Urban League of Onondaga County, Inc. Collection

Onondaga County Public Library - Central Library

Vernon Jordan, President of the National Urban League, 1981-09
Vernon Jordan, President of the National Urban League, 1981-09 - Image Source

Collection Facts

Extent:
15
Dates of Original:
1981 - 1989

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Historical Context

The Urban League of Onondaga County was a charitable community service organization founded in 1964 as one of the 113 affiliates of the National Urban League.  With a mission "to assist African-Americans toward self-empowerment for achievement of justice, economic, educational, social and racial equality," the local league offered youth and workforce development programs along with educational and housing services.  The organization played a major role in expanding employment opportunities for African-Americans through cooperation with area businesses and public service agencies.  It sponsored annual awards to individuals, families and businesses in recognition of efforts to advance racial equality.  Financial and managerial troubles led to the dissolution of the local league in 2002.  In 2007 documents and photographs relating to Urban League of Onondaga County were donated to the Onondaga County Public Library for preservation and archiving.

Scope of Collection

This collection contains photographs of various members and at events.  The whole collection contains annual reports and meeting minutes; legal documents and some correspondence; publications and printed materials including programs for special events; a large number of unlabeled photographs and one CD of duplicate photos.  Most of the collection covers the period of 1973 to 1997.

Additional Information

Finding Aid URL:
https://empireadc.org/search/catalog/nsy_5737
Scope and Content Source:

The collection comprises archival materials related to the Urban League of Onondaga County, Inc. It includes minutes, historical newspaper clippings and albums of black-and-white and colored photographs. Some are duplicated on a CD in JPG and TIFF format. The collection is divided into six main series, supplemented by subseries of miscellaneous records. The main subseries are: Annual Reports and Minutes; Legal Documents; Annual Celebrations and Special Events; Publication and Printed Documents; Correspondence and Ephemera Objects and Photographs. Some of the records are not dated and a big percentage of the photographs don’t have any information related to the creator, the event, or the people on the pictures. The records are arranged in chronological order, whenever possible.

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NYH Topic Areas:
Black History

Collection Type:
Photographs