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Library Special Collections

Mollie Huston Lee Special Collection

Mollie Huston Lee was the first African-American librarian in Wake County, North Carolina. Mrs. Lee founded Raleigh's Richard B. Harrison Library. She started and maintained a collection chronicling the African-American experience, both locally and nationally. The collection has grown to over 5,000 volumes, composed of both adult and juvenile fiction and nonfiction, serials, pamphlets, and vertical file materials. Mrs. Lee also served as a librarian at Shaw University. In 2010, approximately 1500 titles from the collection were donated to Shaw University. This special collection is located in the Reference Department of the James E. Cheek Library on the 2nd floor and is non-circulating.

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Dr. John W. Fleming Collection

Dr. John W. Fleming was an educator, scholar and pastor. His career at Shaw University began in 1964, and ended with his retirement in 1984. During his tenure at Shaw University, he served as faculty, the director of admissions, interim president and at the time of his retirement the director of church relations. In 1977, Shaw University honored his service, and devotion to the university by awarding him with a Doctor of Humane Letters Honorary Degree. His career at Shaw University and his legacy within the community, may best be described in his own words. “We need to support all black institutions, this includes the black press, the black church, and the predominately black schools. We need those institutions to keep the black culture alive and a sense of history.” The John W. Fleming collection is a living collection that began as donation from Dr. Fleming’s personal library and has continued to grow to support not only the learning needs of the Shaw University students but to support his goal of keeping that sense of history and culture alive. The collection houses black history, culture religion and literature in both circulating and non-circulation materials, and is open to the public on the second floor of the James E. Cheek Learning Resources Center.


North Carolina Digital Yearbooks

Looking for Shaw University yearbooks? North Carolina Yearbooks provide a look into student life in North Carolina from the 1890s to the present. From sports teams to clubs, fashions to hairstyles, these volumes document the changing attitudes and culture of students year by year.

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