Featured Collection at the Dodd Research Center
Charters (Samuel and Ann) Archives of Blues and Vernacular African American Musical Culture
Despite its primary emphasis on the blues and ragtime, the Samuel and Ann Charters Collection spans the entire 20th century, beginning with African-American Spirituals and the ragtime of Scott Joplin and other early composers, and ending with Snoop Doggy Dogg and the rappers of the late 20th century. The collection holds thousands of hours of recorded music on LP and 45 records, compact discs, audio cassettes, and reel-to-reel cassettes. Though some LP records date back to the 1940s, the compact discs in the collection include both recent and reissued material. Most of these recordings are commercial; and the Archives holds a complete catalog of music produced by the Arhoolie label, courtesy of label owner, Chris Strachwitz. The artists included in the Charters collection range from the most famous blues performers such as B.B. King and Robert Johnson, to obscure ragtime musicians. Many of the ragtime recordings are from concerts, conventions, and meetings hosted by the Maple Leaf Club.
The Legacy of the Blues by ISBN: 0306800543Publication Date: 1977-03-22To learn more about the blues and its importance in American history, check out this book by Samuel Charters, The Legacy of the Blues. [In this book] Samuel Charters has chosen twelve major bluesmen, each whom represents a major facet of the blues, and has written about them. Also included are interviews, photographs, lyrics, and separate chapters on the black experience in America, and the evolution of the blues language from its African origins.
Dodd Center for Human Rights Collections Relevant to Black History Month
- Northeast Children's Literature CollectionThe Northeast Childrens' Literature Collection includes a significant number of works which explore slavery and the abolition movement in the United States, as well as the civil rights movement, and Black history more generally. Search for titles in the library catalog, or contact the curator, Kristin Eshelman, Archivist for Multimedia Collections and Interim, Northeast Children’s Literature Collection.
- Alternative Press Collection (APC)The Alternative Press Collection was founded in the late 1960s as a repository for publications emanating from activist movements for social, cultural and political change. The collection contains thousands of newspapers, serials, books, pamphlets, ephemera and artifacts documenting activist themes and organizations. The APC contains materials pertaining to non-white racial and ethnic identities and power movements, including the Oakland-based Black Panther newspaper as well as flyers and ephemeral materials from demonstrations during the trial of Black Panther Bobby Seale. Check the library catalog for more titles, or contact the curator, Graham Stinnett, Archivist for Human Rights and Alternative Press Collections.
Selection of Materials from the Alternative Press Collection
- The Albany Liberator
- Arm the Spirit
- Auto Workers’ Focus Black Panthers Caucus
- The Black Economy
- Black Liberation Month News
- Black Mask
- Black News
- Black Panther
- Black Panther Community News
- Black Revolutionary
- Black Times
- Black Voice
- The Coalition
- Do It Loud
- The Drummer
- Enlisted Times
- Southern Patriot/Southern Struggle
Selection of Materials from the Alternative Press Collection
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The Plot Against Black Americans
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Behind the Lynching of Emmett Till
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Murder in Memphis: Martin Luther King and the Future of the Black Liberation Struggle
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Vietnam and Civil Rights
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The Jim Crow School: North and West
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National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Target for 1963
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Letter from Birmingham City Jail
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Riding to Freedom: The New Secession and How to Smash It
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Negro Representation: A Step Towards Negro Freedom
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The Negro Today
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Negro Freedom is in the Interest of Everyone
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A Letter to American Negroes
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The Black Uprisings: Newark, 1967, Detroit
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In Defense of Negro Rights
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NAACP: An American Organization
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Cracking the Color Line
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Upsurge in the South: The Negro People Fight for Freedom
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The Negro People on the March
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An Analysis of American Racism
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Free at Last: A History of the Civil Rights Movement and Those Who Died
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Ramparts: Mississippi Eyewitness
Manuscript Collections at the Dodd Research Center
The following is a list of manuscripts collections from the UConn's Archives and Special Collections Department located at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. Contact the Archives & Special Collections Department to request help or to set an appointment to visit these collections.
- Connecticut School Desegregation RecordsA collection containing the exhibits presented by the plaintiff's or defendant's in Sheff v. O'Neill school desegregation lawsuit and materials pertaining to the Bridgeport school desegregation lawsuit instituted in 1975.
- Peoples of Connecticut Project RecordsRecords associated with an interdepartmental project at University of Connecticut, founded in 1974 to provide learning and teaching tools to Connecticut secondary schools, in order to increase awareness of ethnic groups and cultural diversity in the Connecticut.
- African National Congress Oral History Transcripts CollectionIn March 1999, the ANC and the University of Connecticut signed a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a partnership to foster training, assistance and cooperation based on the principle of reciprocal learning and consultation. One of the projects resulting from the collaboration between the University of Connecticut and the ANC was the ANC Oral History Project, which conducted and transcribed 133 oral histories of ANC leaders in South Africa between 2000 and 2006.
- The Center for Black Studies Records (UConn)The collection contains materials concerning the establishment of the Center and programs of its activities from its establishment through 1980.
- Connecticut History OnlineContains photographs and documents regarding Black history and people of color in Connecticut.
