Browse Exhibits (3 total)

The African American Studies Collection

Shortly after returning to IU in 1965, where he'd graduated 25 years earlier, Librarian Wilmer Baatz began collecting "Afro-American materials" for the Main Library in response to a perceived university need.

This exhibit will show not only what a daunting task that was in the 1960s, but will provide insight into Baatz' methods, his contacts and those who championed his efforts.

Individuals of note are:

Dr. George Juergens of the IU Bloomington History Department
Dr. Joseph J. Russell, Dean for the Office of Afro-American Affairs
Grace Jackson-Brown, subject specialist for African American Studies at Indiana University Libraries

African American Studies Collection, Afro-American Studies Collection, collection development, Dean Joseph J. Russell, Dr. George Juergens, Grace Jackson-Brown, History Dept., Howard University, Howard University "Negro Collection", Office of Afro-American Affairs, Wilmer Baatz

African American Cultural Center Library--A Period of Transition

From 1998 until the move into the current Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center Library, the newly-named "African American Cultural Center Library" was temporarily housed within Coulter Hall in Ashton Center.

Under the visionary guidance of Librarian Grace-Jackson Brown, library-sponsored events flourished!

Here are some examples of what you missed if you weren't around then...

African American Cultural Center Library1991, Ashton Center, Grace Jackson-Brown, Marianna Brough

OUR LIBRARIANS THROUGH THE LENS OF "Sankofa"

"The concept of Sankofa is derived from King Adinkera of the Akan people of West Afrika. Sankofa is expressed in the Akan language as se wo were fi na wosan kofa a yenki.

Literally translated it means it is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot.

Sankofa teaches us that we must go back to our roots in order to move forward. That is, we should reach back and gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward. Whatever we have lost, forgotten, forgone or been stripped of, can be reclaimed, revived, preserved and perpetuated.

Visually and symbolically Sankofa is expressed as a mythic bird that flies forward while looking backward with an egg (symbolizing the future) in its mouth."

from W.E.B. Dubois Learning Center,Kansas City, MO

In the spirit of Sankofa, we look back at NMBCC Library history with a pictorial progression through The Librarians...

African American Cultural Center Library, Deloice Holliday, Grace Jackson-Brown, Learning Resources Centerm, Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center Library, Wilma Miller, Wilmer Baatz