Wesley, Dorothy Porter, 1905-1995

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Dorothy Burnett Porter Wesley librarian, curator, and bibliophile, was born on May 25, 1905 in Warrenton, Virginia to physician Hayes Joseph Burnett and tennis player Roberta (“Bertha”) Ball Burnett. Wesley, the eldest of four children, grew up in Montclair, New Jersey. She graduated from Miner Normal School, Washington D.C. in 1925 with the intention of becoming a teacher. Wesley was a library assistant in the Miner Normal School library where she worked with librarian Lula V. Allan who encouraged her to pursue a career in library science. Wesley enrolled in Howard University in 1926 and received a BA in 1928. After graduating she began work as a full-time librarian at Howard University. In 1928 she enrolled at Colombia University’s School of Library Science and received a Master’s in Library Science in 1931. In 1930, Wesley began work as curator of the Moorland Foundation, now known as the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, at Howard University and worked to build collections documenting the African diaspora until her retirement in 1973. Under Wesley’s administration, the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center became a world-renowned institution for the history and culture of people of African descent.

After retirement, Wesley worked as a consultant for Radcliffe University’s Black Women Oral History Archive and authored several articles and books pertaining to librarianship and the African diaspora. Her written works include Early Negro Writing, 1760-1837 (1971) and Afro-Braziliana: A Working Bibliography (1978).

Wesley married artist and art history professor James Amos Porter (1905-1970) and had a daughter, Constance Porter Uzelac (1939-2012). After James Porter’s death in 1970, she married former Wilberforce University president and African American historian, Charles Harris Wesley in 1979. Dorothy worked with Charles on a variety of projects including research for a bibliography on abolitionist William Cooper Nell until Charles’s death in 1987. William Cooper Nell, Nineteenth-Century African American Abolitionist, Historian, Integrationist: Selected Writings 1832-1874 (2002) was later published by Constance Porter Uzelac in 2001. Dorothy Porter Wesley died in Broward County, Florida in 1995.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Cook, Vivian Elma Johnson, 1889-1977. Vivian Johnson Cook papers, 1903-1977. Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University
referencedIn Frank P. and Helen Chisholm family papers, 1846-1994 Emory University. Special Collections and Archives
referencedIn Horace Mann Bond Papers, 1830-1979, 1926-1972 Special Collections and University Archives, UMass Amherst Libraries
creatorOf Wesley, Dorothy Porter, 1905-1995. Afro-American writings published before 1835, with an alphabetical list (tentative) of imprints written by American negroes, 1760-1835. Columbia University in the City of New York, Columbia University Libraries
creatorOf DOROTHY PORTER WESLEY COLLECTION Dorothy Porter Wesley Research Center
referencedIn Jean Wagner papers, 1945-1983 (inclusive), 1957-1963 (bulk). Houghton Library
creatorOf Graham, Pearl M.,. Thomas Jefferson genealogical collection, 1948. Howard University
creatorOf Dorothy Porter Wesley papers, 1847-2011 Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
creatorOf Robinson, Armstead L. Papers of Armstead Robinson [manuscript], ca. 1964-1995. University of Virginia. Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Bond, Horace Mann, 1904-1972 person
associatedWith Broward County Libraries, Broward County, Library Division corporateBody
alumnusOrAlumnaOf Columbia University corporateBody
correspondedWith Cook, Vivian Elma Johnson, 1889-1977. person
alumnusOrAlumnaOf Howard University corporateBody
employeeOf Howard University. Library corporateBody
associatedWith Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967 person
associatedWith Locke, Alain, 1885-1954 person
Logan, Rayford Whittingham, 1897-1982 person
employeeOf Moorland-Spingarn research center corporateBody
associatedWith Peterson, Dorothy person
spouseOf Porter, James A. (James Amos), 1905-1970 person
associatedWith Robinson, Armstead L. person
correspondedWith Wagner, Jean, 1919- person
spouseOf Wesley, Charles H. (Charles Harris), 1891-1987 person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Fort Lauderdale FL US
United States 00 US
Warrenton VA US
Subject
Slavery
African Americans
African Americans
African diaspora
Occupation
Afro
Archivists
Bibliographers
Collector
Curators
Historians
Librarians
Minority women librarians
Activity

Person

Birth 1905-05-25

Death 1995-12-17

Female

English

Information

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