Amistad Research Center

By Christopher Harter, Director of Library and Reference Services, 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 Andrew Young Oral History Collection, found within the papers of New Orleans writer and oral historian Tom Dent at the Amistad Research Center, encompasses 50 individual interviews conducted from 1980 to 1985 as part of Dent’s work on the autobiography of his childhood friend, Andrew Young.  As early as 1979, Dent was working on the autobiography, though he wasn’t officially hired as a consultant until 1981-1982, and he continued to work on the book until 1986. Dent traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, to conduct a series of interviews with Young before beginning to research Young’s early days in New Orleans and civil rights era history for the draft of the book, with the working title “An Easy Burden.”

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 Warren Marr Management files and the House of Marr, Inc. files of the Marr-McGee Family Papers document the early entrepreneurial endeavors of Warren Q. Marr II.  Both companies were established by Marr and represented his interests in the creative arts and printing.

By Christopher Harter, Director of Library and Reference Services, 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.

Around the same time that the Amistad Research Center was awarded a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) in 2008 to assist the Center in identifying and cataloging “hidden” archival collections, the Center was also seeking to increase the use of undergraduate and graduate students in helping to process and preserve its collections. These two initiatives have worked hand in hand to greatly assist the Center in increasing access to its collections and give young scholars experience working in an archival setting.

By Shannon Burrell, Senior Processing Assistant, 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.

Lloyd Davis (1928-2007) was a proponent of equal opportunities, a civil rights activist, and a fair housing advocate. Davis served as the first vice president and chief operating officer of the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, and was a longtime senior adviser for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

By Nika B. Carter, Graduate Assistant, CLIR Hidden Collections Grant, Amistad Research Center at Tulane University

"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 Nika and I’m a graduate student in Museum Studies at Southern University at New Orleans. For the past nine months, I have worked as a graduate assistant at the Amistad Research Center in the processing department.  When I first started here, I spent most of my time writing biographical notes and inputting data into Archon, the searchable archival database.  I found it to be interesting because I would get the chance to research a historical figure or organization.

The Directors and staff of the Amistad Research Center are saddened to announce the death of Warren Q. Marr, II.  Mr. Marr passed away on Tuesday, April 20, 2010, after devoting a significant portion of his life to preserving the legacy of the Amistad Event. He was instrumental in the founding of the Amistad Research Center, helped found Amistad Affiliates and the creation of a replica of the schooner La Amistad, and was a member of numerous other organizations, including the NAACP.
 

By Courtney Chartier, Project Archivist, Voter Education Project Collection

On March 29-30 the Council on Library and Information Resources held a Hidden Collections Program Symposium in Washington, DC. Representatives from all of the institutions involved in the “Working for Freedom” project attended.