Announcement of New Collection in American Memory

[Danna Bell-Russel]

Good morning,

The following announces a new addition to the American Memory online
collections at the Library of Congress. Please accept our apologies for
any duplicate postings.

>From Slavery to Freedom: The African-American Pamphlet Collection,
1824-1909

Pamphlets documenting the African-American experience from slavery to
the early twentieth century are the most recent addition to the American
Memory historical collections.  From Slavery to Freedom: The
African-American Pamphlet Collection, 1824-1909 contains 397 pamphlets
written by African Americans and others on a variety of subjects
relating to African-American history, including slavery, African
colonization, Emancipation, and Reconstruction. The materials range from

personal accounts and public orations to organizational reports and
legislative speeches.  Authors include Lydia Maria Child, Alexander
Crummell, Frederick Douglass, Kelly Miller, Charles Sumner, Mary Church
Terrell, and Booker T. Washington.

>From Slavery to Freedom offers page images of each pamphlet as well as
fully searchable transcribed texts and browse lists organized by author,
title, and subject.  A special presentation highlights approximately
twenty collection titles.  These include The Life of James Mars, a
first-person account of slave life in Connecticut; The Influential
Appeal to the Christian Women of the South by abolitionist Angelina
Emily Grimké; a turn-of-the-century voting manual for African-American
men; and a speech by Booker T. Washington advocating support for
initiatives to educate African Americans.

Although they do not offer a comprehensive history of African-American
life, these pamphlets provide insight into the ideas and events of their
day in a historically important physical format that often fails to
survive the test of time.  Those interested in publishing will enjoy the
variety of papers, type faces, and printing methods used to produce
these materials.

The African American Pamphlet Collection was accessioned in 1990-91 from
a miscellaneous pamphlet collection in the Library's Rare Book and
Special Collections Division.  The pamphlets were singled out for their
significance to African-American history and recataloged to enhance
access.  The collection complements the division's Daniel A.P. Murray
Pamphlet Collection, which is also a part of American Memory (URL:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aap/).

The online presentation of the African American Pamphlet Collection was
made possible by a major gift from the Citicorp Foundation, and is part
of a five-year effort to add rare and unique items from the Library's
vast African-American collections to the National Digital Library.

>From Slavery to Freedom: The African-American Pamphlet Collection,
1824-1909 can be found at the following URL:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aapchtml/

Please direct any questions to ndlpcoll at loc.gov

--
Danna C. Bell-Russel
National Digital Library Learning Center
202-707-4159
dbell at loc.gov