I dedicate the site of the John Preston Davis Collection to the memory of my late grandfather, John Preston Davis and my late father, Michael DeMond Davis, and to all those global citizens who continue to share their vision for fair, humane and sustainable development.  The John Preston Davis Collection is a repository for African and African-American studies documentation. Founded in September 2004 with the support of his granddaughter, Michelle DeMond Davis. I feel privileged to have lived in an enlightened family that was in many ways ahead of their time. I send a special dedication to my mother, Dollie Davis, my sister, Rebecca Davis, my brother Derwin Davis, and my cousin, Vickie Robinson.

The largest collection of Davis' papers is in the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library. Insight into Davis political and social views can best be found in his own writings. The Papers of the National Negro Congress reproduces all of the organization’s records that are housed at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, including the voluminous working files of John P. Davis and successive executive secretaries of the National Negro Congress. Beginning with papers from 1933 that predate the formation of the National Negro Congress, the wide-ranging collection documents Davis’s involvement in the Negro Industrial League and includes the "Report Files" of Davis' preoccupative interest and absorption with the "Negro problem." The most extensive overview of Davis' life is a book by Hilmar Jenson entitled The Rise of an African-American Left: John P. Davis and the National Negro Congress” (Ph.D. Cornell University 1997))and a film entitled Lift Every Voice: John Preston Davis and the National Negro Congress. Much of the scholarly writing about Davis focuses on his experiences in the National Negro Congress.