African and African Diaspora / African American Collections

The African and African Diaspora/African American collections at the University of Texas at Austin include materials in print, online, microform and other formats. Strengths of the UT Library collections include civil rights, human rights, slavery and Southern and Latin American and Caribbean history.

The materials in the University of Texas Libraries (Perry-Castaneda Library and Benson Latin American Collection) are augmented by the collections of the Harry Ransom Center, The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History and the LBJ Presidential Library on campus. African American art is included in the collections of the Blanton Museum of Art.

Extensive collections of U.S. and Southern History have been funded since 1914 by the Littlefield Fund for Southern History in addition to other sources. UT Libraries owns the Papers of the NAACP, records of the Black Freedom Struggle and other primary sources online. Plantation records are owned both online and on microfilm and are supplemented by original documents in the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History (notably the Natchez Trace Collection).

Historical newspapers have been purchased in print format for more than 100 years. Online African American (and African) newspapers are also owned by the library. Unique holdings of African American newspapers are included in our microform collections. A unique collection which continues to be developed is the Black Queer Studies Collection.

The African collections, due to recent course development have less depth of coverage than other parts of the collection. Included are works by major and academic publishers along with sub-collections built in consultation with faculty. South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Algeria are more developed collecting areas. Among our important African collections, are the online African Maps, part of the Perry-Castaneda Map Collection. It is the largest online collection of public domain maps and includes all African countries. The Historical Census Collection, formerly in the Population Research Center, includes census publications from a number of African countries. Census publications for Latin America and the Caribbean are in the Benson Latin American Collection.