Research Guides: African American Studies Archival Collections: Overview

Background Information

SMU Libraries has a variety of holdings across campus that document the African American experience, particularly in Texas and on campus at Southern Methodist University. The archival and digital collections highlighted in this guide are hosted online and across campus. See individual listings for contact information to learn more about particular collections.

Primary Resources

Collection of African American Albums
Includes four different albums of photographs depicting every day life between 1900-1965. Held at DeGolyer Library.
African American Portrait Photographs
Photographs of Black Americans dating back to the 1850s. Digital collection.
African American Newspapers, 1856-1912 on Microfilm
See listing for full list of publications. Microfilm and readers available at Fondren.

The Black Experience in Texas

Julia Scott Reed Papers, 1944 - 2007
Dallas native Julia Scott Reed became the first African American writer to join the Dallas Morning News staff, where her column “The Open Line” featured articles on black community issues, politics, religion, race relations, and other current events. The collection at DeGolyer Library primarily contains congratulatory notes, photographs and numerous awards that Julia Scott Reed received.
Collection of Dallas Negro Chamber of Commerce Materials
This collection contains a typescript membership campaign letter (1945) addressed to Mrs. Mable Bleach, and a program for the organization's twentieth anniversary event in 1946. Held at DeGolyer Library.
Carpenter and Washington Family Papers
Robert E. Carpenter and his wife Bessie were an African American couple who lived in the State-Thomas neighborhood of Dallas in the early twentieth century. Their daughter Lanita married Booker T. Washington. Held at DeGolyer Library.
Reeves Family Papers
This collection compiled by sisters Mary, Anna and Estella Reeves from the early 1920s and1930s contains materials from various members of the Reeves family, an African American family of Austin, Texas. Held at DeGolyer Library.
J.L. Turner Sr., Pioneering African-American Dallas Attorney
Collection of artifacts relating to one of the first Black attorneys to practice law in Dallas. Held at Underwood Law Library.
Weathersbee Family Correspondence
Contains correspondence of the African American Weathersbee family in Athens and Marshall, Texas during the Reconstruction era. Held at DeGolyer Library.

African American Studies Archival Collections: Overview

Background Information

Primary Resources

The Black Experience in Texas

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