The Black Student Union Periodical Collection

The Black Student Union (BSU) at UB was founded in 1967 and recognized by the Student Association in 1968. In 1969, it counted 1,000 members. Twelve periodical publications have been issued by the BSU and are the primary record of the activities and history of the organization.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Buffalo

The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Buffalo collection documents Dr. King’s visit and speech in Buffalo, New York on November 9, 1967. The speech, entitled “The Future of Integration,” was sponsored by the Student Association and Graduate Student Association and held at Kleinhans Music Hall. The UB Spectrum reported that Dr. King “castigated the ‘national administration that is more concerned with an unjust war in Vietnam than with winning the war on poverty.’ ” The collection includes audio of the speech, photographs of the event, and coverage from the UB Spectrum student newspaper.

St. Philip's Episcopal Church records, MS 269
St. Philip’s Episcopal Church’s history begins a year before the Emancipation Proclamation in 1861, under the leadership of a white clergyman, Reverend Witherspoon. In 1865 the first Black full-time rector, Reverend Samuel L. Berry, assumed leadership, establishing the church as a home for Black Protestant Episcopalians to experience church through their African roots and continues operation today. The St. Philip’s Episcopal Church records comprise materials documenting church history and vital records from the congregation, primarily in the form of bound volumes of vestry meeting minutes, records of service, and parish registers.