The African American Research Center is one of several units responsible for building the University Library’s African American Studies collections, and providing support for research and teaching in African American Studies. The AARC is primarily a virtual hub, providing access to search tools (such as article databases), online reference sources (such as research encyclopedias and research hubs), research guides, and information about collections of relevant source materials.
The AARC operates out of the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library, where books relating to Black history, philosophy, and religious experience, as well as the University Library’s African American Studies print reference collection, can all be found.
Students and researchers will also find research collections and subject expertise relevant to African American Studies in a number of other units of the University Library. Please see our Collections page for more information about collections. To get in touch with a subject expert, please either send your query via email to: hpnl@library.illinois.edu, OR select from our alphabetical list of Subject Specialists. For example, for questions about:
- African American Art, contact Emilee Mathews, emathews@illinois.edu
- African American History or Religion, contact Celestina Savonius-Wroth, cswroth@illinois.edu
- African American Labor, contact Mandi Arlain, marlain@illinois.edu
- African American Literature, contact Paula Carns, pcarns@illinois.edu
- African American Music, contact Kate Lambaria, lambari1@illinois.edu
- African American Philosophy, contact Geoffrey Ross, gtross@illinois.edu
- African American Sociology, contact Jess Hagman, jhagman@illinois.edu