Library Blog

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 fired by Medical College Hospital after trying to organize a union in the hospital.  Following the dismissal, over 60 other employees walked out and began a strike that lasted through the summer.  Strike leadership soon contacted the SCLC to enlist the organization’s support.  Over the next several months, Abernathy, along with other civil rights leaders, conducted nonviolence training workshops for demonstrators, spoke in churches and led rallies in protest of the firings

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 range of his literary endeavors, as novelist, essayist, travel writer, political commentator, defender of free speech, and literary critic.

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 literary organizations and the development of her personal and professional relationships.

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 public protests by civil rights organizations. Kennedy went so far as to ask several of the leading civil rights groups to cease protest activities for a short time; while the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) agreed to this, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) did not.

Episode 13: Extreme Library Website Makeover is now available for download on Emory's iTunes U!

This episode highlights the important new features of the redesigned library web site.

Check it out!

The Centre of South Asian Studies at the University of Cambridge, UK, is digitizing its archive of oral history and other sound collections, and they are now appearing online with free access.  Hat tip to the South Asia and Archive Group blog which posted the following review of the CSAS collection:

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 by Benjamin Brantly in 1844. "Uncle Charles" is supposedly a Baptist clergyman called Charles D. Mallary.