The largest African-American history and literature collection in the Midwest contains over 75,000 books, many of them rare, 15,000 reels of microfilm, over 4,000 clipping files, and 175 manuscripts and archival collections.  While the Collection includes materials on African-Americans throughout the Diaspora, the primary focus is on African-American History in Chicago and Illinois. The completed finding aides include the Abbott/Sengstacke Family Papers, Babara E. Allen Papers, Timuel D. Black, Jr. Papers, Etta Moten Barnett Papers, Earl B. Dickerson Papers, Francis Minor Papers and the Chicago SNCC History Project Archives, to name a few.

The board and members of the Vivian G. Harsh Society invite you to explore the collection. We welcome your interest and support.

Visit the Chicago Public Library’s page for the Collection.