Carter G. Woodson’s Missing Letters

One of the most frustrating experiences that faces an historian is finding a reference to documents that make your skin tingle, only to find that the said documents have disappeared into the ether of history.  As I’ve already mentioned here, Carter G. Woodson taught for four years in the Philippines.  Until recently, I haven’t been able to find any of his personal papers dating before 1912 or so, apart from two letters written after he had left the islands.  However, in a dissertation written in 1971  titled Carter G. Woodson: A Biography, Patricia Romero cited several letters that referenced Woodson’s time in the Philippines, and particularly related to an incident in which he came into conflict with a Filipino employee of the civilian government.  I want very much to read the letters, to get a better understanding of the incident, and also to see the way in which Woodson was treated and addressed by members of the government in the Philippines.  However, according to Dr. Romero, when she looked at the letters they were sitting in a trunk in the basement of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.  Since then, the ASALH has moved headquarters, and it appears that the letters have either been lost or stolen.  I’m still going to use Romero’s dissertation to reference the letters, but I wish there were some way I could find them.  It’s so frustrating to think that they might be sitting somewhere and that I can’t get at them.  This is an important part of Woodson’s life that has been, for the most part, skimmed over in light of his later achievements.  I would love to be able to tell that story.