David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library

“The Mutual" served as the newsletter for employees of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company in the early 1920s. NC Mutual was founded in Durham, N.C. in 1898, and was an anchor of Durham's Black Wall Street district, employing Black Durhamites and enabling the Black middle class access to home mortgages, small business loans, and insurance in the Jim Crow South. The cover of this issue features John Moses Avery who began employment with N.C Mutual in 1906 as a traveling agent in Western, North Carolina and was employed for twenty-five years with the company, including serving as Vice President and Secretary.

See this and more Black primary source materials from our collections at our "I Got a Story to Tell: Black Lives in Print” event on April 4. Link in bio for more details + registration.

This Friday we’re having a special Halloween pop-up in Perkins Library. Stop by to make (or take) a bookmark 📖, case your vote for our scariest item 😱, or grab a Halloween treat 🍫. 11:30-1:30 outside Von der Heyden Pavilion.

he stunning cover "Women Builders" (1931) was designed by Loïs Mailou Jones. Throughout her long career, Jones studied the art of Africa and the African Diaspora, and incorporated its styles into her artwork. African masks would become an important motif in many of her works, and this is an early example.

"Women Builders" profiles seven African American women "who have definitely contributed to the development of the Negro youth in the United States." The author, Sadie Iola Daniel, was an educator, and wanted the book to serve as an inspiration to young adults. In her introduction, Daniel writes that there are thousands of Black women past and present who she could have included, but that she focused on those "who are pioneers - those who are builders of educational, financial, and social institutions."

[From the Lisa Unger Baskin Collection: E185.96 .D23 1931 c.2]

Q: When can students go inside the library again?
A: Starting August 17!

Library users with a valid Duke ID will be able to enter library buildings in order to access study spaces (by reservation only), classrooms, ePrint stations, and other designated resources and services. However, all library stacks will be closed. Instead, materials may be requested through our Library Takeout Service.

Please note that some building entrances are restricted, in order to manage traffic flow and encourage social distancing. Please use appropriate entrances and follow signs.

For more on what to expect about using the library this fall, see the reopening FAQ on our website.

Duke University