Atlanta University Center Woodruff Library Archival Collections Preservation Needs Assessment

FAIN: PG-52036-13

Robert W. Woodruff Library (Atlanta, GA 30314-4207)
Andrea Jackson (Project Director: May 2012 to October 2014)

A preservation assessment of archives from the 19th to the 21st century documenting the experiences of people of African descent in the United States and throughout the world. The Atlanta University Center is a consortium of Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and the Interdenominational Theological Center. It holds archives such as Morehouse College's Martin Luther King, Jr. Collection and Clark Atlanta University's library of rare books, pamphlets, and other materials related to slavery collected by journalist and bibliophile Henry P. Slaughter (1871-1958). In addition to use by students and faculty of the four member institutions, the collections are consulted by researchers worldwide and contain letters, photographs, reports, yearbooks, newspapers, audio and video recordings, oral histories, books, and ephemera.

The Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library seeks support for a preservation needs assessment of its 7600 linear feet of materials. Our Archives Research Center consists of three storage rooms containing rare and first edition books, as well as other historical manuscript and archival collections focused on the history of Atlanta University Center and higher education, arts, literature, and civil rights and social movements particularly related to African Americans. Supporting various disciplines and collegiate curricula and programs, our holdings document the humanistic experiences of people of African descent in the United States as well as throughout the world. If selected as a grant recipient, the Library requests $5970 to hire Laura Hortz Stanton, an established conservationist, to provide a collection-wide preservation assessment, during which she will examine our policies and procedures and provide recommendations for future preservation measures.