Oakland, CA, June 19, 2025 – Thanks to a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation, the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, in collaboration with Stanford University Libraries, has completed the nearly year-long pilot project of digitizing a selection of one of the most researched collections at the Libraries. The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation Inc. Collection, the world’s largest and most comprehensive Black Panther Party archive, is now available through the Libraries’ online exhibit, Spotlight and catalog, SearchWorks.
The Spotlight exhibit of The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation Inc. Collection makes a rich trove of selected digitized archival material available to give viewers a unique glimpse into the personal life, intellectual pursuits, revolutionary activism, and enduring legacy of Dr. Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, along with programs and initiatives enacted by the Party.
At the start of the pilot project in fall 2024, Stanford University Libraries assembled a core team involving librarians from across the Libraries, including digitization specialists from the Digital Production Group in Digital Library Systems and Services, Conservation staff, metadata specialists, and curatorial staff, all working closely with Fredrika Newton, co-founder of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, and Dr. Xavier Buck, the foundation’s executive director. The team kicked off the pilot project with a visit to the Black Panther Party Museum in downtown Oakland to gain a better understanding of the Party and its work.
The work to digitize this portion of The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation Inc. Collection has been a journey of discovery and learning for Libraries’ team members.
Benjamin Stone, the American and British curator leading the project at Libraries, described how the process of selecting, assessing, digitizing, and describing the thousands of pages chosen for the pilot project, was an opportunity for Libraries’ staff and Huey P. Newton Foundation colleagues to learn a great deal about the collection – including complex issues surrounding description, privacy, and copyright – in an effort to make as much of the material available digitally as possible.
“In particular,” Stone remarked, “the deep dive into the archival collection provides rich detail on the processes that enabled the Black Panther Party to conceive and manage innovative social programs such as the Oakland Community School. Lessons learned will contribute to future efforts to digitize even more material.”
Felicia Smith, the Racial Justice and Social Equity Librarian, already well-acquainted with the history of the Black Panther Party experienced two notable takeaways from her work on the pilot project. She shared:
“One of my primary takeaways from working on the digitization of Dr. Huey P. Newton’s archival collection is the insight it offers into the U.S. government’s surveillance and disruption of the Black Panther Party. The collection includes extensive FBI memos detailing how the agency targeted Newton and other Panthers through COINTELPRO, the Counterintelligence Program designed to undermine Black liberation movements. Another profound takeaway was the dedication of the Black Panther Party ‘to serving the people body and soul.’ This guiding principle came to life through the Panthers’ Community Survival Programs, many of which were founded by teenagers and young adults.
These included initiatives like the S.A.F.E. program for senior citizens, medical services for underserved communities, and free transportation for families to visit loved ones in prison. Far beyond their revolutionary image, the Panthers built systems of care in response to urgent needs in their communities—a legacy that remains deeply inspiring.”
The Black Panther Party Museum, which was established in 2024 by the foundation, will open the Dr. Huey P. Newton Research Room in July where it will feature the digitized content of the collection via the Spotlight exhibit and SearchWorks catalogue.
With the pilot project coming to an end, both the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation and the Libraries hope to secure additional funding to digitize more materials from this prolific collection. To date, 8-10% of the total 100 linear feet of the archive has been digitized and are now available on the Spotlight exhibit, accessible through SearchWorks, and soon to be featured at the Black Panther Party Museum.
“In the early days of our partnership with Stanford University, I could not have envisioned the extraordinary place where we are now,” said Fredrika Newton. “To watch how diligently and caringly this team saw this project through gives me an immense feeling of pride and satisfaction.”
The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation
The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation is dedicated to preserving and promoting the true legacy and ideals of the Black Panther Party. Since 1995, the Foundation has commissioned public art and created education tools to inspire and inform real social, economic and political change. The Foundation is the number one source for historical preservation and archival collections for people seeking the truth about the Black Panther Party. The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, was co-founded by Fredrika Newton and is based in Oakland, CA, the birthplace of the Black Panther Party. Follow on Instagram @hueypnewtonfoundation
Stanford University Libraries
The Stanford University Libraries are a dynamic network of libraries, librarians, information technology specialists, and a vast collection of academic resources that are dedicated to supporting research, teaching, and learning at Stanford. The Libraries hold over fifteen million items in various genres and formats, including e-resources, fifty subject specialists, twenty campus libraries, and a broad spectrum of services. The Libraries’s archival collections include rare books as well as photographs and documents about the history of civil rights in the Mexican American, African American and Asian American communities; documentary photography of Bob Fitch and David Bacon; political papers of both local and state politicians from the recently acquired papers of the late Senator Dianne Feinstein to the Wilma Chan Papers; historical maps featured in the David Rumsey Map Collection; and the incredibly diverse history of Silicon Valley covered in the Silicon Valley Archives. These archival collections and more are available in the Libraries’s Department of Special Collections and in the Stanford Digital Repository, which manages and makes available all scholarly resources to students, faculty and researchers. Finding aids to the Libraries’s archival collections are accessible in the Online Archive of California. The Libraries’s physical and digital spaces are designed to promote freedom and discovery, making knowledge-seeking more meaningful, more personal, and more connected than ever. The opportunities for contributing to and transforming scholarship are infinite at Stanford University Libraries.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at the Mellon Foundation website.
Press Contacts:
Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation
Karin Unger – Director of Communications
karin@hueypnewton.org | 646-515-6933 mobile
Stanford University
Anh Ly – Assistant University Librarian for External Relations
anhly@stanford.edu | 650-512-6308