The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Kenneth Bancroft Clark papers

Repository: Library of Congress. Manuscript Division

Collection Description (CRHP): There are many interviews in this collection, both of Clark and his interviews of African American subjects for his studies. See the following series:

Professional File, 1897-1995: Speeches and Writings, 1933-1994, Interviews, 1954-1993

Professional File, 1897-1995: Social Dynamics Research Institute, 1954-1968, Interviews 1964-65

Professional File, 1897-1995: Social Dynamics Research Institute, 1954-1968, “Depth study” (interviews with Harlem residents)

Professional File, 1897-1995: Social Dynamics Research Institute, 1954-1968, Interviews with community workers (transcripts of tape recordings), 1965

Professional File, 1897-1995: Subject File, 1897-1979, Student interviews with principals of New York City public schools, 1953

Collection Description (Extant): The papers of Kenneth Bancroft Clark (1914- ) span the years 1897-1994, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1935-1990. The collection is sizable and covers the full range of Clark's career. The material is arranged broadly into family papers, professional papers, and records of the Metropolitan Applied Research Center (MARC), a research group headed by Clark and organized to advocate for the urban poor and disadvantaged, and a small group of records of a local New York City division of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Included are correspondence, memoranda, subject files, speeches and writings, project files, transcripts of interviews and testimony, book drafts, minutes, reports, administrative records, financial records, printed matter, and secondary background material.

The Clark Papers provide a comprehensive account of the numerous and significant contributions Clark made to the African-American community's struggle for equal civil rights and improved educational opportunities. As a social psychologist, Clark recognized racial segregation's effects on those who were discriminated against as well as on the morality of those who imposed segregation. Sometimes referred to as an “incorrigible integrationist,” Clark opposed all forms of racial discrimination in his writings, talks, and activities with a wide array of civil rights and community service organizations, antipoverty programs, educational institutions, social action groups, government agencies, and consultantships.

Access Copy Note: The papers of Kenneth Bancroft Clark are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.

Items have been transferred from the Manuscript Division to other custodial divisions of the Library. Motion picture films and sound and video recordings have been transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. Most photographs have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division. Maps have been transferred to the Geography and Map Division. All transfers are identified in these divisions as part of the Kenneth Bancroft Clark Papers.

Date(s): 1897-1994

Digital Status: No

Existing IDs: MSS78303

Extent: 168,500 items ; 487 containers ; 196 linear feet ; 1 microfilm reel

Finding Aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms998002

Language: English

Interviewees: Kenneth Bancroft Clark

Rights (Extant): Copyright in the unpublished writings of Kenneth Bancroft Clark 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 college teachers
African American families
African American psychologists
African Americans--Social conditions
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
HARYOU (Organization)
Metropolitan Applied Research Center
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Poverty
Race discrimination--Psychological aspects
Sociologists
Universal Negro Improvement Association

Genres:

Interviews
Manuscripts
Photographs
Sound recordings
Transcripts