CLIR Hidden Collections Grant

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 Sarah Quigley, Project Archivist, Southern Christian Leadership Conference records, MARBL

"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.

Fred Taylor was born in Prattville, Alabama in 1942.  He was raised by his grandparents, who moved to Montgomery, Alabama in 1953.  Two years later at the age of 13, under the direction of his pastor Ralph David Abernathy, Taylor became involved with the Civil Rights Movement handing out leaflets during the Montgomery Bus Boycott.  He graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Montgomery and went on to Alabama State University, finishing his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965.  In 1969, Taylor graduated from the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia with a Master of Divinity degree.

by Allison Hughes, Archival Assistant, Voter Education Project Collection, Atlanta University 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.

Wiley Austin Branton was a native of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Born in December of 1923, the World War II veteran attended Arkansas A.M. & N. College where he earned a degree in Business Administration. After graduating from Arkansas A.M. & N. College, he attended the University Of Arkansas School Of Law where he earned his Juris Doctor.

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 Sarah Quigley, Project Archivist, Southern Christian Leadership Conference records, Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, Emory 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.

Throughout its 53 year history, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference has applied the tactics of nonviolent direct action to draw attention to issues of social and economic justice and affect change.  By conducting sit-ins, protest marches and other acts of civil disobedience, the organization focused public scrutiny on such problems as segregation, voter disenfranchisement and economic inequality. 

By Cheryl Oestreicher, Project Archivist, Jean Childs Young Papers, Auburn Avenue Research Library

"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.

Jean Childs Young devoted much of her professional career to education. With both a bachelor’s and master’s in education, Young taught at Atlanta’s Whiteford and Slaton Elementary Schools in the 1960s. She served as coordinator of elementary and pre-school curriculum for Atlanta Public Schools (APS), in particular the Central City Program started in 1969. Focused on improving standards and staff development for teachers working at inner city schools, the CCP’s objectives included updating curriculum for all subjects, improving reading skills, and emphasizing students' successes not failures.

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.