The Negro in the United States; a selected bibliography. Compiled by Dorothy B. Porter

THE NEGRO IN THE UNITED STATES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The career of Daniel Alexander Payne Murray, who served as a member of the staff in various capacities up to an assistant librarian from 1871 to 1922, is a natural starting point for a discussion of Negro materials in the Library of Congress. While serving in his first position in the Library, as a personal assistant to the Librarian, Ainsworth R. Spofford, Mr. Murray undertook the systematic study of the origin and historical growth of the colored race throughout the civilized world, which he hoped would result in an encyclopedic history of his race. Almost 30 years later, he was chosen by Herbert Putnam, then just beginning his career as Librarian, to respond to a request from Ferdinand W. Peck, Commissioner General of the United States to the Paris exposition of 1900, that a collection of books and pamphlets by Afro-American authors be made a feature of the American exhibit at the exposition. Within a period of 2 weeks, Mr. Murray prepared a preliminary list of 223 works written by 152 Negro authors. The purpose of this list was to aid in securing a copy of every book and pamphlet in existence, by a Negro Author, the same to be used in connection with the exhibit of Negro Authorship in the Paris Exposition of 1900, and later placed in the Library of Congress.
It was soon discovered that, owing to Dr. Spofford's foresight, the Library of Congress was uncommonly rich in such books and pamphlets, but no little difficulty was encountered then and subsequently in identifying them. By the time the world exposition at Paris opened in May 1900, however, Mr. Murray had located 1,100 titles written by Negro authors, of which about 500 were forwarded to the exposition. Thomas J. Calloway, special agent for the U.S. Commission at the exposition, wrote that the most creditable showing in the exhibit is by Negro authors collected by Mr. Daniel Murray of the library of Congress.
After the close of the Paris exposition, Mr. Murray continued to collect works by Afro-American, Afro-European, and West Indian authors and to amass a varied collection of Afro-Americana. At his death in 1925, the library of Congress received by provision of his will a unique collection of some 1,448 volumes and pamphlets, 14 broadsides, and 1 map, with the idea that it should form part of the material especially selected by him for exhibit purposes. The books that had been sent to the Paris exposition were kept together upon their return to the Library. This small collection, along with Mr. Murray's bequest and a few volumes presented to the library by Mrs. Anna Murray after her husband's death, became the Colored Author Collection. Many of the titles have since been cataloged and added to the general collections.