(HISTORY) Notes taken by a viewer of the pioneering document

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(HISTORY.) Notes taken by a viewer of the pioneering documentary series "Black Heritage: A History of Afro-Americans." [197] manuscript pages on loose sheets of Plaza stationery; minimal wear. Housed between two sheets of cardboard backed with packing tape (minor wear) with manuscript captions. With a mounted 25 January 1969 newspaper clipping of a review by Roy Wilkins from the New York Post. New York, 7 January to 22 April 1969

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"Black Heritage: A History of Afro-Americans" was one of the first efforts to bring this history to a network television audience. It was put together by an advisory board based at Columbia University and led by Spelman College historian Vincent Harding (a friend of Martin Luther King), who hosted many of the episodes. It was aired by the New York affiliate of CBS. The program debuted on 7 January 1969, running in the 9 a.m. time-slot. After its 108 daily episodes were aired in the New York area, it went into syndication with dozens of CBS affiliates across the country starting in May. The show attracted national attention and some controversy. NAACP leader Roy Wilkins denounced it as "a plea for black separation."
We don't know who kept the notes offered in this lot, but it was apparently a viewer with a deep interest in the subject. They begin with the first episode on 7 January, and continue with notes on more than 40 other episodes--nearly half of the episodes which were aired. A typical day's notes fill two to five pages with the episode's key facts and themes. Was this diligent note-taker a student? An historian? A critic? It's difficult to say. The notes are taken on the letterhead of Manhattan's posh Plaza Hotel. You can imagine, if you wish, someone locked up in a luxury suite, binge-watching black history for three months straight--or perhaps it was a hotel worker who walked out with a ream of letterhead after giving their two-week notice? In any event, these notes may be of historical interest themselves, as we've only traced reels of the show's inaugural episode in OCLC, and have found none on YouTube. It's possible that these notes are all that remain of some episodes of this important program.