News of October 5, 2009
Tupac's Estate Enters the Archive of the Woodruff Library in Atlanta
Handwritten lyrics, notes, and fan letters for research: In the fall of 2009, Afeni Shakur and an Atlanta library agreed on a Tupac archive.
Eleven boxes of material, reviewed and sorted: In the fall of 2009, the Woodruff Library in Atlanta, the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, and Afeni Shakur agreed to archive Tupac’s written estate and make it accessible for study. rap.de reported on this on October 5.
What Was in the Boxes
The collection included handwritten song lyrics, tracklists, personal notes, concepts for videos and films, as well as correspondence with fans. The library explained the move by stating that even 13 years after his death, Tupac remained one of the most influential artists in hip-hop. Afeni Shakur praised the archivists: they had done outstanding work with her son’s papers.
Tupac in the Curriculum
Starting in the fall of 2010, the collection was to be exhibited. Also planned were foundation-funded courses in art, music, or literature degree programs that would address Tupac’s poems and lyrics as well as the fundamentals of hip-hop culture.
How universities have engaged with Tupac since then is shown on the page Academic Reception. His poems can be found in the section Poems.