Daniel Alexander Payne Murray (1852–1925) was an American bibliographer, author,

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

. He also worked as an assistant

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Biography

Murray was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, on March 3, 1852. In 1861, he went to work at the United States Senate Restaurant managed by his brother who was also a caterer. He joined the professional staff of the

in 1871. He was eighteen years old, and only the second Black American to work for the Library at a time when the Library of Congress. Murray became the full-time personal assistant to the Librarian of Congress,

Ainsworth Rand Spofford Ainsworth Rand Spofford (September 12, 1825 – August 11, 1908) was an American journalist, prolific writer and the sixth Librarian of Congress. He served as librarian from 1864 to 1897 under the administration of ten presidents. A great admir ...

in 1874. By 1881, he had risen to become assistant librarian, a position he held for forty-one years. For a brief period in 1897, he was the chief of the periodical division. He was returned to his former post when other employees did not respect him due to his waste. Murray married

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

Anna Jane Evans (1858–1955) on April 2, 1879, with whom he had seven children (five lived to adulthood); the couple became a major force in the social and civic life of the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

African American writings

Murray began to compile a collection of books and pamphlets authored by

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

s at the request of

Herbert Putnam George Herbert Putnam (September 20, 1861 – August 14, 1955) was an American librarian. He was the eighth (and also the longest-serving) Librarian of Congress from 1899 to 1939. He implemented his vision of a universal collection with strengt ...

, the successor to Spofford. The collection of work by "Negro Authors" was to be a part of

The Exhibit of American Negroes The Exhibit of American Negroes was a sociological display within the Palace of Social Economy at the 1900 World's Fair in Paris. The exhibit was a joint effort between Daniel Murray, the Assistant Librarian of Congress, Thomas J. Calloway, a la ...

at the

1900 Paris Exposition The Exposition Universelle of 1900, better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate developmen ...

. In 1900 Murray published a list of the collections' holdings to date and appealed for additions to the list through donations. After several months, his list had grown to eleven hundred titles. The Library of Congress's "Colored Authors' Collection" originated from his efforts. Now known as the "Daniel A. P. Murray Pamphlet Collection", it contains works dating from 1821 by such authors as

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...

Ida B. Wells-Barnett Ida B. Wells (full name: Ida Bell Wells-Barnett) (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the Civil rights movement (1896–1954), civil rights movement. She was one of the foun ...

Benjamin W. Arnett Benjamin William Arnett (March 6, 1838 – October 7, 1906) was an American educator, minister, bishop and member of the Ohio House of Representatives. Early life He was born a free black man March 6, 1838 in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, whe ...

, and

Alexander Crummell Alexander Crummell (March 3, 1819 – September 10, 1898) was a pioneering African-American minister, academic and African nationalist. Ordained as an Episcopal priest in the United States, Crummell went to England in the late 1840s to raise money ...

. Murray planned to expand his collection and create an encyclopedia of African-American achievement; unfortunately, the project never received sufficient support to become a reality. Daniel Murray's intended collection was never published, the smaller pamphlet he had composed for the Exhibit at the Paris Exposition was additionally placed in the Library of Congress. This pamphlet, titled, "Preliminary List of Books and Pamphlets by Negro Authors: For Paris Exposition and Library of Congress" became the LOC's first bibliography of African American literature.

African American affairs

Murray was widely acknowledged as an authority on African-American concerns. He was the first African-American member of the Washington Board of Trade, and he testified before the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

about

Jim Crow law The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

s and the migration of African-Americans from rural locations to urban areas. He was twice a delegate to the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

and was a member of many other councils and organizations. He was also a prolific author, and a frequent contributor to African American journals, in particular ''

The Voice of the Negro ''The Voice of the Negro'' was a literary periodical aimed at a national audience of African Americans which was published from 1904 to 1907. It was created in Atlanta, Georgia in June 1904 by Austin N. Jenkins, the white manager of the publishing ...

''. He was also well known for his writings on

African American history African-American history began with the arrival of List of ethnic groups of Africa, Africans to North America in the 16th and 17th centuries. Former Spanish slaves who had been freed by Francis Drake arrived aboard the Golden Hind at New Albi ...

, including his monumental but uncompleted '' Historical and Biographical Encyclopedia of the Colored Race''. Murray's personal library of African American works was bequeathed to the Library of Congress upon his death March 31, 1925.

References

External links

African American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A. P. Murray Collection, 1818-1907
*Deloris William
My North Carolina Roots
wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com (including: From Vol. 1. No. 15 - May 5, 1999 / "Finding The Good and Praising It" / A Celebration of the Jewels Mothers (Part 3): / Mrs. Anna Evans Murray, / Mother of Jewel Nathaniel Allison Murray) {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Daniel A. P. 1852 births 1925 deaths African-American historians American male non-fiction writers American bibliographers Librarians at the Library of Congress Writers from Baltimore Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Washington, D.C.) Academics from Maryland Maryland Republicans African-American librarians American librarians Historians from Maryland 20th-century African-American people African-American male writers