ATLANTA – Like so many Black Americans before him, Marvin Greer figured slavery and migration had hopelessly scattered the heirlooms of his family’s past.
Now he’s found some of them, but he’s not sure how to keep them intact.
The 23-year-old history buff looked on anxiously recently as a Smithsonian Institution worker catalogued and inspected his personal trove of portraits and military discharge papers, part of a museum-led push to help families like Greer’s save their history.
Years after author Alex Haley first encouraged Blacks to research their roots, many are digging into attics and garages to find the rest of their history—captured in letters, portraits, beloved dolls and other long-forgotten heirlooms.
And historians are trying to help: Smithsonian officials hope the “Save Our African-American Treasures” series also will turn up items for a national museum of Black American culture, set to open on the National Mall in Washington by 2015.
The Atlanta stop last month was the sixth in the cross-country, history-gathering trek, which has included events in Chicago, Los Angeles, and parts of South Carolina.
“There is a continuing, growing appreciation that the history of Black America is a history that deserves to be preserved,” said Dr. Lonnie Bunch, director of the Smithsonian’s planned National Museum of African American History and Culture and organizer of the museum’s innovative Treasures series.
