Schomburg Center for Research in Black culture is a historical landmark, The

Black Collegian, Apr 2002 by Farmer, Paula

When the Black-Latino scholar Arturo (Arthur) Alfonso Schomburg arrived in New York from his native Puerto Rico near the start of the 20th century, he came with a specific mission in mind. Unlike most immigrants who came with naive and lofty, yet narrow goals of bettering one's station in life, Schomburg's was for a whole community that spanned the globe. He was determined to bridge cultures and provide understanding and respect among African, Latino and European Americans. In 1911, Schomburg co-founded the Negro Society for Historical Research, an archival institute. By the 1920s, he was active in de-colonization, and considered a formidable personality of the Harlem Renaissance.

Throughout his activities, experiences and responsibilities, Schomburg maintained his initial mission: linking history with the present to empower the community for the future. Like digging for buried treasures, Schomburg discovered and gathered Black memorabilia such as slave narratives, rare books, journals, artwork and other remnants. What started out surely as a modest, but respectable collection, became a global resource as his findings won national acclaim and was added to the Division of Negro Literature, History and Prints of a New York Library branch. In 1972, it was designated as the Research Library of the New York Public Library and soon became known as the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

The painstakingly acquired meager collection of yesterday has evolved into the impressive center of today. With recent technological upgrades and wrapping up its 75th Anniversary, the Schomburg is determined to be an archival/research force to be reckoned with for the new millennium. And with over 5,000,000 items as part of its collection, continuous exhibitions attracting thousands of visitors and membership campaign drives supported by Bill Cosby and headed up by the likes of poet Maya Angelou, the Center's leadership feels they have much to celebrate as well as look forward to.

Although based in Harlem and dedicated to the community, officials view the center as a highly sophisticated and much-needed distributor of information to the world. Center Director, Howard Dodson is convinced that their recent development of Internet technology as well as staff expertise makes the resources they have attainable not only for in-person visits, but for anyone that can place a telephone call or log on to the World Wide Web. "We just received major appropriations from the federal government and the Congressional Black Caucus to develop a Web site on the African-American migration experience, Dodson reveals. "We'll be using it to document the process by which the African-American population became a national community, the various streams of migration and the consequences of such movements into different regions of the world." This will become a major educational guide to launch from because they will have teachers' guides and other sorts of connected resources.

To look at the center's interior and exterior smack dab on the busy corner of 135th and Malcolm X Boulevard, one would never suspect that it's encasing such formidable information. Although housed in a newish building that is big in stature, it's neither grandiose, ornate nor slick-looking. In fact it's rather plain, quiet and unassuming. But what it lacks in aesthetics, it is said to more than make up for in sustenance and vision. So enthralling is the center's direction and purpose that when you first discover it and realize what's available, one can't help but think maybe it is either a diamond in the rough or thanks to good PR, promising more than it can deliver. In the recent past some academics had complained quietly of shoddy service from the moment of entering the facilities. Attorney and academic radio program host William Kyle moved to the Harlem area six years ago. He initially had complaints about the Center's services. "My first impression was that some of the personnel were not attentive enough or could not point me in the right direction, which left me a bit frustrated and unwilling to delve into all they had to offer," admits Kyle. Such is not the case now. Greeters and guards are friendly and informative and on certain times when popular speakers like Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton arrive or the Spelman College Jazz Ensemble perform; there is an undeniable excitement throughout the hallways. Last fall when the center was the first to be granted access to display the Emancipation Proclamation, people lined up outside for blocks in rain to view the historical exhibit. Additionally, the Center has become key to the recent major tourism initiative in Harlem. "Among the major attractions in New York, the Schomburg is the second most priority sight after the Apollo Theatre,"asserts Dodson. "So clearly there is a growing interest in the Center, but we would like to extend that." Center officials are convinced that through the World Wide Web and word of mouth, many more people will avail themselves of what the Center has to offer.