Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

1925 - present

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture was founded by Arturo Alfonso Schomburg who was born in Puerto Rico in 1874. For over 30 years, he traveled and collected materials to research and preserve the Black history and culture that was missing from classrooms. With a desire to provide the public with free access to these materials, he refused private offers and made the collection available at the 135th Street Branch Library as a special collection in 1925. Schomburg’s collection was then purchased by the New York Public Library for $10,000, funded by the Carnegie Corporation. In 1972, 135th Street Branch was designated as a research library of NYPL and became the Schomburg Center that stands today. The center was expanded in 1991 to include exhibition galleries, a threatre, and an auditorium. It was declared a national historical landmark by the National Park Service in 2017. Schomburg’s collection today consists of books, manuscripts, etchings, paintings, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, sheet music, textiles, music, motion pictures, recordings, and more from Schomburg’s original collection and NYPL additions.

View of the 135th St. Library/Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
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Details

Category
Library
Audience
All Ages
Founder(s)
Arturo Alfonso Schomburg
Tags
research, Blackculture, library, expansion, philanthropy, collection

Location

  • 515 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, NY 10037, USA
    ? - ?

Archival Collections

References

  1. About the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The New York Public Library. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nypl.org/about/locations/schomburg
  2. McFadden, S. (2019, November 1). Harlem's Schomburg Center: Celebrating the history and culture of the black experience. Carnegie Corporation of New York. Retrieved from https://www.carnegie.org/news/articles/harlems-schomburg-center-celebrating-history-and-culture-black-experience/
  3. NYPL Staff. (2020, October 5). Arturo A. Schomburg: His life and legacy. The New York Public Library. Retrieved from https://www.nypl.org/blog/2020/10/05/arturo-schomburg-his-life-and-legacy
  4. Schomburg negro library sold. (1926, May 26). The New York Amsterdam News (1922-1938) Retrieved from http://ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/schomburg-negro-library-sold/docview/226297938/se-2?accountid=10226