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The printed collections at the Amistad Research Center encompass over 20,000 books, 30,000 pamphlets, and over 2,000 periodical titles which provide access to both primary and secondary sources in the areas of the abolitionist movement, the history of the American Missionary Association and the United Church of Christ, race relations and the Civil Rights Movement, and various aspects of racial and ethnic history in the United States. The Center's acquisitions are governed by its collection development policy
See the Research Page for information on locating and accessing Amistad's library holdings.
Holdings
Books and Pamphlets
The Center’s collections are especially strong in government and organizational reports on civil rights legislation, housing and education discrimination, and other legal issues. Amistad also holds numerous works on the topic of African American art, which complement the Center’s manuscript and art holdings. In addition to significant holdings in the area of African American literature, Amistad holds works from the personal libraries of authors Countee Cullen, Chester Himes, and Tom Dent. Of significance to the Amistad Case, the Center’s collections include Lewis Tappan’s bound volume of contemporary pamphlets on the legal proceedings.
Periodicals
The Center’s periodical holdings include newspapers, scholarly journals, literary magazines, organizational newsletters, and general magazines, such as The Crisis and Jet, with a focus on ethnic minority issues. Amistad also holds a number of newspapers and other periodicals published throughout the continent of Africa, as well as by various African and Africanist organizations and committees in Europe.
African American School Newspapers Collection
The African American School Newspapers Collection contains 160 titles from 121 African American elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, community colleges, universities, and professional schools - almost exclusively from Southern institutions. The bulk of this collection is from the 1930s and 1940s, and together the collection chronicles African American campus life, educational developments, and more widely, American social history at this crossroads in American history - through the Great Depression and into World War II. Titles from this collection can be searched in the online catalog by searching the keyword phrase "African American School Newspapers Collection".
Janette Faulkner Ethnic Notions Collection
Beginning in the 1950s while still in college, Janette Faulkner began collecting African Americana materials that portrayed racial stereotypes or caricatures. Over the next forty years, she would amass one of the largest collection of such material, which included everything from advertisements to cookie jars to children’s toys to sheet music. Her collection was cited by museums, scholars, fellow collectors, and the media as providing a haunting look into how African Americans have been viewed through the lens of American popular culture. Ms. Faulkner passed away in June 2008. Prior to her death, she had worked to disperse her collection, and Amistad was fortunate to acquire over 500 titles of sheet music from her Ethnic Notions Collection in early 2009. This collection, dating from the 1860s to the 1960s, is a valuable research tool on the topic of 19th and 20th century race relations. An inventory of the collection is available for consultation at Amistad, and the collection will be fully cataloged in the near future.
For more information regarding the Center's library resources, please contact the Reference Desk via email at reference @ amistadresearchcenter.org or by calling 504-862-3222.
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