The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Smithsonian Institution. National Museum of American History. Archives Center

Archives Center
National Museum of American History
12th, 14th & Constitution Avenue
Washington, District of Columbia 20560-0601

Email: [email protected]

Fax: 202-786-2453

Phone: 202-633-3270

Repository URL: http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/b-1.htm

Repository code: dsiac

Repository description (extant): The Archives Center's collections complement the Museum's artifacts and are used for scholarly research, exhibitions, publications, documentary productions, school programs, and other research and educational activities.

The Archives Center holds more than 1,200 collections which are stored in the American History building and at off-site storage locations. In addition to paper-based textual records, many Center collections contain photographs, motion picture films, videotapes, and sound recordings.

The topics of technology, advertising, and music offer one way to categorize the Archives Center's varied holdings, but the collections are rich in important historical themes and topics that cut across these lines. For example, collections in each category are sources for understanding the roles and activities of women in the American past. Many Archives Center collections document entrepreneurial activity in which invention and marketing are inextricably linked. The creation of nationally recognized brands and corporate identities and commercial depictions of gender, ethnicity, and other cultural categories are well represented in the holdings.

With few exceptions, Archives Center collections are acquired by donation, often in conjunction with the acquisition of related artifacts and in collaboration with the Museum's curatorial staff. Documentation projects -- including oral and video histories -- actively create new research collections. The Museum's ability to acquire and care for artifacts and archival materials in all physical formats and to generate contemporary documentation gives it a unique capacity to record the complexity and richness of the American experience.

Repository type: Federal Repository

Collections:

Program in African American Culture collection
Moses Moon collection
Scurlock Studio records
Joan and Robert K. Morrison collection