The collection is comprised of administrative records for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, and includes correspondence, memoranda, budgets, funding reports, publications, policy research studies, conference materials, photographs, audiovisual media, and electronic records. Areas of study include healthcare, HIV/AIDS, minority business, television violence, young fathers, education, and minority community representation.
Among its many publications, JCPES published FOCUS magazine from 1972 to 2011, which covered national issues for an audience largely comprised of black elected officials (BEOs). The collection also includes oral histories of Joint Center founders and influencers, interview transcripts, an extensive history of JCPES, materials from the The Joint Center South Africa office which provided post-Apartheid political assistance activities, and original Southern Regional Council publications.
Other materials include interviews/oral histories with founders Louis Martin, educator Kenneth B. Clark who was the first African American president of the American Psychological Association; and McGeorge Bundy, who served as United States National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson on foreign and defense policy from 1961 through 1966. Interviews and transcripts that add historical perspective to African American issues are conversations with Southern black mayors; African American architect and social activist Carl Anthony; and Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine.
Conferences included forums, roundtables, and speeches from notable figures, elected officials, and congressional members including Maya Angelou, Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Edward Brooke, Ron Brown, Carol Moseley Braun, George H.W. Bush, Barbara Bush, Henry Cisneros, Shirley Chisholm, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Charles Diggs, John Hope Franklin, Jesse Jackson, Maynard Jackson, Valerie Jarrett, Barbara Jordan, Vernon Jordan, Jack Kemp, Coretta Scott King, John Lewis, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Barack Obama, Colin Powell, Charles Rangel, Ronald Reagan, Kasim Reed, Condoleezza Rice, Susan Rice, Donna Shalala, Rodney Slater, Doug Wilder, and Andrew Young. Joint Center historical notes compiled by Darlene Clark Hine are included, as well as Juan Williams' historical publication The Joint Center: Portrait of a Black Think Tank. The files and speeches of Joint Center past presidents Eddie N. Williams; Togo West, Jr.; Ralph Everett, Esq.; and past vice president Eleanor Farrar add insight to the Joint Center's mission of illuminating concerns and trends affecting 20th century African Americans to the legislative influencers most able to effect change.
The Printed Materials and Publications series was added to the collection in 2021 by former JCPES employee Margaret Simms. Some of these titles are duplicated elsewhere in the collection.
