• Photographs - The collections will constitute one of the most important collecting areas in the Gregory School library’s archival collections. Visual aids such as photos are clearly one of the most important components of historical research and something that virtually everyone in our visually-oriented society relates to.
• Oral history recordings - Oral histories will be an important component of the Gregory School’s historic collections. Oral history interviews will be conducted with people who have made important contributions to Houston’s African American experience. The tapes will be transcribed and researchers may have access to both the typed transcripts and the original taped interview. Some of the interviews will be posted online in order to broaden their availability to researchers unable to visit the Gregory School in person.
Find out how to contribute an oral history.
• Manuscripts - The African American Library will collect the personal and professional papers of African American Houstonians in order to arrange, describe, and catalog these manuscript collections for use by researchers. The types of papers collected will include the papers of businesses, religious organizations, social clubs, service organizations, families, individuals, and cultural organizations.
• Government papers and records - Documents that are important to Houston’s African American history, such as those relating to the establishment of San Felipe Courts (later Allen Parkway Village), the effort to have Freedmen’s Town added to the National Register of Historic Places, or copies of military records relating to the 1917 Camp Logan race riot, in which several African American soldiers were murdered, are within the scope of our collection policies.
• Books, pamphlets, newspapers and clippings - The archives will collect published works, including books and newspapers, relating to the history of African Americans in Houston, and any print materials that support the Archive’s manuscript collections. Reference works that assist researchers in their historical investigations will be included in the Gregory School’s collections.
• Ephemera - A variety of materials documenting Houston’s African American history and culture. May include personal family archives that traces family history, as well as audiovisual materials on Videos, DVD’s, LPs, and other formats that captures the African American cultural, musical, historical, and social experience.
