The Harriet Tubman Collection in the Mary Van Sickle Wait History Room at Seymour Library includes books, magazines, newspaper clippings, photographs and documents.
Most of the collection is the result of the work of the late Ellen Jean Mahoney, a library employee who worked for years to compile copies of stories, articles, photographs and documents about Tubman. Although no original, primary source material is included in the collection, it provides a wide variety of information in a single location.
The library also has an extensive collection of books on Harriet Tubman, ranging from children's books to scholarly biographies. All of the materials are available for use only in the History Room. The books in the History Room collection do not circulate; however, some of the titles are available elsewhere in the library and may be borrowed. History Room hours are listed at the right.
The collection includes:
Notebooks
Copies of stories, magazine articles, newspaper articles, photographs and other documents. All of the materials are copies, not original or primary source material.
Vertical files
Tubman House and Home; information supplementing the Mahoney collection; card files.
Book collection
Bound for the Promised Land, Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero. Larson, Kate Clifford.
A Woman Called Moses, A Novel. Heidish, Marcy.
Harriet Tubman. Bradford, Sarah.
Harriet Tubman, A Biography by Earl Conrad. Conrad, Earl.
Harriet Tubman, Conductor on the Underground Railroad. Petry, Ann.
Harriet Tubman, The Life and the Life Stories. Humez, Jean M.
Harriet Tubman, Myth, Memory and History. Sernett, Milton C.
Harriet Tubman, The Road to Freedom. Clinton, Catherine.
Let My People Go, The Story of the Underground Railroad and the Growth of Abolition Movement. Buckmaster, Henrietta.
Uncovering the Freedom Trail in Auburn and Cayuga County, New York. Cultural Resources Survey sponsored by the City of Auburn Historic Resources Review Board and Cayuga County Historian's Office, funded by Preserve New York.
Wanted Dead or Alive: The True Story of Harriet Tubman, (original title: Runaway Slave) by McGovern, Ann.
Books for young adults and children
Ain't Sleep, Ain't Gone, A Tribute to Harriett (sic) Tubman. Noble, Bessie Cooper.
A Picture Book of Harriet Tubman. Adler, David.
Go Free or Die, A Story about Harriet Tubman. Ferris, Jeri.
Harriet Tubman. Sullivan, George.
Harriet Tubman, Antislavery Activist. Taylor, M.W.
Harriet Tubman, Call to Freedom, Great Lives, Great Americans. Carlson, Judy.
Harriet Tubman, Great American Series. Smith, Kathie Billingslea.
Harriet Tubman, Guide to Freedom. Epstein, Sam and Beryl.
Harriet Tubman, Negro Soldier and Abolitionist. Conrad, Earl.
Harriet Tubman, The Road to Freedom. Bains, Rae.
Minty, A Story of Young Harriet Tubman. Schroeder, Alan, and Jerry Pickney.
Rebel Slave. Kelton, Nancy.
The Story of Harriet Tubman, Conductor of the Underground Railroad, by McMullan, Kate.
The Value of Helping, The Story of Harriet Tubman. Johnson, Ann Donegan.
Magazines and other publications
"Escape from Slavery, Underground Railroad" (Harriet Tubman is covered in this article, with photos) National Geographic, Vol. 168, No. 1, July 1984.
"Harriet Tubman, Journal." James A. McGowan, publisher, assorted issues.
"This is the Story Harriet Told to the Writer: In Search of Harriet Tubman's Spiritual Autobiography." A paper presented at the American Studies Association Conference, Baltimore, Nov. 1, 1991, Jean M. Humez, Women's Studies Program, University of Mass./Boston.
"The Saga of Harriet Tubman, the Moses of her People." Gold Legacy History Magazine.
"Auburn's Fort Hill Cemetery, Images of America, Chapter Nine, Aunt Harriet." Lydia J. Rosell.
"Harriet Tubman." Mini-play. RIM, Classroom Plays.
Books on the Underground Railroad and related topics
A Journey in the Back Country. Olmstead, Frederick Law.
Black Heritage in America. Keddie, Shirley, and Anne Stephenson.
North Star Country, Upstate New York and the Crusade for African American Freedom. Sernett, Milton C.
The Railroad to Freedom. Swift, Hildegard Hoyt.
The Underground. Merrill, Arch.
The Underground Railroad. Siebert, Wilbur H.
Underground Railroad Tales, with Routes Through the Finger Lakes Region. Klees, Emerson.
New York History Net: The life of Harriet Tubman From the New York History Net; includes biography, photographs, links.
