Amistad Research Center

By Laura Thomson, Director of Processing, Amistad Research Center

"Working for Freedom: Documenting Civil Rights Organizations" is a collaborative project between Emory University's Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, and The Robert W. Woodruff Library of Atlanta University Center to uncover and make available previously hidden collections documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta and New Orleans. The project is administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Each organization regularly contributes blog posts about their progress.

Carmel Carrington Marr, former legal advisor to the United States Mission to the United Nations (UN), attorney, community activist, and energy consultant. Marr worked extensively in public service through her membership on many boards and committees including the Brooklyn Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the Billie Holiday Theatre for the Performing Arts, New York State School for Girls at Hudson, New York, and various boards and committees related to energy, as well as political, professional, and women’s organizations.

By Amber L. Moore, Project Archivist, Amistad Research Center

"Working for Freedom: Documenting Civil Rights Organizations" is a collaborative project between Emory University's Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, and The Robert W. Woodruff Library of Atlanta University Center to uncover and make available previously hidden collections documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta and New Orleans. The project is administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Each organization regularly contributes blog posts about their progress.

The Amistad Research Center files of the Warren Q. Marr, II papers document Marr's ongoing involvement with the Center. Marr, in conjunction with the Center's first director, Clifton Johnson launched the Amistad Research Foundation Fund campaign (1968) to obtain a new building and endowment.  Correspondence, publicity information and minutes regarding the Amistad Research Foundation Development Fund are contained in this collection.  Of particular note is a 1970 memo written by Marr titled, “Amistad Research Center Publicity and Promotion Campaign,” which details a plan of action for promotion.

Here is an excerpt from the memo:

To prevent the comparative massiveness and singularity of Amistad Research Center from diminution and perhaps even eclipse, it is necessary to take immediate and broad action to promote and publicize the Center. 

By Amber L. Moore, Project Archivist, Amistad Research Center

 "Working for Freedom: Documenting Civil Rights Organizations" is a collaborative project between Emory University's Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, and The Robert W. Woodruff Library of Atlanta University Center to uncover and make available previously hidden collections documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta and New Orleans. The project is administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Each organization regularly contributes blog posts about their progress.

The Family History papers of the Marr-McGee Family papers contain both original and secondary materials documenting the genealogy of the African American and Caucasian branches of the Marr family of Virginia and New England, as well as, the McGee family. Warren Marr II, the unofficial family historian, thoroughly researched his paternal and maternal familial lines in attempts to shed light on his diverse background.  Marr's great-great grandparents were John Quincy Marr, the first Confederate casualty of the Civil War and Eliza Nickens, his Cherokee mistress. 

By Beryl Hunter, Graduate Student Intern, Amistad Research Center

"Working for Freedom: Documenting Civil Rights Organizations" is a collaborative project between Emory University's Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, and The Robert W. Woodruff Library of Atlanta University Center to uncover and make available previously hidden collections documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta and New Orleans. The project is administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Each organization regularly contributes blog posts about their progress.

My name is Beryl and I’m a graduate student in Museum Studies at Southern University at New Orleans.  For the past few months, I have been interning in the processing department at the Amistad Research Center.  The initial reaction when entering the reading room is one of respect as historical facts surround you. Every person in the Center from the director to the permanent employees, interns and volunteers, plays a vital part in the Center. I have found working in an environment focused on cultural preservation and learning the archival method to be of value.  I am currently processing the Jason Berry papers (1966-1987), which are an important contribution to researchers of the civil rights movement. The Berry papers document the development of a writing career during a period when the landscape of American society was rapidly changing.

By Amber L. Moore, Project Archivist, Amistad Research Center

"Working for Freedom: Documenting Civil Rights Organizations" is a collaborative project between Emory University's Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, and The Robert W. Woodruff Library of Atlanta University Center to uncover and make available previously hidden collections documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta and New Orleans. The project is administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Each organization regularly contributes blog posts about their progress.

Grace Elizabeth Marr Nugent, the first African American nurse to hold the positions of instructor at Teachers College, Columbia, and senior supervisor of nursing education in the New York State Department of Education, was the younger sister of Warren Q. Marr II. 

By Amber L. Moore, Project Archivist, Amistad Research Center

"Working for Freedom: Documenting Civil Rights Organizations" is a collaborative project between Emory University's Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, and The Robert W. Woodruff Library of Atlanta University Center to uncover and make available previously hidden collections documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta and New Orleans. The project is administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Each organization regularly contributes blog posts about their progress.

Processing an individual’s personal papers can bring to light interesting, and often little known, aspects about that person’s life and work.  Recent work on the Marr-McGee Family Papers has revealed a file of materials related to the now infamous Peoples Temple, the organization founded by Jim Jones in the 1950s and the center of a mass-suicide in Guyana, South America, in 1978.  The documents and photographs provide a look at how the Temple viewed itself and was viewed by others as supporting civil rights.

By Laura J. Thomson, Director of Processing

"Working for Freedom: Documenting Civil Rights Organizations" is a collaborative project between Emory University's Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, The Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, and The Robert W. Woodruff Library of Atlanta University Center to uncover and make available previously hidden collections documenting the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta and New Orleans. The project is administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Each organization regularly contributes blog posts about their progress.

Last month’s blog entry for the Amistad Research Center highlighted the collection of oral history interviews with Andrew Young in the Tom Dent Papers. The final processing of the entire audiovisual holdings in the Dent Papers and the posting of this information in the ">online finding aid has just been completed and the reality of the breath and scope of Dent’s pursuit of documenting the modern Civil Rights Movement has now been revealed. Thanks to the grant that Amistad received from the Council on Library and Information Resources, the Center’s creation of its online finding aid database is allowing the Center to reveal its rich, yet previously hidden holdings, on the Civil Rights Movement.