A. About Us: I enjoyed reading the history of how the library endured and advanced through the years to become what it is today. The efforts of Alice Dugged Cary and Annie L. McPheeters cannot be praised enough since their work was responsible for much of the core collection (the Negro History Collection). Ms. McPheeters was appointed assistant librarian in 1934, served two decades as the librarian before she retired in 1966 – a life dedicated to education. Also of interest to me is the oral history (1914-1948) by Homer Nash, a black physician whose practice was on Auburn Avenue, recalled the (Jim Crow) period . . . when African Americans "had such a hard time getting books.” Numerous women of color maintained the facility during …show more content…
The Auburn Avenue Research Library has more than 20,000 books and 600-plus manuscript collections along with artifacts, recordings, oral histories, periodicals, 250,000 photographs and other items.
B. Documenting African American Education Annie L. McPheeters Papers – Because she is the “heart” of the library, I think her papers would be of great interest to anyone. The summary of her collection reflects her interest in religion, state and local politics, the blind, race relations, the city of Atlanta, and women's issues. Selena Sloan Butler papers – A very interesting topic as Ms. Butler is of mixed heritage – African and Native American, and Caucasian heritage; and, she was born in Thomasville, Georgia, just a few miles from my hometown, Moultrie. What an interesting life in that she was educated, married a doctor, and traveled abroad. She was a great promoter of education and actually formed the first black parent/teacher association. Helen A. Whiting – I found Ms. Whiting the most compelling because of these excerpts from a letter written to Miss Judith Nicali, Center Church, Hartford, Ct.:
"As a child, I loved to write verse at home as we were never encouraged to do creative writing at school. My mother always encouraged me to