The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

National Urban League records

Repository: Library of Congress. Manuscript Division

Collection Description (CRHP): See the interviews in the series Part II: E. Public Relations File and Part II: F. Research Department.

Collection Description (Extant): The records of the National Urban League span the years 1900-1988, with the bulk of material dating from 1930 to 1979. The records chronicle the organization's community-based work to secure for African Americans equal access to employment, education, health services, housing, and social services. The collection includes correspondence, minutes of meetings, speeches, reports, conference material, surveys, statistical data, financial and legal records, scrapbooks, printed material, and other records and is arranged in seven parts. The first three parts document the activities of the national office and its relationship with affiliate leagues. Although each of these parts spans broad chronological periods, the records in Part I are concentrated in the 1930s and 1950s, Part II focuses largely on the period from 1956 to 1966, and Part III centers on the years 1967-1979. Parts IV and V document the activities of the organization's Washington, D.C., office that lobbied for legislation and served as a liaison between the league and federal agencies. Parts VI and VII contain the records of the league's Southern Regional Office.

Access Copy Note: Restrictions apply governing the use, photoduplication, or publication of items in this collection. Consult reference staff in the Manuscript Division for information concerning these restrictions. In addition, many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.

Date(s): 1900-1988

Digital Status: No

Existing IDs: MSS40774

Extent: 616,000 items ; 2,002 containers ; 821 linear feet ; 19 microfilm reels

Finding Aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms997012

Language: English

Interviewees: C. Nelson Jackson, Whitney Young

Rights (Extant): Copyright in the unpublished writings of the National Urban League in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public.

Subjects:

African American civic leaders
African American civil rights workers
African Americans--Economic conditions
African Americans--Education
African Americans--Employment
African Americans--Social conditions
National Urban League
Race discrimination
Race relations

Genres:

Interviews
Manuscripts
Photographs
Speeches
Transcripts