Boris I. Bittker PapersThe papers consist of correspondence, legal pleadings, memoranda, newspaper clippings, reports, subject files, and writings that document Boris I. Bittker's career as a professor at Yale Law School from 1946 to 2006. In addition to voluminous materials relating to taxation, the papers also include correspondence and subject files relating to Bittker's book, Case for Black Reparations (1973).
Clippings File of the James Weldon Johnson Memorial CollectionIncludes pamphlets and clippings documenting various aspects of the African American experience in the twentieth century, such as the achievements of individual African Americans, the work of community and education organizations, and areas such as film, theater, music, sports, politics, and civil rights. The clippings were collected primarily by Langston Hughes, James Weldon and Grace Nail Johnson, Ollie Jewel Simms Okala (a friend and close associate of the Johnsons), and Carl Van Vechten, with some additional materials added by others.
Dorothy Porter Wesley PapersCollection consists chiefly of the correspondence, writings, biographical materials, research files, photographs, and personal papers of librarian, curator and bibliophile Dorothy Porter Wesley. The bulk of the collection is comprised of research materials relating to various subjects relating to African American history, culture, and bibliography, including the following: African-American abolitionists Sarah Remond and William C. Nell, African American literature, African literature, and Afro-Brazilian literature.
John Augustus Hendrix McLane PapersCorrespondence, essays, diaries, clippings, and other papers of J. Hendrix McLane, southern political independent, South Carolina gubernatorial candidate in 1882, and reformer in the Republican party. The papers are mainly concerned with McLane's political career, though there is some material relating to his studies at Tufts Theological School.
Walter A. Chapman PapersThe Civil War letters and diary or Walter A. Chapman (1840-1865) make up the bulk of this collection and detail the experiences or the common soldiers in the Union Army. Also in the collection are a few 1859 letters from a Charlestown friend discussing local news, a poem and essay about religion written by Chapman, and several receipts and other miscellaneous items.
Collections on New Haven
Edward Grant Oral History Project RecordsThe interviews in this project provide an extensive profile of Grant’s life in New Haven, Connecticut. Grant describes the following topics in detail: what it was like growing up Black in New Haven during the 1930s to 1940s and the racism and segregation he experienced; his early activism with local groups such as the Wider City Parish.
John Arthur Wilkinson Papers Documenting the Center for Advocacy, Research, and PlanningConsists of records which document the administrative and institutional history of the Center for Advocacy, Research and Planning. The collection should prove useful for researchers interested in the history of civil rights and in the socio-economic affairs of minorities in New Haven.
Yale Civil Rights RecordsThe records consist of newsletters, correspondence, and brochures of the Yale Civil Rights Council.
Personal Papers of Activists
Walter O. Evans Collection of Frederick Douglass and Douglass Family papersContains correspondence, scrapbooks, personal papers, writings, photographs, printed material, ephemera, and other papers by or relating to Frederick Douglass. Includes materials that document the personal and professional lives of multiple members of the Douglass family including Lewis Henry Douglass, Helen Amelia Loguen Douglass, Frederick Douglass, Jr., and Charles Remond Douglass.
Catherine Roraback Collection of Ericka Huggins PapersMaterials in the Catherine Roraback collection of Ericka Huggins papers document the activities of both Catherine Roraback and Ericka Huggins during the New Haven Black Panther trials.
Ella Barksdale Brown PapersDocuments her life as an educator, anti-lynching activist, suffragist and journalist, and span the dates 1885 to 1952, although the bulk is from 1906 to 1926. The papers consist of correspondence, printed material and financial papers documenting Brown's involvement with war relief efforts, teaching, women's rights, civil rights and other social issues mostly pertaining to African Americans during the early twentieth
century.
George Bundy Smith PapersIncludes writings, speeches, correspondence, clippings, and other materials documenting Smith’s life and career as a judge, author, professor, and civil rights activist.
George Edmund Haynes PapersConsists of correspondence, writings, and professional papers by and relating to George Edmund Haynes. Professional papers contain material relating to Haynes' professional work on various committees and boards, including the Federal Council of Churches, the World's Committee of YMCAs, the State University of New York Board of Trustees, and a survey of the work of the YMCA in South Africa.
John R. Williams PapersConsists of photocopies of Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.) files concerning the activities of the Black Panther Party in New Haven, Connecticut. The photocopied materials include correspondence, memoranda, informants' reports, transcripts of phone conversations, clippings, photographs, printed material, and other papers from Black Panther Party files at the F.B.I. headquarters in Washington, D.C. and the New Haven, Connecticut office of the bureau.
Lester Blackwell Granger PapersConsists of writings, notes, clippings, correspondence, and other papers, stemming from Lester Blackwell Granger's work as executive secretary of the National Urban League and his involvement in social work and civil rights issues.
William Pickens PapersWritings of Pickens and others on African-American culture, emancipation and civil rights are present, as are scrapbooks, ephemera, and commemorative items documenting Pickens' academic accomplishments, including with Phi Beta Kappa, career as a civil servant in the United States Savings Bonds Program of the Treasury Department, and civil rights activist.
Other Collections at Yale
Black Abolitionist Papers (Microfilm)Correspondence, sermons, speeches, missionary reports, writings, and printed matter of approximately three hundred nineteenth century black abolitionists, documenting their activities in the United States, Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Includes papers of James C. Pennington.
E. L. McGlashan Collection of Documents Concerning Slavery in the United StatesConsists of bills of sale, receipts, estate records, and other material documenting slave ownership and the slave trade in the United States. The papers span the dates 1770-1862, and predominantly document transactions in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky, and Alabama.
Michael P. Schon Collection of Peace and Freedom Party of California PapersProfessional archive of Michael P. Schon, comprised of correspondence, documents, flyers, speeches, manuscript notes, published brochures and pamphlets, newspaper clippings, and periodicals recording the efforts of the Peace and Freedom Party of California, 1965-2007 (bulk 1966-1971).
Printed Ephemera of African American Political Activism and ArtsPrinted ephemera related to African American political activism and arts primarily in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with the bulk of the material from 1963 to 1976. Significant organizations documented in the collection include the Philadelphia chapters of the Black Panther Party and Peace and Freedom Party.
Solomon Sir Jones Films CollectionConsists of 29 silent black and white films documenting African-American communities in Oklahoma from 1924 to 1928. Jones filmed Oklahoma residents in their homes; during their social, school and church activities; in the businesses they owned; and performing various
jobs. The films document several Oklahoma communities, including Muskogee, Okmulgee, Tulsa, Wewoka, Bristow and Taft.
Ralph J. Bunche Oral Histories Collection on the Civil Rights MovementIncluded here are transcriptions of close to 700 interviews with those who made history in the struggles for voting rights, against discrimination in housing, for the desegregation of the schools, to expose racism in hiring, in defiance of police brutality, and to address poverty in the African American communities.
Beinecke Library Collections of Ministers
Amos Gerry Beman ScrapbooksAmos Gerry Beman (1812-1874), African American pastor and social activist. The scrapbooks provide evidence of the personal and professional life of Amos Gerry Beman, pastor and social activist, between 1830 and 1858. The scrapbooks contain writings, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and printed ephemera by and about Beman.
Bourne Family PapersConsists of materials that document the lives of abolitionist, minister and newspaper editor George Bourne, his wife Mary Oland Stibbs Bourne and their descendants. George Bourne's papers include an Anti-Slavery Lecture of 1837 as well as other religious writings.
James Lockwood Wright PapersThe papers of James Lockwood Wright consist of an eleven volume journal kept for thirty years, from the beginning of his study at Yale College in 1828 through 1858. Much interested in the revival movements of his era, he participated both as a student and as a minister, and describes evangelical work with black residents of New Haven, the process of conversion of one of his parishioners , and a multitude of sermons, both his own and others.
Kenneth Walter Cameron PapersConsists of autographs and collected letters, sermons, teaching materials, research notes and documents, and the typescript of Kenneth Cameron's master's thesis on Othello (1931). A large part of the papers relates to the Church of the Holy Trinity in Hartford, Connecticut, and papers of P. P. Pitkin and letters to the U. S. Treasury from officers of the U. S. Colored Regiments.
R. A. (Revels Alcorn) Adams Papers- A.M.E. ChurchConsists of writings, sheet music, scrapbooks, photographs, and other papers, stemming from R. A. Adams's activities as an evangelistic minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and as a writer, lecturer, and publisher of pamphlets on topics relating to race, religion, contraception, interpersonal relations, and socioeconomics.
Collections on the NAACP
James Weldon Johnson and Grace Nail Johnson PapersProvides evidence of the personal and professional lives of James Weldon Johnson, Grace Nail Johnson, and to a lesser degree, spanning the years 1850 to 2005, with the bulk of material dating between 1900 and 1976. There is a small amount of material relating to Johnson’s role in the N.A.A.C.P.
Richard Charles Lee PapersDocuments the public years of one of the best known mayors in the United States. The bulk of the papers cover the period 1954-1969, when Lee was mayor of New Haven. For additional information on civil rights and race relations in New Haven, see the files fo NAACP 1954-64; Human Relations Council 1955-1962, 1969; Human Relations Advisor 1957-1962; CORE 1962; and Human Relations Committee 1963. In Series II, SUBJECT FILES, see also NAACP, Negro Participation, and Sit-Outs.
Walter Francis White and Poppy Cannon PapersDocuments the careers and lives of Walter White and Poppy Cannon and span the dates 1910 to 1956. The Papers contain correspondence, writings, other papers, and photographs relating to Walter White's career as the Secretary for the N.A.A.C.P. and as a writer and to Poppy Cannon's career as an editor, writer, and publicity consultant.
