In honor of Black History Month, CLRC’s featured collection recognizes our region’s rich African-American cultural heritage. Onondaga Community College’s A History of the Black Community of Syracuse collection consists of photographs and ephemera dating from the early-nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. The collection features photographs depicting the daily lives of Syracuse’s African-American communities, and includes materials relating to the Dunbar Center, an institution that has served Syracuse’s south side community for nearly a hundred years.
In addition to OCC’s collection, the Onondaga County Public Library Genealogy Department holds several collections relating to black history. The Beauchamp Branch Photodocumentation Project features items collected from the library’s African-American community in Syracuse. Another collection from OCPL, the Urban League of Onondaga County collection, features selections from the archives of an important advocate for African-Americans’ “achievement of justice, economic, educational, social and racial equality.”
Does your organization have materials that can contribute to the narrative of African-American history, culture, and life in Syracuse or Central New York at large? Would you like to see these materials represented in New York Heritage and the Digital Public Library of America? Contact us to learn how!