COLLECTIONS:

Special Collections

University Archives

Collection Preservation

Research Collections:
Black Studies Collection

Collection Overview
The development of the black studies collection follows the research and teaching emphases of the Black Studies Program.  Black Studies at Boston College is an interdisciplinary program which offers or co-sponsors over 40 courses each year in several disciplines, including history, literature, sociology, philosophy, theology, and fine arts. The libraries collect material relating to African, African-American, and Afro-Caribbean aspects of these fields to support these courses.  Materials in Black Studies are also used by students in the core courses.  The Black Studies program was founded in 1969.  Currently, students may minor in Black Studies or design a Black Studies major as an Independent Major.

Some of the research interests of the faculty include: economic, social, political and diplomatic history of the Caribbean; history of Sub-Saharan Africa; Christianity in Africa; history of the African Diaspora; black social and political thought; history of African-American women; black studies in higher education; narrative theory in African American literature; literature of the diaspora; post-colonial studies in the Caribbean; jazz and gospel music.

There has been a tremendous growth in print, audiovisual and electronic materials in this area.  Electronic databases have been acquired. Ethnic Newswatch database and African-American Newspapers: Nineteenth Century  (CD-ROM) provide full- text access to primary sources.  The Transatlantic Slave Trade: A Database on CD-ROM is a recent addition in the O'Neill Library Media Center. Other databases in the area of black studies are currently under review for addition to the collection.

Marilyn Grant
Black Studies Bibliographer
617-552-4452
E-Mail: grant@bc.edu

Selected Resources

In the O'Neill Library:

• Collected works and critical editions of major African-American writers and scholars.

• Important sets: Schomburg Collection of Nineteenth Century American Writers, Bibliographic Guide to Black Studies.

• Reference works: Encyclopedia Africana, Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, New York Public Library African-American Desk Reference.

• Journals to support the subject areas taught by the department.

• Indexes and abstracts: Kaiser Index to Black Periodicals, Index to Black Periodicals, Black Newspapers Index, America: History and Life, Humanities Index, Social Sciences Index, Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, Historical Abstracts.

• Full text on CD-ROM: African-American Newspapers (19th Century).

On the Web (Restricted to the BC Community):

• Subject index to the literature: Ethnic Newswatch

• General indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Web of Science), Expanded Academic Index ASAP (InfoTrac).

• Full text databases: LION: Literature Online (contains African American poetry); Ethnic Newswatch. Ethnic Newswatch provides full-text of magazines and newspapers. The starting date of coverage is listed or inclusive dates are given. Magazines that are currently covered are: About Time (1/94); Black Enterprise (1/94); Black Issues in Higher Education  (2/94); Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noire (10/96); Contemporara Magazine (1/94); Diversity Magazine (1/99); Emerge (2/93); Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (9/93); NABJ Journal (1/94); Research in African Literature (3/97); among others. Ethnic Newswatch currently covers the following African American newspapers: Atlanta Inquirer (10/91); Baltimore Afro-American (10/92); Bay State Banner (3/92); Chicago Citizen (11/91); Los Angeles Sentinel (10/91); New York Amsterdam News (1/93); New York Beacon (5/93); New York Voice/Harlem USA (3/92); Philadelphia Tribune (1/91); Seattle Skanner (10/91); Washington Afro-American (10/92); Washington Informer  (1/92); The Weekly Journal (2/93-1/98); among others.

• Full text electronic journals: African American Review, Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, Callaloo, Journal of Negro History, among others.  Other electronic journals relating to African-American studies may be found at the following e-journal gateways: JSTOR and Project Muse.

• Other databases in the humanities: Subject Indexes to Online Databases: Humanities.  This web page also has links to databases outside the humanities.

Research Guides
More information about available resources can be found in the following resource guides: Research Guide: African-American Studies and African-American Literature.

Interdisciplinary Elements of Subject Area
Black studies is interdisciplinary per se.  Scholarly works and works written for the general reader are being published in every discipline.

Formats and Types of Materials
Formats collected include print, electronic, microform, and audiovisual. Types of materials include monographs, serials, and reference works including major indexes, abstracts, catalogs, bibliographies, yearbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, research guides, and directories.

Languages
Materials relating to black studies published in English are the primary focus of the collection.  Materials published in French, German, Italian, Spanish, or Creole may be purchased if an English translation is not available.

Geographic Areas (Subject Approach)
The Caribbean and Africa are emphasized in addition to North America.  Studies of people of African descent in other areas of the world (Europe, Asia, South America) may also be collected.

Time Periods (Subject Approach)
Time periods are less significant than subject or geographic considerations.

Date of Publication
Current imprints are emphasized. Modern editions of classics as well as reprints of significant works are also emphasized.  Older publications may be purchased to fill in gaps in the collection, as replacement copies, or to reflect a new research interest in the program.

Subject Areas Collected by Library of Congress Classification Number
BCAT, the online catalog, can be searched by LC classification number to get a better idea of what specific titles the black studies collection contains.  For example, the command c=E184.5 will produce the beginning of a list of works on African-American history.  This list can be browsed by pressing the F8 key or typing f and pressing the Enter/Return key.