Overview

The Peabody Collection is a Collection of books and other materials in all subject areas regarding the African Diaspora. The collection includes literature/ by about African Americans, and those of African descent with emphasis placed on historical events and experiences. With materials individualizing African American history from Slavery to the Presidential Election of 2008, the collection shows its distinctiveness. African American history matters because it provides our identities, our structures and our relationships.” These are invaluable resources of which Harvey Library is dedicated to conserving for future generations of researches.

Hampton University Memorabilia

The Hampton University Memorabilia is a collection of donated materials from HU faculty, staff and alumni. The collection consists of yearbooks, annual reports, catalogs, school newspaper and other memorabilia.

Rare Books

The collection dates back to the 17th century and is comprised of books of any subject. The unique materials of the Rare Book Collection are books and pamphlets.

Restricted Books

The restricted books are a comprehensive collection of popular Black literature which contributes to the conservation of Black popular publishing.

Collection Development Policy

Materials are placed in the Peabody area in order to preserve their use for research. These materials require special storage handling and security.

The collection is broken into three separate groups: Our Featured Collections, Manuscript Collections and Rare Books.

History

The Peabody collection is a distinctive collection of books and other materials in all subject areas by and about African Americans and other people of African descent throughout the world. Special emphases are placed on African American history, civil rights movements in the United States, literature by African American authors and pamphlets by authors on slavery, emancipation and the African American experience in
the United States. The collection contains more than 30,000 items by and about African Americans. This includes about 21,300 monographs, 1,200 anti-slavery pamphlets, vertical file materials, and other documents on slavery and the Reconstruction period in the United States. Some of these collections may not show their “specialness” for years to come, but the library is preserving them for future generations of researchers.

The Peabody Collection is one of the oldest African American library collections in the country. In 1905, George Foster Peabody obtained 1,400 books and pamphlets on the Negro and slavery from bibliophile Tucker A. Malone and lent them to the Collis P. Huntington Memorial Library, the former main university library. In 1908, this loan was converted into a gift. Six years later, the library of Dr. Phil Broome Brooks, a black physician in Washington, D. C., was purchased. In subsequent years, other collections were added, including materials on Native American culture. Many people have enriched the Peabody Collection through contributions throughout the years.

Polices & Procedures

Materials are placed in the Peabody area in order to preserve their use for research. These materials require special storage, handling, and security. We request that you participate in the preservation of the collection by adhering to the following procedures:

• Material from the collection do not circulate and must be consulted in the room.
• All researchers must present photo identification and fill out a Research Material Request Form for the items they wish to use. The photo ID will be kept with the form.
• Researchers must provide call number/volume number, and title of items of interest to the service desk.
• All materials housed in the Peabody Collection are to remain within the designated area. At no time are materials allowed out of the research area.
• Peabody material must be handled with great care. The fragile condition and irreplaceable nature of many books and other materials make it necessary for the library to restrict access. USE PENCIL ONLY. Do not make any marks on the materials, and do not open uncut pages. No books, papers, or other objects may be laid on the materials. Certain materials, may require readers to wear white cotton gloves.
• When you have finished using material, please return it to the desk and wait until the materials has been checked in and your ID is returned.
• No food, drink, tobacco or gum is allowed in Peabody.
• As the capacity of the room is limited, the Peabody Collection Room is reserved only for the use of materials that are housed in this room. It is not to be used as a reading room for other materials.
• Researchers locate Peabody materials through a variety of finding aids. The premiere place to start is with HUWebCat. Researchers should Ask- a-Librarian on the first floor for assistance with books and the Peabody Librarian for other items needed.
• Peabody will permit a reasonable amount of photocopying from its collection, but reserves the right to restrict copying from any of its collections and to deny requests for copies. Copies are $.10 a copy and you can load your Pirate Power card downstairs on the first floor in the copy room beside Circulation. If you are a guest, you can purchase a copy card for $2 and then load your card with the desired amount.

Our Collections

Rare Book and Manuscript Collection

African American Cookbook Collection

The collection features cookbooks by African Americans, which spans from the 1920s to the twenty-first century, has books that trace the history, heritage, and distinct flavors of African American cooking. The cookbooks strengthen the Peabody holdings in African American history and culture. Cookbooks have received scholarly attention and interpretation as literary texts making the collection a significant addition to the Library’s resources. Culinary texts yield far more than recipes when closely scrutinized. A Book of Recipes for the Cooking School written by Carrie Alberta Lyford, director of the Home Economics School at Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute and Carolyn Quick Tillery’s, A Taste of Freedom: a cookbook with recipes and remembrances from the Hampton Institute are culinary texts that are written from the point of view of a community and have much to say about ethnic identity, family and community life, social history, the roles of women and men, values, religion, and economics.

2008 Presidential Election Collection

The 2008 Presidential election Collection, currently comprises some 1500 items. Barack Obama’s election to the U. S. Presidency in November 2008 inspired a flood of books for adult and juvenile readers alike. It continues to grow as both popular and scholarly publishing on Obama and the other candidates, their campaigns, and voting patterns shows no sign of abating. The materials are collected comprehensively and include monographs, serials, ephemera, artifacts, and media relating to all aspects of the historic campaigns for the White House.

Anti-Slavery Pamphlet Collection

An unsurpassed collection of slave literature from 1705 to the late 1880s, includes campaign literature, abolitionist literature, slave narratives, children’s literature, congressional speeches, sermons, letters, organizational proceedings, tracts, and previously published materials from journals and magazines. Authors of note include Wendell Phillips, W.E. B. Dubois, Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, John Jam, and Andrew Johnson.

Ebony Brass Paperback Collection

A 60s paperback collection donated to Hampton Institute by Lt. Col Jesse J. Johnson who graduated from the Hampton Institute in 1964.

Hampton University Newspaper Clipping File

The HU Clippings file contains 55,000 clippings from nearly 100 Black Newspapers. These clippings provide a unique journalistic record of black, political, economic and
cultural life in the early twentieth century, particularly the rural south. The Clippings file was created from 500 scrapbooks spanning from 1880 to the 1920s.

The Joe Jordan Ragtime Jazz and Entrepreneurship Collection

Joe Jordan was a world-famous composer, musician, and real estate entrepreneur who, during the course of his long and productive life, helped to bring about several important changes in the entertainment world, and witnessed many more. The collection contains more than 600 items, including original manuscripts/private papers, sheet music, engraving plates, photographs and books. Gift made possible by Kimi Rabun, granddaughter of the late Joe Jordan and the mother of two HU graduates.

Donated Collections

John Gunther African Book Collection

The late John Gunther, one of America’s most distinguished journalists, was famous for his series of Inside books, which detailed profiles of their respective countries and continents. His 1955 publication Inside Africa featured an in-depth look at the continent. Gunther used the 349 books, pamphlets, and maps donated for research to write this book. The collection was donated because Jane Gunther, the author’s widow, wanted to see the material preserved at a university that was interested in African history.

Kennell Jackson Book Collection

Dr. Jackson earned a bachelor’s degree from Hampton Institute and was a distinguished professor of African history. He attended segregated schools in Prince Edward County, where petitions by black families for equal education would eventually be included in the historic Brown vs. Board of Education case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954. Jackson amassed an eclectic collection of art and books, memorabilia and mementos. To Hampton University he gave two gifts and one bequest of scholarly works (mostly about East African and African American topics, and rare fiction by African American authors).

Southern Workman

Samuel Chapman Armstrong founded the Southern Workman in 1872. It contains reports from the African American and Native Americans populations, with picture of
reservation and plantation life as well as information concerning the life and history of Hampton University, the City of Hampton, and African American life in the South. Additionally, the Southern Workman provided a forum for the discussion of the “race” problem.

Featured Clip

SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME is a 90 minute documentary that challenges one of America’s most cherished assumptions: the belief that slavery in this country ended with Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.

FAQ

1. What is The Peabody Collection?
   The Peabody Collection is a distinctive group of African American resources housed in the William R. and Norma B. Harvey Library, 3rd floor.
2. Can I utilize the room as a study room?
   The Peabody Collection is a room dedicated to scholars who want to engage in research with items located in the collection. There are study rooms and individual carols located on the second, third, and fourth floor of the library for student and patron use.
3. Is the Peabody Room the University Archives?
   No. The Peabody Collection does have selected Hampton University memorabilia. The University Archives is located in the Huntington Building as part of the University Museum. For further information you can contact the Archives at 757.727.5374.
4. Can the material in the Peabody Room be checked out?
   No. The material in the Peabody Collection is restricted and must be used in the room only. The reasoning behind “in-room use on;y” is to preserve the legacy of the African American experience for future generations.