Nathaniel Mathis Collection of Barbering and Beauty Culture
bulk 1970-2004
Nathaniel Mathis is a Washington, D.C., hairstylist, inventor, motivational speaker, and entrepreneur. His papers document his business life and community involvement.
Harold M. Anderson Black Wall Street Film Collection
Black Wall Street was a vibrant African American community in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Filmed between 1948 and 1952 Reverend Harold M. Anderson's Black Wall Street Film documents many of the neighborhood's businesses including barber shops, bakers, taxi companies, jewelers, and other stores. Reverend Anderson also captured its citizens in church, at school, participating in parades, and walking around the area. The film includes footage Richard and Pat Nixon as they campaigned in Black Wall Street, the first vice-presidential candidate to visit the African American neighborhood.
African American Cosmetic and Food Label Collection
Collection consists of labels, created by Chicago business Valmor Products Company, for packaging intended to appeal to the African American consumer market dating from 1934-1946.
Archives Center Scrapbook Collection
Collection consists of miscellaneous late nineteenth/early twentieth century scrapbooks containing postcards, trade cards, greeting cards, decals, and other ephemera.
Charlene Hodges Byrd collection
bulk 1880-1960
The Charlene Hodges Byrd collection measures 43 linear feet, and dates from circa 1750-2009, with the bulk of the material dating from 1880-1960. The collection documents the personal life and professional career of Charlene Hodges Byrd, an African American teacher from Washington, D.C., along with material for several related families from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. Family members prominently represented include Sarah A. Shimm, teacher and essayist under the name Faith Lichen; her daughters Erminie F. Shimm and Grace E. Shimm Cummings, both teachers; and Byrd's mother, Joyce Ethel Cummings Hodges, also a teacher. Correspondence and writings chiefly discuss family life, religion, race, education, and the relationship with Frederick Douglass and his family. The collection is arranged in 10 series: Biographical Material, Correspondence, Writings, Subject Files, Financial and Legal Records, Printed Material, Volumes, Memorabilia, Textiles, and Photographs.
Jack Mitchell Photography of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Collection
Mitchell, Jack, 1925-2013
Jack Mitchell (1925- 2013) was an acclaimed photographer who began chronicling the work of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1961. Alvin Ailey (1931- 1989), one of the most influential African American choreographers of modern dance, dedicated himself and his dance company to creating ballets that not only accelerated the careers of young African American dancers, but also stole the attention of national and international audiences in displaying the racial perspective of dance in the African American experience. This collection serves as Mitchell's documentation of the dance company's evolution while capturing the true idiosyncrasies and physicality of movement through still images. Through Alvin Ailey and Jack Mitchell's partnership, they were able to collaborate and produce a unique production of art, fusing the meaning and movements of dance and the techniques of photography.
Kerry Stuart Coppin photographs
The collection, which dates from 2006 and measures .08 linear feet, documents community life in Senegal, Barbados and Cuba, as well as African-American community life in the United States. The collection is comprised of giclée prints.
Roy Sieber Photographs
845 Slides (photographs) (dupe slides, color)
1068 Negatives (photographic) (+ field notes & contact prints , black & white, 35 mm.)
1,054 Photographic prints (black & white, 8 x 10 in.)
Scurlock Studio Records, Subseries 4.6: Black and white negatives in cold storage arranged by client
Custom Craft
Scurlock, Addison N., 1883-1964
Scurlock, George H. (Hardison), 1919-2005
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The subseries consists of black and white silver gelatin negatives.
The Scurlock photographic studio was a fixture in the Shaw area of Washington, D.C. from 1911 to 1994, and encompassed two generations of photographers, Addison N. Scurlock (1883-1964) and his sons George H. (1920- 2005) and Robert S. (1916-1994). Subseries 4.6 consists of black and white silver gelatin negatives. An overview to the entire Scurlock collection is available here: Scurlock Studio Records
Warren M. Robbins Papers
These papers document the life and work of Warren M. Robbins, covering a wide swath of his life, from his early career in the Foreign Service to his work in cross cultural communications and African art. A prolific writer, Robbins correspondence with such people as Maya Angelou, Ernie Barnes, Saul …
