| Carolyne and Bill Edwards stand next to a portrait of Dr. Alfred T. Quinn | The Quinn Research Center (QRC) is an archive of Black family history and Santa Monica Bay culture assembled by Dr. Alfred Quinn, a prominent educator and member of the Santa Monica community in the mid-late 20th century.
Conservancy Board Member Carolyne Edwards and her husband Bill Edwards founded the QRC in the 2000s, but the actual collecting began in the early 1930s.
While packing up the home of Dr. Alfred Quinn and Sylvia Dorothy Quinn—Carolyne’s late aunt and uncle—the collection came to light for the first time. The Edwardses discovered the wealth of information Dr. Quinn had amassed in the form of photographs, newspaper clippings, magazines, pamphlets and other items related to the history and development of the local area. They immediately realized the value of these treasures tucked away in various boxes and albums.
Stunned by the size and depth of the archive, they put the entire contents in Sterilite containers and brought them home, filling a guest bedroom to capacity; in fact they had to remove the bed to have enough room to organize it all.
Today, Dr. Quinn’s papers are housed at the The Ralph J. Bunche Library and Media Center for African American Studies at UCLA, where Santa Monica College history students helped digitize parts of the archive. Last year, 275 images became part of the Santa Monica Library’s research holdings, where they are available to the public. The Edwardses named the center in honor of Carolyne's grandfather Rev. Alfred K. Quinn, her mother Daisy Quinn, and uncle Dr. Alfred T. Quinn, all of whom were collectors of history. Since founding the QRC, their mission has been to "collect, preserve and share the history and culture of African Americans in the Santa Monica Venice Bay Area" with others. In all of their work, they actively seek recognition of Santa Monica’s lost cultural heritage, which included a sizable and vibrant community of color that was largely displaced through eminent domain to make room for the 10 freeway and Santa Monica Civic Center. |
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