Black Teacher Archive Guide

ArchiveGrid is a freely available database of library collections records and archival finding aids that can tell you which institution(s) may have the records you're looking for. ArchiveGrid pulls from information stored in WorldCat (a free, online platform that allows users to locate books and other materials in various libraries around the world). NOTE: Microfilmed and digitized collections are not generally included. 

Using both platforms together can be helpful because ArchiveGrid offers a finer grained search than WorldCat, while the catalog record searches in WorldCat yield a more focused set of collections. Searching a major topic, person or organization, say the NAACP, will yield many records with relatively unrelated occurrences of the name. To narrow down more specific collections that contain a person or subject of interest, use WorldCat. 

TIP: To limit your searches to repositories in a particular state or city using the following example format: slave location:massachusetts; slave location:boston. Note that location:massachusetts and location:boston must be lower case.  

• archive:Boston  (archives in Boston)
• archive:Massachusetts Archives  (a particular archive)
• place.name:Cambridge  (archival collections about Cambridge)

If the collections you need are not digitized, you'll need to plan a visit to archives in person. NOTE: Visiting archives near or far requires planning ahead. Read the Society of American Archivists' very helpful, time-saving tips:

• Finding and Evaluating Archives
• Planning to Visit an Archive

If you're interested in working with materials in the Gutman Library Special Collections, please visit Using Our Collections for information on requesting and viewing materials, and use HOLLIS Search Tips to find these titles in the library catalog.

History of Education and Teacher Training Schools

The History of Education and Teacher Training Schools collection contains nearly 21,000 volumes of primary source materials on elementary and secondary education and teacher training in the United States. The bulk of the collection dates from 1830 to 1940. A portion of the collection is focused on Black education.

Historical Textbooks Collection

The Historical Textbooks collection contains nearly 45,000 elementary and secondary textbooks covers subject areas from agriculture to zoology. The collection contains materials published in the United States in English from 1776 through 1985. Several thousand of these titles have been digitized. A portion of the collection contains textbooks, readers and materials intended for Black children and freed slaves. 

The following is a sampling of institutions with accessible archival collections related to African American education.

The Amistad Research Center

The Amistad Research Center, located at Tulane University, it is the oldest independent archive specializing in the history of African Americans and other Ethnic Minorities in the U.S. The holdings include the papers of artists, educators, authors, business leaders, clergy, lawyers, factory workers, farmers and musicians. The collection contains approximately 250,000 photographs dating from 1859. 

The HBCU Library Alliance 

The HBCU Library Alliance is a database of photographs, books, and other printed and digitized materials held by a consortium of Historically Black College and University libraries. 

Northeastern University Special Collections

The Northeastern University Special Collections preserves the records of Boston-area social justice organizations that serve under-represented communities, including a specialized collection on educational organizations and individuals. Note: includes the finding aid for the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity, Inc. (METCO) records. 

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

The Schomburg Center  holds and provides access to books, serials, and microforms containing information by and about people of African descent throughout the world, concentrating on the humanities, social sciences, and the arts. Geographically, the collection emphasizes the Americas, the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa.