Afro-American Family History at the Newberry Library: A Research Guide and Bibliography was first compiled by David Thackery in 1988. He created an updated version of the guide in 1993, which was published by the Newberry as A Bibliography of African American History at the Newberry Library. David Thackery was the curator of the Local and Family History collection at the Newberry from 1983 until his death in 1998, and during that time he greatly strengthened the Newberry's African-American genealogical materials. This bibliography is evidence of his work and a tribute to his efforts.
Following in David's footsteps, Jack Simpson, curator from 1999 until 2009 and current curator Matt Rutherford received a grant from the Illinois State Library using money from the federal Library Services and Technology Act to reprint an updated version of the Guide. The entire 2005 version of the Bibliography of African American History is now available online.
A Bibliography of African American Family History at the Newberry Library
The bibliography is still intended as a guide to materials in the Newberry Library, and is not an effort to catalog on-line sources. However, we have included links to selected on-line sources related to works in our collection. Researchers looking for a list of on-line sources might try the links page at Afrigeneas.com.
Questions or comments about this bibliography and the Newberry Library's genealogy collection can be sent to genealogy@newberry.org.