New collections and guides
available now from the
Virginia Black History Archives
web site.

Fall 1996:

The first collection to be made available on the internet from the Virginia Black History Archives database can now be accessed from this web site. The Church Hill Oral History Collection is comprised of transcripts of interviews with thirty-five individuals conducted in 1982, all of whom were then current or former residents of Richmond's historic Church Hill neighborhood. The interviews were part of a project documenting Church Hill's history and was coordinated by Akida T. Mensah, president of the East End Think Action Committee. Participants include several individuals born in the 1890s as well as business, professional, and civic leaders.

Spring 1997:

African-American Richmond: Educational Segregation and Integration.
Transcripts of oral history interviews with Richmond area residents on their experiences with educational segregation and integration. Participants included college professors, former teachers, and former students. Interviews were conducted in 1992 by VCU students.

Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church Archives.
Guide to the collection which contains written histories of Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, founded in 1867, and other church materials.

Clarence L. Townes, Jr. Papers.
The guide to the papers of Clarence L. Townes, Jr. is now available. Townes has been a leader in Richmond's African-American community for over 30 years. He served as Special Advisor for Minorities to the Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), from 1967-1970, following a similar responsibility for the Virginia Republican Party in 1966. Prior to that appointment he had run for a seat in the House of Delegates in Virginia's General Assembly. After working in the private sector in the mid-1970s, Townes became deputy director of Richmond Renaissance, a non-profit, corporation formed to foster economic development in downtown Richmond. Townes served as Richmond Renaissance's deputy director from 1982 until 1991 when he was then appointed director.

The collection includes memoranda, reports, newspaper clippings, numerous publications, correspondence, speeches, campaign materials, photographs, and other materials.

Fall 1997:

Guide to the Astoria Beneficial Club Archives. The Astoria Beneficial Club (ABC) was established as an African-American social club in Richmond, Virginia in 1901 but eventually became a beneficial club that paid out sick dues and burial benefits to its members. Astoria donated money to organizations that benefitted the community, such as the NAACP and the local Colored YMCA, and to individuals in need. The Club also set up scholarships at Virginia Union University and honored individuals and businesses in the area for their community service. The organization is still active in Richmond.

The collection includes minutes, correspondence, committee reports and other materials. The date range of these archives spans the years 1906 to 1947. The minutes are from the years 1906 to 1909, 1911 to 1927, 1935 to 1941, 1943, and 1947. There are minutes missing from each of the above years.

Guide to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia Archives. The museum was established in Richmond's Jackson Ward in 1988, after an effort that began in 1981 to establish a museum that focused on the city's African-American history. The collection includes correspondence, reports, architect's plans, minutes, and publications. The collection is part of the J. Rupert Picott Papers.

Guide to the John M. Brooks NAACP Collection. Brooks, one of the founders of the Richmond Crusade for Voters, worked as national director of voter registration efforts for the NAACP from 1956-1958. The material in the collection focus primarily on Brooks' work in the South and includes reports, correspondence, memoranda (1956-58), newspaper clippings, and a few issues of The Candle, the Virginia State Conference-NAACP Newsletter.

Guide to the Richmond Crusade for Voters Archives Founded in 1956, the organization has sought to increase the influence of African-Americans in the political process in Richmond, Virginia. Its goals have included increased voter registration among blacks, endorsement of candidates favoring programs of benefit to the African-American community, and to increase voter turnout. The collection was begun in 1995 by William Armstead Thorton, historian for the Crusade. It includes photocopies of minutes, correspondence, historian's reports, newsletters, newspaper clippings (dating from the 1950s until 1995), campaign flyers for various candidates, financial reports and other materials. The date range of the collection, from the early 1950s until 1995, spans the history of the organization.

Guide to the J. Rupert Picott Papers. Picott (1916-1989), a career educator, began his work in the public schools of Newport News, Virginia. In 1944 he became the Executive Director of the Virginia Teachers Association and served in that post to 1966. From 1965-1970 he led the Virginia Statewide Independent Voters league. In 1972 he was named Executive Director of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and editor of the Negro History Bulletin. He was a key promoter of Black History Month in the United States.

The collection includes memoranda, correspondence, reports, programs, manuscripts, booklets and photographs. Most of the material deals with education and with efforts to teach and publicize black history. The collection is housed at the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia.

Guide to the Samuel Wilbert Tucker Collection. Tucker (1913-1990), a Richmond civil-rights lawyer active in desegregation efforts in Virginia in the 1950s and 1960s, was the senior member of the firm of Hill, Tucker and Marsh and a cooperating attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. Throughout his career, Tucker was active in efforts to end desegregation, principally in Virginia's public school systems.

The collection contains photocopies of newspaper articles on desegregation efforts in Virginia, primarily from 1960-1964, though other years are represented (articles on other civil rights issues are also included). Many of the issues addressed in the newspaper articles are ones in which Tucker played a role. Photocopies of some correspondence and other materials are also included in the collection.

Portions of other collections from the Virginia Black History Archives will be made available in the months ahead.

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