Dr. James Egert Allen, First President of New York Branch NAACP

By Amber L. Moore, Project Archivist, Amistad Research Center, Tulane University Dr. James Egert Allen (1896-1980), educator, community advocate, civil rights activist, and author, was an active promoter of African American studies in New York.  He was the first president of the New York Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People…

“To Preach the Gospel to the Poor”

By Sarah Quigley, Project Archivist, Southern Christian Leadership Conference records Ralph David Abernathy assumed the presidency of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1968 following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Roughly one year later, twelve members of Local 1199B of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union in Charleston, South Carolina were…

Salman Rushdie Papers Finding Aid Now Available Online

In anticipation of the opening of the Salman Rushdie papers on February 26, 2010, MARBL is pleased to announce that the finding aid is now available to the public. The papers document Rushdie's entire professional career, beginning with the publication of his first novel in 1975 through his most recent writings, and demonstrate the wide…

Lucille Clifton papers fully processed and available for research

The Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library (MARBL) is pleased to announce that the papers of Lucille Clifton, African American poet and children's book author, are fully processed and open to the public. Spanning the years 1930 to 2009, the collection documents Clifton's career as a poet, children's book author, and teacher, her participation in…

The Voter Education Project

By Courtney Chartier, Project Archivist, Voter Education Project Collection The Voter Education Project (VEP) was formed in 1962 as a program of the Southern Regional Council (SRC). It was the brainchild of then U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who wanted to establish a government funded voter registration program that would eliminate the need for…

Unique early Georgia book

It’s always interesting to discover that you’re holding the only known surviving copy of a particular book and I came across one of these the other day. It was a book of Christian morals and theology for children called “Simple rhymes and familiar conversations, for children. By Uncle Charles.” It was published in Penfield, Georgia…

Alice Walker and Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn , an historian, civil rights activist, professor, and author of A People's History of the United States, passed away last week. One of his most beloved students was Alice Walker, whose papers are held by the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University. Walker met Zinn at a Spelman College honors…

Andrew Young, the Minister

Fifty-five years ago, Andrew Jackson Young, Jr. was ordained as a minister at the Central Congregational Church in New Orleans. The eldest of two brothers, Young was expected to follow his father’s footsteps and become a dentist. After graduating from Howard University in 1951 (age 19), he struggled to figure out his path in life….

Finding “Treasures” Through Technology

By Laura J. Thomson, Director of Processing, Amistad Research Center It is a new era of access for the Amistad Research Center thanks to the Center’s recent implementation of innovative archival collection management software. Archon, a collection management system for archives and manuscripts collections developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has assisted in…

Borromini’s Opera

We recently acquired a beautiful new piece for our growing art history collection relating to Rome. It's Francesco Borromini's Opera del Caval. Francesco Boromino: cavata da suoi originale cio è la chiesa e fabrica della Sapienza di Roma con le vedute in prospettiva & con lo studio della proporzni geometriche, piante, alzate, profili e spaccati,…

Unique Andrei Codrescu book

One of the more curious items to come to light during the unpacking of the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library was a volume of poems in Italian called L’alito eterna by the obscure Italian poet Renata Pescanti Botta. What made this book so intriguing was that the margins and empty space in the first half were…

Rare Lennon book

Cataloging the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library has revealed some surprising treasures. One of the less obvious ones was a book by John Lennon that sat uncataloged on a shelf for a number of years because it didn't look that special. Turns out that it was. The book is a slim volume titled “Power to the…