Fredrika Newton collaborated with Roger Guenveur Smith to help him in his portrayal of her late husband, Huey P. Newton, through access to numerous historically significant materials. These documents needed preservation, leading Newton to contact various institutions for archiving. After unsuccessful negotiations with Berkeley's Bancroft Library and temporary storage at the Oakland Museum, Stanford University Libraries agreed to archive the materials. A digitization project was launched in Fall 2024, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, allowing broader global access to the collection of materials associated with the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton.
The film, A Huey P. Newton Story, based on his 1966 creation of the BPP's "A 10-Point Plan for Social Reform," went on to win multiple awards. Fredrika Newton realized that this invaluable cache of materials needed to be preserved and archived.
She began contacting institutions that could possibly archive the collection. A negotiation with Berkeley's Bancroft Library could not be satisfactorily resolved. The Oakland Museum of California generously agreed to store the materials for a period, and then Stanford University Libraries said yes.
In order to make the materials more available globally, Stanford and Oakland's Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation Inc. launched a pilot project in the fall of 2024, funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, to begin digitizing the archive.
Stanford's online Spotlight exhibit of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation Inc. and the Libraries' catalog, SearchWorks, now "makes a rich trove of selected digitized archival material available to give viewers a unique glimpse into the personal life, intellectual pursuits, revolutionary activities of Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party."
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