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The Behind the Veil: Documenting African-American Life in the Jim Crow South project was undertaken by Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies from 1990-2005. Its goal was to record and preserve African American experiences in the American South from the 1890s to the 1950s. Materials in the Behind the Veil project collection date from about 1864 to 2011, with the bulk dating from the 1990s; earlier dates represent original image content rather than the reproduction date. The collection comprises over 1200 oral history interviews with associated transcripts and administrative files, several thousand historic and contemporary photographs, and project records, which include paper and electronic administrative files and audiovisual recordings. Oral histories were conducted in 19 locations, chiefly in the South; topics represented in these recordings include childhood, religion, education, politics, celebrations and other events, family histories, work histories and military service, and details about segregation and the effects of racism in the South. Acquired as part of the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African American History and Culture at Duke University.

The Kathy Acker papers are primarily comprised of drafts of her novels, short stories, and other miscellaneous writings, ranging from early works like The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula (1975) to her last novel Pussy, King of the Pirates (1996). Described as a cyberpunk author and performance artist, her novels question the strictures of female sexuality and the power of language.

The Master of Fine Arts in Experimental and Documentary Art degree program at Duke University has been awarded since 2013. Collection houses MFA/EDA theses submitted by graduates of the program, in the form of typescripts; handmade books; digital video and audio, three-dimensional artwork; photobooks; photographic prints; digital still images; and film of multi-media performances. Subjects range widely and include: U.S. and Southern cultures; world cultures; street photography; childhood; environmental narratives and documentaries; city and rural communities; themes of social justice, memory, and identity; women and spirituality; and abstract constructs. Other places documented include China, Poland, Vietnam, and the Middle East. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

Earl Dotter is a documentarian, photojournalist, and labor activist based in Maryland. Dotter's great-grandfather, Charles G. A. Thamm, also worked as a photographer in Pennsylvania and was employed by the Landreth Seed Catalog Company. This collection contains photographs in various formats - including negatives and prints - created by Thamm and his family in the 1890s and early 1900s. It also contains digital surrogate images of Thamm's work, adjusted by Dotter.

The Lewis Hine Documentary Fellows Program (LHDFP) is administered by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University to support documentary photographers who address humanitarian issues in the U.S. and abroad. The Lewis Hine Fellowship Photographs Collection represents a selection of images from the documentary projects of six LHDFP fellows: Alex Fattal, Maital Guttman, Kate Joyce, Elena Rue, Amanda van Scoyoc, and Lucy Wilson. The photographic images and videos in the collection depict home and community life of disadvantaged families and children in several sub-Saharan African nations (South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia), as well as Boston, Massachusetts. They show everyday life and activities, such as children playing and completing chores, mothers cooking meals, disabled children going to school, household living conditions, and impoverished orphans and HIV-positive children in their familial situations, as well as funerals and school presentations (among other community events). In addition to photographic prints, there are also some documents relating to the projects, and DVDs of the photographers' documentary work. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

The papers of the Abbot family consist mainly of correspondence, but also include financial and legal papers, diaries, a letter-book, clippings, printed material, speeches and photographs (including cartes-de-visite, and some cyanotypes and tintypes). The materials date from 1733 to 1999, the bulk ranging from 1860-1910. A significant portion of the correspondence comprises of personal letters exchanged during the Civil War between William Richardson Abbot, headmaster of Bellevue High School, and his wife, Lucy Minor Abbot. Abbot's letters mention battles and political events of the Civil War, including his experience as an officer in the First Regiment of the Engineers Troops (Army of Virginia). Other correspondence includes exchanges between W.R. Abbot and his immediate family, both during and after the Civil War, as well as numerous letters to Abbot from parents of boys attending Bellevue High School. The collection also includes materials from the lives of the children and grandchildren of William and Lucy Abbot. Letters from the Abbot children consist of personal exchanges, accounts of travel in turn-of-the-century Europe, as well as experiences in the German university system. Also included is a brief memoir by Ann Minor, Lucy's sister, documenting childhood experiences in Virginia during the Civil War. There are also papers belonging to the Minors of Charlottesville (Va.), such as correspondence of Charles and John Minor.

All of the Above (AOTA) is an annual theatrical production comprised of monologues written, performed by, and directed by Duke women about Duke life. The All of the Above records contain programs, scripts, list of participants, a directors manual titled "Making all of the Above," and two mini DV digital videocassettes of the 2008 production.

Kris Graves (1982- ) is an artist and publisher based in New York and California. The portfolio is made up of 16 images taken by Graves which speak to the Black Lives Matter civil rights movement as well as to public opinion about Confederate Civil War monuments. The photographs he shot at dusk and at night in July 2020 capture a series of projections superimposed onto a 60-foot tall statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, once part of Richmond, Virginia's iconic Monument Avenue. Run by multimedia artist Dustin Klein, the projections feature the faces of recent Black victims of white violence, including Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Christopher DeAndre Mitchell, Deborah Danner, Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. Several other photographs were taken by day and include a self-portrait at Stonewall Jackson's grave, and a monument in Tuskegee, Alabama, shrouded in a blue tarp. Includes printed sheet with essay by Diana McClure. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

Nathan H. Hill was a teacher in Lincolnton (Lincoln Co.), N.C. Collection includes letters to Nathan H. Hill concerning his work teaching freedmen in Lincolnton, N.C., including letters from Albion W. Tourgée. The collection also consists of letters from family members and others, receipts, material related to Guilford College, and several items about the Quakers' work with African Americans after the Civil War.

Photojournalist (1907-2004) for the Farm Security Administration and Life magazine. Collection consists of 65 black-and-white and one color photographs taken during assignments for the Farm Security Administration and for Life magazine from 1935 to 1968. Subjects include rural America, migrant farm workers, and the community of Freer, Texas, during the Great Depression; the Sino-Japanese War and 1940s China; World War II, including the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, General MacArthur's return, the liberation of Italy and France, and the surrender of Japan; Japanese war crimes tribunals; the Fukui, Japan, earthquake in 1948; and the Korean War. Most of the images measure 8x10 and 11x14 inches and have detailed captions. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.