Skip to Main Content

African American Studies: Primary Sources

Digital collections of personal papers

Bayard Rustin Papers  There are four separate series of material: (1) Alphabetical Subject File; (2) Chronological Subject File; (3) Articles, Essays, Symposia Remarks, and Speeches; and (4) General Correspondence File.

Fannie Lou Hamer: Papers of a Civil Rights Activitist, Political Activitist, and Woman  Fannie Lou Hamer was an voting rights activist and civil rights leader. She was instrumental in organizing Mississippi Freedom Summer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and later became the Vice-Chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, attending the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in that capacity. Her plain-spoken manner and fervent belief in the Biblical righteousness of her cause gained her a reputation as an electrifying speaker and constant activist of civil rights. 

Mary McLeod Bethune Papers: The Bethune Foundation Collection, Part 1: Writings, Diaries, Scrapbooks, Biographical Materials, and Files on the National Youth Administration and Women's Organizations, 1918-1955  Part 1 comprises biographical material, writings and speeches, diaries, scrapbooks, and files that were left largely intact on the National Youth Administration (NYA), the National Association of Colored Women, and the National Council of Negro Women. Researchers will want to consult the companion parts for related materials.

Mary McLeod Bethune Papers: The Bethune Foundation Collection, Part 2: Correspondence Files, 1914-1955   

Mary McLeod Bethune Papers: The Bethune Foundation Collection, Part 3: Subject Files, 1939-1955  Part 3: The Subject Files, 1939-1955, of the Bethune Foundation Collection features the Bethune in relation to a wide variety of subjects from the height of her career until death. The subjects include invitations to speak, newspaper clippings, testimonial birthday celebrations, personal and family concerns, and matters pertaining to Daytona Beach and the state of Florida. 

Mary McLeod Bethune Papers: The Bethune Foundation Collection, Part 4: Administration of Bethune-Cookman College and the Mary McLeod Bethune Foundation, 1915-1955  The records in Part 4 focus on the daily administration of Bethune-Cookman College, particularly the financial pressures and fundraising challenges faced by the college. The establishment of the Mary McLeod Bethune Foundation is also a major focus of Part 4.

Mary McLeod Bethune Papers: The Bethune-Cookman College Collection, 1922-1955  This collection contains the administrative records of Mary McLeod Bethune as president of Bethune-Cookman College.  The bulk of the collection begins in the early 1930s, although there are substantial materials from the 1920s.

Papers of A. Philip Randolph  Consists of the following series: Family Papers, 1942- 1963; General Correspondence, 1925-1978; Subject Files, 1909-1978; Speeches and Writings File, 1941-1978; Biographical File, 1945-1979; and Miscellany, 1920-1978.

Personal papers on microfilm

Printed guides to accompany microfilm sets are located in Microform Services on A-floor in Firestone Library.


A. Philip Randolph Papers

RECAP Microfilm 11722           Printed guide (Film B) E185.97.R27 

Alexander Crummell Collection

RECAP Microfilm 11828           Printed guide na 

Alexander Pierre Tureaud Papers (1901-1972)

RECAP Microfilm 12003           Printed guide (FilmB) F375.T88A4 2001    58 reels 

Arthur A. Schomburg Papers (1874-1938)

Microfilm 06953           Printed guide (FilmB) E184.6.S365      

Arthur B. Spingarn Papers

RECAP Microfilm 11888           Guide contents list located on Reel 1        58 reels 

Bayard Rustin Papers 

RECAP Microfilm 11662           Printed guide (Film B) E185.97.R93 B392    23 reels 

Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1915-1950, Papers

RECAP Microfilm 11590           Printed guide (FilmB) E175.5.W65A3          34 reels 

Charlotte Eugenia Hawkins Brown Papers (1883-1961)

RECAP Microfilm11986            Printed guide (FilmB) LA2317.B598 A3 1999             4 reels 

Claude A. Barnett Papers

RECAP Microfilm 02648           Printed guide (FilmB) PN4841.A73 M44   

Countee Cullin Papers (1921-1969)

RECAP Microfilm 11820           Printed guide (FilmB) Z8204.55.xB6           7 reels 

Daniel Alexander Payne Murray Papers

Microfilm 09021           Printed guide (FilmB) Z1361.N39W76              27 reels 

Fannie Lou Hamer Papers, 1966-1978

RECAP Microfilm 11839           Printed guide: none             17 reels 

Frederick Douglass Papers (1817-1895)

RECAP Microfilm 1083.309      Printed guide: none              20 reels 

George A. Myers Papers (1859-1930)

RECAP Microfilm 09177           Printed guide (FilmB) E748.M93       8 reels 

Horace Mann Bond Papers, Parts 1-4

RECAP Microfilm 11591           Printed guide (FilmB) E185.97.B65A3        98 reels 

John and Lugenia Burns Hope Papers

Microfilm 05653           Printed guide (FilmB) Z6616.H67H67 

Lugenia Burns Hope and John Hope Papers

RECAP Microfilm 05653           Printed guide (FilmB) Z6616.H67H67          21 reels 

Mary Church Terrell Papers

RECAP Microfilm 11885           Finding aid                34 reels 

Mary McLeod Bethune Papers: The Bethune-Cookman College Collection, 1922-1955

RECAP Microfilm 10234           Printed guide (FilmB) E185.97.B34 A3         13 reels 

Paul L. Dunbar Papers (1872-1906)

Microfilm 09609           Printed guide (FilmB) PS1557.P385            9 reels 

Paul Robeson Collection

Microfilm 06952           Printed guide (FilmB) E185.97.R63A35             9 reels 

Robert H. Terrell Papers

Microfilm 11868           Guide contents listed at the beginning of reel 1 

W.E.B. Du Bois Papers (1868-1963)

RECAP Microfilm 04494           Printed guide (FilmB) Z6616.D8 M35     89 reels 

W.E.B. Du Bois Papers at Fisk University

Microfilm 11721           Printed guide: none 

William H. Hastie Papers.  Part 2. Civil Rights, Organizational, and Private Activities

RECAP Microfilm 11824           Printed guide (FilmB) KF373.H38A25         42 reels