Click image for large view Martin Luther King, Jr. Cleveland Press, May 16, 1967 Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection

February 12, 2009, marks the 100^th anniversary of the founding of the NAACP and the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. Cleveland Public Library commemorates these historic anniversaries with the publication of In Their Own Words: The Documents of African American History: A Guide to Microform Collections at Cleveland Public Library. (Click here to view the guide.)

Cleveland Public Library has one of the largest collections of resources on African American culture and history in any public library in the United States. In addition to owning nearly every English-language book and periodical title included in The Harvard Guide to African American History, which includes 15,000 titles and covers every area of endeavor, the Library's collection includes more than 5 million pages of primary source African American history documents on microfilm. 

The Papers of the NAACP, 1909-1970, is among the most prominent of these collections. Consisting of more than one million documents, this collection can be used to conduct in-depth research on the evolution of civil rights for African Americans over the course of the 20th century, a path that has led to the White House in this historic anniversary year. [See pages 9 and 10 of the guide (parts 12, 26 & 27) for the location of records pertaining to the Cleveland office.]

Other collections include letters of luminaries such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Mary McLeod Bethune; the historical records of organizations such as the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); and unique collections such as The Records of the Southern Plantations.

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MORE INFORMATION

EXAMPLES OF HOW THESE COLLECTIONS CAN BE USED

• High School Students: History Day Projects, Research Papers, Personal Research
• Teachers: Class Assignments focusing on specific topics, letters or documents
• College/University Students: Research Papers, Theses, Reports
• Graduate Students: Dissertations
• Professional and Amateur Historians: Personal Research
• Genealogists: Genealogical Research

WHY MICROFILM?

Microfilm has long made it possible for Cleveland Public Library to offer immediate, local access to the contents of important historical archives and collections from throughout the United States and around the world. To view the documents that are part of the microfilm collection Records of Southern Plantations, for example, one would otherwise have to travel to dozens of archives throughout the southern United States. While online digital collections are gradually replacing microfilm access, it is important to note that only a small percentage of existing historical documents are available online due to the high cost of making extensive collections available in digital format. Most of the collections included in this guide are not available online.

HOW DO I GET STARTED?

We highly recommend that you start your research with the printed guides that accompany most of the larger collections in this guide. These guides enable the researcher to focus quickly on specific groups of documents. Teachers may also find them useful in creating class assignments based on documents that relate to specific topics. Librarians are always glad to assist you.

WHERE IS THE MICROFILM LOCATED?

With a few exceptions as noted, all of the microfilm collections are located in Main Library's Microform Center (Main Building, 1^st floor). The location of the printed guides that accompany each microfilm collection is noted in each collection description.

CAN I DO ANY WORK FROM HOME/SCHOOL?

Yes. Since many of the printed guides are available online, you can do much preliminary planning at home or school so that you can make effective use of your time at the Library. The Web addresses of online guides are noted within each collection description.

WHAT IS A PRIMARY SOURCE?

Primary sources bring the researcher as close as possible to being an eyewitness to the event or time period being described. These are works created at the time of the event or time period being depicted. Printed and written primary sources, for example, include the words of someone who participated in the event, witnessed the event or got information directly from someone who participated in the event. Examples of the different types of primary sources include the following:

• Written documents: letters, manuscripts, diaries
• Printed documents: books, magazine articles, newspaper articles (written at the time of the event being described)
• Government documents: census records, government reports & correspondence, birth certificates
• Visual artifacts: photographs, films, illustrations, maps, cartoons, drawings, posters, paintings
• Oral artifacts: oral histories, recorded speeches, music
• Physical artifacts: furniture, tools, toys, clothing, appliances

WHAT IS A SECONDARY SOURCE?

Secondary sources are works that involve the interpretation of a historical event by someone using primary sources or other secondary sources. Well-researched secondary sources can help the researcher gain an overview of an event or historical period and can be used to verify the accuracy and reliability of primary sources. Secondary sources often contain excellent bibliographies that can be used to identify important primary sources in your area of research.