*Africana Studies: Subject Guide

These local Special Collections/archival collections are of particular interest for African-American history:

Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History  A division of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System - the nation's second largest archives specializing in the history of African Americans and Africans in the Diaspora.

GSU Library Special Collections and Archives  Located on the 8th floor of Library South. Collection areas are Southern Labor, Popular Music, Women's Collections, Georgia Government Documentation Project, University Archives, Rare Books, and Photographs.

Emory University's Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library (MARBL)  Collections span more than 800 years of history — with particular depth in modern literature, African American history, and the history of Georgia and the South.

Spelman College Archives  Archives focusing specifically on the institutional history of Spelman College. 

Archives and Special Collections, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center  Special Collections/Archives for the Atlanta University Center, including Spelman College, Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University, and the Interdenominational Theological Center

Atlanta History Center Archives (Kenan Research Center) Collects primary and secondary source materials in all formats conveying the history of Atlanta and the culture of the American south.  Besides Atlanta materials, collection strengths include the Civil War, southeast family history, architecture & decorative arts, and garden history.

Georgia Archives  Run by the Archives & History Division of the Georgia government - collects, manages, and preserves official records of Georgia from 1732 to the present. Materials include vital records, land records, federal and state census records, photographs, and much more.

Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library of the University of Georgia  Includes the Rare Book Collection, Historical Manuscripts, and the Georgiana Collection. Subject interests include Georgia, book arts, theater, music, history, literature, journalism and genealogy.

Jimmy Carter Library & Museum  Part of the Presidential Library system administered by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

National Archives - Southeast Region, Atlanta  Regional library administered by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

Georgia Historical Society  Oldest and most distinguished collection of materials related exclusively to Georgia history in the nation. Locations in Atlanta and Savannah.

ArchiveGrid is a freely available site from OCLC which includes nearly two million archival material descriptions from repositories in the US, including records from WorldCat and finding aids harvested from the web.

• Browsable by topic, US state, country
• Using "Result Overview," results can be sorted by a number of options, including person, group, place, archive, archive location, and topics(Library of Congress Subject Headings)
• Each result also includes contact information for repository holding that collection.

If you have questions about finding aids or an archives' holdings, look for contact information and contact the archives directly. Archivists know their collections well and can help you learn more about a collection, whether you can order reproductions of materials, etc.

If you are planning to visit an archives, it's best to contact the archives directly before you visit, to learn about registration procedures and other rules the archives may have for using their resources.

For more information about doing archival research, please see our Archival Research guide!