The Negro Society for Historical Research (NSHR) was an organization founded by John Edward Bruce and Arthur Alfonso Schomburg in 1911.
[1] Schomburg stated "We need a collection or list of books written by our own men and women.... We need the historian and philosopher to give us, with trenchant pen, the story of our forefathers and let our soul and body, with phosphorescent light, brighten the chasm that separates us.
"[2] The NSHR's constitution listed its purpose "to instruct the race and to inspire love and veneration for its men and women of mark.
[4] Alain LeRoy Locke spoke at their first annual meeting and became a Corresponding Member for the society which partially sponsored his trip to Egypt in 1924.
[2]: 35 [4]: 126 The society's collection became a lending library that operated out of Schomburg's apartment, available to members and "anyone else interested in black history.