Overview
Interviews, audiovisual materials, papers and other records related to the autobiography of Lillian Lincoln Lambert, the first African American woman graduate of Harvard Business School and co-founder of the African American Student Union (AASU).
Dates
- Creation: 1966-2020
Creator
- Lambert, Lillian Lincoln (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Materials stored onsite. Please contact specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu for more information regarding access procedures.
HBS Archives collections require a secondary registration form, please contact Special Collections for more information.
Current Harvard students, faculty, and staff can stream or download selected digital materials in this collection using Harvard Library delivery services and need to request access to other digital materials. All other users need to request access to digital materials in this collection. See folder or item level notes for additional information.
Extent
6 linear feet (8 boxes)509.6 Gigabytes (27 digitized audio files, 10 digitized video files)
1 collection (Archived websites)
The Lillian Lincoln Lambert papers span the years from 1966 to 2018 and provide a broad overview of Lambert’s time at Harvard Business School (HBS) and her active involvement as an alumna, her professional career, and her achievements as a Black business leader. The collection includes records from her businesses, Centennial One and LilCo, records from HBS, materials used to write her memoir, “A Road to Someplace Better”, as well as small amount of correspondence related to her memoir and other professional achievements. Of particular interest are the audiovisual materials which include interviews with Lambert’s family, friends, colleagues, and classmates. These were recorded as background material for Lambert’s memoir, and provide insight into Lambert’s childhood, her time at HBS, and the challenges she faced and overcame in starting her business. They also provide details of her strength as a business leader and the positive impact that she has had on the business community and on those who know her.
Biographical / Historical
Lillian Lincoln Lambert is an American businesswoman, and the first African American woman to earn a Harvard MBA. Lillian Lincoln Lambert (née Hobson) was born on May 12, 1940 in Ballsville, Virginia and was raised with her siblings on a farm. First moving to New York City at the age of 18 where she worked three years as a maid and typist, Lambert then moved to Washington D.C. and worked in the early Peace Corps administration pool. With encouragement from her family she enrolled at Howard University at age 22 to study business. There she met H. Naylor Fitzhugh (MBA 1933), one of the first Black men to graduate from Harvard Business School (HBS). Fitzhugh encouraged Lambert to apply to Harvard Business School (HBS). She applied twice before she was admitted. When she arrived at HBS in the fall of 1967, she was just one of nine Black students and the only female. During her first year, she and four other Black classmates, Leroy Willis, Clifford Darden, Theodore Lewis, and George Price, noticed the lack of racial diversity and together agreed to work for greater Black enrollment. This commitment led to the creation of the African American Student Union (AASU). Eventually coordinating with Dean George P. Baker, the five Black students went on recruiting trips around the United States to encourage other Black undergraduates to apply to HBS. This effort paid off, as not only did the number of Black students increase, but the AASU began to realize its other goals including increasing financial aid and providing career development opportunities.
After graduating in 1969, Lambert moved back to Washington D.C. to find employment. Several jobs later she decided to start her own building services company, named Centennial One, in Landover, Maryland. The company grew under Lambert’s leadership and in 1995 she was the first woman to be elected to the position of president of Building Service Contractors Association International. In 2001, Lambert sold her company which at the time boasted 1,200 employees and $20 million in annual revenues. Since graduating in 1969, Lambert has remained an active alumna of HBS. In 2003, she was awarded the Alumni Achievement Award, the highest honor an alumna can be bestowed. She has also served on the Board of Directors for Harvard Business School's African-American Alumni Association (HBSAAA) and the Board of Visitors at Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2010 her memoir “The Road to Someplace Better” was published.
Some details in the biographical note are from Harvard Business School Alumni Stories (
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in four series: Professional records, “The Road to Someplace Better” materials, Personal correspondence, and Audiovisual materials.
Physical Location
ARCFA
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Lillian Lincoln Lambert papers (A-20-006) were received by Baker Library Special Collections as a donation from Lillian Lincoln Lambert in 2020.
Processing Information
Processed: March 2021 By: Elise Riley
Processing Information
Baker Library Special Collections worked with Harvard Library Media Preservation Services to digitize materials in this collection. See item level notes below for additional information.
Processing Information
Audiovisual items 1538104820_AT_0004, 1538104820_AT_0006, 1538104820_AT_0014, 1538104820_VT_0005, 1538104820_VT_0010, and 1538104820_VT_0011 were reviewed and deaccessioned from the collection in 2022. Media items 15381048120_OD_0016 and 15381048120_OD_0024 were reviewed and deaccessioned from the collection in 2023.
Creator
- Lambert, Lillian Lincoln (Person)
- Author
- Baker Library
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- bak01146
Repository Details
Part of the Baker Library Special Collections and Archives, Harvard Business School Repository
Baker Library Special Collections and Archives holds unique resources that focus on the evolution of business and industry, as well as the records of the Harvard Business School, documenting the institution's development over the last century. These rich and varied collections support research in a diverse range of fields such as business, economic, social and cultural history as well as the history of science and technology.
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