Brown University Library Collections
Africana Collections
Return to Collections A to Z Index
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Adams (George James)
George James Adams (1812-1888) had a long career as a textile manufacturer and agent in Rhode Island. He was the treasurer of the Greenwich Print Works (1856-1882); a business associate at the Arkwright Cotton Mills (Fiskeville, R.I., circa 1836); an employee at Adams Print Works (Fiskeville, R.I.), Kent Print Works (East Greenwich, R.I.), Orion Cotton Mills (Providence, R.I., circa 1860s-1870s), Bristol Print Works (R.I.), and Clyde Bleaching and Print Works; a part owner of the Rhode Island Bleach and Dye Works, Adams and Butterworth (Providence, R.I., 1862-1882); and the chief agent at Narragansett Print Works (East Greenwich, R.I., 1848-1854). The collection includes family letters and business correspondence (mostly letters to Adams), invoices and receipts, inventories, payroll and supply lists, deeds and contracts, and photographs. A large number of letters are from Thomas P. Richmond, a banker of Bristol, Rhode Island, probably affiliated with the Bank of Bristol. They communicate Richmond’s strong abolitionist feelings and include descriptions of slave uprisings such as the insurrection on the ship La Amistad in 1839, meetings of abolitionist societies, etc. Also discussed are Richmond’s other interests, including phrenology, electricity, epidemiology, mesmerism, animal magnetism, and ships. Another large part of the collection comes from Adams’ time as chief agent at the Narragansett Print Works. This material includes correspondence with textile dealers and related business agents, mostly from Rhode Island, Hartford, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Invoices, receipts, as well as accounts for advertising, raw materials, and shipping, are also included. The collection also contains documents related to other businesses, mostly in textiles, run by Adams throughout Rhode Island. The remainder of the collection relates to the extended Adams family, including George Harvey Adams, Mary Hodges Adams, Sarah Martindale Adams, George William Brown, and others. This material includes correspondence as well as legal documents, bills and receipts, inventories of estates, financial documents, correspondence, and photographs.
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Africana Studies / Rites and Reason Theatre
The dates for the Africana Studies / Rites and Reason Theatre collection ranges from 1970 to 2006. This collection consists of nine series which focus on the growth and development of not only the Department of Africana Studies, but on the growth of the Rites and Reason Theatre.
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Anne S.K. Brown Military
The Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection is the foremost American collection of material devoted to the history and iconography of soldiers and soldiering, and is one of the world's largest collections devoted to the study of military and naval uniforms. It was formed over a period of forty years by the late Mrs. John Nicholas Brown (1906-1985) of Providence and is still growing. It contains approximately 12,000 printed books, 18,000 albums, sketchbooks, scrapbooks and portfolios, (containing thousands of prints and drawings), and over 13,000 individual prints, drawings and water-colors as well as a collection of 5,000 miniature lead soldiers.
Formerly in the Brown family residence (the Nightingale-Brown House, 1791), the entire collection (which was probably the largest private military collection in the world), was presented to Brown University and transferred to Special Collections located in the John Hay Library in 1982.
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Chapman (Abraham)
Professor of English at University of Wisconsin, Abraham Chapman (1915-1976) published several books on ethnic and minority literature in the United States. This collection includes his research materials from his work on ethnic literature in the United States.
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duCille (Ann)
This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Ann duCille, Professor of English, Emerita at Wesleyan University and Inaugural Distinguished Professor in Residence for the Black Feminist Theory Project at the Pembroke Center, Brown University. DuCille is a scholar of African-American literature, cultural studies, and Black feminist theory. Materials include family photographs, personal and professional correspondence, draft writings, research materials, and annotated books. Materials date from 1945 to 2020, but the bulk of the materials date from 1965 to 2020. ...more information
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Leyninger (Jacques)
These are the papers of Jacques Leyninger who served in the 4th Compagnie Saharienne Portée d'Infanterie Marine for France during 1947-1963. He was stationed in Morocco (1947-1949), Vietnam (1950-1952), and North Africa (1952-1963). It consists primarily of the letters written by him to his parents during 1947-1980. It also contains documentation of his military service, maps of countries in North Africa where he was stationed, photographs and photograph albums, and the insignia and medals for his uniform.
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Moore (Robin)
These are the personal papers and manuscripts of American writer Robert Lowell "Robin" Moore, Jr. best known for his books "The Green Berets", "The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy", and "The Happy Hooker: My Own Story." He also kept a detailed diary of his trip to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) during April 1979 and about which he later wrote articles and essays. His papers include correspondence, diaries, manuscripts for published and unpublished works, photographs, audio recordings, films, and documents relating to his lawsuit against Jonathan Keith "Jack" Idema.
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Nicholson (Nellie B.)
This collection contains a scrapbook compiled by Nellie B. Nicholson, Brown University class of 1911. Nicholson is believed to be the fifth Black woman graduate from Pembroke College, the women's college in Brown University, and was a leading advocate for Black women's right to vote. She was an educator in Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, for over 40 years. The scrapbook includes 172 photographs of friends and family members, Pembroke College campus buildings and women's athletics, house mates at 45 East Transit Street in Providence, and post-graduation travels and work. Many of these include handwritten captions. The scrapbook also includes programs for various events primarily at Brown, ribbons from events, and dried flowers and stems. Materials in this scrapbook date from 1906 to 1917, but the bulk of the items date from 1910 - 1911.
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Portuguese Africa
This collection is comprised of Portuguese language manuscript materials documenting the settlement and colonization of Angola (1690-1790 and 1828-1941), and includes correspondence between the Bank of Lisbon and the Azores from 1930-1931 and documents from the Cape Verde Islands in the first half of the 19th century. Topics covered by the materials in the collection include governance and administration, population, public education, finances, history, agriculture, navigation and commerce, military affairs and related topics.
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Revolution Books collection about the Free Mumia Movement
The collection contains materials related to mass efforts to free Mumia Abu-Jamal from incarceration, including posters, brochures, postcards, buttons, reports, and some letters.
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Reynolds Family Correspondence
Collection consists almost entirely of personal letters written by Alfred C., Charles E., and James W. Reynolds to sisters and parents detailing Civil War experiences in the 128th Regiment, New York Volunteers and the 11th Light Artillery Regiment, New York. Of particular interest are accounts of the capture of Fort Morgan (1864, Aug.-Sept.), reflections on the Copperheads, Afro-American troops, General Lee, and slavery.
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Swearer, Howard Robert
Consists of subject files dating from 1976 to 1990, most of which were created while Howard Robert Swearer was President of Brown University. Subjects documented in the collection include alumni and alumnae; athletics; admissions; the Bio-Med program; the Corporation; commencements; physical planning; faculty; libraries; students; the cooperative program between Brown University and Tougaloo College; and gifts to the University. Civil rights and minority affairs on the Brown University campus, including issues about status of women; Afro-American studies; Asian-American students; Hispanic American students; the American Civil Liberties Union; sexual harassment; and discrimination are documented. Student topics documented include the university radio station, WBRU; issues pertaining to Iranian students (ca.1978-1980); campus organizations; and protests about Central Intelligence Agency recruiting on campus. There are files on Richard Salomon, Thomas J. Watson, and Baruch Korff.
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Thayer (Eli)
This collection of correspondence, essays, articles, and newspaper clippings has as its chief focal point the Kansas conflict in the 1850's. The New England Emigrant Aid Company and similar organizations undertook to send settlers to Kansas from the North East to counteract the influence of the South in determining the free vs. slave status of Kansas on its becoming a state. The influx of immigrants to Kansas profoundly affected the indigenous populations living there. The materials provide insight into how the settlers did not give any thought to those populations. The Kansas theme runs throughout the collection in contemporary materials as well as in reminiscences and historical narratives written some thirty to fifty years subsequently. Other places important to the collection are West Virginia, Massachusetts, and New York.
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Wall (Cheryl A.)
This collection consists of the personal and professional papers of Cheryl A. Wall, Board of Governors Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English at Rutgers University and scholar of African American and African diaspora literature, the Harlem Renaissance, and Zora Neale Hurston. The collection includes correspondence, administrative materials related to her work at Rutgers University as well as Crossroads Theatre Company, conference materials, course syllabi and readings, draft writings, and research materials. Materials date from 1966 to 2020.
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