Archival Collections

The Southern Education Foundation records include the administrative files of the John F. Slater Fund (1882-1937), the Negro Rural School Fund (Anna T. Jeanes Fund)(1907-1937), and the Southern Education Foundation (SEF). The records of these organizations document the activities of philanthropists and educators in helping to provide African Americans in the South with greater educational opportunities. The records of both the John F. Slater Fund and the Anna T. Jeanes Fund include minutes of meetings, annual reports, financial records, and application forms from various states requesting educational aid. The materials in this digital collection represent photographs and scrapbooks ranging from the 1930s to the 1960s. and audio recordings from a meeting in 1997.

This collection contains over 1100 images dating from 1887 to the present and document Spelmans presidents, commencement ceremonies, and campus building and grounds. Also featured are images from Spelmans Department of Drama and Dance from the 1930s to the present.

At the AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library we are always striving to improve our digital collections. We welcome additional information about people, places, or events depicted in any of the works in this collection. To submit information, please contact us at DSD@auctr.edu.

Thomas Clarkson (b. 1760 d. 1846) was a renowned English abolitionist who spent his adult life fighting to end slavery. As a leader in the British anti-slavery society, Clarkson was instrumental in getting the English Parliament to ban the slave trade in 1807 and to abolish the institution of slaver in 1833. The majority of this small collection is comprised of correspondence from Thomas Clarkson and his wife, Catherine, to her father, William Buck. Notable writings by Clarkson include the original essay An Liceat Nolentes In Servitutom Dare? [Is It Lawful to Make Slaves of Others Against Their Will?]. This essay, written in Latin, won the Chancellor's Prize at Cambridge College, England in 1785 and served as the basis for the expanded work, Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, Particularly The African published in 1786.

On September 28-29, 2012, the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library and the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation presented the Tupac Amaru Shakur Collection Conference: "Hip Hop, Education and Expanding the Archival Imagination." The Tupac Amaru Shakur Conference was designed to combine AUC Woodruff Library's mission to facilitate scholarly research and the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation's mission to encourage hip hop curriculum. Works posted to the Library's website from the Tupac Amaru Shakur Collection Conference may be downloaded, archived, and/or printed for noncommercial, educational, and research use. Any further use or dissemination of these works requires the express written permission of the copyright holders.

Virginia Lacy Jones (b. 1912 - d. 1984) was a librarian, educator, author, and among library educators known as "the Dean of Deans." She dedicated almost fifty years of her life to the library profession, thirty-six of which she spent as Dean of the School of Library Service at Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University). Her career began at Atlanta University in 1939 as Catalog Librarian in Trevor Arnett Library.

The Voter Education Project (VEP) began in 1962 as part of the Southern Regional Council. Initially VEP granted funds to civil rights organizations to support voter education, voter registration drives, and voting-related research. In 1964, Vernon Jordan, the second executive director of the VEP, expanded the programs goals to include citizenship training, voter education, and leadership training in the southern United States, while continuing to provide funds to independent voter and civil rights groups, including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the League of Women Voters. The VEP’s work with the League of Women Voters is highlighted in the materials below. In 1971, VEP under the leadership of John Lewis, became an independent organization and functioned as a research center and became known as an authoritative source for statistics on southern elections and voter registration in general. Lewis also forged the VEP into an activist organization, launching Voter Mobilization Tours with Georgia state legislator and civil rights advocate Julian Bond.

Wayman A. Carver (b. 1905 d. 1967), jazz musician and music educator, achieved acclaim for his virtuosity and artistry as a flutist during his tenure from 1934-39 with Chick Webb and his Orchestra. In the series "Giants of Jazz" (International Musician April 1963), Leonard Feather credits Wayman Carver as being internationally recognized as the first and only jazz musician to play the flute during the decade of the 1930s. Wayman Carver, a graduate of the class of 1929, is among the most notable alumni of Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University). Carver was an outstanding student and assisted with instruction and band direction. In 1942, Carver accepted a faculty position in the music department at his alma mater. Carver served on the Clark faculty for twenty-five years and was held in high esteem by his colleagues and students. The Clark College students dedicated the 1952 yearbook to Carver, and the college presented him a trophy and plaque in appreciation of his contributions.