The FSC/LAF records comprise 286 linear feet. The FSC/LAF collection represents one of the largest sets of organizational records documenting the southern cooperative movement, Black land ownership and agricultural heritage held by an institution in the United States. The accessibility of the FSC/LAF collection will allow for the hidden history of the African American cooperative tradition to be explored further in the American historical narrative.

The Federation of Southern Cooperatives was founded in 1967 as the result of a meeting of twenty low-income cooperatives and credit unions that was sponsored by the Southern Regional Council and the Cooperative League of the USA. The Emergency Land Fund was founded in 1972 by economist Robert S. Browne following a study he wrote titled Only Six Million Acres, documenting the rapid decline in African-American land ownership. ELF promoted the retention and acquisition of land by African Americans and taught rural Blacks about property and mineral rights, how to solicit government and private development money, and related services. The FSC and ELF merged in 1985 to form the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund (FSC/LAF). The organization now represents 133 low-income predominantly black farming, small business, and health care cooperatives throughout the Deep South.