Special Collections, University of Delaware Library
Newark, Delaware 19717-5267
(302) 831-2229

Among the print sources are representative literary works of significant African American authors, including Phillis Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subjects, Frances E. W. Harper’s Iola Leroy, Paul Laurence Dunbar’s Lyrics of a Lowly Life, W. E. B. DuBois’s The Souls of Black Folk, Alice Dunbar Nelson’s Violets and Other Tales, Langston Hughes’s The Weary Blues, Nella Larsen’s Quicksand, Sterling Brown’s Southern Roads, Gwendolyn Brooks’s Annie Allen, Ishmael Reed’s The Freelance Pallbearers, and Toni Morrison’s Beloved.

The Visual Material Collection provides a small sample of African Americana in the form of ephemera pasted in scrapbooks. Greeting cards, trade cards, and other images found in these volumes depict stereotypical racial caricatures made popular during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Among other visual ephemera is a playbill from an 1865 minstrel show. The Postcard Collection includes an image of Delaware's notorious Red Hannah, the whipping post, at which an African American is being punished.

The Delaware Oral History Collection, which was created from interviews conducted between 1966 and 1978, was a project of the History Department at the University of Delaware . The collection features a number of interviews with African Americans from Delaware. Interviews with ordinary citizens such as Mary A. Watson Elliott, a former University of Delaware custodian, to prominent Delawarean Pauline Young, the niece of famed writer Alice-Dunbar Nelson (former wife of poet Paul Laurence Dunbar) are among these holdings.

The Manuscript and Archival Collection contains rare historical documents pertaining to African Americans, including slave bills of sale, plantation inventory lists, manumission papers, and wills which contain information concerning slaves. Copies of the Emancipation Proclamation and The Thirteenth Amendment can be located in the Lincoln Collection. In addition, researchers interested in contemporary issues of civil rights, black nationalism, integration, and racial justice, will find an abundance of material in The American Propaganda Collection, The Chris Oakley Collection of Alterative Press, The Delaware Desegregation Archives, and The Sir Joseph Gold Political and Miscellaneous Ephemera Collection. Moreover, the manuscript and archival collection contains the literary papers of writers Charles Johnson, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, and Ishmael Reed.

This research guide is not intended to be a complete finding aid to the collections. It serves as an introduction and preliminary research tool, providing a brief description of holdings with basic information on size, inclusive dates, types of records, and a brief description of the materials. Complete finding aids are available in print and electronic format. Web links to available electronic finding aids are provided with this guide. This research guide will be updated periodically.

- Arica Coleman
- Special Collections Intern, Summer 2003

Broader historical sources related to African Americans in the United States include slave narratives and numerous nineteenth-century texts related to slavery and antislavery movements.

Special Collections holdings include works by African American literary authors from the colonial period to contemporary times, with a concentration on the period of the Harlem Renaissance. Special Collections holds substantial works by authors Amiri Baraka, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Clarence Majors, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, and Ishmael Reed. Among the print sources are numerous folios including a collection of poetry broadsides published by Broadside Press, which was founded by Dudley Randall in Detroit in the 1960s. The broadsides feature the works of renowned poets Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Margaret Walker, Robert Hayden, and Dudley Randall.

The Library's online catalog, DELCAT, is best used with Microsoft Internet Explorer. For topical searches of print sources related to African Americans in DELCAT, use Basic Search or Browse Search. Though the subject heading established by the Library of Congress is "African Americans," it is important to experiment with keyword searches for historical terms or phrases such as "Negroes," "Blacks," or "colored," or other associated phrases such as "race relations," "civil rights," or "Methodist Episcopal." For additional assistance consult a Special Collections librarian or consult the Library's Research Guide to African American History.

To restrict searches to primary sources found in Special Collections,

1. select SEARCH BY LIBRARY COLLECTION
   
2. select SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

1. select BASIC SEARCH OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
2. select KEYSWORD(s) ANYWHERE

"African Americans and Delaware"
"African Americans and education"
"African Americans and newspapers"
"Negroes"
"Moors"

1. select BROWSE
2. select SUBJECT BEGINS WITH ...

"African American Methodists"
"African Americans—Delaware"
"African Americans—Delaware—education"
"African Americans—Delaware—newspapers"

Other relevant subject searches using Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):

"Abolitionists"
"African American soldiers"
"African American women—Biography"
"African Americans—Biography"
"African Americans—Civil rights"
"African Americans—Social conditions"
"Antislavery movements"
"Black Panther Party"
"Black power"
"Freedmen"
"Racially mixed people"
"Reconstruction"
"Segregation in education"
"Slave insurrections"
"Slave trade"
"Slaveholders"
"Slavery in the United States"
"Slavery in the United States—Condition of slaves"
"Slaves—Emancipation—United States"
"Slaves—United States—Biography"
"Underground railroad"
"United States. Colored troops"

Scrapbook No. 2, (1 item)
Depiction of smiling southern African Americans in work clothes.

Scrapbook No. 4, (12 items)
Depiction of an African American’s woman’s life Monday - Sunday; advertisements for domestic products; head of African American protruding from fruit.

Scrapbook No. 8, (1 item)
Half of a Valentine’s Day card depicting an African American in the process of cooking with the caption "Dis is fo’ muh Valentine."

Scrapbook No. 10, (2 items)
Christmas card with African American caricature on front; New Years card depicting an African American dressed as a jockey riding a bike.

Scrapbook No. 11, (1 item)
Depiction of Ira Aldridge as Aaron in the Shakespearean play Titus Andronicus.

Scrapbook No. 17, (2 items)
Depiction of African American female holding a fan; Minstrel show playbill dated February 21, 1865.

Scrapbook No. 19, (17 items)
Depictions of African Americans in various settings including domestic and recreational.

Scrapbook No. 29, (3 items)
Depiction of an African boy riding a camel; Africans on a boat; Africans on the shore

Scrapbook No. 30, (2 items)
Depiction of two female Africans; female Africans as ladies in waiting

Scrapbook No. 31, (3 items)
Depiction of African American man placing an item in his bag; Africans harvesting tobacco; advertisement for Liberia Coffee

Scrapbook No. 33, (1 item)
Depiction of three African Americans sitting on a bench

Scrapbook No. 34, (2 items)
Depiction of African Americans playing the banjo; African American boy at a circus surrounded by whites

Scrapbook No. 37, (2 items)
Depiction of an African American man carry a white man’s bags; African American workers in the process of loading a large bundle

Scrapbook No. 39, (1 item)
Depiction of two children, one African American, the other white, sharing a newspaper

Scrapbook No. 46, (2 items)
Depiction of African American men shucking corn; African American boy under whom is written a derogatory caption. Images appear near the back of the book

Scrapbook No. 54, (3 items)
Depictions of African Americans as entertainers

In general, University of Delaware manuscript finding aids include biographical notes, scope and content notes, series outlines, series descriptions, and container lists. All complete finding aids, including container lists, are available in the repository. In addition to the unpublished finding aids and inventories, Special Collections maintains a database of literary and historical correspondence and manuscripts.

A selected listing of these sources is included below, along with their manuscript collection numbers. For assistance of any kind, please contact a Librarian in Special Collections.

Mss 98 Miscellaneous Delaware Literary and Historical Manuscripts
F17 Caleb Cox, 1832, 1 item
Bill of Sale for a Negro slave boy named Caleb Cox

F95 William R. Jones Papers, 1858 – 1863, 3 items
Includes a copy of William R. Jones’s will, which emancipated his slaves upon his death. The will states that the slaves are to seek relocation to Liberia.

Mss 99 Miscellaneous Literary and Historical Manuscripts
F580 Nancy Cunard and Hugh Ford Letters to David Garnett, 1928 – 1970, 8 items
The eight letters in this small collection are together as a result of Hugh Ford’s 1968 volume Nancy Cunard: Brave Poet, Indomitable Rebel. Cunard’s letters span from the early days of her friendship with David Garnett in 1928 until just before her death in 1965. Cunard befriended many of the Harlem Renaissance writers and unashamedly expressed her affinity for African Americans and African American culture. As demonstrated by these letters, Cunard maintain close ties with the African American community throughout her life.
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/cunard.htm

Mss 104 Desegregation of Delaware Archives, 1960 – 1982 (bulk dates 1974-1976), 6 linear ft
The collection consists of reports, articles, and other papers related to desegregation which were collected as resource files by Abigail Covelli. The collection contains information on desegregation in Delaware as well as in other states.
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/deseg.htm

Mss 113 Alice Nelson Dunbar Papers, 7.8 linear ft and 120 volumes
The Alice Dunbar-Nelson Papers consist of the literary, professional, and personal papers of Alice Dunbar-Nelson, renowned poet and former wife of poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. The papers include an extensive collection of her incoming correspondence. Of particular note is her correspondence (1895-1904) from Paul Laurence Dunbar, which also includes her letters to Dunbar. The Alice Dunbar-Nelson Papers also include a comprehensive collection of manuscripts of her writing, including novels, stories, poetry, drama, and essays. Dunbar-Nelson maintained a daily diary for most of her adult life and the extent portions of her diaries are present in her papers. The Alice Dunbar-Nelson papers also include significant collections of family papers, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, ephemera, and memorabilia.
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/dunbarne.html

Mss 130 Lewis Family Papers, 1700- 1931, 3 linear ft.
The Lewis family were residents of Delaware. Most of the family made their home in Newark. This collection includes business and personal papers such as daybooks, farming records, legal documents, and literary works. Documents pertaining to African Americans can be found among the Albert G. Lewis papers. Box 1, F5 contains slave indentures and bills of sale; Box 2 F 22 contains a runaway slave notice; Box 7 contains family Bible of C.A. Lewis. A list of “colored” births and deaths can be found in the back pages of the Bible.

Mss 143 Charles Johnson Papers, 1974 – 1976, .33 linear ft
The Charles Johnson Papers consist of letters and manuscripts sent to Johnson's former professor, John Gardner, in the late 1970s. The letters, some decorated with sketches and caricatures, detail Johnson's nascent ideas for several unwritten novels and stories. Other letters share personal anecdotes and describe Johnson's university classes, experiences with publishers, and employment opportunities. The letters also contain dense philosophical meditations on literature, the nature of the artist and writer, and on Black experience. With many of his letters, Johnson included manuscripts of articles and novels for Gardner to peruse and critique. The collection thus provides an intimate and revealing glance into Johnson's publications, his methodology, and beliefs.
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/johnsn_c.htm

Mss 171 Peter Strickland Papers, 1857-1912, 1 linear ft
This collection contains the dairies and letter books of Peter Strickland, a shipmaster, merchant, and U.S. consul in the French colony of Senegal. The collection includes thirteen bound volumes and several newspapers from the period 1857 – 1912. The Strickland papers will be of particular interest to researchers interested in West African trading by Europeans and Americans.

Mss 218 Edward A. Fulton Papers, 1860 – 1877, 43 items
This collection contains the letters of Edward Fulton, a Union solider from Wilmington, Delaware. Fulton makes several references to African Americans in his letters. F4 – Letter dated March 9, 1862 references the abandonment of slaves by southern slave owners upon the arrival of federal troops; letter dated March 15, 1862 provides details concerning slaves seeking refuge in Union camps and of a slave owners attempt to retrieve his slave. F7 – Letter dated March 15, 1862 makes short reference to Black soldiers.
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/fulton_e.htm.

Mss 240 Samuel Meredith Papers, 1730 – 1823 (bulk 1764-1823), 2 linear ft
Samuel Meredith was a prominent Philadelphia, appointed by George Washington as the first United States Treasurer. The Samuel Meredith Papers consist of correspondence, receipts, bills, cancelled checks, a deed, and account books. Meredith makes numerous references relating to services he had performed on behalf of his “Negro servants,” such as having shoes or coats repaired. See F1, F2, F3, F5, F8, F12, and F27.
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/meredith.htm

Mss 250 Dodd, Mead & Company Archives, 1896 – 1974, 2 linear ft
The Dodd, Mead and Company Archive consists of two linear feet of material, spanning the dates 1896-1974. The archive is comprised of correspondence, contracts, photographs, wills, probate documents, biographies, drafts, notes, copyright documents, poems, printed programs, ephemera, and clippings. This selection of the company files details the business arrangements between the publisher and various African American authors including Paul Laurence Dunbar, Benjamin Brawley, Langston Hughes, Arna Bontemps and others.
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/doddmea1.htm

Mss 254 American Propaganda Collection, 1924 – 1961, 1 linear ft
This collection contains various publications from 1924 - 1961 which advocate extremist political opinions. The bulk of the publications spans the years 1950 – 1959 and express anti-integration sentiments underscored by the slogan “Integration is Tyranny.” The publications feature opinions from religious and civil organizations, ordinary citizens, and members of Congress. These publications highlight the predominate fear of integration which was miscegenation.

Mss 256 Pauline Young Collection, 1924 – 1988, 1 linear ft
The Pauline A. Young Collection includes material either gathered or written by the Delaware educator and activist Pauline A. Young (1900-1991), much of which relates to prominent poets Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906) and Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875-1935). The collection itself consists of one linear foot of material comprising correspondence, periodical clippings and photocopies, photographs, brochures, programs, and ephemera.
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/young.htm

Mss 265 Kim Rogers Burdrick Papers related to Delaware Folklife, 1982 – 1991, 13 items
The papers include Burdick’s 1985 lecture, “ Delaware Blue and Gray Ghosts,” which focuses on Civil War ghost stories told in Delaware, especially stories sympathetic to African Americans and Confederate soldiers. Historical information about slavery in Delaware is also provided.
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/burdick.htm

Mss 331 Willard Saulsbury, Jr. Papers, 1716 – 1943, 70 linear ft
Willard Saulsbury, Sr., was a U. S. Senator from Delaware during the Civil War, who protested limitations on states' rights, but remained loyal to the Union. Series V includes material from the period 1859 to 1865 regarding slavery and military affairs. Willard Saulsbury, Jr., was a prominent leader of the Democratic Party and his management of Woodrow Wilson's first presidential campaign led to his own election to the U.S. Senate. This collection contains campaign materials and voter analysis which reflects the racial politics of the day.

Mss 342 Papers of Dr. Allston Morris related to Southbridge Medical Advisory Council and Activities Center , 1968 - 1980 (bulk dates 1968 - 1974), 1.2 linear ft.
Dr. Morris's papers document the creation and early existence of the Southbridge Medical Activities Center in the Wilmington, Delaware. His papers begin with "A Proposal for the Delivery of Health Service in South Wilmington, 1968" and continue through a program celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Southbridge Center in 1980. With its fifteen volunteer doctors and seventeen pharmacists, Southbridge Medical Activities Center was the first privately-funded community health center in Delaware.
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/southbrd.htm

Mss 354 Beadle and Adams Archives, 1848 – 1920, .3 linear ft
The collection includes letters written in 1864 by Benjamin Beadle regarding his Vicksburg, Mississippi, cotton plantation, the conscription of horses by the “Rebs,” the use of Negroes, and thoughts on Lincoln and the War.
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/beadle.htm

Mss 336 Margaret Rose Henry Speeches, 1994 – 1995, .2 linear ft
This collection of speeches by the Honorable Margaret Rose Henry, elected in 1994 as the Delaware State Senator for the 2nd Senatorial District, comprise eighteen short political addresses delivered between 1994 and 1995 by the Delaware Senator to various constituent groups, primarily in Wilmington. These speeches clearly reflect Senator Henry's attention to issues of equity, civil rights, crime prevention, social services, and education for minority populations. Henry's speeches also reveal her strong understanding of and commitment to Black history and heritage. In addition to these typescript manuscripts the collection includes a folder of memoranda, articles, clippings, and programs; all of which are related to Margaret Rose Henry or her speeches. F10 mentions speeches concerning the National Council of Negro Women. The articles and clippings found in F19 chronicle aspects of Senator Henry's work in the Delaware State Senate, as well as providing material for speeches, such as poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar and Langston Hughes or information on the inner city.
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/henry_r.htm

Mss 377 Wilbur T. Wilson Map Collection, 1886 – 1941, 4 linear ft and ca 500 maps
The Wilbur T. Wilson Map Collection concerns the work of the prominent Newark, Delaware, engineer and surveyor Wilbur T. Wilson (1856-1942). The collection comprises four linear feet of notebooks and files, and approximately 500 maps. There are maps, plans, and cross-sections; blue prints and Van Dykes; graphite and ink on linen, paper, and tracing paper. Racial segregation is reflected in Map 58, the Newark Board of Education's "Plan of Colored School Site" (1920) and Survey Notebook volume 67 (Folder 109) in a "Description of Colored School property conveyed from Delaware School Auxiliary."
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/wilson/index.htm.

Mss 398 Ishmael Reed Papers, 1964 – 1995, 65 linear ft
The Ishmael Reed Papers is a substantial collection of the manuscripts, correspondence, business and publishing records, printed and multimedia productions, and other materials which document the multi-faceted career of Ishmael Reed. Using the materials in this collection, it will be possible for scholars to discover Reed's prolific and productive life of involvement in arts, letters, and politics. All of Reed's many activities are represented in this collection, which takes its basic organizational form and order from his works, activities, and achievements. In addition, the collection provides detailed documentation of Reed's creative and professional work on individual projects with extensive holdings in manuscripts, project records, paste-ups and galley proofs, audio and videotapes, calendars, travel records, and planning notes. Literary and professional correspondence, legal and publishing correspondence, and additional personal correspondence provide a framework for tracing the influence of personal and professional relationships throughout his career, as well as the ways in which Reed's multiple roles and projects are related.
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/reed/index.htm

Mss 402 Waples Family Papers, 1753 – 1864, .6 linear ft
The Waples Family Papers, spanning the dates 1753-1864, contains correspondence, wills, deeds and surveys, financial and legal documents, speeches, wills, manumissions, a broadside, a newspaper clipping, an announcement, and invitations. F1 contains a list of bill of goods taken by Sarah Waples, a resident of Sussex County, Delaware. The list includes “a black girl; a black boy.” F4 contains a 1834 manumission document; F28 contains an anti-abolition broadside; F32, F36, F40 contains family wills which mention slaves; F37 contains two 1832 manumission documents and a slave bill of sale.
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/waples.htm

Mss 465 The Lincoln Collection
The Lincoln Collection contains over two thousand books and pamphlets, photographs, artwork, sculpture, artifacts, historic documents, and miscellaneous material pertaining to the life and career of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), the sixteenth President of the United States. Among the most significant items in the collection are copies of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment signed by Lincoln.
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/exhibits/lincoln/index.htm.

Mss 471 Chris Oakley Collection of Alternative Press, 1968 – 1992, 1.5 linear ft
The Chris Oakley Collection of Alternative Press includes a fragmented collection of a variety of alternative newspapers and community newsletters, mostly from New Castle County, Delaware. The papers focus on issues of social justice, racism, and civil rights. Newspapers such as The Black Panther Community News and The National Black Monitor feature articles pertaining to African Americans on a local, national, and international scale. Also included in the collection is an original charcoal portrait of Pauline Young, niece of Alice Dunbar- Nelson.

Mss 472 Sir Joseph Gold Political and Miscellaneous Ephemera Collection, 1960s – 1990s, 1 linear ft
The Sir Joseph Gold Political and Miscellaneous Ephemera Collection comprises flyer banknotes, correspondences, letterhead, newsletters, pamphlets, posters, postcards, and reviews. Series 1 contains political ephemera on topics such as Black Power, and issues of racism, civil and human rights, community building efforts, and issues pertaining to economic justice and equality.

Mss 489 Virden Family Papers, 1783 - 1901 (bulk dates 1820s - 1960s), 36 items
The Virden family papers, spanning the years 1783-1901, consist of thirty-six letters, receipts, deeds, accounts, and other documents, mostly relating to the family of Samuel Virden of Kent County, Delaware. F1 contains an account book by an unidentified author, 1783-1787, which records many transactions with “negroes.” F4 contains a letter from Edwin Virden to "Father," a Methodist priest in Frederica, Delaware, 24 Sep 1865. Edwin is living on a plantation in Jackson, Mississippi, with this brother, Samuel Virden, Jr., and his sisters Anna and Ruth. He offers commentary on the post-Civil War South and broad condemnation of the “indolent,” “stealing” former slaves.

Back to the UD Special Collections Home Page