>> MINNESOTA LOST A BELOVED BUSINESS LEADER AND PHILANTHROPIST THIS WEEK.

ARCHIE GIVENS JR. IS PERHAPS BEST KNOWN FOR THE RENOWN COLLECTION OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN LITERATURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA THAT HE HELPED CREATE.

BACK IN 1998, GIVENS TALKED ABOUT WHY BLACK LITERATURE WAS SUCH A PASSION OF HIS.

>> OUR MISSION REALLY IS TO FOCUS ON AFRICAN-AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CELEBRATE AND PROMOTE THAT.

AND WE WANT KIDS AND ALL PEOPLE, REALLY, TO TAKE HOME SOME OF THIS RICH TRADITION, THIS RICH LITERARY TRADITION.

AND HOPEFULLY, IF YOU CONNECT WITH YOUNG PEOPLE, THEY'LL HAVE AN EXCUSE AND INTEREST IN LIFE-LONG READING.

>> ARCHIE GIVENS GAVE BACK IN MANY WAYS, AS WELL.

JOINING US TO TALK ABOUT HIS LEGACY, JOHN WRIGHT, PROFESSOR EMERITUS IN THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA.

PROFESSOR, GREAT TO SEE YOU AGAIN.

>> GREAT TO SEE YOU BOTH AGAIN.

>> WHAT A SAD DAY THAT MR. GIVENS PASSED EARLIER THIS WEEK.

HE WAS SUCH A TOWERING FIGURE.

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER MOST ABOUT HIM?

>> WELL, ARCH ARY, FIRST OF ALL, WAS JUST A WONDERFUL HUMAN BEING.

WARM, GENUINE, CHARISMATIC.

AND DEVILY HANDSOME.

>> KIND OF AN EARLY ADVOCATE FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING, IS THAT FAIR TO SAY?

>> ABSOLUTELY.

PART OF ARCHIE'S CONTRIBUTIONS AS A REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER AND BUSINESSMAN WERE SIGNIFICANT PROBLEMS LIKE THE HERITAGE PARK DEVELOPMENT IN NORTH MINNEAPOLIS, OFF OF OLSON HIGHWAY AND LYNDALE, WHICH CONVERTED A -- A RATHER BLIGHTED ARRAY OF PUBLIC HOUSING INTO A REALLY VITAL LIVING COMMUNITY.

OFTEN ARCHIE WOULD HAVE BEEN PROUD OF THAT, AS HE WAS NOTHER ONE OF HIS SIGNATURE HOUSING OR DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS, THE RONDO LIBRARY BRANCH IN ST. PAUL AT UNIVERSITY AND DALE.

HE WAS VERY, VERY PROUD OF THOSE AMONGST HIS OTHER MAJOR BUSINESS ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

BUT AS THE CLIP SUGGESTS HERE, PART OF ARCHIE'S LEGACY HERE IS HIS ONTRIBUTIONS AS A PHILANTHROPIST AND PROMOTER OF THE ARTS.

AND THAT -- THAT DEVELOPED PRIMARILY OUT OF OUR RATHER 3 UNIQUE PARTNERSHIP THAT WE DEVELOPED BACK IN THE -- IN THE LATE 1980s, IN 1985, WHILE I WAS CHAIRING THE DEPARTMENT OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND AFRICAN STUDIES, WE WERE ABLE, IN PART WITH THE SUPPORT THEN OF PRESIDENT KEN KELLER, ABLE TO ACQUIRE FROM A NEW YORK COLLECTOR WHAT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA HAD NEVER HAD.

THAT IS AN ARCHIVE OF FIRST EDITION AFRICAN-AMERICAN BOOKS AND CULTURAL ARTIFACTS AND SO FORTH.

>> IS THIS THE START OF THE GIVENS ARCHIVE?

>> THIS PRECEDES THE GIVENS AKIND OF.

IT WAS ACQUIRED, FIRST, WITH THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES DEPARTMENT, WHAT'S CALLED THE BLACK STUDIES COLLECTION.

BUT FROM THE BEGINNING, IN PART BECAUSE THE DEPARTMENT HAD A VERY STRONG COMMUNITY OUTREACH MISSION, WE DID NOT WANT THIS COLLECTION TO BECOME AN ISOLATED, IVORY TOWER ENTERPRISE.

WE WANTED IT TO HAVE A LIVING, BREATHING ROLE IN THE LARGER COMMUNITY.

AND FOR THAT, WE NEEDED COMMUNITY PARTNERS.

AND IN THAT CONTEXT, THE GIVENS FAMILY STEPPED FORWARD, ALONG WITH A -- A VERY IMPORTANT GROUP OF -- WHAT WE CALLED PATRONS COUNCIL MEMBERS, THAT INCLUDED, FOR INSTANCE, FORMER MYOR, SHARON SAYLES BELTON, WHO BECAME PATRONS FOR THE COLLECTION, AND HELPED DEVELOP AN EXPANSIVE OUTREACH PROGRAM THAT OVER THE YEARS INCLUDED OUR BEING ABLE TO MOUNT THE VERY FIRST NATIONALLY TRAVELING EXHIBIT ON THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE RENAISSANCE.

>> WOW.

>> WHERE WE PARTNERED WITH THE WISEMAN MUSEUM.

WE GOT A GRANT FOR THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES THAT ENABLED US TO STEM THAT SEGMENT N THE COLLECTION AROUND THE COUNTRY FOR MORE THAN THREE YEARS, AND WAS SEEN BY MORE THAN 1 MILLION PEOPLE.

>> TELL US ABOUT -- SO MR. GIVENS, VERY SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSMAN, BECOMES A WEALTHY MAN.

AND BECAME A PHILANTHROPIST ON THE SCALE OF WHITE PHILANTHROPISTS.

TALK ABOUT THAT.

>> THE GIVESNS FOUNDATION HAD BECOME YEARS EARLIER IN 1972.

THE GIVENS FAMILY, AND THAT MEANT PHOEBE GIVENS ARCHIE'S MOTHER, AND HIS SISTER, ROXANNE, HAD ESTABLISHED A FOUNDATION, PRIMARILY TO SUPPORT THE K-12 SCHOOL SYSTEM.

IN PART BECAUSE ARCHIE SENIOR HAD BEEN DEVOTED TO EDUCATION AS A TOOL FOR BOTH PERSONAL AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT.

SO THAT GIVENS FOUNDATION EXISTED THEN.

BUT WHEN WE ACQUIRED THE BLACK STUDIES COLLECTION IN 1985, AND FORMED THIS PARTNERSHIP WITH THE GIVENS FAMILY AND THE UNIVERSITY'S RARE BOOKS AND SPECIAL COLLECTION, THAT FOUNDATION REDEFINED ITS MISSION, AND WE AGREED TO RENAME THE COLLECTION IN HONOR OF ARCHIE SENIOR.

AND THAT BEGAN THE LONG PROCESS, AGAIN, OF COMMUNITY OUTREACH, OF TEACHER TRAINING PROJECTS, OF COLLABORATIONS WITH A VARIETY OF CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS.

>> AND HE LOVED THAT, DIDN'T HE.

>> ARCHIE ABSOLUTELY LOVED THAT.

THE SHORT CLIP THERE WAS OF TWO OF OUR PUBLISHING VENTURE ENTERPRISES, A COMPANION SET OF VOLUMES, SPIRITED MINDS, AND STRONG SOUL SINGING.

EACH OF THEM DEVOTED TO ENCOURAGING LITERACY FOR YOUNG, BLACK BOYS AND GIRLS AND MEN AND SO FORTH.

AND TO DEVELOP RELATIONSHIPS IN THAT PROCESS.

SO THE SPIRITED MINDS VOLUME FOCUSED ON BOOKS BY AND ABOUT AFRICAN-AMERICAN BOYS AND OUNG MEN.

AND STRONG SOULS SINGING FOCUSED ON BOOKS BY YOUNG AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN.

>> YOU KNOW WHAT, I LOVE -- I'VE ALWAYS LOVED YOUR PASSION.

YOU'VE JUST COME ALIVE AS YOU TALK ABOUT MR. GIVENS.

THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE.

>> APPRECIATE YOU COMING OVER AND TELLING US ABOUT YOUR FRIEND.