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