African-American Collections Related to Religious History in the Special Collections Department, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia

Compiled by:

Randall K. Burkett
Curator of African-American Collections
Special Collections Department
Robert W. Woodruff Library
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322-2870
Email: rburket@emory.edu

Black Print Culture

Bailey-Thurman Papers. Papers of Isaac and Susie Bailey, Baptist religious leaders in Arkansas, colporteurs for the American Baptists, with print ephemera from Arkansas, books from their lending library, and the printed constitution of a late-19th century literary society they organized. Also, extensive correspondence between Susie Bailey and her daughter Sue Bailey Thurman. Collection includes many photographs of Howard and Sue Bailey Thurman. Finding aid available.

Alexander Crummell Pamphlet Collection. (Founder, American Negro Academy, Episcopal priest d. 1895.) Approximately 20 black-published items from his personal library. Bibliographic records are available on EUCLID (Emory on-line catalog).

Papers of the Civil Rights and Post-Civil Rights Movements

Joan C. Browning Papers. (Civil Rights Activist.) Two boxes of papers documenting the work of this "white, rural, Georgia-born anti-racist," including original documents from the 1961 Albany, Georgia, Freedom Ride and correspondence with fellow civil rights movement participants. Finding aid available.

Constance W. Curry Papers. (Civil Rights activist, b. 1951.) Five boxes of materials documenting her work in the National Student Association, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the American Friends Service Committee. Printed materials of the Council of Federated Organizations and other civil rights groups. Finding aid available.

David Garrow Papers. Research files gathered by Professor Garrow in preparation for his Pulitzer Prize-winning study, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1955-1968 (1969). Includes extensive subject files, FBI papers received through the Freedom of Information Act; correspondence, interviews, and books, articles, and reviews by and about Garrow. Collection also includes material on his abortion rights research project. Container list only.

Malcolm X Papers. Correspondence, printed matter, photographs, and material objects relating to Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, 1925-1965) from 1941-1955. The correspondence includes letters written by Malcolm to family and friends, from his early teens through his years in prison and while he was working closely with Elijah Muhammad. Collection on long-term loan. Finding aid available.

The Arts

William L. Dawson Papers. Born in Anniston, Alabama, in 1899, Dawson graduated from Tuskegee Institute in 1921 and studied music in Topeka, Chicago, and Kansas City. In 1931 he returned to Tuskegee to found and direct their School of Music, a position he held for 25 years. Under his direction, the Tuskegee Choir achieved national and international fame. The collection includes original music scores for his Negro Folk Symphony (premiered by Leopold Stokowski in 1934) along with scores for many of his other composition and arrangements of Negro spirituals. The collection includes correspondence and photographs of other African-American composers, writers, and artists; a large record collection (including many recordings by local church choirs, high school, and college choral groups); and numerous books from his personal library. Accessioned only.

Robert Paris Edwards Scrapbook. This personal scrapbook of Robert P. E. Edwards (composer, choirmaster, poet, and singer) covers the period 1906-1936 and focuses on his years as choirmaster in Toronto, where he also edited a newspaper; and on Buffalo, where he was president of the local chapter of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Accessioned only.

Phillis Wheatley Poetry. Two eighteenth-century copybooks from Boston, ca. 1754-1773. The larger of the two copybooks includes a previously unpublished variant of Wheatley's poem, "A Hymn to Humanity, first published in her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773). The poem, dated December 12, 1773, contains significant textual changes and identifies for the first time the person to whom it was dedicated. Finding aid available.

Religion, Education, Fraternal, and Business Collections

Viola Perryman Andrews Papers. (Writer, columnist, and religious educator, b. 1912.) Writings, correspondence, photographs, religious material, and scrapbooks concerning her own life work, as well as information on her ten children. Extensive family correspondence. Finding aid available. [See also, papers of Benny Andrews and Raymond Andrews.]

Mamie Wade Avant Papers. A collection of objects, books, pamphlets, fortune telling cards, crystal ball, Eastern Star material, plus hand-written cures and recipes for solutions to physical and emotional problems utilizing herbs, prayers, and rituals. Mamie Wade Avant was based in Savannah, GA. Accessioned only.

Booker T. Brooks Masonic Collection. Membership lists, financial records, minutes, business correspondence, ephemera related to northern California Masonic organizations, 1931-1980. Includes considerable black print ephemera. Accessioned only.

G. Murray Branch Oral History Collection. Sixty-three reel-to-reel tapes documenting his work as pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, and programs he organized while a faculty member at Morehouse College. These include the Pastor's School and the C. D. Hubert Lectures. Finding aid available, archival copies not yet acquired.

Frank P. and Helen Chisholm Papers. Extensive collection documenting the work of Frank P. Chisholm (1879-1974), northern field representative for Tuskegee Institute, as manager of the Tuskegee Jubilee Singers, and as agent for the United Negro College Fund. His wife, Helen Chisholm (1876-1971) taught in Hawaii and at the Penn School, St. Helena Island. Correspondents include Marian Anderson, Mary McCloud Bethune, Allan Rohan Crite, Langston Hughes, Georgia Douglas Johnson, J. Rosemond Johnson, William L. Patterson, and Ann Petry (niece to Helen Chisholm). Also, printed material, correspondence, photographs, writings, and ephemera. Finding aid available.

Josephus Roosevelt Coan Papers. Coan (b. 1902) is an AME minister, educator, and missionary to South Africa (1938-1947). Diaries, notebooks, correspondence with South African religious leaders, print material from the AME Church in South Africa and Georgia, photographs, and a number of rare books, including some from the library of the late AME Bishop William A. Fountain. Accessioned only. [Processing has begun.]

Althea Brown Edmiston Papers. The personal archive of this African-American missionary to the Congo. Collection includes books, hymnals, the (first) dictionary of the Bakuba language (written by Ms. Edmiston), Presbyterian conference materials, biblical texts, missionary newspapers and Sunday school material printed in Africa. Also books by and about her husband, Alonzo L. Edmiston, as well as some of his manuscript sermon notes. In addition, there are materials related to African-American schools in Alabama. Accessioned only.

Father Divine Papers. Born George Baker (1879-1965), Father Divine was an early-20th century religious communitarian whose interracial Peace Mission Movement flourished during the depression and beyond, providing employment, food, and housing to thousands. The sixteen boxes of material include correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, notebook sermons, and extensive print material and ephemera by and about the movement. Accessioned only.

Hanley-Bell Funeral Home. Founded by Jesse Howard Hanley in 1917, this became Atlanta's leading African-American funeral home. The collection includes ledger books documenting date and cause of death, place of residence, occupation, and surviving relatives for as many as 1,500 individuals per year. There are church programs, ambulance records, check record books, and hand-written obituaries provided by friends and relatives of the deceased. Includes extensive information on Hilman Hanley and Gladys Willingham, who took over the business on the death of Mr. Hanley in 1948. Accessioned only.

Frank Reid Family Papers. Correspondence, business papers, and memorabilia of a family in Conroe, Texas. The collection includes letters, printed documents, insurance certificates, bills of sale, business records, court papers, root and hair samples. Mr. Reid's 1870 loyalty oath to the United States and his first registration to vote in 1871 are included, along with other legal documents. Of special interest is a slim ledger book with personal notations on physical and mental cures, with prescriptions for ritual behaviors at specified times and appropriate repetitious prayers, each related to specific biblical psalms. Cures entail baths, oral concoctions, and herbal pouches. Accessioned only.

Vincent Harding Papers. Materials cover the years 1961-1974, while this theologian, historian, and activist was active with Mennonite House, Spelman College, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Documentation Project, and the Institute of the Black World, of which he was founder. Correspondence and print materials, including a number of black-published periodicals. Accessioned only; collection should be available by December 2002.

Arwilda G. Robinson Papers. A.M.E. Zion missionary to Liberia, 1934-37. Papers include correspondence, clippings, and photographs, along with printed material and ephemera. Accessioned only.