office of Education, National Youth Administration, Department of Interior, Civilian Conservation Corps, Department of Labor U.S. Employment Service, National Recovery Administration, Department of Commerce, and Works Progress Administration.
Papers of the Civil Rights Congress. Parts 1-5
Microfilm 11925 Printed guide (FilmB) E185.61.C59 1988 125 reels
Part I: Case files (40 microfilm reels)
Part II: Files of William L. Patterson and the National Office (42 microfilm reels)
Part III: Publications (19 microfilm reels)
Part IV: Communist Party USA files (16 microfilm reels)
Part V: Citizens Emergency Defense Conference files (8 microfilm reels).
Papers of the Congress of Racial Equality, 1941-1967
Microfilm 04276 Printed guide (FilmB) Z1361.N39 M46 1980
Papers of the Congress of Racial Equality: Addendum, 1944-1968
Microfilm 04562 Printed Guide (FilmB) E185.61.P36
Papers of the NAACP
Microfilm 05354 Online guides Printed guide (FilmB) Z1361.N39 G84 500+ reels
Papers of the National Negro Congress, 1933-1947
Microfilm 11689 Printed guide (FilmB) E185.61.N374 94 reels
Part I: Records and correspondence, 1933-1942
Part II: Records and correspondence, 1943-1947
Part III: Financial records, 1940-1947, and publications
Part IV: Negro Labor Victory Committee, 1942-1945
Papers of the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society
Microfilm 1083.706 reels 2-5 (reel 1 is missing; request through ILS)
Records of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, 1895-1992
Microfilm 09022 Printed guide (FilmB) E185.86.R426 41 reels
Part I: Minutes of national conventions, publications, and president's office correspondence. Online guide
Part II: President's Office Files, 1958-1968. Online guide
Records of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
Microfilm 11720 Printed guide (FilmB) HD6515.R362 B76 50 reels
Part I: Records of the BSCP, 1925-1969
Part II: Records of the Ladies Auxiliary of the BSCP, 1931-1968
Part III: Records of the BSCP relations with the Pullman Company, 1925-1968
Records of the National Negro Business League
Microfilm 10600 Printed guide (FilmB) HD2425.R426 14 reels
Part I: Annual conference proceedings and organizational records, 1900-1919
Part II: Correspondence and business records, 1900-1923
Records of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1954-1970
Microfilm 10096 Printed guide (FilmB) E185.61.S687 82 reels
Part I: Records of the President’s office (21 reels)
Part II: Records of the Executive Director and Treasurer (22 reels)
Part III: Records of the Public Relations Dept. (10 reels)
Part IV: Records of the Program Dept. (29 reels).
Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union Papers, 1934-1970
Microfilm 06126 Printed guide (FilmB) Z7164.T7 S56 60 reels
“A collection consisting of correspondence, reports, press releases, legal documents, pamphlets, and other materials. It documents the formation of the union and its activities to improve the lot of sharecroppers, tenant farmers, small landowners and migratory farm workers; its relations with government agencies, and other unions/organizations.”
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Papers, 1959-1972
Microfilm 04530 Printed guide (FilmB) E185.5.xS78 73 reels
“One of the most important civil rights groups in the late '50s and early '60s, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was also to become one of the most controversial in its later years. Formed by student activists nationwide in response to the burgeoning student sit-in movement in 1960, the SNCC adopted the Gandhian theories of nonviolent direct action, which had been formulated by CORE in the 1940s. The collection includes correspondence, project files, internal reports, and printed materials generated by the SNCC organization as it challenged racial barriers, faced internal crises, and sought a leadership role in the fight for desegregation, voter's rights, and black power.”
Universal Negro Improvement Association, Records of the Central Division, New York, 1918-1959
Microfilm 11989 Online guide Printed guide (FilmB) E185.86.U55 1988 6 reels
Collection also contains records related to organizations affiliated with the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) including Garvey Clubs, and the Pan-African Community League, among others.
Universal Negro Improvement Association Records, 1921-1986
Microfilm 11994 Online guide Printed guide (FilmB) E185.86.U48 A12 1994 16 reels
Correspondence, reports, conference proceedings, speeches, minute and ledger books, membership certificates, and much more relating to the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Founded by Marcus Garvey in 1914 as a philanthropic and fraternal ogranization to promote pan-Africanism, the UNIA developed into a radical political group that advocated repatriation to Africa, among other things. The major portion of this collection dates from the period 1940-1950.