The Mayme A. Clayton Library Museum and Cultural Center (MCL)

The Mayme A. Clayton Library Museum and Cultural Center (MCL) in Culver City, California is named for Mayme Agnew Clayton (1923-2006). Ms. Clayton was a librarian at the University of California-Los Angeles and the University of Southern California. In the 1960s, she began assembling a collection of items relating to African American culture and history which is housed at the center. Today, the Mayme A. Clayton Library Museum and Cultural Center's collection consists of over 3.5 million items and is believed to be the largest private collection of African American history and culture. Ms. Clayton passed away in 2006.

See related posts: Miriam Matthews and the Los Angeles Public Library ; The E. Azalia Hackley Collection of Negro Music, Dance, and Drama ; and Arthur Alfonso Schomburg, 1874-1938: Noted Bibliophile, Collector, Curator,and Scholar.

Sources: Kaiser, Ernest. "Library Holdings on African Americans." Handbook of Black Librarianship. Ed. E.J. Josey and Marva L. DeLoach. 2nd ed. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2000. 272. Print. ; "Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum: Mission  & History." Claytonmuseum.org. Mayme A. Clayton Library Museum and Cultural Center, n.d. Web. 4 December 2010. ; Thompson, Kathleen, and Austin, Hilary Mac. "In Praise of Mayme A. Clayton: Images of the African American West." BlackPast.org. Black Past, n.d. Web. 4 December 2010. ; Wilkin, Binnie Tate. "Introduction." African American Librarians in the Far West: Pioneers and Trailblazers. Ed. Binnie Tate Wilkin. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2006. xviii. Print. ; Copage, Eric V. "The Race to Save Black History: As Art Collections Deteriorate, Preservationists Struggle to Save Our Culture." Ebony 58.4 (2008): 116-118, 120, 122. Print.