David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library

03/22/2023

Join us for Black Lives in Archives Day 2023! This one-day exhibit is an opportunity to view, touch, and feel historic printed works by Black authors from the collections of the Rubenstein Library. Monday, April 3, 11am-2pm, Gothic Reading Room, Rubenstein Library 2nd Floor

03/04/2022

“The Mutual" served as the newsletter for employees of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company in the early 1920s. NC Mutual was founded in Durham, N.C. in 1898, and was an anchor of Durham's Black Wall Street district, employing Black Durhamites and enabling the Black middle class access to home mortgages, small business loans, and insurance in the Jim Crow South. The cover of this issue features John Moses Avery who began employment with N.C Mutual in 1906 as a traveling agent in Western, North Carolina and was employed for twenty-five years with the company, including serving as Vice President and Secretary.

See this and more Black primary source materials from our collections at our "I Got a Story to Tell: Black Lives in Print” event on April 4. Link in bio for more details + registration.

01/24/2022

Join us and John Hope Franklin Research Center tomorrow for a virtual roundtable discussion between Chaitra Powell (Curator, Southern Historical Collection, UNC Chapel Hill), Andre D. Vann (Coordinator of University Archives and Instructor of Public History, North Carolina Central University), and John B. Gartrell (Director, John Hope Franklin Research Center, Duke University). Register here: tinyurl.com/2p8b6wha

10/25/2021

This Friday we’re having a special Halloween pop-up in Perkins Library. Stop by to make (or take) a bookmark 📖, case your vote for our scariest item 😱, or grab a Halloween treat 🍫. 11:30-1:30 outside Von der Heyden Pavilion.

03/15/2021

he stunning cover "Women Builders" (1931) was designed by Loïs Mailou Jones. Throughout her long career, Jones studied the art of Africa and the African Diaspora, and incorporated its styles into her artwork. African masks would become an important motif in many of her works, and this is an early example.

"Women Builders" profiles seven African American women "who have definitely contributed to the development of the Negro youth in the United States." The author, Sadie Iola Daniel, was an educator, and wanted the book to serve as an inspiration to young adults. In her introduction, Daniel writes that there are thousands of Black women past and present who she could have included, but that she focused on those "who are pioneers - those who are builders of educational, financial, and social institutions."

[From the Lisa Unger Baskin Collection: E185.96 .D23 1931 c.2]

09/16/2020

In spite of the (social) distance between us, Dukies can still find ways to join together and be creative! The Duke University Archives invites you to participate in and reinterpret one of our historical Duke photos. Submit your photos through October 23rd, and then check Duke Libraries social media, the University Archives’ Flickr, and more to see everyone’s creativity in action. And, while you’re creating, consider donating to Duke Mutual Aid or the GPSC Food Pantry, so everyone at Duke can have a safe and comfortable home right now. Link in bio to participate!

08/14/2020

Q: When can students go inside the library again?
A: Starting August 17!

Library users with a valid Duke ID will be able to enter library buildings in order to access study spaces (by reservation only), classrooms, ePrint stations, and other designated resources and services. However, all library stacks will be closed. Instead, materials may be requested through our Library Takeout Service.

Please note that some building entrances are restricted, in order to manage traffic flow and encourage social distancing. Please use appropriate entrances and follow signs.

For more on what to expect about using the library this fall, see the reopening FAQ on our website.

Duke University

06/27/2020

"Books for le****ns! Books for g**s! Books for bisexuals! You friendly store for lesbigay resources!" Happy y'all! This advertisement is for from the 1997 NC Pride in Chapel Hill-Carrboro Program. The papers at the Rubenstein hold many Pride programs and flyers like this one from allover the US. Mandy Carter is a self-described "southern out black le***an social justice activist." Since 1968, she has been involved in peace, social, racial and LGBT organizing at the local, state, regional, and national levels.
The Rubenstein also holds the records for Internationalist Books and Community Center. The Internationalist Books and Community Center was founded in 1981 by Bob Sheldon in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It was a nonprofit cooperative, staffed by volunteers, and operates as a bookstore, lending library, and community gathering place for alternative and radical groups. ****ns ****ns

06/19/2020

While today is the first time Duke is officially observing Juneteenth, North Carolina’s Black communities have a long history of commemorating the end of slavery. Historically, Emancipation Day was celebrated on January 1 to mark the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed enslaved people in North Carolina. This broadside announces a “grand Emancipation Celebration” to be held in Pittsboro, NC, on January 1, 1923, with a parade, music, speeches, and prayers.

04/22/2020

Announcing the winners of our 2020-2021. We're looking forward to when our reading room is open again and they can travel safely to visit.

The Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2020-2021 travel grants. Our research centers annually award travel grants to students, scholars, and independent researches through a competitive application process. We extend a warm congratulations to this....