Special Collections and Archives

Special Collections and Archives consist mainly of primary and secondary materials on African-American themes. The collections serve the research needs of Fisk students and faculty as well as external scholars.

Among the rare items there are:

• The American edition of Phillis Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773)
• Examples of Benjamin Banneker’s almanacs
• A bible especially edited for slaves in the West Indies in 1808
• A first edition of Les Cenelles (1845), the first anthology of poetry by blacks published in this country
• Clotel, or The President’s Daughter (1853), the first novel published by an African-American
• Harriet E. Wilson’s Our Nig (1859), the first novel published by a black woman in the U.S.
• Nearly 200 printed items from American minstrel shows
• A bible presented to President Abraham Lincoln by free blacks of Baltimore in 1864

Special Collections contains university archives as well as papers and works of scholarly and literary figures of national acclaim. Among these are:

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Afro-American Studies and Research Program Collection

Alexander, Ernest R. Collection of Sheet Music

Athletic Department, Fisk University Collection, 1932-2005

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Ballantine Hall Cornerstone Collection

Bennett Hall Cornerstone Collection, 1890-1891

Bethune, Mary McLeod Collection, 1928-1943

Bontemps, Arna W. Collection, 1934-1965

Brady, St. Elmo Collection on Booker T. and Maggie Washington

Bragg, Emma L. W. Collection, 1957-1978

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Collection, 1940-1968

Brown, Dorothy L. Collection, 1957-1976

Burrus, James D. Collection, 1827-1929

Burt, Robert T. Collection, 1893-1972 (Microfilm)

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Caliver, Ambrose Collection, 1912-1938

Chase Hall Cornerstone Collection, 1897-1906

Chesnutt, Charles W. Collection (Original), 1864-1938

Chesnutt, Charles W. Collection (Supplement 1), 1898-1942

Collins, Carrie B. H. Collection, 1971-1974

Collins, Ludie D. Collection, 1911-1936 (Jubilee Singer related)

Computer Science Department, Fisk University Collection, 1979-1994

Cooke, Geoffrey Collection on Clinton B. Fisk Family, 1832-1941

Crafton, Lizzie A. Collection, 1886-1941

Cravath, Erastus M. Collection, 1873-1897 (Jubilee Singers related)

Crowley, Arthur R. Collection, 1935-1974

Cullen, Countee Collection, 1921-1952

Cunningham, Arthur Collection of Sheet Music

Currier, Theodore Collection, 1935-1979

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Davis, Alice Coachman Collection, 1942-1987

Davis, Louise Collection, 1939-1959

Dawson, William L. Collection, 1938-1970

Dorsey, Thomas A. Collection, 1932-1982

Douglas, Aaron Collection (Addendum), 1937-1974

Douglas, Aaron Collection (Original), 1921-1973

Drummond, Tyrone Collection on Judge Juanita Kidd Stout

Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt Collection, 1832-1963

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Egypt, Ophelia Settle Collection, 1925-1970

Elliott, Wesley Collection

Embree, Edwin R. Collection

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Fisher, Constance C. Collection, 1923-1979

Fisher, Issac Collection, 1915-1942

Fisk University Institute for Research in Black American Music Collection, 1920-1985

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Garvey, Amy Memorial Collection on Marcus Garvey, 1776-1971

Gates, George A. Collection, 1908-1912

Greene, Lorenzo Collection on Thomas W. Talley

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Handy, William C. Collection, 1900-1979

Haynes, George E. Collection, 1909-1922

Heartman, Charles F. Collection, 1791-1839

Hebb, Bobby Collection of Sheet Music

Hendrix, James Collection, 1985

Holtby, Winifred Memorial Collection, 1800-1972

Hopkins, Pauline Collection, 1879-1899

Hughes, James Langston Collection, 1928-1966

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Imes, Elmer S. Collection, 1902-1942

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James, Grace Collection, 1896-1973

Jefferson Street Photo Project Collection, 1857-1982

Jefferson, Cecile B. Collection, 1901-1970

Johnson, Charles S. Collection  (1-27), 1935-1956

Johnson, Charles S. Collection (Original), 1893-1956

Johnson, Charles S. Collection (Register X), 1918-1948

Johnson, Charles S. Collection (Registers A-J), 1866-1956

Johnson, Charles S. Collection (Registers K-W), 1866-1956

Johnson, Charles S. Collection (Social Center), 1858-1956

Johnson, Charles S. Collection (Surveys), 1928-1952

Johnson, Charles S. Collection Presidential Papers (1-34), 1866-1956

Johnson, Charles S. Collection Presidential Papers (1-179), 1947-1956

Johnson, Charles S. Collection,  Social Science Documents

Johnson, James Weldon Collection, 1899-1952

Johnson, Robert B. Collection, 1944-1968

Jones, Lewis Wade Collection, 1932-1943

Jones, Thomas Elsa Collection (Original), 1926-1946

Jones, Thomas Elsa Collection (Supplement 1), 1925-1947

Joplin, Scott Collection, 1900-1951

Joyce, Donald Collection, 1982

Jubilee Singers Archives (European Tour Collection), 1873-1878

Jubilee Singers Archives (Original), 1858-1924

Jubilee Singers Archives (Supplement 1), 1928-1982

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Karamu House Plays Collection

Kavanah, Albert Collection, 1944-1980

King, Slater Collection, 1955-1970

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Langston, John Mercer Collection, 1846-1930

Lerner, Gerda Collection on Black Women, 1963-1977

Looby, Zephaniah Alexander Collection, 1922-1981

Love, Mabel Collection, 1935-1975

Lunceford, Jimmie Collection of Music and Memorabilia, 1934-1944

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Madgett, Naomi L. Collection, 1932-1993

Manley, Effa Collection on Negro Baseball, 1938-1977

McKenzie, Fayette A. Collection (Addendum), 1905-1941

McKenzie, Fayette A. Collection (Original), 1915-1926

McKenzie, Fayette Collection (Supplement 1), 1915-1929

McKissack & McKissack Architectural and Engineering Firm Collection, 1915-1959

Merrill, James G. Collection, 1899-1919

Morrow, C. W. Collection, 1913-1915

Mound Bayou, Mississippi Collection

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Nail, John B. Collection, 1888-1928

Napier, James C. Collection, 1848-1939

National Society of Black Physicists Collection, 1990-1996

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Park, Robert E. Collection (Addendum), 1922-1942

Park, Robert E. Collection (Original), 1909-1946

Park, Robert E. Collection (Supplement 1), 1923-1943

Partington, Paul Collection, 1961-1969

Perring, Sir Ralph Collection, 1962-1963

Perry, Julia A. Collection, 1962-1980

Phi Beta Kappa, Delta Chapter of Tennessee Collection

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Rogers, Joel A. Book Collection, 1848-1977

Rogers, Joel A. Collection, 1930-1968

Rosenwald, Julius Fund Archives (1-267), 1917-1948

Rosenwald, Julius Fund Archives (268-494), 1917-1948

Rosenwald, Julius Fund Archives (495-563), 1917-1948

Rosenwald, Julius Fund Archives (Supplement 2), 1917-1946

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Shaw, Augustus F. Collection, 1925-1926

Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity Archives (Group 1), 1908-1980

Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity Archives (group 2), 1958-1986

Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity Archives (Group 3), 1970-1989

Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity Archives (Group 4), 1946-1990

Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity Archives (Group 5), 1939-1994

Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity Archives (Group 6), 1958-1994

Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity Archives (Group 7), 1902-2003

Simms, Margaret Collection, 1950-1974

Smith, Samuel Leonard Collection, 1869-2007 (Julius Rosenwald Fund related)

Southern, Eileen Jackson Collection (Group 1), 1968-1975

Southern, Eileen Jackson Collection (Group 2), 1971-1983

Southern, Eileen Jackson Collection (Group 3), 1973-1975

Spence Family Collection, 1812-1961

Stange, Douglas Collection, 1912-1967

Still, William G. Collection, 1937-1969

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Talley, Thomas W.  Collection, 1891-1951

Taylor, A. A. Collection (Original), 1923-1954

Taylor, A. A. Collection (Supplement), 1864-1953

Thomas, Harold Collection, 1942-1971

Tuskegee Syphilis Study Collection, 1973

Tyus, Randall L. Collection, 1904-1973

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Van Vechten, Carl Collection on George Gershwin, 1950-1952

Voorhees, Lillian Collection, 1920-1969

Voorhees, Lillian Theatre Programs Collection

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Woolfolk Jr, Elkin Oscar Collection, 1949-1968

Work, Nona I. Collection, 1839-1972

Wright, Herbert Harnell Collection, 1908-1915

Wright, Stephen J. (Presidential Papers) Collection, 1957-1966

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