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BLACK STUDIES RESEARCH SOURCES A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of Microfilms from Major Archival Papers of and Manuscript Collections General Editors: John H. Bracey Jr. and August Meier Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 19151950 UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of BLACK STUDIES RESEARCH SOURCES Microfilms from Major Archival and Manuscript Collections General Editors: John H. Bracey, Jr. and August Meier Papers of Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1915–1950 Editorial Adviser Jacqueline Goggin Project Coordinator Randolph Boehm Guide Compiled by Daniel Lewis A microfilm project of UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA An Imprint of CIS 4520 East-West Highway • Bethesda, MD 20814-3389 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Papers of Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1915–1950 [microform] / editorial adviser, Jacqueline Goggin; project coordinator, Randolph H. Boehm. microfilm reels : 35 mm. — (Black studies research sources) Accompanied by a printed guide, compiled by Daniel Lewis, entitled: A guide to the microfilm edition of Papers of Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1915–1950. ISBN 1-55655-721-3. 1. Woodson, Carter Godwin, 1875–1950 Archives. 2. Afro-American historians Archives. 3. Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Inc. Archives. 4. Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Inc.—History Sources. 5. Historians—United States Archives. 6. Afro-Americans—Historiography. I. Goggin, Jacqueline Anne, 1953– . II. Boehm, Randolph. III. Title: Guide to the microfilm edition of Papers of Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, 1915–1950. IV. Series. [E175.5.W65] 973'.0496073’007202—dc21 [B] 99-16370 CIP Copyright © 1999 by University Publications of America. All rights reserved. ISBN 1-55655-721-3. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ........................................................................................................................... v Scope and Content Note ...................................................................................................... xiii Note on Sources .................................................................................................................... xix Editorial Note ......................................................................................................................... xix Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................ xxi Reel Index Reel 1 Series 1: Carter G. Woodson Personal Papers .............................................................. 1 Series 2: Correspondence, 1912–1950 .......................................................................... 2 Reel 2 Series 2: Correspondence, 1912–1950 cont. ................................................................. 3 Series 3: Clippings .......................................................................................................... 4 Series 4: ASNLH and Associated Publishers Organizational Records ........................... 4 Reel 3 Series 4: ASNLH and Associated Publishers Organizational Records cont. .................... 4 Series 5: Manuscripts on African and African American History ...................................... 5 Reels 4–7 Series 5: Manuscripts on African and African American History cont............................... 6 Reel 8 Series 5: Manuscripts on African and African American History cont............................... 9 Series 6: Manuscripts and Articles for the Encyclopedia Africana.................................... 10 Reels 9–15 Series 6: Manuscripts and Articles for the Encyclopedia Africana cont. ........................... 11 Reel 16 Series 6: Manuscripts and Articles for the Encyclopedia Africana cont. ........................... 29 Series 7: Research Notes and Data ................................................................................. 30 iii Reels 17–18 Series 8: Printed Matter .................................................................................................... 30 Reel 19 Series 9: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Publications, Manuscripts and Photostats of Manuscripts .............................................................................................................. 33 Series 10: Subject Files .................................................................................................... 34 Reel 20 Series 10: Subject Files cont. ........................................................................................... 34 Reel 21 Series 10: Subject Files cont. ........................................................................................... 35 Series 11: Administration of the Estate of Rev. Francis J. Grimke ................................... 36 Reel 22 Series 11: Administration of the Estate of Rev. Francis J. Grimke cont. .......................... 37 Series 12: Business Documents of Associated Publishers and the ASNLH .................... 37 Reels 23–24 Series 12: Business Documents of Associated Publishers and the ASNLH cont. ............ 37 Reel 25 Series 12: Business Documents of Associated Publishers and the ASNLH cont. ............ 38 Series 13: Oversized Files ................................................................................................ 39 Reels 26–34 Series 14: Bound Volumes of Ledgers and Account Books, 1915–1950 ......................... 39 Principal Correspondents Index .......................................................................................... 43 Subject Index ......................................................................................................................... 45 Encyclopedia Africana Subject Index ................................................................................. 63 iv INTRODUCTION Even as a small boy, Carter G. Woodson was passionate about history. When he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) in 1915, it seemed as if he was destined to do so, and it became his life’s work. Keeping the association afloat was a labor of love, and it was both exhausting and exhilarating work. In addition to the ASNLH, Woodson founded and began editing the Journal of Negro History in 1916. He also managed to publish four monographs, five textbooks on African American history, five edited collections of source materials, and thirteen articles, as well as five sociological studies that were collaborative efforts with other scholars. Woodson published his first book in 1915, just before founding the association. If one were to assess his scholarly career by output alone, few of his contemporaries or successors could match it. And yet, he did not write as much as present-day scholars would wish, since he was preoccupied with the business of keeping an organization going and financially solvent. This struggle would preoccupy him until his death in 1950. Born in Buckingham County, Virginia, in 1875 to parents who were former slaves, Woodson grew up among an extended and close-knit African American family who shared their stories about slavery with each other. His family experienced slavery in Virginia, which had more slaves than any other state. Several members of his immediate family had directly confronted the evils of slavery and were whipped, were sold away from other family members, or ran away. Woodson was profoundly affected by his family’s history; it is probably not an overstatement to say that he was compelled to become a historian to reveal to the world the truths about the African American past. His social origins, as the only professionally trained historian whose parents themselves had experienced slavery, not only influenced his decision to become a historian, they also were bound up with his identity as an African American historian. Growing up in rural western Virginia as a poor farm boy, Woodson did not regularly attend school. His mother had learned to read and undoubtedly instilled a thirst for higher education in her son, and he pursued it, despite many obstacles. He graduated from high school when he was twenty years old. In early adulthood Woodson worked as a farm laborer, a sharecropper, and a coal miner, and he acquired additional appreciation for both the black masses and black folk culture. He attended Berea College in Kentucky, which at that time was integrated, receiving a bachelor’s degree in 1903. His v experience with white students there also shaped his resolve to get as much education as he could. He went on to the University of Chicago, where he received a second bachelor’s and a master’s degree in 1908. He purportedly had a richly stimulating experience at Chicago under Ferdinand Schevill, with whom he studied European history. Schevill encouraged him to go on for a Ph.D., although it is unclear whether he suggested Harvard University. The Harvard University history department had many distinguished scholars who were among the leading specialists in the profession. Woodson applied, was accepted by Harvard, and in 1912 received a Ph.D. degree in history. Almost thirty-five years old when he began course work toward the Ph.D., Woodson’s formal study of history had a testy beginning under professors Edward Channing and Albert Bushnell Hart, who were then eminent scholars in American history. Woodson