Moorland–Spingarn Research Center facts for kids
The Moorland–Spingarn Research Center (MSRC) is a special library and archive located in Washington, D.C. It's found on the campus of Howard University, inside the Founders Library. The MSRC is known as one of the biggest and best places in the world to find information about the history and culture of people of African descent. This includes people from Africa, the Americas, and other parts of the world. As a major research spot at Howard University, the MSRC collects, keeps safe, organizes, and shares many different resources that tell the story of Black experiences. This tradition of service goes all the way back to when Howard University first started, when materials about Africa and African Americans were first collected.
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How the MSRC Began
In 1914, a Black theologian named Jesse E. Moorland gave his personal library to Howard University. He was a former student and a trustee (a leader) of the university. At that time, his collection was one of the most important groups of materials about Black history. Moorland's gift showed how African Americans wanted to lead the way in documenting, saving, and studying their own history and culture. His collection helped bring together other Black-related materials already in the University Library. This combined collection became known as The Moorland Foundation.
Later, in 1946, Howard University bought the large personal library of Arthur B. Spingarn. He was a lawyer, a social activist, and a famous collector of books and other items made by Black people. The Moorland–Spingarn Research Center is named after these two important people. Their collections created the strong base for everything that came after.
Growing the Collection
Many librarians helped build the Moorland Foundation's collection in its early years. But a new era began in 1930 when Dorothy B. Porter (later Dorothy B. Porter Wesley) was hired. During her career, which lasted over forty years, Dr. Porter Wesley helped the collection grow a lot. She also created a new way to organize the materials, made helpful lists of books, and developed many tools for researchers.
In 1973, the collections were reorganized and officially named the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. Dr. Michael R. Winston became its first director. Under his leadership, the center created separate Library and Manuscript Divisions. The Howard University Museum and Howard University Archives were also started. The Library Division continued to add to the MSRC's large collections of books, newspapers, and journals. The other new parts helped turn the special collections into a modern archive, manuscript center, and museum.
From 1986 to 2010, Thomas C. Battle led the MSRC. After him, Howard Dodson was the director until 2016. Today, the MSRC plans to use more digital tools to make its materials available online. They also want to have more public events and support research projects. This includes publishing the work done by their staff and other scholars.
What You Can Find at the MSRC
The MSRC is divided into different sections, each focusing on a specific type of material.
The Library Division
This division has over 175,000 books, pamphlets, magazines, and microforms in many languages. It offers a huge amount of information about the history, lives, and struggles of people of African descent.
The library holds many rare works, some from as far back as the 1500s. These include writings by famous people like Juan Latino, Jacobus Capitein, Gustavus Vassa, Phillis Wheatley, Jupiter Hammon, David Walker, Frederick Douglass, and Martin Delaney. The collections are especially strong in first editions and early works by writers from the early 1900s to today. Some of these authors are W.E.B. Du Bois, Richard Wright, Alice Walker, Nicolas Guillén, Wole Soyinka, James Baldwin, Chinua Achebe, Toni Morrison, and Amiri Baraka.
Special resources here include:
- Papers written by students from other universities about Black-related topics.
- Newspapers, journals, and magazines in English and other languages. These offer current and past views of the Black experience around the world.
- A large collection of thousands of folders with short articles and facts about people and events. These often provide the only information available on less-known people and important moments.
Manuscript Division
The Manuscript Division's resources offer important insights into the growth of Black families, groups, and institutions. They also show the development of social and religious awareness, and the ongoing fight for civil rights and fairness. This division was organized in 1974 into four departments: Manuscripts, Prints and Photographs, Oral History, and Music. These collections of original materials add to the Library Division's resources and expand the areas for research on the Black experience.
Manuscript Department
This department has over 18,000 feet of materials. It provides a lot of information about African American life and history. More than 650 collections are available for research. These collections include letters, photos, diaries, scrapbooks, writings, and personal items of famous people. Some examples are Alain Locke, E. Franklin Frazier, Frederick Douglass, Mary Church Terrell, Anna J. Cooper, and Paul and Eslanda Robeson.
Prints and Photographs Department
This department has over 150,000 images for study, research, and display. These include photos, slides, postcards, posters, prints, and maps. These works date from the 1800s to today. They feature drawings, sketches, and early types of photographs like daguerreotypes and tintypes.
Music Department
Music shows how Black people have helped create and develop jazz, folk, spiritual, popular, and classical styles. The Music Department has many resources on this topic. Its collections are full of sheet music, recordings, songbooks, and teaching materials for voice and piano. The collection has works from over 400 composers, from the 1700s to the present.
Oral History Department
Important information about the civil rights era is available in the collections of the Oral History Department. The Ralph J. Bunche Oral History Collection has over 700 written interviews. These give valuable insights into the thoughts and actions of the people who took part in and shaped this very important time in American history. Other collections focus on women, Howard University, African American military history, and memories from some of the people whose papers are kept in the Manuscript Department.
The Howard University Archives and Museum
The Howard University Archives is a safe place for the official records of the University. This includes administrative files from schools, colleges, and departments, university publications, and papers written by Howard students. It also has materials showing the contributions of Howard alumni to society. The Archives provides information on the history of Howard University and its important people. It uses the Howard University Museum to display University items and souvenirs.
The Museum focuses on showing Black history and culture through visuals. It displays the many resources from the Research Center's special collections. It also collects items that help explain the Black experience in a broad way.
Digital Production Center
In 2013, the MSRC started a new chapter by creating an official digitization program. Through the Digital Production Center, the MSRC saves and shares its historical records with the world. This digital program also manages the Digital Howard online library. This platform currently hosts the digital collections from the MSRC. Digital Collections include the archives of Anna J. Cooper and Howard University's namesake, Oliver Otis Howard. It also has the Thomas Montgomery Gregory Military Collection and a collection of 6,000 old photo negatives.
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