Edna Merson papers

The papers of Edna Merson contain professional, as well as personal papers documenting Merson's life as a civic leader. The papers encompass 1.0 feet and include correspondence, publications, newspaper articles, photographs, typescripts, and a bibliography on Dr. Kenneth Clark.

The papers span almost 20 years from 1958-1972, with the bulk of the papers being professional in nature. The correspondence focuses on her work with the Committee on Civil Rights in Metropolitan New York, a group Merson helped form in 1950. The group was a volunteer organization dedicated to securing equal opportunity for all through an orderly process of research surveys, persuasion, and education. Main correspondents include Rhetta Arter, Kenneth B. Clark, Mamie Phipps Clark and Donald S. Harrington.

The papers also contain articles, publications, reprints and typescripts concerning Black and Jewish relations, the Civil Rights Movement and the state of Black America. Of note, is a typescript entitled "My White Problem and Yours" by Trinidadian novelist Frank Hercules, written as a response to the article "My Negro Problem and Ours" by Norman Podhoretz, a copy of which is also present in the collection.