Please designate “Black Feminist Archive” or “BFA” in Special Gift Instructions
The Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive™ is an archival service created to preserve the accomplishments and contributions of the full spectrum of Black women and their allies through the collection and storage of their historical records and documents. By activating these materials through seminars, lectures, workshops, photographs, podcasts, videos, film, theater productions, etc., we are establishing a new field of black feminist archiving. In doing so, in collaboration with the Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Research Center in the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst, we commit this archival legacy enterprise to Making Black Women Visible and Heard™.
For more information on becoming a part of the Black Feminist Archive™, contact me: blackfeministarchive@gmail.com
Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive™/ Black Feminist Archive™ is located in the Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center, W.E.B Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Making Black Women Visible and Heard™
Archives are where histories are recorded and written, but even at their best, they are imperfect reflections of an imperfect world. Inequities in whose writings are collected produce inequities in whose histories become known, and the failure of vision of one generation becomes failure for the next. The profound contributions to scholarship and activism made by Black Feminists, for example, are still seldom seen in archives, so that the full record of their achievements remains under-recognized and underappreciated.
To raise awareness of the issues and increase visibility of the unique contributions of women of color, the Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center (SCUA) and the W.E.B. Du Bois Center at the UMass Amherst Libraries have joined with Distinguished Alumna Dr. Irma McClaurin MFA ’76, MA ’89, PhD ’93, and DSS ’23 (Grinnell College) in establishing the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive™ also known as Black Feminist Archive™ or BFA.
Our stories, our voices, our lives, are too often disregarded, marginalized and left on the cutting floors of films, the editing screens of books, while archivists have ignored us. This archive will be a game changer by preserving and showcasing the intellectual and activist contributions of Black Feminists for all eternity. The Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive™ has one clear mission: Making Black Women Visible and Heard™.
– Irma McClaurin
The image above was designed by zena carlota for the invitation to the Friends of Library event that celebrated the IMBFA/BFA on October 19, 2024. The artist zena selected from the 396 images currently digitized and preserved in the Irma McClaurin Collection (digital); all images are copyrighted by Irma McClaurin and may not be used without permission
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Origins of “Making Black Women Visible and Heard™”: Founding the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive™ at UMass
Dr. Irma McClaurin, Creator/Founder of the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive™ also known as the Black Feminist Archive™ or BFA. Design by UMass Magazine This article was written at the request of UMass Magazine and published in the June 2021 Spring issue. What follows is the original . Black Women, Visible and Heard Founding the Black
August 25, 2026 -
Dr. McClaurin South African Lecture: Resistance and Radical Re-imagination
Dr. Irma McClaurin inspires South African students and faculty when speaking on her Black Feminist Archive housed at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
August 24, 2026 -
McClaurin Delivers Keynote on the Black Feminist Archive for Midwest Regional African American Studies Biennial Conference
On March 12, 2021, Dr. Irma McClaurin delivered the keynote address via Zoom to the Midwest Regional African American Studies Biennial Conference. The two-day program, held via Zoom because of COVID-19 restrictions, had the theme of “Anti-Racism: Centering the Voices of Black Women.” Ball State African American Studies Program, Teachers College, and the Office of
July 13, 2021 -
Irma McClaurin Wins Wenner Gren Grant for Black Feminist Archive
Irma McClaurin Wins Wenner Gren Grant for Development of Black Feminist Archive in Special Collections and University Archives, April 2020 April 1, 2020 Irma McClaurin, who earned her Ph.D. and MFA from UMass Amherst, was recently awarded a $15,000 Historical Archives Grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Inc. The funds are for the continuing development of the Irma McClaurin
April 11, 2020 -
December 23, 2018 @CiteBlackWomen Podcast featured Dr. McClaurin discussing her Black Feminist Archive
This unique collective, movement, and community uses social media (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) to raise awareness about the intellectual, artistic and political erasures of Black women world wide. With a new website and blog, they have launched the Cite Black Women podcast, a bi-weekly program with a simple message: Cite Black Women. “We have been producing
January 1, 2019 -
Black Feminist Archive Trailer
The Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive is unique. It will be interdisciplinary Black Feminist archive that is global in scope, and specifically devoted to finding and preserving the contributions of Black women who Black feminists, womanists, ordinary women, activists, artists and scholars. Without a Black Feminist Archive to document our presence, we become invisible in history. The Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive is on a mission to change that.
May 22, 2018 -
Dr. Irma McClaurin, Black Feminist Archive Founder, is one of “UMass Women Philanthropists You Should Know”
Dr. McClaurin is one of four “UMass Women Philanthropists You Should Know” as the black feminist archive founder of the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She now travels the United States as a Keynote Speaker and leadership consultant and guru spreading the word about the Archive.
May 4, 2018 -
Dr. Janelle Hobson interviews Dr. McClaurin about “Curating History” and Building a Legacy with the Black Feminist Archive
Success EASILY FOLLOWS IRMA McClaurin, black feminist activist,…now committed to transforming history with the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive, a collection she has spearheaded at her alma mater, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
May 3, 2018 -
UPCOMING: Dr. McClaurin Presenting on the Black Feminist Archive at AAIHS Conference, Brandeis University, March 29- 31, 2018
Dr. Irma McClaurin will participate in the African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS) Third Annual Conference Brandeis University, March 30-31, 2018 (https://www.aaihs.org/general-information/). She will present on “Building a ‘Home’ for Black Intellectual Thought in the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive” on the panel “Strategic Approaches to Creating, Teaching, and Preserving Black Intellectual Thought.” Other presenters
March 27, 2018