(Melissa Hellmann’s article appeared in the Guardian, 7/9/2026;
A photo of the Afro-Puerto Rican archivist Arturo Schomburg, a bibliophile whose personal collection formed the Schomburg’s foundation a century ago. Photograph: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Art and Artifacts Division, The New York Public Library.)
A photo of the Afro-Puerto Rican archivist Arturo Schomburg, a bibliophile whose personal collection formed the Schomburg’s foundation a century ago. Photograph: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Art and Artifacts Division, The New York Public Library.)A Puerto Rico-born New Yorker’s relentless collecting on the African diaspora is still the core of a Harlem institution
Growing up in Puerto Rico in the late 19th century, Arturo Alfonson was told by his teacher that Black people had no significant history or accomplishments. He spent his life disproving the narrative by collecting art, books and artefacts that showed the opposite. At 17 years old, Schomburg settled in New York, where he used his collections to write articles about Black history for periodicals such as Negro World. In time, he became known as a pre-eminent historian and intellectual of the Harlem Renaissance.
“Schomburg always sought to collect the global Black experience,” said Barrye Brown, curator of manuscripts, archives and rare books at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. “When you look at what he was collecting, you see his vision of what the African diaspora is like … it is all around the world, it’s multilingual; there’s so many different experiences represented.”
The more than 11m items at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a New York Public Library research center, detail the injustices that Black Americans have faced, while also showcasing their culture and history. As the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, the Schomburg is also honoring its 100th year of existence. The New York Public Library purchased Schomburg’s personal library of 4,600 pamphlets, artwork and books in 1926. Harlem’s population became primarily Black by the 1920s, ushering in an increased appetite for materials by and about Black people. Now, most of the staff at the center who curate and protect the items are women of color. “Schomburg was just so ahead of his time in terms of his collecting,” said Brown. “As the current curator, seeing value where others did not, I’m very proud to continue that tradition today during our centennial.”
Materials housed in the New York Public Library research center include artwork from the Harlem Renaissance sculptor Augusta Savage and items such as the author Maya Angelou’s Smith Corona typewriter. Last month, Kassidi Jones, assistant curator of manuscripts, archives and rare books, handled an early manuscript of Angelou’s autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, handwritten on yellow paper. “She would start by hand, and I think that deep engagement and that serious writing practice is part of the reason that she is the legend that she is today,” Jones said. “Everything was so meticulously thought through, it was ruminated over, it was passed over again and again and again until it sounded exactly the way that she wanted.” The Schomburg now has more than 840 boxes of Angelou’s manuscripts and personal items, making it their largest processed collection.
