News & Blog

In honor of Black History Month, the UCF Libraries and the Department of Africana Studies would like to announce the acquisition of five new African American primary source databases. These collections, which were acquired as part of a technology fee proposal, fill a crucial need for primary source material related to the far-ranging field of African Americana studies. They contain a treasure trove of unique material that will be invaluable to subjects such as Africana studies, history, political science, legal studies, literature, art, and more. Here’s what’s included in the package:

Black Abolitionist Papers: Brings together a disparate collection of primary sources that tell the story of the abolitionist movement in the voices of the activists themselves. The collection ranges from 1830-1865 and contains reform newspaper articles, essays, editorials, speeches, sermons, lectures and more.

Black Thought & Culture: A foundational collection that consists of 100,000 of documents spanning 250 years of African American history. Highlights include the transcript of the Muhammad Ali trial, a full run of The Black Panther newspaper, and 2,500 pages of exclusive Black Panther oral histories.

Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive: 1.5 million pages of historical documents including 7,000 books and pamphlets as well as 80 newspapers and a dozen manuscript collections.

Slavery and the Law & Slavery in America: The most comprehensive collection of legal documents pertaining to slavery and emancipation. Highlights of this unparalleled collection include Petitions to State Legislatures, Petitions to Southern County Courts, and State Slavery Statutes, a master record of the laws governing American slavery from 1789–1865.

All five collections can be accessed via the Africana Studies database page. If you have any questions, please contact John Venecek, the Africana Studies subject librarian.

The UCF Libraries Special Collections & University Archives is pleased to announce the UCF Student Book Arts Competition Exhibit. Each year since 2005, Special Collections & University Archives invites UCF students to submit one of a kind books called artist books. Unlike traditional books, artist books are handmade to reflect personal artistic visions of their creators ranging from narrative storytelling through writing, drawing, painting, printmaking, and/or photography. The UCF Student Book Arts Competition Exhibit is a showcase of all entries created during the 2016 academic calendar year including past winners.

We are pleased to announce our winner is Jessica McRory for her artist’s book “Familiar”. The winner was selected based on creativity, craftsmanship, content, and design from our three judges – book artists Peter and Donna Thomas, and UCF Libraries Special Collections & University Archives Department Head David Benjamin. Jessica McRory won a purchase award for her artist book to be included in the permanent Book Arts & Typography Collections at Special Collections & University Archives. To celebrate the innovative work of all the participants, the UCF Student Book Arts Competition Exhibit will be on display during the month of February 2017 in the exhibition area on the 5th Floor of the John C. Hitt Library.

Join us for a lunch break Open Heart Open Mic on Tuesday, February 7th from 12-1:30PM in John C. Hitt Library room 223. The UCF Libraries is partnering with the Women’s & Gender Studies Program to present an ongoing open mic event series.

You are welcome to bring a story, poem, song, or any other vocal presentation to share – on any topic.

For more information, check our event page.

The national celebration of African American History was started by Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard-trained historian and the founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, and first celebrated as a weeklong event in February of 1926. After a half century of overwhelming popularity, the event was expanded to a full month in 1976 by President Gerald Ford.

Here at the library we are passionate about celebrating African American culture and history (no seriously, I got a massive amount of emails with suggestions). We are proud to present our top 22 favorite books by, and/or about, African Americans, plus two streaming films.

Click the link below for full descriptions and catalog links.

UCF Libraries Bookshelf: Black History Month

In the past few days, some news sites have described uncertainty for the future of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). With NEH under discussion, we will take this opportunity to highlight good news from the NEH by celebrating winners of a 2016 NEH contest. (more…)