This collection, which dates from the 19th century, contains 30 books written by or concerning African-Americans. The books are largely non-fiction and include material relating to African-American churches and evangelists, fraternal organizations, prominent members of the African-American Community, former slaves, education and self-improvement. Also present are several volumes of poetry, a tax ledger and a volume concerning patents.
Formatted Contents note:
Life and times of Frederick Douglass, written by himself -- Duplicate copy of the souvenir from the Afro-American league of Tennessee to Hon. James M. Ashley of Ohio... -- Myrtilla Miner, a memoir -- A narrative of the life and travels of Mrs. Nancy Prince -- A list of patents granted by the United States from April 10, 1790... -- Comly's spelling and reading book -- Poems written during the progress of the abolition question in the United States... -- The Black phalanx -- Progress of a race; or, the remarkable advancement of the Afro-American Negro from the bondage of slavery... -- Africa and America; addresses and discourses -- A discourse, delivered on the death of Capt. Paul Cuffe -- An apology for African Methodism -- History of the Knights of Pythias -- The college of life; or, practical self-educator, a manual of self-improvement for the colored race... -- The Rev. J.W. Loguen, as a slave and as a freeman -- Behind the scenes -- The story of Archer Alexander from slavery to freedom, March 30, 1863 -- From slave cabin to pulpit: the autobiography of Rev. Peter Randolph -- Uncle Tom's story of his life from 1789-1877 -- Poems on various subjects, religious and moral -- Men of mark: eminent, progressive and rising -- [Tax ledger] -- A memorial discourse by Rev. Henry Highland Grant -- My recollections of African M.E. Ministers -- William Lloyd Garrison: the abolitionist -- Annals of the First African church in the United States of America... -- How to get and keep churches out of debt... -- Code and the discipline of the African Methodist Episcopalian Zion Church -- History of the First African Baptist Church -- An autobiography: the story of the Lord's dealings with Mrs. Amanda Smith, the colored evangelist.
Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Topic:
African Americans -- Social conditions Search this
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
2 Video recordings (AV000962, AV003327, open reel, 1 inch)
1 Video recording (AV002642, VHS)
3 Sound recordings (AV002679, AV003345, AV003421, open reel, 1/4 inch)
1 Sound recording (AV003336, cartridge, 1/4 inch)
Type:
Archival materials
Video recordings
Sound recordings
Documentary films
Place:
United States
Date:
1994, c1987
Scope and Contents:
This short documentary provides an overview of the development of church music alongside the growth of African American churches in the eastern United States from the arrival of black Africans in Jamestown in 1619 through 1877 and the Reconstruction era. The evolution of church music within African American churches included the formation of music programs and performances, hymnals, choirs, negro spirituals, and music education as well as the addition of organs to accompany the singing of psalms, hymns, and anthems. During the Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s, the Christianization of slaves and Africanization of Protestant hymns swept through the American colonies. European Christianity and the emotionalism of the African homeland were combined during the Second Awakening, which began in the late eighteenth century and lasted until the middle of the nineteenth century. The history of church music created by urban and rural congregations within New England and Southern states is explored.
Short documentary. Part of Climbing Jacob's Ladder Audiovisual Records. Complete production: AV000962, AV003327. Production elements: AV002679 [narration], AV003345 [outtakes - sound], AV003421 [music], AV003336 [music]. AV003421: 6 songs including We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder [also known as Jacob's Ladder] and Battle Hymn of the Republic [also known as Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!]. AV003336: 2 recordings of We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder. Dated 19940923 [AV000962]. Undated [all other recordings].
Biographical / Historical:
Church Songs of Black Americans 1740 - 1877 was created alongside the Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Rise of Black Churches in Eastern American Cities, 1740 - 1877 exhibition which explored the growth and central role of African American churches during the 18th- and 19th-centuries in the eastern United States: Boston, Savannah, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond. The exhibition was organized by the Anacostia Museum and held there from October 1987 to October 1988.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003327
ACMA AV002679
ACMA AV003345
ACMA AV003421
ACMA AV003336
ACMA AV002642
General:
Title transcribed from opening credits of video recording.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at ACMarchives@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
1 Video recording (open reel, 1 inch)
1 Video recording (MiniDV)
1 Item (film , color interpositive, 16mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Video recordings
Documentary films
Place:
United States
Date:
circa 1992
Scope and Contents:
Climbing Jacob's Ladder argues for the importance of documenting and preserving the history of the African American church as explained by church historians, archivists, and curators. The African American church tells the story of African Americans, provides direction and goals for the young, and is the center of African American life. Its history is illustrated through photographs and moving images, which are endangered of being lost and forgotten if preservation measures are not taken. The short documentary also provides an overview of the history of the black church and African American worship from slavery through present day, the role and style of black preachers, black church music and choirs, and clothing worn to religious services.
Short documentary. Part of Climbing Jacob's Ladder Audiovisual Records. AV001152: dated 19920324. AV005160: transferred from VHS, captions burnt into image, dated 1991. AV005350: 16mm Preservation Color Interpositive, no sound, dated 20150317.
Biographical / Historical:
Climbing Jacob's Ladder was based on the Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Rise of Black Churches in Eastern American Cities, 1740 - 1877 exhibition which explored the growth and central role of African American churches during the 18th- and 19th-centuries in the eastern United States: Boston, Savannah, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond. The exhibition was organized by the Anacostia Museum and held there from October 1987 to October 1988.;The African American church provides the spiritual, educational, social, political, and economic center for the African American community. Because the history of the African American church tells the story of African Americans, the church is the largest repository of African American history.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV005160
ACMA AV005350
General:
Title transcribed from open credits of video recording.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at ACMarchives@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
1 Video recording (AV000961, open reel, 1 inch)
2 Sound recordings (AV003353, AV003356, open reel, 1/4 inch)
Type:
Archival materials
Video recordings
Sound recordings
Drama
Place:
Philadelphia (Pa.)
Delaware
United States
Date:
1994
Scope and Contents:
Michael W. Howell dramatizes Richard Allen's life from his birth into slavery through his establishment of what was to become the modern-day African Methodist Episcopal Church. Events which led to the founding of the Free African Society and Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia are explained.
Short one-man dramatization with still images and narration interspersed. Part of Climbing Jacob's Ladder Audiovisual Records. Complete production: AV000961 [captions burned into image]. Production elements: AV003353 and AV003356 [narration]. AV003356: first minute only [remaining recording related to Twelfth Baptist Church of Boston]. Dated 19941031 [AV000961]. Undated [all other recordings].
Biographical / Historical:
The Times of Richard Allen was created alongside the Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Rise of Black Churches in Eastern American Cities, 1740 - 1877 exhibition which explored the growth and central role of African American churches during the 18th- and 19th-centuries in the eastern United States: Boston, Savannah, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond. The exhibition was organized by the Anacostia Museum and held there from October 1987 to October 1988.;Born a slave in 1760 on the Delaware property of Benjamin Chew and later sold to Stokely Sturgis, Richard Allen was one of the founders of the Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia in 1789. In 1801, his collection of spiritual songs and hymns helped to establish an ongoing tradition of hymn singing at Mother Bethel. Allen also formed the Free African Society, Philadelphia's first black mutual aid society to serve the needs of African Americans regardless of religious beliefs, with Absalom Jones in 1787 after African Americans were segregated during worship services at St. George's United Methodist Church in Philadelphia.;Michael W. Howell collaborated with Smithsonian staff to create The Times of Richard Allen, a one-man dramatization performed by Howell at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History in 1987 to augment the museum's exhibit "After the Revolution: Everyday Life in America, 1780-1800," which focused in part on Allen. [McIntyre, Mike. Accolade for Round House. The Washington Post, Feb. 17, 1987.]
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003353
ACMA AV003356
General:
Title transcribed from opening credits of video recording.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at ACMarchives@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
2 Sound recordings (open reel, 1/4 inch)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Narration
Place:
Boston (Mass.)
United States
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
Date:
circa 1987
Scope and Contents:
Narrator Jim Vance presents a very short history of the Twelfth Baptist Church of Boston and the life of Reverend Leonard Grimes. The church's and reverend's work with the Underground Railroad and antislavery movement, and after the passing of Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 are highlighted. The arrests of Shadrach and Anthony Burns are also addressed. Members of the Twelfth Baptist Church wanted the right to bear arms as part of the Union Forces during the Civil War; William L. Garrison and Frederick Douglass argued for this right.
Narration only. Might be part of Climbing Jacob's Ladder Audiovisual Records. Production elements: AV003356 and AV003428 [narration]. AV003356: begins at 000115 [first minute of recording related to The Times of Richard Allen]. Undated.
Biographical / Historical:
Twelfth Baptist Church of Boston might be related to the Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Rise of Black Churches in Eastern American Cities, 1740 - 1877 exhibition which explored the growth and central role of African American churches during the 18th- and 19th-centuries in the eastern United States: Boston, Savannah, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond. The exhibition was organized by the Anacostia Museum and held there from October 1987 to October 1988.;Twelfth Baptist Church of Boston was formed by a small group of dissentients who split from the First African Baptist Church in 1848. It served as an anti-slavery meetinghouse, and provided refuge and spiritual guidance to free blacks and fugitive slaves. Twelfth Baptist Church of Boston was also known as the Fugitives Church or the Church of the Fugitive Slave.;Reverend Leonard Grimes was pastor of the Twelfth Baptist Church of Boston from 1848 to 1874. Born to free parents in Leesburg, Virginia, Grimes first became involved in the antislavery movement through his work with the Underground Railroad in Washington, D.C.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003428
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at ACMarchives@si.edu.
This collection, which dates from circa 1887-2001, contains materials relating to the history of African-American Holiness and Pentecostal movements. Included are newsletters, correspondence, brochures, fliers, magazines, VHS tapes, articles, newspaper clippings, slides, manuscripts, photographs, books, financial documents, audiocassettes, compact discs, diskettes, DuPree's research files, and other materials. A copy of DuPree's book "African-American Holiness Pentecostal Movement: an Annotated Bibliography," which was based on the research in this collection, is also present.
Biographical/Historical note:
Sherry Sherrod DuPree is a librarian and historian whose research focuses on African-American gospel music and African-American Pentecostal churches. She was the founder and organizer of the DuPree African-American Pentecostal and Holiness Collection at the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. DuPree began the National African American Holiness Pentecostal Project, during the course of which she received several grants to fund her work. 1988, DuPree was appointed by Dr. Wilma Hughey to the Archival Historical Committee of The Church of God in Christ, Memphis, Tennessee. In 1995, DuPree became the Archivist of the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Detroit. In March of 1998, she was elected Second Vice-President in the Society for Pentecostal Studies.
Restrictions:
This collection is located at an off-site storage facility. To access the materials, please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Sherry Sherrod DuPree collection on the African-American Holiness and Pentecostal movements, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Sherry Sherrod DuPree.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
1 Sound recording (audio cassette)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Place:
Anacostia (Washington, D.C.)
Washington (D.C.)
United States
Date:
1988
Scope and Contents:
Historian Ed Smith explained the historical role of the black church in America, particularly the significant role of churches in African American communities. His talk focused on the early black church as a social institution in regards to educational, economical, political, and cultural spheres.
Lecture. Audio only. Related to the exhibition 'The Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Rise of Black Churches in Eastern American Cities, 1740 - 1877.' Dated 19880627.
Biographical / Historical:
'The Climbing Jacob's Ladder: The Rise of Black Churches in Eastern American Cities, 1740 - 1877' exhibition explored the growth and central role of African American churches during the 18th- and 19th-centuries in the eastern United States: Boston, Savannah, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond. The exhibition was organized by the Anacostia Museum and held there from October 1987 to October 1988.
General:
Title transcribed from physical asset.
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at ACMarchives@si.edu.
159 Video recordings (U-matic 3/4" video recordings)
1 Video recording (VHS 1/2" video recording)
15 Linear feet (15 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Video recordings
Videocassettes
Place:
United States -- Race relations
United States -- Rural conditions
Date:
1989-1994
Scope and Contents note:
The collection, which dates from 1989 to 1994 and measures 15 linear feet, documents the reminiscences of elderly members of various African-American churches in the Atlanta area, as well as individual church histories, outstanding personalities of the South, religious expression in the South, and styles of singing and worship. The collection is comprised of audiovisual materials.
Biographical/Historical note:
Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters, Inc. is the nation's largest regional interfaith cable network. AIB has been providing faith-based communities and nonprofit service organizations access to a larger audience since 1969. AIB remains a destination for international dignitaries and media representatives due to its unique programming platform, which promotes dialogue between all faiths, cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds. Seen in over 1,000,000 homes across 19 metro area counties, AIB is a self-supporting organization and does not allow the solicitation of funds or attacks on other faiths. Viewers can find Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and others presenting their views.
Provenance:
Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters Oral History Collection, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters.
Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
John Kinard talked about the history of African American church beginning in late 18th century; the governance of churches; rituals of the church; Richard Allen and James Varick, and the formation of the African Methodist Episcopal and African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) churches; Nova Scotia blacks, James Walker Hood, and AMEZ in NC; and Liberia and the freedom through colonization experiment.
Lecture/discussion. Audio only. Recordings cover same topic, but might be from two separate events. AV001127: poor quality. Undated.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV001121_B
ACMA AV001127
Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Prophetic worlds : Indians and whites on the Columbia Plateau / Christopher L. Miller ; with a foreword by Chris Friday and a new preface by the author
