Of all the honors and accolades bibliophile and noted authority on the Underground Railroad Charles Blockson has received, being bequeathed recently with some of Harriet Tubman's personal items by her great-niece is one of the most significant experiences of his life. A longtime collector of books and rare items by and about African-Americans, Blockson has amassed the largest privately held collection, which he donated to Temple University in 1984. The Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection is one of the nation's leading research facilities for the study of the history and culture of people of African descent. The Blockson collection has grown to more than 200,000 items including books, photographs, drawings, manuscripts, prints, sheet music, posters and artifacts. The Blockson Collection's rare book section is extensive in first-edition Afro-American and Caribbean holdings dating back to as early as the 16th century. Among the highly prized works in the rare book collection are the complete first editions of the writings of Phillis Wheatley, George Washington Williams, Booker T. Washington, Charles Chesnutt, Francis Harper, Joseph Wilson, William Wells Brown, W.E.B. DuBois, Hughes, Richard Wright, Chester Himes and numerous others. The collection also contains one of the more comprehensive repository holdings of the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Power movement of the 1960s. Another notable feature of the Blockson Collection is the assortment of rare African and Caribbean Bibles. The collection also includes several Bibles in West Indian Creole.