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DePaul University Special Collections and Archives

Derr Collection

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Opening of the Resources in Black Studies library collection in Schmidtt Academic Center. Dr. Gilbert Sims Derr and Verrona Williams Derr, center, 1969.

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Bookplate for Derr Collection.

The Verrona Williams Derr Collection was established in September 1969 by Dr. Gilbert Sims Derr, faculty in DePaul’s School of Education, as the initial step in the development of a research facility in the area of African-American Studies. Named in honor of his wife, the collection was originally envisioned as a means to promote better racial understanding through the availability of resources that specifically relate to African-American culture, life, history and racial experience. In 1969 there were 800 titles in the, then circulating, collection. In 1973, Gilbert Sims Derr established a fund to help perpetuate the collection. Selective titles have been moved to Special Collections.

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Front cover: Holley, Marietta. Samantha among the Colored Folks: "My Ideas on the Race Problem," / by Josiah Allen’s wife, (Mariettta Holley). Illustrated by E.W. Kemble. New York, Dodd, Mead and company [1894]. SPC. 813 H738S

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Hymn 7. L. M. from: Lincoln, Jairus. Anti-slavery Melodies: For the Friends of Freedom / prepared for the Hingham Anti-slavery Society. Hingham [MA]: Elijah B. Gill, [1843].  SpC. 782.421599 L737a1843

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Cover illustration: Adams, Edward C. L. Congaree Sketches: Scenes from Negro Life in the Swamps of the Congaree and Tales by Tad and Scip of Heaven and Hell with other Miscellany / with an introduction by Paul Green. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1927.
SpC. 813.52 A193c1927  ~Purchased with the Verrona Williams Derr fund.