Welcome to the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture! The Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books (MARB) Division is one of five divisions at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. MARB preserves and provides access to unpublished manuscripts, personal papers, organizational records, rare books, sheet music, playbills, and ephemera created by and about people of African descent throughout the world, concentrating on the humanities, social sciences, and the arts.
Due to COVID-19, the reading room is open to in-person research appointments at a limited capacity, but most of our collections are accessible through our Electronic Document Delivery System.
Email a librarian or schedule a virtual research consultation with our Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books reference librarian with questions about navigating library searching tools.