About the Collection
Founded in 2019, the Black Craftspeople Digital Archive brings together scholars, students, museums and archives professionals and the public to collaborate and spread the story of black craftspeople.
This collection pulls records from a variety of sources, including newspapers such as the South Carolina Gazette, The South Carolina & American General Gazette, The Royal South Carolina Gazette, Nashville Union and American, The Tennessean, Memphis Daily Avalanche, private papers, wills and estate records, United States Federal Census records, city directories, and more.
The BCDA is growing daily and currently includes records from South Carolina and Tennessee. Regional areas beyond South Carolina and Tennessee will be included in the future. We make every effort to provide images of records alongside craftsperson entries. If an image is not available or not in the public domain, we provide transcriptions.