One of HADC’s central concerns is the scarcity and fragmentation of archival sources and vertical files in the field of Haitian art. Through our work with WCA, we have uncovered a rich collection of materials tied to its holdings, including accession records, exhibition materials, curatorial notes, journal and newspaper articles, and correspondence. These vertical files offer a deep well of information about Haitian history, art, and culture, and provide critical insight into how Haitian art has been framed and interpreted over time.
Vertical files also serve as historical and geographic markers of how narratives around Haitian art have developed at specific moments. They reveal the aesthetic and cultural connections drawn through exhibitions and public programs, encouraging research that moves beyond formal analysis to include lived experience and human engagement with art. These records show how many lives a work of art has touched, how art shapes life, and how it connects people across time and place. It is this blending of documentation, metadata, and classification that will ultimately make Haitian art more visible and discoverable in library catalogs and digital databases.
Below is a list of digital and physical archives across the diaspora that preserve materials related to Haitian history, culture, and key figures. To learn more or access each collection, click on the tab and follow the link provided.
The Alfred Nemours Collection
The Alfred Nemours Collection of Haitian History is a documentary and pictorial archive held at the University of Puerto Rico. It contains materials on Haitian history from the colonial era to the 20th century, covering topics like the economy of Saint-Domingue, the Haitian Revolution, and figures such as Toussaint Louverture and Henri Christophe. The collection includes personal and business documents, government records, and art, offering insight into the country’s history.
Bibliothèque Haïtienne des Frères de l’Instruction Chrétienne
The Bibliothèque Haïtienne des Frères de l’Instruction Chrètienne, founded in 1912 by the Christian Brothers, serves as a repository for Haitian imprints and holds one of the most significant collections of newspapers.
Bibliothèque Nationale d’Haïti
The Bibliothèque Nationale d’Haïti, established in 1939, holds a collection of historical rare books, manuscripts, and newspapers, and offers current publications, research support, and study space. The Bibliothèque Nationale d’Haiti is contributing to the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) and participates in dLOC’s Protecting Haitian Patrimony Initiative.
Caribbean Sea Migration Collection
Caribbean Sea Migration Collection. Materials related to Cuban, Dominican, and Haitian maritime migration from 1965-1996, including camps at the U.S. Naval Station, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, 1991-1996.
Digital Library of the Caribbean (DLoC)
dLOC, a multi-institutional, international digital library, is a cooperative of Partners within the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean that provides users with access to Caribbean cultural, historical, and research materials held in archives, libraries, and private collections. Includes newspapers, archives of Caribbean leaders and governments, official documents, numeric data on ecosystems, scientific scholarship, historic and contemporary maps, oral and popular histories, travel accounts, literature and poetry, musical expressions, and artifacts.
Erol Josué Papers
The Erol Josue Papers collection documents the works of noted Haitian Vodou priest, healer, educator, and performance artist of “electro-Vodou music,” Erol Josué. He has spent much of his career passionately practicing Vodou, advocating for its survival through his performance art, and lobbying against government restrictions on religious practice. Items in the collection specifically focus on Josué’s work as a healer and performance artist. It includes newsclippings and ephemera related to his performances, which feature Vodou and his Haitian cultural heritage as prevailing themes.
His full oral history, as part of the Haitian diaspora oral history collection, can be accessed from this page.
FIU Special Collection
FIU: Special Collections contributes materials from its Caribbean collections, including The Flora of the Caribbean, making available photographic documentation of Caribbean plants vouchered and expertly identified by Dr. Scott Zona during his 25 years of botanical research in the Caribbean.
Frisner Augustin/Makandal Collection
Frisner Augustin (March 1, 1948 – February 28, 2012) was a leading performer and composer of Haitian Vodou drumming. He led the New York-based Vodou music and dance ensemble La Troupe Makandal from 1981 until his death. This holds the following types of data files: still images (photographs), sound recordings, moving images (video), and text documents.
Haiti Clippings (NYPL)
Clippings (NYPL) from the Music Division clippings files
Haiti Dechoukaj Collection: 1976-1987 (Schomburg Library)
Haiti Dechoukaj Collection consists of two groups of documents: political cartoons, interviews, election material and printed matter collected by freelance journalist Nadine Andre in Haiti in 1986 and at the time of the failed elections of November 1987; and background material, mostly political leaflets and newspaper clippings, collected by Ms. Andre in the ten year period preceding the demise of the Duvalier regime in February 1986.
Haiti: Index to Personal Papers Collections
This Haiti index highlights collections in the Archives Branch concerning the Marine Corps’ involvement in the occupation of Haiti, 1914-1935. The criteria for selecting collections for inclusion in this index are limited to those personal papers that contain pertinent materials.
Collections in this index are comprised of official Marine Corps records, documents, and publications; letters and correspondence; manuscripts; photographs; maps; memoirs and reminiscences; clippings and articles; oral histories and interviews; and realia and ephemera.
Haitian Art Research Project (HARP)
HARP is created to solicit, curate, archive, and disseminate information about all types of Haitian Art, describing Haitian Art’s historical development, citing the people involved, and soliciting contributions of data and historical materials from enthusiasts and interested parties. This is an interactive research site on Haitian Art, seeking contributions from knowledgeable folks. We are trying to preserve the tribal knowledge of Haitian art aficionados, keeping information that would otherwise be lost.
Haitian Gray Literature Collection
Haitian Gray Literature Collection of several informally published papers, reports, bulletins, directories, brochures, articles, and other documents on Haitian culture, both in and outside the United States. Topics of interest include reports on Haitian diaspora communities in South Florida and their economic conditions, the history of Haitian refugees and detainees, and documents on Haitian civil rights in the United States.
The collection also includes a selection of materials from the Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center in Miami, Florida. Their organization is dedicated to providing a voice for the Haitian-American community in South Florida and assisting Haitian-Americans with any needs in the following areas: social services, education, economic self-sufficiency, and access to health care.
Haitian Studies Institute Archive
The CUNY Haitian Studies Institute (HSI) Archives is the repository for rare and unique materials obtained by CUNY HSI for preservation and to offer patrons—scholars of all ages—access to primary sources that are part of the Haitian experience and history in the New York diaspora. The materials within the collections include manuscripts, books, photographs, and other formats, which are noncirculating, shelved in closed stacks, and available by appointment.
Institut de Sauveguard du Patrimoine National (ISPAN)
Institut de Sauveguard du Patrimoine National (ISPAN) was established in 1979, and operates independently under the auspices of the Haitian Ministry of Culture. ISPAN’s mission is to document and classify historic monuments and sites in Haiti, and to undertake and manage preservation and restoration projects of those sites. ISPAN further assists in developing both public and private efforts to safeguard the national patrimony, while collecting and making accessible all information and documentation related to Haitian patrimony. ISPAN was instrumental in the preservation, restoration, and documentation of the historic Citadelle Henry and Palais Sans-Souci, both designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
National Archives, Curacao
Curacao National Archives section on the Haiti and the Tula slave Revolt of 1795.
Pan American World Airways Advertisements
The Pan American World Airways Advertisements digital collection consists primarily of print advertisements created by multiple advertising agencies from 1940 through 1991 for publication in American newspapers and magazines. Includes advertisements for travel to Haiti, mainly from the 1950s but also from the 40s to the 1980s.
Radio Haiti Papers
Radio Haiti Research materials, on-air scripts, photographs, and other physical materials from Radio Haiti-Inter.
The Haitian Art Digital Archive (HADA)
LACC’s Haitian Art Digital Archive (HADA) contributes to LACC’s ongoing efforts to help preserve Haitian cultural patrimony, highlight the work of Haiti’s cultural leaders, scholars and artists, and promote broad access to discussions about the Arts through the use of Haitian Creole. More specifically, HADA boasts content from Nobel Prize Nominee, author, and painter, Franketienne; leading art historian, Michel Philippe Lerebours; renowned songstress and folklorist, Emerante des Pradines; and popular drapo beading artist, Mireille Delisme, among others..
University of the West Indies (UWI)
UWI Haiti-related collections on all three campuses.
West Indian collection: 1716-1931 (Schomburg Library)
West Indies Collection. The manuscripts in this collection are mostly governmental and military documents, primarily relating to Haiti and Guadaloupe, and some to other West Indian islands. This collection was largely assembled by Arthur (Arturo) Schomburg, although some items may have been acquired by the New York Public Library after his death.
Archives Nationales d’Haiti
Archives Nationales d’Haïti houses civil and state records as well as those of the Office of the President and most government ministries. Location: Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Access: Digital
Bibliothèque Haïtienne des Spiritains (BHS) (formerly known as Bibliothèque Haïtienne des Pères du Saint-Esprit (BHPSE)
BHS. Founded in 1873 by Father Daniel Weick of French nationality, the BHPSE, is the oldest library in Haiti. Its collection on the history of slavery is, in many ways, one of the richest in the Caribbean. Throughout its history, the Library has received donations of important private collections: the Fund Linstant Pradines, those of Semexan Rouzier, Michel Oreste, among others; Odette Milo Rigaud Edmond Mangonès; the Dupuy family; the diplomat Edner Brutus; and the poet René Belance.
Bibliothèque nationale de France – Gallica
Bibliothèque nationale de France – Gallica has vast digital resources, including a number of French magazines and newspapers
Daniel “Andre Elizee” Simidor Collection
Daniel “Andre Elizee” Simidor Collection. Activist and archivist Daniel “Andre Elizee” Simidor spent his career preserving the history and political legacy of the Haitian Left. The collection includes pamphlets, correspondence, writings, and a video recording of his television show “S.O.S. Ayiti.”
Documentation de la Gauche Haïtienne: 1938-1999 (Schomburg Library)
Documentation de la Gauche Haïtienne. Composed of political statements, writings, and printed matter (such as flyers, newsletters, and clippings), the Documents of the Haitian Left collection chronicles Haiti’s socio-political and economic conditions, United States involvement in Haiti, and the circum-Caribbean and the effects of this influence on the region.
Etienne and Ghislaine Charlier collection: 1927-1994 [bulk 1942-1979] (Schomburg Library)
Étienne Charlier was a Haitian Marxist historian whose “Aperçu sur la formation historique de la nation haïtienne” and numerous articles published in the daily “La Nation” interpreted Haiti’s history and contemporary realities through a Marxist framework. His wife, Ghislaine Rey Charlier, is a writer whose work includes “Memoires d’une affranchie” (Memories of a Freedwoman) and “Anthologie du roman haïtien de 1859 à 1946” (Anthology of the Haitian Novel, 1859-1946). The Étienne and Ghislaine Charlier Collection comprises letters, political treatises, and printed matter that are useful for a study of the Haitian left in Haiti and abroad.
Fonkoze Records
Fonkoze is a family of organizations that work together to provide the financial and non-financial services to empower Haitians – primarily women – to lift their families out of poverty. The name “Fonkoze” is an acronym for the Haitian Creole phrase “Fondasyon Kole Zepòl,” which means “Shoulder-to-Shoulder Foundation.” Fonkoze’s vision is for a Haiti where people, standing together – shoulder-to-shoulder – create sustainable financial solutions for the future. Fonkoze is a family of 3 organizations: Fonkoze Financial Services (Sèvis Finansye Fonkoze (SFF), S.A.), Fonkoze Foundation (Fondasyon Kole Zepòl), and Fonkoze USA. Together, these organizations address the multifaceted nature of poverty by offering a variety of programming and aid, from business skills training and literacy classes to health programs and low-interest loans. Fonkoze aims to help people in ways that meet their individual needs.
Gary Monroe Photographs, 1980-1998
Gary Monroe Photographs. 100 black-and-white photos shot by Gary Monroe from 1980 to 1998 in Haiti, in Haitian neighborhoods in Florida, and in Krome Camp, Florida, where Haitian refugees are detained by the U.S. government.
Haiti Collections Index, 1915-1935
Haiti Collections Index, 1915-1935 – This index highlights collections in the Archives Branch concerning the Marine Corps’ involvement in the occupation of Haiti, 1914-1935. The criteria for selecting collections for inclusion in this index are limited to those personal papers that contain pertinent materials.
Haiti Memory Oral History Project
The Haiti Memory Project is an oral history project created by historian Claire Antone Payton to document the January 12, 2010, earthquake and life in its aftermath. The result is a collection of over one hundred audio-recorded interviews with Haitians in Port-au-Prince in the summer and fall of 2010.
Haiti: Miscellaneous collections, 1785-1970 (Schomburg Library)
The collection consists of individual items and small groups of Haitian documents, mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries. It includes miscellaneous correspondence of Etienne Polvérel and Félicité Sonthonax, members of the Civil Commission sent by the French government to the Windward Islands “to restore order and tranquillity” in 1793, and of various Haitian heads of state, among them Nissage Saget (1874), Lysius Félicité Salomon (1883), and Tirésias Simon Sam (1897). Also included are a 1778 inventory listing the names, age, trades and physical condition of 149 slaves on the Beaugé Plantation in the former French colony of Saint-Domingue; a 1785 manumission certificate for Jeanne Aline, a sixteen year-old slave girl; miscellaneous French colonial administration documents ranging from 1791 to 1803; two letters from Henri Christophe to Tobias Lear, U.S. Consul to Saint-Domingue in 1802, and to Corneille Brelle, a French priest appointed Grand Almoner and Archbishop of Haiti in 1811; 1830s Masonic certificates from the Grande Loge d’Haiti; and a group of six autograph letters with attachments from the Haitian surrealist poet Clément Magloire-Saint-Aude (1968-1970). Diplomatic correspondence includes 35 letters from the Haitian Legation in Paris to the Haitian Ministry of Foreign Relations, 1911-1914, relating to the purchase of 10,000 guns and 500,000 rounds of ammunition in France, as well as a 36-hour British ultimatum to the Haitian government. Also a group of letters from the Haitian Legation in Ciudad Trujillo (Santo Domingo) that give a sense of the general situation between the two countries prior to the October 1937 massacre of 10,000 Haitians in the Dominican Republic..
Haitian communities in Miami and the Haitian Neighborhood Center/Sant La
Haitian communities Reports, Working Papers and ephemera authored primarily by the Haitian Neighborhood Center/Sant La and the Journalism Program at the University of Miami..
Haitian Refugee collection: 1972-2004 (Schomburg Library)
Haitian Refugee Collection. Ira Gollobin, an immigration rights attorney and author, served as pro bono counselor to refugees from all over the world, including Nazi Germany and Duvalierist Haiti. His work with Haitian refugees, the purview of this collection, began in 1974. In this capacity, he served as lead counsel on several major cases that were pivotal to the rights of Haitian refugees, the so-called “boat people.”
Maya Deren Collection of Haitian Vodou Recordings
The collection consists of 16 reels of sound recording tape. The contents include music from Vodou ceremonials and rituals, such as baptisms, ceremonies of possession, drums, and specific celebrations to Agassou, Damballah, Erzulie, Ghede, Ibo, and Petro.
National Coalition for Haitian Rights
The National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) operated between 1982 and 2006, advocating for the rights of Haitians in the United States, Haiti, and the Caribbean. The NCHR records include the organization’s administrative records, program and project files, legal files, extensive subject files, and a large collection of print materials.
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Photos: “Haiti in Color” by Andrew Giel
“Andrew Giel’s first trip to Haiti with the U.S. Navy sub tender USS Bushnell in 1956: Guantanamo Bay to Port-au-Prince for two days. He later made two longer trips from Chicago in 1959 and 1963, including visits to Jacmel and Cap Haitien to see the nearby Citadelle of Henry Christophe. While in Haiti, Andrew made numerous photos with his Leica III F camera and bought dozens of postcards. Haiti was a fantastic place to visit in those years with great cultural impact and tourist interest. One of Haiti’s misfortunes (aside from bad government, earthquakes and hurricanes) was that it had been largely ignored by the international community and thus received few visitors during what could have been its golden years of tourism. It is unlikely that any of the fragile Port-au-Prince buildings shown in these photos could have survived the 2010 earthquake.” -Andrew Giel
Smedley D. Butler Collection
Smedley D. Butler Collection. A guide to the papers of individual Marines held by the Archives Branch. The collection includes correspondence, clippings, ephemera, photographs, drawings, maps, negatives, and official records related to the life and work of Smedley Butler between the years 1898 and 1940 (bulk 1912 – 1939).
The Patti M. Marxsen / Jacques Roumain Collection
The Patti M. Marxsen / Jacques Roumain Collection houses thirty-eight items related to the Haitian writer, poet, anthropologist, and political archivist. The collection dates from 1929 to 2025 and includes first-edition books, original publications, and media in various languages that give international scope to the historical cultural significance of Roumain’s writings.
U.S. Marine Corps
Marine Corps History Divisions
Archives Nationales d’Outre Mer (ANOM)
Archives Nationales d’Outre Mer (ANOM) Created in 1776 by royal edict, the Public Records Office of the Colonies, more commonly known as the DPPC, was responsible for preserving copies of the most important documents written in the colonies at the central administration level, documents that could guarantee the rights of individuals and the security of the State. Location: Aix-en-Provence, France. Access: Physical Materials on-site access.
Bibliothèque Monique Calixte
Bibliothèque Monique Calixte. There are books reserved for studies, professionals, and other books specifically intended for adults. The Haitian collection is set apart, as are the collections of theater books for the Festival Quatre Chemins and of photography books. The Harold Courlander American Corner consists mainly of US documents in French.
Caribbean Diaspora Oral Histories
David Cutrell Photographs
David Cutrell Photographs are the black and white and color images in the David Cutrell Photographs that portray life in the village of La Hatte Cadet in Haiti in the 1970s. Missionary David Cutrell lived in La Hatte Cadet and documented daily life with a Roliflex camera. Images include landscapes, portraits, and snapshots of everyday life, including family groups, children, adults, gardening, livestock, house repair, market day, and religious ceremonies and artifacts. Far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated, they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean.
Drummers of Haiti Collection
The Drummer of Haiti Collection contains oral interviews conducted with over fifteen Haitian master drummers and one rasin group, culminating in a recorded live concert. The interviews contextualize and demonstrate intricate Haitian drum rhythms and patterns, including Petwo, Yanvalou, Gede, Djouba, Nago, and Ibo, among others.
Family Action Network Movement (FANM)
Family Action Network Movement (FANM), originally called Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami / Haitian Women of Miami, is a private, non-profit advocacy organization that was founded in 1991 by Marleine Bastien. First conceived of as a resource for Haitian women living in Miami, FANM is primarily run by minority women and has always focused on advocating for lower-income women of color in particular. They provide services and programming related to issues including immigration, housing, health and mental health access, education reform, gender equality, human rights, crisis and domestic violence intervention, counseling, job training, financial literacy, adult education, and after-school programs.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Papers. President’s Secretary’s File. Box 39, Haiti File: 1933–34, 1944.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Papers. Useful online resource for those researching the U.S. occupation.
Haiti – Song, Dance, and Theatre (NYPL)
Haiti (NYPL) Archival documents.
New York Public Library Haiti Collections
NYPL Archival documents
Haiti Tourist Bureau photographs, 1950-1955
The Haiti Tourist Bureau Collection consists of seventeen glossy 8×10-inch black-and-white photographs of tourist destinations and activities in Haiti, marked on the versos with the associated name of the Haiti Tourist Bureau in New York City, established sometime around 1950.
Haitian American Student Association (HASA) Collection
The HASA collection consists of materials from the Haitian American Student Association (HASA), including flyers, correspondence, a newspaper article, member registration notes, and CUNY Faculty and Staff tax information.
Haitian Diaspora Oral Histories
The Haitian Diaspora Oral History Digital Collection includes interviews with individuals of Haitian ancestry who are well-known in the worlds of culture and the arts, education, community activism, civic leadership, and many professional organizations. In these interviews, musicians, artists, dancers, and writers explore the creative process, often through the lens of the diaspora experience, while showcasing the Haitian influence in the arts. Educators, activists, and civic leaders share their experiences and passion for supporting both their local and the larger Haitian communities.
Haitian Soccer Club Oral History Collection
The Haitian Soccer Club Oral History Collection contains interviews with the men and women of Haiti’s local and national soccer teams from the 1960s-1980s, discussing the meaning of the sport in their lives and the country. The collection also features contemporary players.
Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees
This Haitian Women for Haitian Refugee collection documents materials and topics related to Haitian and immigrant issues, particularly women’s rights, human rights, and advocacy. The materials encompass meeting agendas and minutes, reports and studies, newspaper articles and publications, flyers and information resources, legal documents and advocacy materials, and educational guides. The collection covers a broad range of topics, including Haitian immigrants ‘ rights and advocacy, women’s rights and leadership, human rights issues in Haiti, sexual violence and human rights violations, and immigration policies and legislation. Additionally, it includes materials on cultural and artistic expression, education and social services for immigrants, Haitian political developments, and Haiti-Dominican Republic relations.
Michael L. Carlebach Photography Collection
The Michael L. Carlebach Photography Collection consists primarily of black-and-white photographic prints taken and personally hand-developed by Professor Michael L. Carlebach. In general, the images are thematically grouped around journalistic pieces published in newspapers or artistic topics such as portraits and landscapes.
Pan American Airways
The records of Pan American World Airways Inc. begin with the company’s founding in 1927 and document the 64-year lifespan of a pioneer airline and international symbol of adventure and romance. The 1,500 linear foot collection contains evidence of Pan Am’s long list of accomplishments, which includes being: the first American airline to operate a permanent international air service, the first American airline to use radio communications, the first American airline to develop an airport and airways traffic control system, the first American airline to employ cabin attendants and serve meals aloft, the first American airline to develop a complete aviation weather service, the first airline in the world to offer scheduled transpacific passenger and mail service, the first airline in the world to offer scheduled transatlantic passenger and mail service, and the first airline to operate jets within the continental United States..
Radio Haiti Archive (digital audio collection)
Over 5000 audio recordings from Radio Haiti-Inter (Jean Dominique’s radio station), bulk from the early 1970s to 2003, covering politics, society, culture, agriculture, human rights, and other topics.
Stephen Deats Vinyl Collection
Stephen Deats Vinyl Collection. Vinyl records owned by Stephen Deats, a drummer who performed with La Troupe Makandal. Behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated, they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a vast ocean of language.
UCLA Libraries Haiti Collection
UCLA Haiti-related digital collection.
W. E. B. Du Bois Papers, 1803-199
W.E.B. Du Bois. Scholar, writer, editor of The Crisis and other journals, co-founder of the Niagara Movement, the NAACP, and the Pan African Congresses, international spokesperson for peace and for the rights of oppressed minorities, W.E.B. Du Bois was a son of Massachusetts who articulated the strivings of African Americans and developed a trenchant analysis of the problem of the color line in the twentieth century. Includes over 100,000 items of correspondence (more than three quarters of the papers), speeches, articles, newspaper columns, nonfiction books, research materials, book reviews, pamphlets and leaflets, petitions, novels, essays, forewords, student papers, manuscripts of pageants, plays, short stories and fables, poetry, photographs, newspaper clippings, memorabilia, videotapes, audiotapes, and miscellaneous materials.