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How One Private
Collection Built a Public Institution
By Steven Fullwood
Consider
for a moment if distinguished Puerto Rican-born Black scholar and bibliophile, Arturo
Alfonso Schomburg, never had the notion to collect black historical materials. That would
mean several things, one being that the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture,
the largest repository for Black materials in the world, wouldn’t exist. Fortunately,
it does and we are grateful that Mr. Schomburg deemed black culture important enough to
collect it.
Schomburg amassed an astounding amount of materials created by or about Africans and
people of African descent. Prior to his collection's purchase by the New York Public
Library, Schomburg’s house was filled to the brim with books, papers, documents,
pamphlets and prints that covered his walls.
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The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
135th and Lenox Ave., Harlem, NY |
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Schomburg served as curator of the
collection from 1932 until his death in 1938. Renamed in his honor in
1940, the collection grew steadily through the years.
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In 1972, the collection was
designated as one of The Research Libraries of The New York Public
Library and became the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Schomburg's collection forms the core of the Center’s collections. Today,
the Schomburg Center's mission is to collect, preserve and make available its voluminous
and diverse collections.
So is it likely that that the Schomburg Center will come
knocking at your door for that stack of old Ebony magazines collecting dust in your
basement? Well, don’t hold your breath.
One of the ways the Center fulfills its mission is to curate exhibitions that interpret
collections it already owns. Howard Dodson, Chief of the Center, speaks about that
mission. “The exhibitions interpret the collections we have here [at the Center]. The
ideas for our exhibitions emanate from that vantage point.”
There are however exception to the rule. “If there is not enough breadth within the
Center’s collections, then that’s when we will approach private
collectors,” remarked Dodson.
One of the current exhibitions, “Lest We Forget: Triumph Over Slavery,” takes
great pains to illuminate the Transatlantic Slave trade. Although the exhibition is
comprised primarily of materials from the Center’s collections, it also contains
items from private collectors.
“Because there was a three-dimensional aspect to the exhibition, we sought material
from private collectors to enhance the visual experience of the exhibition,” Dodson
said.
Bobbi Yancy, Assistant Director for Public Affairs and Development, added that Lest We
Forget was a rare exception. “Generally our exhibitions are totally constructed from
our collections,” Yancey remarked.
These collections that include books, papers, fine art and audio and video media come to
the Center in a variety of ways: donations, gifts and sometimes purchases. Over the years,
the exhibitions have ranged from slavery, artists and photographers and the planning of
each exhibition is highly individualized.
For example, the Center produced “Who’s Uptown Harlem,” an exhibition of
artists who lived and created in Harlem. A survey conducted to identify artists helped
Center personnel construct the exhibition and as a result, some artists’ works were
purchased by the Center to fill gaps in its collections. In 1998, Schomburg’s
“Black New York Artists of the 20th Century: Selections from the Center
Collections” celebrated the presence and role of Black artists in the making of both
the city’s and nation’s heritage. Artists' donations coupled with a collection
development component augmented the Center’s already tremendous collections.
As the Schomburg continues to celebrate its 75th Anniversary with well over 5 million
items in its collections, it will continue to feature exhibitions that inform, captivate
and dazzle the public. Just keep in mind that it was one man’s collection that
started it all and it was more than just a stack of dusty magazines.
M
February 2001
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