Archives/Museum & Special Collection at Eva B. Dykes Library: History and Mission of the Archives

The mission of the Archives and Museum fulfills the Eva B. Dykes Library mission to provide Oakwood University, its constituents, and community with quality resources and services related to institutional historical records and the history and legacy of Black Adventism.

In 1970 the first group of the University's historical materials was organized by Dr. Jannith Lewis.  The Alabama Center for Higher Education was able to get funding through Title III to establish Archives in the State's Black Colleges and Universities in 1971.  In 1972, Oakwood appointed Mrs. Clara Rock as its first Archivist.  Mrs. Rock sent out 600 letters to alumni and members of 10 regional conferences to aid her in obtaining historical materials.  In 1973, the Collection and Evaluation of Materials on Black Americans (CEMBA) program was instituted at Oakwood and the University Museum Exhibit Room & Archives were officially opened at the dedication of the Eva B. Dykes Library in that same year.  In 1988, Mrs. Minneola Dixon became Oakwood's second Archivist, a post she held until her retirement in 2009. Heather Rodriguez-James accepted the challenge to be the University's third Archivist in 2010 and worked in Archives until May 2016. 

1. To provide the institution with a memory and a method to verify, refute, or modify the recollection of its members and the outside community about the insitution's past;
2. To serve as a teaching and learning center;
3. To serve administrative needs;
4. To reach out to communities whose goals are increasing local history awareness; and
5. To provide the most effective means of organizing and managing the institution's historical information recources, for prompt customer service.