Descendants of African American Poet Discover their Roots in LSU Libraries Special Collections

Written by on March 27, 2023

BATON ROUGE – After 50 years of searching for their grandfather’s long-lost publications
as part of a family genealogical project, two cousins from Maryland, Renee Anderson
and Sharon Young, had no idea that they would find what they had been searching for
more than 1,000 miles from home at LSU.

Cover of "Gems of the Soul," a book of poetry written by Harry Wilson Patterson 

Initially, Young reached out to the Library of Congress for help and discovered through
them that LSU Libraries Special Collections has a signed, first edition of their grandfather . . .



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