The ABI Collections
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The ABI is home to two book collections, both housed in our offices in Ekstrom Library. The collections are non-circulating but can be accessed and read in our Reading Room. Due to UofL staffing cutting, visits to the ABI Reading Room must be requested at least 24-hours in advance and are based on the schedule of the director. To see our collections or review a specific book, email us at: uoflabi@louisville.edu
Our collections are also available for use in research and teaching; contact us at the email above to coordinate access.
Explore the collections
The Anne Braden Book Collection, housed in the ABI offices, contains over 2,000 books donated from Braden's personal book collection after her death in 2006. This collection spans the lifetimes of both Anne and Carl Braden, from their childhood favorites to writing on Civil Rights, Social Justice, and Louisville that fueled their activism. The books include fiction, non-fiction, periodicals, and even autographed works with personal notes to Anne and Carl from both scholars and major figures in the Civil Rights movement, including Barbara Ransby, Studs Terkel, Derrick Bell, Yolanda King, and Mike Honey, among many others.
The collection also includes books used against the Bradens during their 1954 sedition trial in which the prosecution claimed that buying a home in the all-white suburb of Shively on behalf of Black Louisvillians Andrew and Charlotte Wade was a communist conspiracy.
What is very evident in the collection is that Anne was devoted to the use of these books within movement work and across her life much more than she was concerned about the sanctity of them as physical objects. Many books have unique damage, including photos or even entire sections portions cut out to be used elsewhere. Housed in the reading room of the ABI in Ekstrom Library, many of the books have personal marginalia from the Bradens, coffee stains on their covers, and notes tucked in their pages, ranging from grocery lists to letters from friends. The collection is a physical manifestation of the lives of the Bradens: erudite, clever, and dedicated to learning about the world beyond their own experiences.
"I visited the Institute while taking that class, saw its collection of Anne Braden’s books, and thought that some of the things I had collected would complement what was already there. …I had met Anne Braden in several occasions and was impressed with both her work and the work of the Institute as it was being carried on by Dr. Fosl, and the gift seemed a good way to have my collection possibly do some good." —Elwood Sturtevant
The ABI is also home to several hundred books generously gifted by Elwood and Roxanne Sturtevant. This collection is comprised entirely of signed editions and includes books by prominent Black authors and books on the Civil Rights Movement, social justice, and related topics. Dedicated in June 2024, the collection offers a chance to see books that we know were actually in the hands of the author, offering a personal connection.
For the dedication, Elwood Sturtevant shared his motivation for beginning this collection, saying that he “can remember watching some of the important events of the Civil Rights movement on television. …So, when I decided that I wanted to collect something important, it struck me that some of the most important heroes in my lifetime were the people who stood up for their basic rights and dignity and who changed this country for the better.”
The collection was gifted to the ABI after Elwood took classes from ABI co-founder and founding director Dr. Cate Fosl.