Gerald Norwood collection on Booker T. Washington

The Gerald Norwood Collection on Booker T. Washington consists of three letters from Washington to journalist and author Ralph Delahaye Paine, a set of newspaper clippings from the New-York Weekly Tribune Review pertaining to Washington and Tuskegee Institute, and other ephemera related to Washington. A portion of the collection centers on Washington's writing and publication of the book Working with the Hands, which was published in 1904 by Doubleday, Page & Company. An inscribed copy of the book was received as part of the collection and is now housed in the library of the Amistad Research Center.

The collection consists of two presentation panels. The first contains a 23 February 1904 letter from Washington to Paine and a news clipping related to Washington's address at Madison Square Garden in New York entitled "Negro Education Not a Failure." In the letter, Washington mentions sending copies of the address to Paine, as well as chapters from Washington's forthcoming book. Additional items on the panel include soil samples from Washington's grave at Tuskegee Institute and his birthplace in Hardy, Virginia; blocks of four 10 cent Booker T. Washington postage stamps (1940) and four 3 cent Washington centennial stamps (1956); and a printed illustration of Washington.

The second panel contains two additional letters from Washington to Paine, dated 25 March and 7 April 1904, discussing a $350 payment from Washington to Paine. Also included is a 12 March 1904 article entitled "Negro Ambitions" regarding an annual conference held at Tuskegee Institute from the Weekly Tribune Review, a printed illustration of Washington, and an advertisement for Working with the Hands.