Arthur A. Schomburg

(1874-1938)
Archivist, American Negro Academy President

Born in Puerto Rico in 1874, Arturo Schomburg led a richly varied public life. He worked as a law clerk and was a businessman, journalist, editor, lecturer, New York Public Library curator, and teacher of Spanish.

In 1911 Schomburg co-founded the Negro Society for Historical Research. He was also a lecturer for the United Negro Improvement Association. Schomburg was a member of the New York Puerto Rico Revolutionary Party and served as secretary of the Cuban Revolutionary Party. In 1922 he headed the American Negro Academy, an organization founded by Alexander Crummell in 1879 to promote black art, literature, and science.

Schomburg, who died in 1938, collected thousands of works on black culture over his life time. In 1926 Schomburg's personal collection was purchased by the Carnegie Corporation and given to the New York Public Library. In 1973 the collection became known as the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and History, the name was later changed to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Source: The African American Almanac, 7th ed., Gale, 1997.