January 16: Exhibition highlights Blockson Collection
In honor of Black History Month, the University Libraries are highlighting the acquisition of the Charles L. Blockson Collection of African Americana and the African Diaspora in an exhibition, "Celebrating a Legacy: The Charles L. Blockson Collection of African Americana and the African Diaspora."
The exhibition is on display in the Diversity Studies Room, 109 Pattee Library, Friday, January 16 to March 2, 2009. It celebrates Blockson's Penn State legacy and showcases the holdings of his collection that foster an appreciation for the rich political, cultural, and historical contributions of Africans in America and across the globe. (right: from the Charles L. Blockson Collection, "Miles: The Autobiography," is the moving story of jazz artist Miles Davis' life). The curator of the exhibition is Pia Deas, special collections graduate assistant for the Charles L. Blockson Collection of African-Americana and the African Diaspora and Ph.D. candidate in English at Penn State, specializing in African American Literature.
Now in his 70s, Blockson has built a legacy to the African American experience and made an important contribution to African American history by building library collections at Penn State and Temple University in Philadelphia. In addition to serving as the curator of the Temple University collection, he has written a dozen historical guides on African American history, including several devoted to black Pennsylvania history: Philadelphia's Guide: African-American State Historical Markers (1992), Pennsylvania's Black History (1975), and the Underground Railroa
d in Pennsylvania (1982).
Penn State's collection, The Charles L. Blockson Collection of African Americana and the African Diaspora, opened in January of 2008. Administered by the Special Collections Library, it is located on the third floor of Pattee Library, west. The collection, which is not yet fully cataloged, includes approximately 10,000 items, the majority of which are books that cover a wide range of subjects. There are also collections of sheet music, postcards, record albums, and manuscript materials that document the lives of influential African Americans, with a special emphasis on Paul Robeson. Researchers might be particularly interested in unique materials that vividly relate to the African-American slave experience, including letters of sale and a set of shackles from Bristol, Rhode Island, an important 19th-century slave-trading center. (left: Poet Ntozake Shange and artist Romare Bearden collaborated on this visually stunning book, "I Live in Music")
The focus of the Penn State collection is on the African Diaspora, the pattern of migration that traces the movement of blacks from their African homelands to areas around the world, most notably in South America (Brazil and Guyana, for example), the Caribbean, and, of course, in the United States. The collection includes books on historical explorations of the roots of African pop music, cultural studies of Santeria, translated books, and travel memoirs among many others. For instance, the collection includes Tété-Michel Kpomassie's memoir, An African in Greenland, as well as examples of esteemed African American writers' world-wide influence through translations of Richard Wright's work in French, Jeunesse Noire (Black Boy) and Jazu, a translation of Langston Hughes' First Book of Jazz into Japanese.
The exhibition is organized by major themes, including the Civil Rights Movement, religion, music, sports, and memoirs. It also spotlights Blockson's interest in children's books. His collection includes not only popular favorites such as Mildred Taylor's trilogy of the Logan Family in Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, Let the Circle Be Unbroken, and The Road to Memphis, but also perhaps lesser known works, such as poet Langston Hughes's charmingly illustrated My First Book of Jazz.
For more information about the Charles L. Blockson Collection, contact The Special Collections Library, (814) 865-1793, or visit the Web page at www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/speccolls/rare_books/blockson.html
The exhibition is on display in the Diversity Studies Room, 109 Pattee Library, Friday, January 16 to March 2, 2009. It celebrates Blockson's Penn State legacy and showcases the holdings of his collection that foster an appreciation for the rich political, cultural, and historical contributions of Africans in America and across the globe. (right: from the Charles L. Blockson Collection, "Miles: The Autobiography," is the moving story of jazz artist Miles Davis' life). The curator of the exhibition is Pia Deas, special collections graduate assistant for the Charles L. Blockson Collection of African-Americana and the African Diaspora and Ph.D. candidate in English at Penn State, specializing in African American Literature.
Now in his 70s, Blockson has built a legacy to the African American experience and made an important contribution to African American history by building library collections at Penn State and Temple University in Philadelphia. In addition to serving as the curator of the Temple University collection, he has written a dozen historical guides on African American history, including several devoted to black Pennsylvania history: Philadelphia's Guide: African-American State Historical Markers (1992), Pennsylvania's Black History (1975), and the Underground Railroa
d in Pennsylvania (1982). Penn State's collection, The Charles L. Blockson Collection of African Americana and the African Diaspora, opened in January of 2008. Administered by the Special Collections Library, it is located on the third floor of Pattee Library, west. The collection, which is not yet fully cataloged, includes approximately 10,000 items, the majority of which are books that cover a wide range of subjects. There are also collections of sheet music, postcards, record albums, and manuscript materials that document the lives of influential African Americans, with a special emphasis on Paul Robeson. Researchers might be particularly interested in unique materials that vividly relate to the African-American slave experience, including letters of sale and a set of shackles from Bristol, Rhode Island, an important 19th-century slave-trading center. (left: Poet Ntozake Shange and artist Romare Bearden collaborated on this visually stunning book, "I Live in Music")
The focus of the Penn State collection is on the African Diaspora, the pattern of migration that traces the movement of blacks from their African homelands to areas around the world, most notably in South America (Brazil and Guyana, for example), the Caribbean, and, of course, in the United States. The collection includes books on historical explorations of the roots of African pop music, cultural studies of Santeria, translated books, and travel memoirs among many others. For instance, the collection includes Tété-Michel Kpomassie's memoir, An African in Greenland, as well as examples of esteemed African American writers' world-wide influence through translations of Richard Wright's work in French, Jeunesse Noire (Black Boy) and Jazu, a translation of Langston Hughes' First Book of Jazz into Japanese.
The exhibition is organized by major themes, including the Civil Rights Movement, religion, music, sports, and memoirs. It also spotlights Blockson's interest in children's books. His collection includes not only popular favorites such as Mildred Taylor's trilogy of the Logan Family in Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, Let the Circle Be Unbroken, and The Road to Memphis, but also perhaps lesser known works, such as poet Langston Hughes's charmingly illustrated My First Book of Jazz.
For more information about the Charles L. Blockson Collection, contact The Special Collections Library, (814) 865-1793, or visit the Web page at www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/speccolls/rare_books/blockson.html
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