![\"\"](\"/RGfiles/42/Hughes-Larson.jpg\")
\r\n\r\nPhoto by Carl Van Vechten
\r\nCharles R. Larson Papers, 19.13
The Genesis West collection is mainly made up of correspondence and some manuscripts sent to the little magazine ‘Genesis West’. Hughes is included amongst the collection’s extensive series of correspondence. In a letter dated 4th September 1963, Hughes’s assistant, Raoul Abdul, thanks the editors on Hughes’s behalf for, it appears, the arrival of four volumes of the publication.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Collection,\r\n 1960-1966|","amNotes":""},"coll38":{"amList":"Other","spandates":"circa 1750-2021","colldiv":"PA","colldesc":"The extensive Theater Biography Collection documenting the careers of British and American performers, playwrights, directors, designers, critics, agents, and other personnel. This large collection includes photographs, clippings, prints and engravings, playbills and programs, posters, scrapbooks, and a relatively small amount of manuscripts, correspondence, sheet music, and memorabilia.","labeltext":"Theater Biography Collection","FAURL":"","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"867 boxes (368.34 linear feet)","description":"This collection includes a drawing of Hughes by Rinold Reiss, a photograph of Hughes sat at a typewriter by Fred Stein c.1950, and a folder containing extensive correspondence, playbills, and other misc. materials. Enclosed correspondence documents the publication journey of Webster Smalley’s edited collection of Hughes’s plays, ‘Five Plays by Langston Hughes’ (1963). In one particular letter dated July 1957, Hughes describes to Smalley the obstacles faced by Black playwrights in the United States with regards to publication and dissemination.
\r\n\r\nA copy of the edited collection, ‘Five Plays by Langston Hughes’ (1968), was gifted to the Ransom Center by Lola Jennings and is discoverable in the Theatre Arts Library Books Collection.
\r\n\r\n\r\n","FAtitle":"","amNotes":""},"coll15":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1935-1983 (bulk 1940-1970)","colldiv":"PA","colldesc":"The Fred Fehl Theater Collection consists of over 8,000 photographs of theater productions and personalities, 1935-1970, largely of New York productions. Also present are related theater programs, clippings, and scrapbooks, as well as correspondence and manuscripts for \"On Broadway\" (1978), a career retrospective co-written by Fehl with University of Texas professor William Stott.","labeltext":"Fred Fehl Theater Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00195|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"79 boxes","description":"
The Fred Fehl Theater Collection consists of over 8,000 photographs of theater productions and personalities, 1935-1970, including 2 rolls of 35mm negatives for a production of Hughes's play, 'Tambourines to Glory' (1960).
\r\n","FAtitle":"Theater Collection,\r\n 1935-1983|","amNotes":""},"coll37":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1931-1986 (bulk 1960-1977)","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"The Transcription Centre began its brief but significant life in February 1962 under the direction of Dennis Duerden, producing and distributing radio programs for and about Africa. The Centre promoted African culture through radio and a variety of other media. The Centre's records include original source materials related to the production of \"Cultural Events in Africa,\" a periodical published by the Centre from 1964 until the mid-1970s to disseminate information about cultural activities in Africa, as well as an incomplete run of the published issues. Of particular interest is a large file of scripts and script fragments from \"Africa Abroad,\" the Centre's primary broadcast vehicle in its early years. The Centre's correspondence includes the artists and writers Jimo Akolo, Chinua Achebe, Es'kia Mphahlele, and Margaret Laurence, as well as others. The extensive body of correspondence with Wole Soyinka is especially noteworthy, as are the letters by Christopher Okigbo, a Nigerian poet killed during the Biafran war.","labeltext":"The Transcription Centre Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00447|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"25 document boxes (10.50 linear feet)","description":"The Transcription Centre records contain correspondence with Hughes spanning the years 1961-1986. The majority of this relates to Hughes’s recording of a script written by Frank Parkes about Hughes and his work, titled ‘Temples for Tomorrow: Langston Hughes.’ The radio program transcription is featured in the collection.
\r\n\r\nAlso included in this collection is an invitation dated May 5, 1965 from the Council of African Organisations to an unknown recipient to participate in a Round Table discussion with Hughes and Paula Marshall, as well as promotional material for Hughes’s edited collections, ‘Poems from Black Africa’ (1975) and ‘Fight for Freedom: the Story of the NAACP’ (originally published 1942).
\r\n","FAtitle":"Records,\r\n 1931-1986 (bulk 1960-1977)|","amNotes":""},"coll18":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1922-1960","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"The Idella Purnell Stone personal papers and records of Palms document the creation and operations of the literary magazine by its American producer and editor. Working in Mexico, Stone developed professional and personal relationships with writers and poets such as D.H. Lawrence, Mable Dodge Luhan, and Warren Gilbert which are reflected in the manuscripts and correspondence that make up the bulk of the papers.","labeltext":"Idella Purnell Stone Personal Papers and Records of Palms Magazine","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00127|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"8 boxes","description":"The Idella Purnell Stone personal papers and records of Palms document the creation and operations of the literary magazine by its American producer and editor. The collection includes three letters addressed from Hughes to Stone dated between 1926-27. Topics covered include Hughes’s reflections on his collection of poetry ‘Fine Clothes to the Jew’ (1927), his recommendation of a poem by Wallace Thurman which he believed Stone may enjoy, and his appreciation for Stone’s literary magazine, ‘Palms’.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Personal Papers and Records of Palms,\r\n 1922-1960|","amNotes":""},"coll17":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1910-1988 (bulk 1920-1983)","colldiv":"FI","colldesc":"The papers of American actress Gloria Swanson encompass the entirety of her long career on stage and screen, her extensive business interests, her interests in health and nutrition, and documents relating to personal and family matters.","labeltext":"Gloria Swanson Papers","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00154|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"648 boxes","description":"The papers of American actress Gloria Swanson include a typescript copy of Hughes's play "Mulatto" (undated) with annotations throughout.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Papers,\r\n 18__-1988|","amNotes":"Online EAD"},"coll39":{"amList":"Other","spandates":"1988","colldiv":"FI","colldesc":"Voices & Visions, a video series from Annenberg Media, explores the lives and works of 13 of America's most famous modern poets.","labeltext":"Voices and Visions. Video Collection","FAURL":"","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"10 video tapes","description":"Voices & Visions, a video series from Annenberg Media, explores the lives and works of 13 of America's most famous modern poets. The collection includes an episode dedicated to Langston Hughes which features reflections on Hughes and his legacy by notable literary figures such as James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka and Léopold Sédar Senghor.
\r\n","FAtitle":"","amNotes":""},"coll19":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1894-1983 (bulk 1950-1967), undated","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"The papers of the Hungarian-born American theatre historian, critic, educator, and anthologist John Gassner contain manuscripts for numerous works, extensive correspondence, career and personal papers, research materials, and works by others, forming a notable record of Gassner’s contributions to theatre history.","labeltext":"John Gassner Papers","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=01194|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"151 document boxes, 3 oversize boxes, 22 galley folders (gf), 3 oversize folders (osf)","description":"The papers of the Hungarian-born American theatre historian, critic, educator, and anthologist John Gassner contain manuscripts for numerous works, extensive correspondence, career and personal papers, research materials, and works by others, forming a notable record of Gassner’s contributions to theatre history. The collection includes a letter of recommendation (dated March 1966) from Hughes regarding the playwright, director, and Hughes’s former secretary, George Houston Bass for the graduate program in playwrighting at Yale. Bass would later become the executor of Hughes’s literary estate and founder of the Langston Hughes Society in 1981. Also included is a thank you note from Hughes to Gassner for his wire on the opening night of his play, ‘Tambourines to Glory’.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Papers,\r\n 1894-1983 (bulk 1950-1967), undated|","amNotes":"Online Finding Aid"},"LIBHOLD":"Hughes-related works are discoverable across the following collections of the Harry Ransom Center’s library holdings: HRC Book Collection, HRC Compact Discs, Alfred and Blanche Knopf Library, Knopf Collection, Theatre Arts Library Books, Ezra Pound Collection, Photography Collection Books, Russell Banks Library, John Beecher Collection, Ronald Sukenick Library, Tinker Collection, Dean F. Echenberg War Poetry Collection, Guy Davenport Library, the Theatre Arts Sound Recording Collection and the REF reference collection.
\r\n\r\nNumerous first editions of works by Hughes exist amongst these collections, including two copies of Laughing to Keep From Crying (1952) formerly owned by (1) Ellery Queen and (2) Fania Kruger, as well as a copy of Shakespeare in Harlem (1942) formerly owned by Alfred A. and Blanche Wolf Knopf. Also featured in the library holdings are several works formerly owned by Hughes, for example an author's signed presentation copy to Owen Dodson of I Wonder As I Wander : An Autobiographical Journey (1956), the score for My Heart is a Lone Ranger (n.d.) / lyrics by Langston Hughes ; music by Irving Landau, and two copies of The Sweet Flypaper of Life (1955) – one a signed presentation copy from Hughes to Ezra Pound, the other from the library of Fania Kruger, which also contains a card with Langston Hughes printed on it, inscribed: ‘Merry Christmas’.
\r\n\r\nThe Theatre Arts Sound Recordings collection includes an LP of Hughes’s musical comedy Simply Heavenly published by Columbia (1957) and featuring the original cast of the Vincent Cerow and Abel Enklewitz production (802-TA). Other highlights of the Harry Ransom Center’s library holdings include a copy of Street Scene (1948) formerly owned by Elmer Rice, an American opera based on Elmer Rice's play for which Hughes wrote the lyrics, as well as J.B. Neumann’s former copy of The Weary Blues (1926), which is inscribed by Hughes.
\r\n\r\nThe Ransom Center library holdings also include important works regarding Hughes’s letters, which complement the extensive Hughes correspondence discoverable across the manuscript collections. See for example Selected letters of Langston Hughes (2015) and Remember Me to Harlem : The Letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten, 1925-1964 (2001) edited by Emily Bernard.
\r\n","coll1":{"amList":"Container List; Finding aid","spandates":"1961, undated","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"The Langston Hughes Collection contains a single handwritten and a single typed draft of the poem 'The Strange Angel' and a typed letter referring to the drafts. Also present is a signed, Spanish language greeting card removed from a Ransom Center copy of The Big Sea: An Autobiography by Langston Hughes.","labeltext":"Langston Hughes Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=01441|","usecolldesc":1,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"1 folder","description":"","FAtitle":"Collection,\r\n 1961, undated|","amNotes":""},"coll3":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1895-1983 (bulk 1930s-1960s)","colldiv":"PH","colldesc":"","labeltext":"Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Literary File Photography Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00595|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"18,869 items","description":"This collection consists of photographs and negatives from 1895 to 1983 relating both to authors published by the firm and to Alfred A. Knopf’s personal life. A black and white photograph of Hughes (undated) by Roy DeCarava is included amongst these. Hughes and DeCarava held a deep appreciation for one another’s work and this is reflected by their collaborative fiction and photography book titled “The Sweet Flypaper of Life’ (1955). In 1951 the pair submitted a collaborative project to Knopf consisting of 45 black and white photographs by DeCarava and around 45 poems by Hughes titled “Words Like Freedom,” however internal records of Alfred A. Knopf comfirm that this project was rejected by the publishing firm. See the records of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. for more information.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Literary File Photography Collection,\r\n 1895-1983 (bulk 1930s-1960s)|","amNotes":""},"coll2":{"amList":"Container List; Finding aid","spandates":"1806-1978 (bulk 1915-1978)","colldiv":"PA","colldesc":"A number of clippings and a group of photocopies of plays and other texts prepared for publication or performance make up the bulk of the African-American Theater Collection. The earliest piece is a playbill for The Beautiful Spotted Negro Boy (Richardson's New Theatre, 1806). Also included are production photographs of black theatrical performances and publicity photos of various theatrical performers and groups. An index of selected items is included. This collection was compiled by Ransom Center Theatre Arts staff from various collections, including Albert Davis, Robert Downing, John Gassner, Coleman Jennings, and Lester Sweyd.","labeltext":"African-American Theater Collection","FAURL":"","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"4 document boxes (1.68 linear feet)","description":"Numerous typed copies of Hughes’s poems are discoverable across the African American Theatre Collection, such as 'Pennsylvania Station,' 'Harlem,' 'Troubled Woman,' and 'Democracy.' Also included is a 'Free Southern Theater Fact Sheet' in which Hughes is cited as having offered Free Southern Theatre's first ever contribution in 1964.
\r\n","FAtitle":"","amNotes":"MS Word Preliminary Inventory attached to this record"},"GUIDEAUTHOR":"Jenny Kirton","coll9":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1894-2008 (bulk 1967-2002)","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"The papers of American writer, editor, and teacher Charles R. Larson consist mainly of his notes, correspondence, and research material, as well as drafts and proofs of his reviews, essays, and novels. Included are typescript and handwritten notes and drafts; clippings, tearsheets, and photocopied excerpts of published works; correspondence; photographs; theater programs; newsletters, catalogs, flyers and brochures; agreements; page proofs; course assignments and syllabi; and curricula vitae. Also present is some original manuscript material by African and Native American writers.","labeltext":"Charles R. Larson Papers","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00499|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"34 boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 1 galley file (14.28 linear feet) (plus 9 boxes and 2 oversize folders uncataloged)","description":"The papers of American writer, editor, and teacher Charles R. Larson include extensive Hughes-related materials. Among these are a typescript of Larson’s review of ‘Langston Hughes: Before and Beyond Harlem’ by Faith Berry, biographical notes on Hughes, clippings, and a book jacket for ‘Big Sea: An Autobiography.’ Also included amongst Larson’s papers are postcards featuring portraits of Hughes by photographers Jack Delano, Carl Van Vechten, and artist Winold Reiss.
\r\n\r\nThe Harry Ransom Center Charles Larson Collection of African and African American Literature contains numerous Hughes-related works, including a first edition of Hughes’s final collection of poems, ‘The Panther and the Last: Poems of Our Times’ (1967).
\r\n","FAtitle":"Papers,\r\n 1894-2008|","amNotes":""},"coll30":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1929-1985 (bulk 1929-1937; 1980-1985)","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"The collection documents the trip to Spain taken by this professor of Spanish literature in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. Included in the collection are materials Rogers obtained while in Spain, his diary of the trip, and correspondence with fellow colleagues.","labeltext":"Paul Patrick Rogers Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00255|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"1 box","description":"This collection documents the trip to Spain taken by this professor of Spanish literature in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. The collection is made up of materials Rogers obtained while in Spain, amongst which can be found Hughes’s poem 'Song of Spain' (undated), also inscribed by Hughes.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Collection,\r\n 1929-1985|","amNotes":""},"coll8":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"","colldiv":"PH","colldesc":"","labeltext":"Carl Van Vechten Literary File Photography Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=01532|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"769 items","description":"This collection includes a photograph (undated) of Hughes by American writer and photographer Carl Van Vechten in which he appears to be studying a piece of artwork.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Literary File Photography Collection,\r\n 20th century|","amNotes":""},"coll10":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1925-1945, undated","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"Includes letters to the Great Depression-era literary magazine Contempo (Chapel Hill, North Carolina), as well as works by its contributors, mostly addressed to editors Milton Abernethy and Anthony Buttitta. Publishing a portion of Joyce's Work in Progress, a special all-Faulkner issue, and two numbers on the Scottsboro trials, they established themselves as both original and controversial. Letters and works by Kay Boyle, William Faulkner, James T. Farrell, Ezra Pound, Nathanael West, William Carlos Williams, Louis Zukofsky, and many others are present.","labeltext":"Contempo (Chapel Hill, N.C.) Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=01041|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"12 boxes (5.04 linear feet)","description":"The Contempo Collection features incoming correspondence (including postcards) from Hughes dated between 1931-35, which reflect the close relationship Hughes had with the magazine’s editors. Topics covered include Hughes’s travels, his writing progress, and recommendations for contributors. In one letter dated Nov. 11 1931, Hughes finalizes plans for him and his tour manager to stay with editor Anthony Buttitta. The date of the letter strongly implies Hughes’s arrangements were connected to his visit to Chapel Hill for a public reading in December 1931. This visit was historically significant in that it closely followed the publication of the December 1931 issue of Contempo which was dedicated entirely to writings about the Scotsboro Boys. The issue featured contributions by Hughes that were considered controversial by many locals in Chapel Hill, who subsequently campaigned for the cancellation of Hughes’s talk.
\r\n\r\n\r\n","FAtitle":"Records,\r\n 1931-1933|","amNotes":""},"coll32":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1927-1980","colldiv":"PA","colldesc":"Sisters Portia Lenore Morrow (1899-1982) and Mary Morelza Morrow worked onstage and behind the scenes in theaters in the United States and Europe. Photographs, correspondence, cards, newspaper clippings, original writings, drawings, printed materials and artifacts document the Morrow sisters' careers and personal interests from 1927 to 1980.","labeltext":"Portia Morrow and Morelza Morrow Papers","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00474|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"6 boxes (2.52 linear feet)","description":"
Sisters Portia Lenore Morrow and Mary Morelza Morrow worked onstage and behind the scenes in theaters in the United States and Europe. Their papers include a typescript copy of Langston Hughes’s poem "Little Old Letter Blues," autographed by Hughes (1943).
\r\n","FAtitle":"Papers,\r\n 1927-1980|","amNotes":"Online Finding Aid"},"coll31":{"amList":"Container List","spandates":"1750-2023","colldiv":"PA","colldesc":"The Playbills and Programs Collection: New York City comprises a wide variety of playbills and programs for theater productions in New York City from 1750 to the present. Playbills contain performance information such as names of theater, performers, playwright, and titles of pieces performed. Formats in the collection include early broadsides and playbills, newspaper format playbills or programs, bound volumes of collected playbills or programs for individual theaters, single sheet and folded sheet programs, magazine programs, and tearsheets from programs. Very rarely, a clipping or photo is attached and/or housed with the program or playbill. Some facsimiles are also present.","labeltext":"Playbills and Programs Collection: New York City Theaters","FAURL":"","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"473 boxes and 15 drawers (198.66 linear feet)","description":"This collection includes playbills for productions of three of Hughes’s plays: ‘Simply Heavenly’ at Playhouse Theatre, 1957, ‘Tambourines to Glory’ at Little Theatre, 1963, and ‘Mule Bone’ at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 1991.
\r\n","FAtitle":"","amNotes":"A container list organized chronologically by year and then alphabetically by theatre is available through an internal database. A copy of this inventory can be provided for researchers by request."},"coll5":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1940-1997","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"The papers of Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola include handwritten and typed manuscripts, transcripts, galleys, notebooks, and correspondence concerning Tutuola's works, as well as works about Tutuola.","labeltext":"Amos Tutuola Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00131|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"13 boxes (6.21 linear feet)","description":"The papers of Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola include a letter from Hughes dated May 1954, in which he discusses the possibility of an anthology of short stories by African writers, and in which he requests a selection of Tutola’s short stories and for his thoughts on the proposed anthology. In a second letter from Hughes dated Sept 1954, he thanks Tutola for sending his story ‘Ajantala, the Noxious Guest’ and offers an update on the progress of the anthology.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Collection,\r\n 1952-1990|","amNotes":""},"coll12":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1909-1967","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"The Elmer Rice papers consist of contracts, correspondence, manuscript drafts, notebooks, photographs, royalty statements, scripts, and theater programs belonging to the playwright, producer, director, novelist, screenwriter, essayist, theatre owner, and activist Elmer Rice.","labeltext":"Elmer Rice Papers","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00656|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"101 boxes","description":"The Elmer Rice papers consist of contracts, correspondence, manuscript drafts, notebooks, photographs, royalty statements, scripts, and theater programs belonging to the playwright, producer, director, novelist, screenwriter, essayist, theatre owner, and activist Elmer Rice. The collection documents the creation of Rice’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, ‘Street Scene’ and its adaptations – including its musical adaption by Rice, Kurt Weill, and Langston Hughes. Files relating to this particular adaption include, for example, a handwritten synopsis, a typescript draft (1946), a ‘final pre-rehersal’ typescript with revisions (1946), and a final acting version (Jan, 1947).
\r\n","FAtitle":"Papers,\r\n 1909-1967|","amNotes":""},"coll34":{"amList":"Container List; Finding aid","spandates":"circa 1961-1983","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"The collection contains correspondence and works for some of the most highly regarded mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writers active in the 1960s and 1970s, correspondence with agents and publishers, check stubs, appointment books, deposit receipts, and accounting ledgers.","labeltext":"Robert Park Mills Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00222|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"83 document boxes, 3 oversize flat boxes (38.76 linear feet)","description":"This collection includes correspondence between Mills and Hughes spanning June 1965 - March 1966, with regards to Hughes’s edited collection “The Book of Negro Short Stories.” This work was published in 1967 under the title ‘The Best Short Stories By Negro Writers an Anthology From 1899 to the Present.’ Also included in the collection is press material for 'Five Plays By Langston Hughes' (1963), 'Poems from Black Africa' (1966) and 'New Negro Poets: U.S.A' (1964).
\r\n\r\n\r\n","FAtitle":"Papers,\r\n circa 1961-1983|","amNotes":""},"coll4":{"amList":"Container List; Finding aid","spandates":"1873-1996 (bulk 1945-1980)","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"The records of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1873-1996 (bulk 1945-1980), document the daily activities of an established and prestigious publishing firm. Beyond recording the history of the firm, its founders, editors, and other staff, the collection serves to articulate the publishing process (especially in terms of editorial and promotional practices at Knopf), to offer detailed information on the numerous prominent authors and books published by the firm, and to illuminate the interactions between publishers, authors, editors, literary agents, manuscript readers, translators, and book designers, all engaged in the endeavor to produce quality books. The pervasive influence and hallmarks of the firm's founders Alfred A. and Blanche Wolf Knopf are evident throughout the archive: unwavering commitment to worthy books; introduction of international writers to the American public; insistence on quality book design and manufacture; and the pursuit of books on topics of personal interest to the Knopfs and their editors. The collection also provides a glimpse of the personal lives of the Knopfs, which were closely intertwined with their business conerns. The collection contains chiefly correspondence. Author's manuscripts were generally not kept by the company; however, a selected number were retained. Since the firm is still in existence, important vital documents and financial records are not present in this collection, with the exception of two defunct enterprises.","labeltext":"Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Records","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00301|https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00301p1|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"1684 boxes","description":"
The records of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1873-1996 (bulk 1945-1980), document the daily activities of an established and prestigious publishing firm. Hughes’s correspondence offers an insightful record of his career, with letters from the writer spanning from around 1927 up until only a short time before his death in May 1967 - although correspondence relating to Hughes’s passing, and his work more generally, is discoverable beyond this date. Hughes-related files in the collection chronicle his involvement in the promotion of his own works and his friendships with the editors. Hughes was recommended to the Knopfs by writer and photographer Carl Van Vechten, and correspondence in the collection also reflects Van Vechten’s involvement in the development of Hughes’s works.
\r\n\r\nIncoming and outgoing correspondence documents the publication journeys of some of Hughes’s most notable works, such as his autobiographical work, ‘The Big Sea’ (1940) and his final collection of poems, ‘The Panther and the Lash’ (1967). Also included are the writer’s rejection files for works titled: ‘Words Like Freedom’ (1949) ’‘I Live Here Too’ (1950) ‘Prelude To Our Age’ (1964) and ‘Montage of a Dream Deferred’ (1969). Other highlights amongst the materials include promotional material for a production of ‘Shakespeare in Harlem’ at 41st Street Theatre by Hughes and James Weldon Johnson, and documents relating to his passing, for example a court notice granting letters of trusteeship under the will of Hughes to Arna Bontemps and George Houston Bass.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Records,\r\n 1873-1996 (bulk 1945-1980)|-- Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Records, 1873-1996 |","amNotes":"Online Inventory\r\nPreliminary Inventory for Editor Files Addition"},"coll11":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1924-2007 (bulk 1970-2007);","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"The records document the life and career of Donald Elmer Herdeck (1924-2005) and include files on the business and production operations of the two publishing houses he founded and directed. Also present are files of his correspondence with the authors he published and those he failed or declined to publish. Files concerning legal and financial matters, inventories, permissions, as well as contracts with the many individuals and companies he employed are located in the collection as well.","labeltext":"Donald E. Herdeck Three Continents Press and Passeggiata Press Records","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=01445|https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=01445|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"68 document boxes (28.56 linear feet), 1 oversize box","description":"The records document the life and career of Donald Elmer Herdeck (1924-2005) and include files on the business and production operations of the two publishing houses he founded and directed. The collection includes a copy of ‘Cobb, Martha, Harlem, Haiti, and Havana: A Comparative Critical Study of Langston Hughes, Jacques Roumain, and Nicolás Guillén' (1979), which was published by Three Continents Press.
\r\n","FAtitle":"--See Herdeck, Donald E. (1924-2005). Three Continents Press and Passeggiata Press Records, 1924-2007 (bulk 1970-2007)\r\n |Three Continents Press and Passeggiata Press Records,\r\n 1924-2007 (bulk 1970-2007)|","amNotes":""},"coll33":{"amList":"Finding aid; Other","spandates":"1800-1998 (bulk 1900-1965)","colldiv":"PA","colldesc":"The Production Photographs Collection consists predominantly of photographs documenting theatre productions, mainly in New York City, circa 1860-1998.","labeltext":"Production Photographs Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=01442|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"77 document boxes (32.34 linear feet), 15 oversize boxes (osb), 13 oversize folders (osf)","description":"This collection includes two photographs from a production of ‘Street Scene’ (Jan 1947) at Adelphi Theatre, the opera based on Elmer Rice’s book for which Hughes wrote the lyrics and Kurt Weill composed the music. One photograph features the stage design for the 1947 production, and the other features two cast members. Further materials relating to ‘Street Scene’ are discoverable in the Harry Ransom Center’s Elmer Rice Papers.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Collection,\r\n circa 1860-1998 (bulk 1900-1965)|","amNotes":"Online Finding Aid\r\nInternal draft inventory available. Oversize boxes not included in inventory."},"coll7":{"amList":"","spandates":"1935-2006","colldiv":"PH","colldesc":"The Arnold Newman Papers and Photography Collection contains all of Newman’s negatives, slides, color transparencies, original contact sheets, and a selection of more than 2,000 prints. The archive also includes Newman’s original “Sitting” (appointment) books, business files, correspondence, early sketchbooks, photographic albums, video recordings of interviews and lectures, and some of the many awards he received during his lifetime.","labeltext":"Arnold Newman Papers and Photography Collection","FAURL":"","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"307,923 items","description":"The papers of photographer Arnold Newman contain a black and white photograph of Langston Hughes against the backdrop of Harlem, New York City, 1960 (printed later).
\r\n","FAtitle":"","amNotes":""},"coll14":{"amList":"Container List; Finding aid","spandates":"circa 1910-1965","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"The papers of American author, lecturer, and commentator Fannie Hurst include manuscripts of her works (short stories, novels, film scenarios, plays, articles, columns, speeches, and talks), both incoming and outgoing correspondence, as well as miscellaneous materials.","labeltext":"Fannie Hurst Papers","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00533|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"274 document boxes, 1 oversize box, 1 galley folder (117.50 linear feet)","description":"The papers of American author, lecturer, and commentator Fannie Hurst include a letter dated Sept 13 1930 from Fannie Hurst to Hughes complementing his work, "Not Without Laughter". Hughes's reply is also enclosed on a postcard dated Sept 17 1930, in which he thanks Hurst for her encouraging note.
\r\n\r\nAlso of note is a letter dated July 13, 1937 from Hughes to Hurst, sent on behalf of the Second International Writers Congress in Defence of Culture. In the letter Hughes invites Hurst to attend the closing sessions to be held at Paris as a guest of the Congress. In this letter Hughes also thanks Hurst for her 1933 novel, 'Imitation of Life.'
\r\n","FAtitle":"Papers,\r\n ca. 1910-1965|","amNotes":""},"coll36":{"amList":"Other","spandates":"1910-1927","colldiv":"AR","colldesc":"","labeltext":"Ruth Elvish Mantz Art Collection","FAURL":"","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"73 items","description":"The Ruth Elivish Mantz Art Collection includes a black etching: Langston Hughes, “Hold fast to dreams...” by Mark Luca. A quote from Hughes’s poem ‘Dreams’ (1941) is included below the etching.
\r\n","FAtitle":"","amNotes":"Internal inventory (elec. doc.)"},"coll6":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1950-2014","colldiv":"FI","colldesc":"The Anne Jackson and Eli Wallach Papers document the lives and careers of the prominent American acting couple from their early stage and television appearances in the 1940s through their final performances on film in the 2000s and include scripts, photographs, posters, theater programs, clippings, correspondence, and scrapbooks, as well as manuscripts and other material relating to their memoirs and other writings, all dating from 1928 to 2016.","labeltext":"Anne Jackson and Eli Wallach Papers","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=01285|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"85 document boxes, 8 oversize boxes (osb) (39 linear feet), 8 oversize folders (osf), 2 galley files (gf)","description":"The Anne Jackson and Eli Wallach Papers include typescript poems by Langston Hughes, Dory Previn, and others, in connection with an unidentified poetry reading. Works by Hughes include ‘Dream Variations,’ ‘50-50,’ ‘Preference,’ and ‘Madam and the Minister.’
\r\n","FAtitle":"Papers,\r\n 1928-2016|","amNotes":"Online EAD"},"coll13":{"amList":"Container List; Finding aid","spandates":"1908-1973","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"The papers of Russian émigré poet Fania Kruger include manuscripts of her works, correspondence, clippings, memorabilia, notebooks, photographs, scrapbooks, and sound recordings.","labeltext":"Fania Kruger Papers","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=01373|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"19 boxes","description":"The papers of Russian émigré poet Fania Kruger include incoming correspondence (1945-52) from Hughes. Topics covered include Fania Kruger’s ‘delicious’ homemade strudel, Hughes’s visit to Fania and Sam Kruger on one occassion, and his meeting with their daughter on another. Also included are three signed carbon typescripts poems by Hughes: ‘Desire,’ ‘Trumpet Player: 52nd Street,’ and ‘Give Us Our Place’ (undated).
\r\n","FAtitle":"Papers,\r\n 1908-1973|","amNotes":""},"coll35":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1885-1967, undated","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"Consists chiefly of works and correspondence of the American poet Robinson Jeffers. Present are manuscripts for The Double Axe, Medea, and The Women at Point Sur and drafts of many individual poems. Along with much correspondence to and from family, friends, colleagues, and admirers are letters, legal papers, and financial records from Jeffers' publishers. Also included are some papers of Jeffers's wife, Una Call Jeffers, and of the noted Jeffers biographer Melba Berry Bennett.","labeltext":"Robinson Jeffers Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=01071|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"23 boxes","description":"This collection contains correspondence from Hughes, featuring a poem written “on the occassion of Donnan’s [Jeffers’ son’s] wedding” (October 22, 1941), as well as another written to Una Jeffers for her birthday (dated January 6, 1941). Also included is a a typed manuscript adddressed to Noel Sullivan titled “Silver Lining” (undated) in which, over three pages of prose, Hughes documents his journey to Los Angeles on the completion of his 1947-48 lecture tour.
\r\n\r\nA selection of the Jeffers’ letters to Hughes are discoverable in the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Negro Arts and Letters at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscripts Library.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Collection,\r\n 1885-1967, undated|","amNotes":""},"coll27":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1957-1962, undated","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"Includes letters and manuscripts received from authors for the British publication New Departures by its editor, Michael Horovitz, as well as proofs for early issues and some business correspondence. Authors represented include Samuel Beckett, William S. Burroughs, John Cage, Gregory Corso, Robert Creeley, Allen Ginsberg, Langston Hughes, Harold Pinter, Gary Snyder, and others.","labeltext":"New Departures Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00585|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"1 box","description":"The New Departures Collection icludes letters and manuscripts received from authors for the British publication. A four-page typescript of Hughes’s ‘Jazz is a heartbeat,’ undated, is included, as well as three typescript poems titled ‘The Dove,’ ‘Stop the Music’ and ‘The Point’ (undated).
\r\n\r\n\r\n","FAtitle":"Collection,\r\n 1957-1962|","amNotes":""},"coll26":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1907-1963","colldiv":"PH","colldesc":"","labeltext":"Nancy Cunard Literary File Photography Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=01203|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"11 boxes and 20 albums (5,700 items)","description":"
This collection includes a color snapshot of writer and poet Langston Hughes with two other unidentified men, dated 1961.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Literary File Photography Collection,\r\n 1859-1964|","amNotes":""},"coll29":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1912-2008 (bulk 1926-1997)","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"The records of the London-based writers’ organizations English PEN and PEN International, founded by Catharine Amy Dawson Scott in 1921, contain extensive correspondence with writer-members and other PEN centres around the world. Their records document campaigns, international congresses and other meetings, committees, finances, lectures and other programs, literary prizes awarded, membership, publications, and social events over several decades.","labeltext":"PEN (Organization) Records","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=01209|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"352 document boxes, 5 card boxes (cb), 5 oversize boxes (osb) (153.29 linear feet), 4 oversize folders (osf)","description":"The records of the London-based writers’ organizations English PEN and PEN International, founded by Catharine Amy Dawson Scott in 1921, contain extensive correspondence with writer-members and other PEN centres around the world. Included in the collection is correspondence (dated Jan 1967) regarding Hughes's contribution of a manuscript to a PEN charity auction. Correspondence reflects Hughes’s submission of “a poem written especially for (and titled) Emperor Haiti Selassie on Liberation Day, May 5, 1966.” Also included amongst the collection is biographical information for Hughes and a membership list for PEN dated Sept 1966 in which he is referenced.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Records,\r\n 1912-2008, undated|","amNotes":""},"coll28":{"amList":"Finding aid; Other","spandates":"1895-1966","colldiv":"PH","colldesc":"","labeltext":"New York Journal-American Photography Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00509|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"3,000,000 items","description":"The NYJA Photography Collection includes a photograph of Hughes by photographer Al Muto, dated March 28 1953. The caption on the back of the photograph reads: “Negro poet testifies on former communist ties Washington D.C [...].” This photograph was likely captured during Hughes’s testimony in front of the Senate Permanent-Sub-Committee on Investigations on Un-American Activities in March 1953.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Photographic Morgue,\r\n 1895-1966|","amNotes":"Other Database"},"INTRO":"\r\nThe Harry Ransom Center holdings include an expansive assortment of Langston Hughes-related materials which chronicle his prolific career as a columnist, playwright, poet and novelist, and altogether highlight Hughes’s remarkable contribution to the landscape of twentieth-centruy African American literarature. Hughes’s correspondence across the collections, in particular, underscores his deep commitment to the success of his peers and his literary community, and features various letters which appear to affirm playwright Amiri Baraka’s account of the writer as “an unrelenting publicist for black arts and black people.”
\r\n\r\nWhile the bulk of Hughes’ papers are held at the Beinecke Library at Yale University, his work can also be found across more than thirty collections at the Ransom Center. From the records of publishers to Hughes’s friends and photographers, the Center’s Hughes-related holdings constitute an important and intricate record of the revered writer’s life and literary career. In addition to a dedicated Langston Hughes collection, the records of the publishing firm Alfred A. Knopf and the papers of British writer Nancy Cunard, who was also Hughes’s close friend, present especially valuable collections for researchers. Correspondence in both of these collections offers a glimpse into Hughes’s day-to-day life, as well as how this tied into his creative process.
\r\n\r\nResearchers may be interested in this article from the Ransom Center’s magazine on Hughes’ unpublished essay “Foreword from Life” from the papers of John L. Spivak.
\r\n\r\nThe following guide is aimed at providing a comprehensive overview of the Ransom Center’s holdings related to Langston Hughes, however, additional material may be available that is not included on this list. If you have recommendations for additions to this guide or questions about our holdings, please contact reference@hrc.utexas.edu.
\r\n\r\n\r\n","GUIDETITLE":"Langston Hughes ","FILES":[],"COLLS":39,"RGID":70,"coll21":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1935-1981 (bulk 1940-1966)","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"The papers of poet, editor, publisher, and book dealer Judson Crews include extensive correspondence, published and unpublished manuscripts of novels, poetry, and other genres written by Crews under his many pseudonyms, and materials relating to censorship.","labeltext":"Judson Crews Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00029|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"31 boxes","description":"
The papers of poet, editor, publisher, and book dealer Judson Crews include incoming correspondence from Hughes dated 1954-1963. Much of this correspondence consists of letters of thanks for works sent by Crew, which also illuminate Hughes’s travels during this period. Hughes’s enthusiasm for the poetry of Mason Jordan Mason is a recurring theme across thet letters, which also document his efforts to have Knopf consider publishing Mason’s work. The Alfred A. Knopf records contain the corresponding rejection sheets for Mason Jordan Mason’s poetry.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Papers,\r\n 1935-1981|","amNotes":""},"coll20":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1929-1948","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"These papers document the research, writing, and response to Spivak's book Georgia Nigger (1932). The papers consist of notes, draft manuscripts, and newpaper clippings created and collected by Spivak, an American journalist known for his investigative reporting and support of socialism.","labeltext":"John L. Spivak Papers","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00126|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"2 boxes","description":"These papers document the research, writing, and response to Spivak's book Georgia Nigger (1932). The papers consist of notes, draft manuscripts, and newpaper clippings created and collected by Spivak, an American journalist known for his investigative reporting and support of socialism. Langston Hughes wrote a three-page introduction to the book, which ultimately wasn’t published. The work is preserved in Spivak’s collection. See this article from the Ransom Center Magazine for more information.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Papers,\r\n 1929-1948|","amNotes":""},"coll23":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1988-2001","colldiv":"AR","colldesc":"The collection includes eighteen signed artists' portfolios and one separate print, by seventeen different artists. Fourteen of the artists are American, including eight African Americans. Also included are portfolios by the French artists Balthus and Henri Cartier-Bresson, and the Italian artist Francesco Clemente.","labeltext":"Limited Editions Club Art Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00214|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"212 items","description":"This collection includes illustrations by Phoebe Beasley for a limited edition book ‘Sunrise is Coming After a While’ (1998). The selection is made up of eight items and is titled ‘The Langston Hughes Suite’ (1998). Beasley collaborated with writer Maya Angelou for this project which featured Beasley’s illustrations alongside a selection of Hughes’s poems.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Collection,\r\n 1988-2001 |","amNotes":""},"coll22":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1945-1990","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"The Kay Boyle Collection includes manuscripts, correspondence, and personal documents.","labeltext":"Kay Boyle Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00456|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"2 boxes","description":"The Kay Boyle Collection contains correspondence between Boyle and Hughes which includes a carbon typescript document titled ‘Remarks by Hughes concerning analysis of ‘On The Road.’ This is an interesting response by Langston Hughes to, it appears, Boyle’s criticism of Hughes’ short story, ‘On the Road’ (1952) in which Hughes offers contextual insights around the short story’s creation. Topics covered include the Scottsboro case, racial segregation in the Depression era, as well as the influence of D.H. Lawrence on Hughes’s transition into short story writing.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Collection,\r\n 1945-1990|","amNotes":""},"coll25":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1895-1965 (bulk 1908-1965)","colldiv":"MS","colldesc":"The papers of British poet and publisher Nancy Cunard contain drafts of many of her novels, articles, and poems, extensive correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, and manuscripts written by friends and associates. Particularly well represented are her \"G.M.: Memories of George Moore\" and \"Negro: An Anthology.\"","labeltext":"Nancy Cunard Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00031|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"35 boxes (14.58 linear feet), 2 oversize files","description":"The papers of British poet and publisher Nancy Cunard contain drafts of many of her novels, articles, and poems, extensive correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, and manuscripts written by friends and associates. A number of works by Hughes are included, such as: “My Career as a Writer,” “I, Too,” a lecture regarding “Writers, Words and the World,” “People without Shoes: the Haitian Masses,” and “South Side: Chicago,” amongst others.
\r\n\r\nLetters sent by Hughes between 1931-1963 reflect the pair’s close friendship, as well as Hughes’s enthusiasm for Cunard’s work; Hughes descrices Cunard in one letter as “one of my favorite folks in the world!”. Hughes offers addresses of individuals that Cunard may be interested to meet, such as artist James L. Allen whom he describes as “probably the best photographer of Negroes in the world,” in addtion to reading suggestions and copies of his own work. Other topics covered include Hughes’s reflections on the critical reception of his work, his thoughts on productions of his works (for example ‘Simply Heavenly’), as well as details of upcoming projects and travels.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Collection,\r\n 1895-1965|","amNotes":""},"coll24":{"amList":"Finding aid","spandates":"1929-2004","colldiv":"PH","colldesc":"","labeltext":"Magnum Photos Photography Collection","FAURL":"https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00502|","usecolldesc":0,"popname":"","webroot":"","extentText":"920 boxes, 1,866 oversize boxes, 39 portfolios (200,000 photographs)","description":"This collection contains 4 photographs of Hughes, one of which is dated 1956 and is credited to French photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson.
\r\n","FAtitle":"Photography Collection,\r\n 1929-2004|","amNotes":""}}