WABE: Morehouse Launches Public Access Site to MLK Papers (2009-01-13)

Atlanta

Morehouse Launches Public Access Site to MLK Papers

Odette Yousef (2009-01-13)

null

ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - Now, scholars anywhere with access to the internet will be able to access the personal writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. Today, Morehouse College announced that it has digitized and archived three-quarters of a major collection of the civil rights leader's works, that the city of Atlanta acquired in 2006.

Historian and King scholar Clayborne Carson will head the collection. Carson teaches at Stanford University and founded the King Research and Education Institute.

CARSON: I remember going into lots of archives where they bring you boxes of materials and they say look through them and you'll find something interesting. I think that now we are beyond that stage, and we are going to bring research into the 21st century.

Carson expects the archive to spur a renaissance of King scholarship, which will paint a more personal and global picture of the slain leader.

The city purchased the collection to keep it from being auctioned, and it was entrusted to the stewardship of Morehouse, King's alma mater. It contains more than 10,000 items, including King's handwritten speeches, sermons, and annotated books from his library.

Click here to access the digital archive listings.

© Copyright 2010, WABE