The District of Columbia has invested in Special Collections since 1905 when Library Director Dr. George F. Bowerman, founder of Washingtoniana, had the foresight to start collecting books and articles about the local community. Since that time, other special collections have been assembled and maintained as non-circulating collections. DC Public Library's special collections include:

• Washingtoniana: History of Washington, D.C.
• Black Studies Center
• The Peabody Collection on Georgetown
• Children’s Illustrator Collection

Washingtoniana

Established in 1905, Washingtoniana is the largest Special Collection at the DC Public Library. It houses a comprehensive collection of material on Washington, D.C., from late 18th century to the present, including the reference library, the photograph collections and the D.C. community archives.

The reference library includes:

• 25,000 books on Washington
• 8,000 local maps
• 25 million newspaper clippings from two major newspapers
• Microfilm of all major daily local newspapers 1800-present
• Extensive vertical file collection
• Census information 1800-present
• Building permits 1877-1958
• Genealogy and family history resources

The photograph collection includes:

• 1.3 million photographs from the Washington Star newspaper (1930s to 1981) and
• the Washington historical image collection, a variety of photographs, engravings, drawings and other images from 1800 to the mid-twentieth century.

D.C. community archives contains:

• more than 250 archival collections from individuals and organizations that have played a significant role in the political, social and artistic history of the District of Columbia,
• the archives of the D.C. Library Association, the Special Libraries Association and the DC Public Library,
• oral histories, and
• the Washington Area Performing Arts Video Archives (WAPAVA), videotapes of local theater productions.

The Black Studies Center

The Black Studies Center, established in 1972 along with the opening of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, contains a wealth of information on the history, literature and culture of people of African descent, with special focus on the United States. Primarily a monographic collection, it includes the Beatrice Murphy collection, the Sloan Williams collection and the Ira Reid collection. You can also find newspapers, periodicals and vertical file clippings as well as several important online resources, including:

• Historic Black Newspapers
  Full historic content of three major black newspapers: The Chicago Defender (1909-75), the New York Amsterdam News (1922-93),the Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003) and The Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988).
  

• African American Experience
  Database of more than 4,000 slave narratives and 500 full-text reference and scholarly articles. It also includes primary documents, maps and images, lesson plans, searchable timelines and Web links.

• African American Studies Center
  Regarded as the most comprehensive online source on black life, history and culture, the center contains more than 5,000 bibliographies, 7,500 articles, and hundreds of maps, documents, images, timelines, Web sites, and charts and tables.

• Ethnic Newswatch
  Provides full-text coverage of more than 250 publications from the ethnic and minority press. It includes more than one million newspapers, magazine and journal articles dating back to 1990. Nearly one-quarter of the articles are presented in Spanish.

• The Black Renaissance
  The Harlem Renaissance was a period during the 1920s and 1930s characterized by an outpouring of literature, music and art by blacks. It was a movement that embraced race and image building, progressive politics and freedom. On this Web site, read about the roles and contributions of Washingtonians to this rich social, cultural and intellectual national movement.

The Peabody Collection

The Peabody Collection on Georgetown became part of the library system in 1935 when the Georgetown Neighborhood Library was built and has been housed there ever since. Prior to that it was part of a private lending library established in 1876 by the Peabody Trust. It consists of current and retrospective material related to the history, culture and economy of Georgetown. There are also plats, maps, newspapers, house histories, paintings, photographs and engravings that depict various aspects of Georgetown life. The Peabody Collection is the only special collection that is permanently housed away from the central library, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. Since a fire destroyed the Georgetown Library in 2007, the collection has been temporarily housed with the Washingtoniana Collection at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. It will return to its permanent location at the Georgetown Library when that building reopens in fall 2010.

The Children’s Illustrator Collection

The Children’s Illustrator Collection was established in 1919. This collection of approximately 40,000 finely illustrated children’s books is made up of trade editions of books that have been selected on the merit of their illustrations. Some are first editions, including some illustrated by well-known artists such as Randolph Caldecott and F.O.C. Darley, a mid–19th century artist. Like all the other special collections, this is a reference-only collection. The collection includes books written or adapted for children, books about illustrations and illustrators, exhibit catalogs and descriptive publications.

The DC Public Library uses its extensive photograph and other collections to mount unique exhibits such as Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington and Lincoln’s Washington. Special programs include an annual historical studies conference co-sponsored with other community organizations, local author talks, and black history presentations.