Using the People's Archive

The People's Archive at DC Public Library connects D.C. community members and library users to unique resources that illustrate The District's local history and culture. With both in-person and digital collections, as well as countless resources for additional local history research, The People's Archive is a home of discovery where diverse stories - past and present - are preserved and amplified. 

Our staff are here to help navigate the archive. Appointments are encouraged so we can prepare for your visit, but you can also walk-in during our open hours. Because some of our materials are rare or fragile, we do have special guidelines: 

• No materials can be checked out. 
• Visitors must place all belongings, except electronic devices, pencils, and paper, in a locker. 
• No food or drink is permitted.

The People’s Archive staff can help by phone or email, but in-depth research often requires an onsite visit. 

Browse the Washingtoniana and Black Studies Books

The People's Archive reading room has a browsing collection of books on Washington, D.C. and African American history and culture. We have more books in our closed stacks that only staff can retrieve. Walk-ins may need to wait while we retrieve books, or you can make an appointment to have books pulled ahead of time.

You can search our online catalog by narrowing your search to books listed at the library "The People’s Archive at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library.” Books with the location "Contact us for access" must be retrieved by staff. Books with the location "404-Local History Center" can be browsed during our open hours, which vary from other library hours. 

Search Other Physical Materials

The People's Archive also boasts a large collection of physical materials that are housed in the archive itself (located in the basement of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library). A finding aid is a tool describing the contents and context of an archival collection. Think of this tool as a starting point rather than the end of your search. 

Use the Finding Aid

Note: There are archival items that are not yet listed in our finding aids, so please ask our staff about additional resources. Check out the video below learn more about using the finding aid. Walk-ins may need to wait while we retrieve archival items, or you can make an appointment to have materials pulled ahead of time. 

In addition to the physical collections, The People's Archive also has countless digital collections. The digital archives include digitized and born-digital materials and can be accessed through two platforms, Dig DC and Archive-It. 

Dig DC is a portal for digitized and born-digital items. Materials in Dig DC can be downloaded for free for personal or non-commercial use. For high resolution scans of material from Dig DC, contact us. Watch the video below to learn how to search Dig DC. 

Archive-It is a web archive that captures a website as it appeared on the day it was captured. Web archives can show how a website has changed, or provide access to websites that no longer exist. Archive-It allows you to navigate through the captured website, but does not provide access to outside linked content. For example, if a captured website links out to social media, you will not be able to access the content. Some content like maps, charts, or videos may not appear as expected. 

You can also explore local D.C. history through many of our digital resources located on our Research & Learn page. 

Curious what comes from people's research at The People's Archive? Customers often use our collections to inform their books and informational videos. See a few examples below. 

Additionally, access lesson plans created with materials from The People's Archive by visiting our Support for Educators page.