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Dr. Willis Edward Byrd was a chemistry professor at Lincoln University. The collection consists of an African American family's papers from the early to mid-twentith century, including correspondence and transcripts from Byrd's education at Talladega College and University of Iowa; some printed materials and writings collected by his parents, Edward D. and Annie L. Jones Byrd, documenting their connections with the Mulberry Rover Missionary Baptist Association, the Better Homes in America organization, and the American Missionary Association; letters to Byrd during his military service in World War II; letters and his employment contract as a chemistry professor at Lincoln University; photographs of Byrd and other family members, some identified, from the early 1900s; and other letters and educational ephemera, including printed materials from Spelman College and Morehouse College. Acquired as part of the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture.