The Maurice Berger Memorial Archive and Library is a collection of advertising, photographs, ephemera, household items, consumer goods, organizational and personal papers, and other objects that reveal the myriad ways in which racism has been produced and reproduced within American culture. Named in honor of the art historian, curator, and critic Maurice Berger, the collection exists as a platform for research, teaching, and learning about the material history of systemic racism. The archive utilizes object-based learning to encourage critical, creative, and conceptual thinking about the history of race, and asks researchers to make connections between past and contemporary forms of structural racism. Student researchers are involved in all aspects of the archive’s management including material handling and processing, inventorying, researching and writing catalog descriptions, photographing and scanning items, and assembling digital databases. The archive includes the following sub-collections: the United Daughters of the Confederacy, United Confederate Veterans, Lost Cause, Racist and Stereotypical Materials, Black History, Contemporary Art, American Colonialism, Photography History, and the Effie Combs Personal Papers. The Maurice Berger Archive and Library is located in Fintel Library, room 285.
For information about the archival collection, contact Dr. Jesse Bucher, at bucher@roanoke.edu