In addition, the division is responsible for the records of the Center. The division's manuscript holdings, including some in microform, cover the history, literature, politics, and culture of peoples of African descent in the Americas, Africa and England, primarily in the twentieth century. The Literary and Scholarly Typescripts Collection covers a wide range of subjects and literary genres, as well as historical, sociological and anthropological works, dating primarily from the early twentieth century. Included are manuscripts of books, articles, essays, short stories, poetry, speeches and scholarly papers. The playscripts collection consists of published and unpublished plays, and includes plays by important Black playwrights.
Geographic coverage is primarily for the United States, the Caribbean and Africa.
The broadsides, programs and playbills collections primarily document theatrical, cultural, social and political events in the United States from the late nineteenth century to the present. The rare book holdings date from the late sixteenth through the twentieth centuries, although the bulk of the titles are pre-1865 imprints. Languages represented in the collection are primarily English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, and Latin. In addition, the collection contains first, early and variant editions by Black authors up to 1901, works by authors of the Harlem Renaissance period and prize- winning titles by Black authors up to the present.