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Collections

These seventeen collections gather together for the first time a range of archival material from published and unpublished documents to video interviews to photographs. These items come from a range of sources including institutional archives, alumni gifts and current student work.

Photos from Black At Swarthmore

Photos from Black at Swarthmore, a series of pamphlets produced by the College and the Swarthmore African-American Student Society.

Swarthmore College Halcyon

This is a collection of photos of black students at Swarthmore from 1968 - 1972. See also, the Black at Swarthmore photo collection and the Exhibit on Black Student Life.

Narratives of Black Student Protest

A set of accounts detailing the events of 1969.

Black Philosophies of Liberation

Syllabi, class notes, reading lists, and other documents relevant to the Spring 1969 student-run course "Black Philosophies of Liberation."

Media Fellowship House

Correspondence, newspaper articles, promotional materials, and organizational reports from the Media Fellowship House relevant to the Black activism at Swarthmore College from 1968 to 1972.

Chester Home Improvement Records

Meeting minutes, Board of Managers and committee membership lists, promotional materials, and organizational reports from 1965 to 1969.

Friends Historical Library General Reference Files

This collection contains a series of folders in the Friends Historical Library that are not part of any particular collection. Most of the documents pertain to SASS, the BCC, and Black Studies.

Black Cultural Center Records

Correspondence and official documentation regarding the Black Cultural Center and the Swarthmore Afro-American Students' Society.

Swarthmore College Cygnet

Photographs where available of many of the students who played a role in events. The photographs are largely from the Cygnet, a face book for incoming freshmen.

Interviews

Audio files, transcriptions and photographs documenting the interviews of Swarthmore College alumni, former faculty, and community activists who played an active role in the Black activism at Swarthmore College from 1968 to 1972.

Swarthmorean

Articles that originally appeared in the Swarthmore Borough newspaper, The Swarthmorean, during the events of 1969.

Delaware County Daily Times

A daily newspaper with headquarters in Upper Darby Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The articles, editorials and announcements included here were published between September 1968 and December 1972.

Robert Cross Papers

Correspondence, reports, recommendations, statements, and news clippings from students, administrators, board members, and alums. All of these documents passed through the Swarthmore President's Office during Robert Cross' time there.

Courtney Smith Papers

Swarthmore Phoenix

Clippings from The Phoenix, the student newspaper of Swarthmore College, from the fall of 1968 to the fall of 1973.

Franklin & Marshall Archive

During the 1969 sit-in, journalist Drew Pearson wrote an article falsely connecting Franklin and Marshall alumnus Samuel R. Jordan Jr. to the SASS action. The documents in this collection provide information on Jordan in reference to Pearson's article.

Sit-In Photographs

Black and white photographs of SASS during the sit-in at the Admissions Office in Parrish Hall, which began on January 9 and ended on January 16, 1969.