Schomburg Director Dodson to retire
Howard Dodson, Jr., director of the New York Public Library’s pre-eminent Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, will retire from his position in February 2011, as announced by the NYPL one week ago. Dodson’s visionary leadership over 25 years developed the Center into the world’s leading and most prestigious repository for materials and artifacts on the global black experience.
“I never imagined that 25 years would go by so fast and that so much would be accomplished in that time to honor our ancestors while preserving their history and heritage,” says Dodson. “It has been an honor and privilege to play a part in making the Schomburg Center an institution of respect and renown.”
Under his direction, the Center—which has grown into a 75,000 square-foot complex--has produced unprecedented programs and exhibitions, enhanced the accessibility of its materials through digital initiatives, doubled its collections from 5 to more than 10 million items, and built a national membership base of more than 10,000 people.
“Howard Dodson’s superb leadership in all the areas of the Center’s operations leave it strongly positioned for future service and continued growth”, said Library President Paul LeClerc. “He combines a deep commitment to scholarship with an instinct for dynamic public outreach. This blend of attributes has enabled Howard to build the Schomburg into a robust hub of African American culture and a model for other libraries and institutions.”
“In addition to the cultural legacy he leaves on site in Harlem, Howard has brought the resources of the Center to a broad audience beyond its walls,” said Library Chairman Catherine Marron. "Through innovative digital resources, travelling exhibitions, and outside collaborations Howard has extended the Schomburg’s reach and reputation to an international audience. His passion and commitment have helped all Americans understand the important history of people of African descent."
A search committee chaired by Library trustees Gordon Davis and Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has been formed to oversee the recruitment of a new Director. "Howard's combined managerial skills, intellectual interests and entrepreneurial talents have contributed to phenomenal growth of the Schomburg Center," says Dr. Gates. "We celebrate his accomplishments and thank him for his unwavering commitment and passion over the last 25 years."
The roots of The New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture extend to 1925 when the Library's Division of Negro Literature, History and Prints was founded in the 135th Street Branch. The personal collection of distinguished scholar and bibliophile Arturo Alfonso Schomburg was added to the Division in 1926. In 1972 it was designated as one of the Library’s Research Libraries, and in 1980 a modern new building was constructed. Howard Dodson was hired as Chief of the Center in 1984.
Dodson spearheaded the development of two capital campaigns for the Schomburg Center that raised over $40 million to support the expansion and renovation of the Center’s facilities and fund its diverse programs and services. The first completed in 1991, raised $15.2 million in public and private funds. The second round, a 75th Anniversary Campaign launched in 2000, raised $26 million.The Center’s annual operating budget has increased from a million to $6 million under his leadership.
During his tenure he has brought notable collections to the Schomburg including the papers of such figures as Malcolm X, Ralph Bunche, Nat King Cole, Lorraine Hansberry, Arthur Ashe, Panamanian journalist and Ambassador George Westerman; as well as the collections of anthropologists Melville Herskovits and St. Clair Drake. Collections of photographs by Marvin and Morgan Smith, Austin Hansen, and Margaret Courtney-Clark, and the Bill Greaves documentary film and video collection, and the South Africa Now program archive have also been acquired under Dodson’s leadership. Resources documenting the black presence in Latin America and the Caribbean have also been strengthened.
Publishing projects Dodson spearheaded have included numerous microform editions of collections of original documents, a six volume encyclopedia of African American history and culture, a thirty-volume collection of writings by African-American women, a thirty-volume online collection on Black studies entitled Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, and numerous reference and interpretative works on African-American and African Diasporan themes. The Center has also supported thousands of works by scholars, artists, educators, journalists and filmmakers through its rich and diverse collections.
Under Dodson’s stewardship the Schomburg Center has been an innovator in using the Internet to increase access to library materials. It published the online edition of books by 19th-Century African American women writers and a large collection of photos, which helped foster the development of Black Women Studies offered at prominent universities and colleges around the country. Today Digital Schomburg, the Center’s portal to digital resources offers access to several major exhibitions such as In Motion: The African American Migration Experience, which examines thirteen defining migrations that formed and transformed African America; The Abolition of the Slave Trade:the Hidden Story, which looks at the long process of eradicating the slave trade to the Western Hemisphere; and African Americans and American Politics, which documents the role of African Americans in United States’ politics from the time of the country’s founding through today. These thematic projects showcase thousands of texts and images from the Schomburg’s Collections while also providing new scholarly insights into African and African Diasporan history and culture.
