Historical Collections

  • American Dance Festival Archives
    Perkins and Lilly Libraries on Duke University Campus
    (919) 684-6402
    Archival materials available year-round for the general public, as well as choreographers, dancers, teachers, critics, and scholars. Available at Perkins and Lilly libraries on Duke University's West and East campus.
    Map | Driving Directions
  • Digital Durham
    On the Web only
    (919) 684-8111
    A unique collection of historical images and teacher resources documenting life in post-Civil War Durham.
    Map | Driving Directions
  • Duke University Musical Instrument Collections
    Lobby, Mary Duke Biddle Music Building, Duke East Campus
    (919) 660-3320
    Unique collection of over 500 rare musical instruments found nowhere else in the Southeast, dating from the late 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries with particular depth in woodwinds, brass, and early pianos.
    Map | Driving Directions
  • Duke University Perkins Library
    Science and Research Drives
    (919) 684-3009
    America's seventh-largest private university library. Houses several thousand rare and unique materials in its Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, including maps, photographs, films, broadsides, and Confederate prints. Holdings of ancient clay tablets, manuscripts, and books printed prior to 1501.
    Map | Driving Directions
  • Forest History Society
    701 Vickers Ave.
    (919) 682-9319
    Home of National Forestry Archives. Includes books, periodicals, maps, clippings, photographs, and computer database.
    Map | Driving Directions
  • History of Medicine Collections
    103 Seeley G. Mud Bldg, Duke University Medical Center Library
    (919) 660-1100
    Vintage medical equipment including the nation's largest collection of miniature ivory mannequins and 20,000 books and manuscripts in Greek, Latin, and English. Open Tu-F, 9:30am-4pm.
    Map | Driving Directions
  • James E. Shepard Memorial Library
    1801 Fayetteville St
    (919) 530-6475
    N.C. Central University's main library, which serves as a repository for federal documents, maps, and microfilm. The library's Treasure Room preserves many primary materials on African-American life and culture.
    Map | Driving Directions
  • Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture
    West Union Building, Duke University West Campus
    (919) 684-3814
    Named after the “great lady of Jazz,” pianist, composer, and teacher Mary Lou Williams, who was artist-in-residence at Duke University from 1977–81. The purpose of the Center for Black Culture, which opened in 1983, is to preserve and enhance black culture, promote interracial understanding, and sponsor programs and events on black art, history, and literature.
    Map | Driving Directions
  • North Carolina Collection at Durham County Library
    300 N Roxboro Rd, Durham County Library
    (919) 560-0171
    Collection of stories of Durham's and North Carolina's past through historical documents, maps, records, and photographic archives.
    Map | Driving Directions
  • North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company
    411 W Chapel Hill St
    (919) 682-9201
    The nation's oldest (1898) and largest African-American-owned financial institution, founded by John Merrick and Aaron Moore. The Heritage Room, located on the top floor explores the company's first 100 years through a 33-panel visual display. Call for guided tours in advance.
    Map | Driving Directions
  • Patterson's Mill Country Store, Inc.
    5109 Farrington Rd between NC Hwy 54 & Old Chapel Hill Rd
    (919) 493-8149
    Preserved turn-of-the-nineteenth-century country store and doctor's office/pharmacy. Features displays of mercantile and pharmaceutical Americana, tobacco marketing memorabilia, antiques and collectibles.
    Map | Driving Directions
  • Selena Warren Wheeler Collection at Stanford L. Warren Library
    1201 Fayetteville St, at Umstead St
    (919) 560-0270
    Collection of African American culture, history, and literature named for Warren’s daughter. The second African-American library established in North Carolina originally in the basement of the old White Rock Baptist Church in 1913.
    Map | Driving Directions
  • The End of Tobacco Road Exhibit
    On the Web only
    (919) 560-0171
    With Laura Drey's photographs, the Durham County Library depicts a historic time, Liggett & Myers's last year in Durham, and the complicated process of manufacturing cigarettes--an industry vital to Durham's history--in a web exhibit that chronicles the end of an era.
    Map | Driving Directions
  • The Tuba Exchange, Inc.
    1825 Chapel Hill Rd
    (919) 493-2200
    Nation’s only store dealing exclusively in tubas, euphoniums, and sousaphones. Includes 200-plus piece historic low brass musical instrument collection. Open M-F, 9am-5pm; Sa-Su, by appointment.
    Map | Driving Directions