Research Catalog

Title

Schomburg Center photograph collection.

Author

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, compiler.

Supplementary Content

Finding aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

6.25 linear feet (25 boxes)

Subjects

• African American librarians
• Libraries and community
• Archives
• African Americans and libraries
• United States
• New York (State) > New York
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
• New York Public Library
• Hutson, Jean Blackwell, 1914-1998
• Dodson, Howard
• Schomburg, Arthur Alfonso, 1874-1938
• African American librarians > New York (State) > New York
• Libraries and community > New York (State) > New York
• Archives > New York (State) > New York
• African Americans and libraries > New York (State) > New York
• Willis, Deborah

Note

• The Schomburg Center photograph collection documents the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture from its beginnings in 1925 to the early 2000s, through depictions of events, exhibitions, and notable individuals. The bulk of the collection documents events from the 1970s to 2001, with a particularly large quantity of material produced in the 1980s. The collection consists primarily of photographic prints and contact sheets. Photographers, of whom most who are credited were contracted by the Center or NYPL, include Morgan and Marvin Smith, James Van Der Zee, Cecil Layne, Chuck Stewart, Chester Higgins, Jr., Kwame Brathwaite, and Hakim Mutlaq, among others. Additional images in the collection were created by staff and/or nonprofessional photographers, some of whom are not credited.
• Series I documents the interiors and exteriors of the buildings that have housed the Division of Negro Literature, History, and Prints, and later the Schomburg Collection and Center. These include the Carnegie-funded library building on 135th Street, also known as the Landmark Building; the site of the Countee Cullen Library on 136th Street; and the Schomburg Center complex built in 1979 and expanded in 1991. The Landmark Building photographs include works by James Van Der Zee. The series also documents the construction of the new building for the Center in 1979, as well as the 1991 rehabilitation and expansion of the Center and Countee Cullen Library.
• Series II documents staff, including candid and posed portraits of librarians, library assistants, pages, security, and facilities employees at work, and at various events. Staff members depicted include Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, Lawrence D. Reddick, Catherine Latimer, Ernestine Rose, Jean Blackwell Hutson, Wendell Wray, Howard Dodson, and Deborah Willis, among others.
• Series III documents patrons, volunteers, and visitors, as well as the Schomburg Corporation - a nonprofit supporting the Center - and includes documentation of a 1977 rally to "Save the Schomburg."
• Series IV includes documentation of public events, including exhibitions, panels, book talks, award ceremonies, and community events, including Founder's Day. All events were held at the Center unless otherwise noted. The series illustrates a wide variety of artists, writers, scholars, political figures, and other personalities who participated in Schomburg Center events. Individuals depicted in the third and fourth series include: Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka, Romare Bearden, Harry Belafonte, Selma Burke, Octavia Butler, Kathleen Cleaver, Jayne Cortez, Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Samuel R. Delany, Ralph Ellison, Laurence Fishburne, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Danny Glover, Dick Gregory, bell hooks, Langston Hughes, Jesse Jackson, Coretta Scott King, Spike Lee, Haki R. Madhubuti, Hugh Masekela, Toni Morrison, Michelle Obama, Gordon Parks, Sidney Poitier, Max Roach, Sonia Sanchez, Bobby Seale, Henry Threadgill, Desmond Tutu, McCoy Tyner, and Cornel West.
• Series V includes limited documentation of the Center's collections, including work done as part of a National Endowment for the Humanities preservation grant; a notable collection acquisition; and other miscellaneous photographs.

Terms of Use (note)

• Material is under copyright; permission of the copyright holder for each item is required for duplication.

Call Number

Sc Photo Schomburg Center Collection

OCLC

1428269677

Author

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, compiler.

Title

Schomburg Center photograph collection.

Type of Content

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

sheet

Terms Of Use

Material is under copyright; permission of the copyright holder for each item is required for duplication.

Finding Aids

Finding aid available at NYPL Archives Portal (https://archives.nypl.org/). Requests for collection can be made from Portal.

Connect to:

Finding aid

Research Call Number

Sc Photo Schomburg Center Collection