James Madison University Libraries & Educational Technologies http://www.lib.jmu.edu

A Guide to the Dale F. Harter Compilation of Undocumented Deeds:
An Exhibit on the History of Harrisonburg's African-American Community

SC# 2085

Carrier Library Special Collections
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA 22807

Scope & Content
This collection consists of one folder of photocopies of news clippings, school reunion programs, portions of church histories, scrapbooks, newsletters, photographs, and other items displayed in the exhibit "Undocumented Deeds: an exhibit on the history of Harrisonburg's African-American community" compiled by Dale F. Harter and held in the Warren-Sipe Museum of the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society in the autumn of 1991. Information pertains largely to the time period 1930-1985. Most items were loaned for the display, and the collection includes copies of the loan contracts. Also included is a 3 page chronology of African-American history in Harrisonburg by Dale Harter.

Some (but not all) of the people or groups mentioned in the collection:

• Ebony Players
• Effinger Street School
• Harris, W. N. P.
• Harrisonburg-Adjacent Community Choir
• Lucy Simms School
• Non-sectarian Chorus
• Sampson, Ralph (Sr. and Jr.)
• Shades of Ebony
• Simms, Lucy F.
• Webb, Roberta

Provenance
Copies of texts and photographs mounted in the display were purchased from the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society in 1992.

Organization

Folder 1: Undocumented Deeds Paperwork

Folder 2: Harrisonburg Churches and Choirs

Folder 3: Lucy Simms and Effinger Street School

Folder 4: Local Human Interest and Miscellaneous