Prof. Timuel Black's Papers

Black (second from left) next to Mayor Harold Washington in 1984. |Courtesy Chicago Public Library

Library officials on Wednesday unveiled the Timuel D. Black, Jr. Papers, the massive collection from the 93-year-old professor emeritus at City Colleges of Chicago who also wears the titles of author, civil rights, labor and political activist and oral historian. The papers can be viewed at the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection at Woodson Regional Library, 9525 S. Halsted St.

Michael Flug, the retired senior archivist of the Harsh collection, brought in Black’s papers to the library between 2003 and 2010.  Flug told the Sun-Times:

“I think it’s arguably the single best collection of material on Chicago African-American history that anybody has ever opened,” Flug said. “It’s not only large, it’s incredibly varied. Tim was involved in hundreds of different organizations in labor rights, civil rights, women’s rights, education initiatives, and he’s a jazz enthusiast so there is a fabulous jazz collection.”