A black and whie photo of a crowd of people. In the middle of the crowd is a sign with a photo of Martin Luther King Jr. that says \"NONVIOLENCE.... OUR MOSTPOTENT WEAPON\"
The collection includes 156 films and 13 audio reels dated between 1961 and 1973, including this image of anti-war protesters marching in Washington, D.C. at the counter-inaugural demonstrations of President Richard Nixon in 1969. (Richmond Police Surveillance Collection, VCU Libraries, Virginia Commonwealth University)

Aug. 22, 2024

VCU Libraries to preserve footage from Civil Rights Movement in Richmond

Film and audio, including of Black Panther Party activities and student protests, will be archived through funding from a larger ‘Recordings at Risk’ program.

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More than 150 films and audio reels from Richmond Police Department surveillance records will be preserved and made publicly accessible by Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries as part of a new project documenting aspects of the Civil Rights Movement in the South.

The Surveillance Media Collection includes 156 films and 13 audio reels dated between 1961 and 1973. Footage includes Black Panther Party meetings and activities; anti-draft, anti-war and anti-busing protests; student protests at local universities; and marches related to the Poor People’s Campaign, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and the trial of H. Rap Brown.

“In my experience, this Surveillance Media Collection is unique,” said Brian Daugherity, Ph.D., a Civil Rights Movement historian and professor in the Department of History in VCU’s College of Humanities and Sciences. “There are few archival collections – and none that I know of in the South – dealing with the Black Power movement, Black Panther Party and related individuals nationwide. The preservation and digitization of materials in this archive offers the possibility of investigating new aspects of the civil rights struggle in the South.”

The project is supported by a $24,585 grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources as part of its “Recordings at Risk” program, which is made possible by funding from the Mellon Foundation. CLIR is an independent, nonprofit organization that forges strategies to enhance research, teaching and learning environments in collaboration with libraries, cultural institutions and communities of higher learning.

The project was one of 26 selected for funding out of 74 applicants nationally, underscoring its “significance and merit,” said Irene Herold, Ph.D., VCU’s dean of libraries and university librarian. “These films document a significant historic part of the struggle for civil rights in the South and will provide new information and insights for study.”

The grant also allows for a partnership with the Valentine, a museum focused on the history and culture of the Richmond region.

“Preservation of the film in the Richmond Police Department surveillance records will provide access to an important collection of audiovisual materials documenting civil rights-era activities in Richmond,” said Meg Hughes, deputy director of collections at the Valentine. “The Valentine’s holdings include a collection of similar surveillance activities by the RPD during the same period, and this grant provides the opportunity to make the public aware of both collections.”