For Anderson, building the collection has been a labor of love — and
research. While at UD, she has worked with scholars who have increased
her knowledge of Black women’s history, including Erica
Armstrong-Dunbar, former Blue and Gold Distinguished Professor of Black
American Studies and History, and Anne Boylan, professor emerita of
history and of women and gender studies.
The collection, which she started building 10 years ago, is a
personal passion and a direct result of her dissertation work on the
travel experiences of Black women.
“It's almost where I don't see this as work because I love these
books so much,” Anderson said. “It’s exciting to see how the stories and
narratives influence my own work. Part of being a historian is picking
up [where an author left off] or where they had not gone, and you're
pushing that envelope to fill in those missing gaps for the
historiography. So, it's been a very, very exciting process.”
Finding these books — both new and old — is part of the fun. In
addition to searching Amazon, Alibris, AbeBooks and other online
retailers for titles of interest, Anderson scours dissertations in
progress to see when they may be turned into books; discovers new
sources via the New Books Network podcast channels; and combs through
scholarly journals and Library catalogs for suggestions. She is
committed to curating a robust collection and giving a home to the
stories that have gone untold for too long.
“I’m always looking, I’m always searching, and I’m always finding
something that can be added to my collection,” Anderson said, noting a
boom in the number of books being published on Black women’s history in
the last five to 10 years. “The women who make up this collection have
often been silenced for so long, and so through, I would say, the
meticulous research of many historians, they have been able to bring
their voices forward. And I’m trying to do the same in my dissertation
and my collection.”
This ability to share such important histories with others,
especially her daughter, is the most rewarding part of collecting.
Anderson aims to build such a large collection that she can donate a
portion to students for further learning and the rest to her daughter, a
budding collector already.
“My daughter will be able to see those Black female heroes [I didn’t
learn about growing up] because I have a collection of them now,”
Anderson said. “She’ll be able to learn about their experiences, people
for her to look up to. She can see that women’s lived experiences are
very varied, and that there are so many things that you can do and so
many options that you have.”
As Anderson builds her collection, reading each book and discovering
these incredible women’s stories, she is changed too. “Each and every
book in this collection is near and dear to my heart,” she said. “They
are a part of who I am, and they’ve shaped my viewpoints and how I see
things. You are able to see how far we have come based on their
experiences, yet also see how far we still have to go.”