STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Elizabeth Meaders has spent a lifetime putting together a collection of about 20,000 artifacts tracing the African American experience from slavery to present day. At 90-years-old, she is ready to auction all of it.

Meaders said the collection is “an American history project fueled by a labor of love.”

What You Need To Know

  • Elizabeth Meaders built the collection over 60 years

  • Meaders, 90, is a former teacher who self-financed the collection

  • The collection is appraised between $7-10 million

Meaders, who can trace her family to the last enslaved person freed on Staten Island in the 1800s, has self-funded this collection, which will be sold in its entirety at Guernsey's auction house on Tuesday. The former teacher even mortgaged her home so she could underwrite the collection.

The collection covers 15 subject areas, including the military, civil rights, sports, and show business. Some of the historic pieces can take your breath away: a KKK grand dragon robe, a branding iron, weaponry from the Civil War, a pair of Muhammed Ali's boxing shoes, posters and sculptures of leaders, and so much more.

Meaders is hoping her collection will find a home with a philanthropist, or an entertainer or company who could use the collection to develop stories from it. Another possibility she's hoping for? Using her collection as the basis for a museum of African American history, something New York City does not have.

All of the items are currently stored in Meaders' home on Staten Island. But she is hopeful they will find new life, beyond the walls of her house, ensuring this history will not be forgotten.