The New York Times is diving into its photo archive this month in search of "unpublished black history." The archive, known as the Morgue, is a library of photographs and negatives that lives in a subbasement. Its an unassuming place of whitewashed walls and fluorescent lights. It smells like photo chemicals, sweet and pungent. File cabinets and file boxes sit shoulder to shoulder. But jammed into those file drawers are folders full of history. Among the Morgue's hidden treasures: thousands of envelopes of negatives, most of which were never published. We sat down with Darcy Eveleigh, the Times photo editor who uncovered the pictures the newspaper recently published for the first time, and Rachel Swarns, a reporter who dug up some of the stories behind the images.

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Where did the idea for this project come from?

Darcy Eveleigh: Theres a senior editor here at The Times named Dana Canedy. She knew of my interest in the Morgue , and she approached me to see if I thought something could be done for Black History Month. "Of course," I said.