The African American Collection, comprised of archives and museum artifacts located at the History Center, is dedicated to the preservation, dissemination, and interpretation of the life, history, and culture of Africans and African Americans in Western Pennsylvania.
In addition to the institutional operations, the African American Collection has a council of dedicated community volunteers, the African American Advisory Council, that assists with educational and public programming and serves as the History Center’s liaison to the African American community of Western Pennsylvania.
Mission Statement
The African American Collections are dedicated to the preservation, dissemination and interpretation of the life, history, and culture of Africans and African Americans in Western Pennsylvania.
This work is accomplished through research, artifact and archival collecting, consulting, educational programming, exhibitions, and public outreach.
The emphasis of the African American Collection is to collect historically and culturally significant materials written, owned, generated by, created, used and/or related to African American people, living or deceased.
- Celebrate African American History at the History Center
- The James A. Dorsey Story
- Rare Martin Delany Signed Document
- Breaking Down Barriers: Paul Lawrence Peeler and the Pittsburgh Public Schools
- A Jazz Legacy: Mary Lou Williams
- Riot Gear and Red Vests: Remembering 1968 with the Pittsburgh Police Collection
- John Woodruff at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin
- Tools of Oppression: Cotton Cards
- Camp James Weldon Johnson
- Remembering Billy Strayhorn
- Mildred Martin Allen and the Hill District’s Satellites Softball Team
To donate materials to the African American Collection, please contact Samuel W. Black, director of African American Programs, at 412-454-6391 or swblack@heinzhistorycenter.org.