Jean Blackwell Hutson (1914-1998) was the long-time leader of the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Hutson was born in Sommerfield, Florida, the daughter of a farmer and an elementary school teacher. From the age of four years old, she was raised in Baltimore. She graduated from Douglass High School, a prestigious and rigorous high school for African American students, and continued her education at the University of Michigan and Barnard College. Hutson was the second Black woman to graduate from Barnard. Hutson then earned a master's degree in library science from Columbia University.
Deeply immersed in Black cultural life during the Harlem Renaissance, Hutson became one of dedicated librarians and archivists who transformed the Schomburg Center into a pre-eminent research center. She began her work there in 1948, when the center consisted primarily of the collection of donor Arturo Schomburg. She became the curator and later the center's chief. She was instrumental in creating an archives of the Black experience, building an Africana collection that documented Black life throughout the globe. Under her 30-year tenure, the collection grew from 15,000 to 75,000 volumes, the center established an art gallery, and the Schomburg maintained an expansive calendar of public programs. She spearheaded the publication of the Dictionary Catalog of the Schomburg Collection. She was known as a fierce advocate for librarians and a stickler who was deeply committed to making the Schomburg's materials accessible to all.
From 1964-1965, Hutson spent a year at the University of Ghana at the request of President Kwame Nkrumah, helping to build the new nation's Africana collection.
In the 1970s, when the future of the Schomburg came into doubt due to New York City's extreme fiscal crisis, Hutson threw herself into an unrelenting fundraising campaign to save and expand the center. It was during this campaign that I encountered Hutson while I was a young newspaper reporter. Although it took many more years for me to enter librarianship, the memory of Hutson's fierce commitment always remained with me and became a major inspiration for my decision to become a librarian. In spite of the city's challenges, Hutson succeeded in securing money to establish a new physical home for the collections. This new structure opened in 1981, one year after she stepped down from directing the Schomburg and began work in the central library administration. (That building has since undergone a major renovation completed in 2019; the Schomburg is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2025.)
The State University of New York at Buffalo named a library residency program in Hutson's honor in 1992. The research and reference division at the Schomburg bears Hutson's name. In September 2025, the center will inaugurate an annual lecture series, the Jean Blackwell Hutson Lecture and Award.
Sources:
Boyd, Herb. "The Schomburg's Indomitable Jean Blackwell Hutson," Amsterdam News, January 29, 2016. https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2016/01/29/schomburgs-indomitable-jean-blackwell-hutson/
New York Times, "Jean Hutson, Schomburg Chief, Dies at 83." February 7, 1998.
Lanker, Brian. I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1989, p. 89.
New York Public Library. The Schomburg Center Through the Years. New York Public Library, https://www.nypl.org/spotlight/schomburg-centennial/timeline.
Lynora Williams
In honor of the Sesquicentennial next year (150th Anniversary of ALA) in 2026, the Library History Round Table is hosting Librarians We Have Lost, Sesquicentennial Memories -1976-2026. This collage of tributes seeks to honor librarians who died between 1976-2026. The tributes are published to ALA Connect and a digital memorial on LHRT News & Notes.
We invite tributes from anyone about any library worker who passed away between 1976-2026. To submit a tribute, please use the form at https://lhrt.news/librarians-we-have-lost-sesquicentennial-memories-1976-2026-2/
For questions or comments, please reach out to Dr. Kathleen McCook (kmccook@usf.edu) or Brett Spencer (dbs21@psu.edu).
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Brett Spencer
Reference Librarian
Thun Library, Penn State Berks
He/Him/His
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