Auburn Avenue Research Library Reopens After $20M Renovation

With its $20 million facelift, the library is ready to rival Harlem, New York’s pre-eminent Schomburg Center, according to Fulton County Commissioner John Eaves. He addressed the crowd at the opening Wednesday.

“I will no longer say that we want this to be Schomberg of the South. I want Schomberg to say we’re the Auburn Avenue Research Library of the north,” said Eaves.

The archival collection at Auburn has its roots in the first library branch open to black people in Atlanta. In the 1930s, its librarians began organizing what was called the non-circulating Negro History Collection, which grew eventually into the research library now located just up the street.

Kerrie Cotten Williams, one of the library’s former archivists, said the collection serves as a national anchor for the study of African-American culture and history.

“So if anybody wants to do some serious research in the community or in national politics they should come here, or if they want to have an experience with the arts and public programming, it’s here,” said Cotten Williams.

She said the library and its history serve as a model for communities to preserve their own stories.

“To be able to have an understanding of the significance of your personal history that relates to a larger history will help you to navigate through the world,” said Cotten Williams.

“Some of the more complicated issues we deal with today regarding race and class and identity and cultural politics, that’s nothing new. We have it documented here,” she said.

Fulton County is also moving ahead with a renovation of its Central Library, which previously held the research library’s collection.