Africana Studies Department records

Collection

Identifier: 3L-Africana

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection includes course materials, correspondence, programs, flyers, and administrative records. Collection also includes materials related to Black Studies programs at other colleges and universities in the United States.

Dates

1964-2010

Creator

Wellesley College. Department of Africana Studies (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research, but contains some material which has been restricted as per the Wellesley College Archives Access Policy: https://www.wellesley.edu/lts/policies/archivesaccess. To make an appointment to view unrestricted materials, please contact the Archives staff by email at archives@wellesley.edu or by phone at (781) 283-3745.

Conditions Governing Use

The Wellesley College Archives welcomes researchers to use materials in the public domain, to make fair use of copyrighted materials as defined by copyright law, and to request permission to use works whose copyright is held by Wellesley College. All materials from the Archives, regardless of copyright status, should be attributed to the Wellesley College Archives, Library and Technology Services, Wellesley College when cited, quoted, or reproduced.

Historical Note

Students and faculty petitioned the college for an Afro-American major during the academic year 1967-1968. In the fall of 1968, the college adopted Afro-American Studies as an interdepartmental major. A committee comprised of one faculty member from each of the Departments of Economics, History, Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology was selected to direct the work of majors. Kathryn Preyer, the History Department member of the committee, was designated as director and held the position from 1968-1970.

In 1970 the name was changed to the Black Studies Program; no specific faculty member is identified as director for 1970-1972. In 1972, William R. Scott, Assistant Professor of History, became director of the Black Studies Program. On May 18, 1973, the Academic Council voted to make Black Studies a department. In April 1992, the department's name was changed to the Africana Studies Department.

Extent

7.1 Linear Feet (5 record cartons, 1 Hollinger letter-sized box, and 1 flat storage box.)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Overview

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in the following series:

I. Correspondence

II. Course materials

III. Department administration

IV. Other colleges and universities

V. Restricted materials

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The collection is made up of accessions that were all given to the archives by the Africana Studies department at different points in time.

Processing Information

An initial collection of materials was processed in the early 1990s. In 2001, accessions A89-016, A94-059, A94-072, A94-074, A96-013 were added to the already processed records. Simmons intern, Judith Garner, processed the resulting collection. Information on the computer disk in A96-013 was printed out, and the disk discarded. General college publications were distributed to the appropriate series.