Human Rights Archives at UConn

Graham Stinnett handles an archival photo.

The Human Rights Collections within the UConn Library’s Archives & Special Collections document human rights violations and struggles for social justice in the United States and internationally. The collection continues to grow as we archive:

  • Records of human rights organizations based in the United States
  • Papers of American participants in international tribunals
  • Human rights photojournalism collections, including photography and the personal papers of human rights photographers and photojournalists
  • Materials that document economic rights issues
  • Personal papers of refugees in Connecticut and New England
  • Human rights artists' books, particularly artists’ responses to terrorism, war, and genocide

Human Rights Collections
Access the collections through the UConn Library’s landing page, along with related resources, teaching support, and more.

Collection Guides
These guides (a.k.a. finding aids) identify and describe the contents of each collection of materials that are not individually cataloged.

Digital Collections
Some material from the Human Rights Collections is available digitally through the Connecticut Digital Archive.

Collection Highlights Include:

African National Congress Oral History Transcripts Collection – 133 transcripts of oral history interviews with leading anti-apartheid activists conducted between 2000 and 2006.

Alternative Press Collection – Thousands of newspapers, serials, books, pamphlets, ephemera, and artifacts documenting activist movements for social, cultural, and political change from the 1800s to the present. Some items have been digitized and can be accessed through the Connecticut Digital Archive.

Center for Oral History Interviews Collection – Includes interviews with Holocaust survivors in the Connecticut region conducted from 1980-1981, as well as “Witnesses To Nuremberg, An Oral History Of American Participants At The War Crimes Trials.” Digitized transcripts of select interviews are available in the Connecticut Digital Archive.

Coalition for International Justice (CIJ) Records – Records of the Coalition for International Justice (CIJ) which investigated human rights violations in Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, Cambodia, Sudan, East Timor, and Sierra Leone. The collection also contains documentation from a 2004 survey of over 1,200 refugees from Darfur along the border of Chad and Sudan.

Thomas J. Dodd Papers – Documents Dodd’s career in the Senate, as well as his role as executive trial counsel at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg from 1945-46. The Nuremberg trial documents have been digitized in their entirety and are available in the Connecticut Digital Archive.

Mia Farrow Collection – Correspondence, newspaper clippings, notes, digital photographs, video footage, writings, and speeches pertaining to Ms. Farrow’s activism and advocacy in Africa, particularly regarding Darfur, Sudan. Digital photographs from the Mia Farrow Collection are available in the Connecticut Digital Archive.

Fred Ho Papers – Accounts of Asian American culture and experience in the United States.

Impact Visuals Photographic Collection – Photographs and slides which document the anti-apartheid movement and 1994 democratic elections in South Africa.

Laurie S. Wiseberg and Harry Scoble Human Rights Internet Collection – The publications library of Human Rights Internet, a Canadian NGO, which collected human rights publications from around the world, including materials which are not found in any other libraries in North America.

Malka Penn Collection of Children’s Books on Human Rights – Over 250 children’s books and young adult literature dealing with a variety of human rights themes including slavery, the Holocaust, war, and discrimination.

North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) Archive – Primary sources and publications on human rights, politics, and socio-economic conditions in Chile, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and other parts of Central America.

Eric Reeves Papers – Correspondence, newspaper clippings, notes, photographs, writings, and speeches regarding Eric Reeves’ advocacy, research, and analysis of the humanitarian crisis and genocide in Sudan and Darfur from 1999 onward. The collection also contains documents regarding the court case Presbyterian Church of Sudan et al. vs. Talisman Energy Inc, Sudan.

International Rescue Committee, Central America Records – Records of the New Jersey office of the International Rescue Committee and their role assisting Central American refugees and migrants into the United States.

Roberto (Robin) Romano Papers – Extensive multimedia collection documenting the life's work of prolific human rights documentarian Robin Romano, including photographs, video, research files, publications, and correspondence. Video footage, photographs, and production files from the Romano Papers are available in the Connecticut Digital Archive.

Oliver Tambo Papers – Microfilm copies of the papers of anti-apartheid activist, Oliver Tambo. Original documents are located at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa.

A.B. Xuma Papers – Microfilm copies of the papers of anti-apartheid activist, A.B. Xuma. Original documents are located at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Some material has been digitized and is available through the University of the Witwatersrand’s digital collections.

For further information about these collections, and other library and archival resources, please contact:

Graham Stinnett

Archivist, Human Rights and Alternative Press Collections

graham.stinnett@uconn.edu

860-486-2384