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Collection Data
- Description
- The James Baldwin Papers document Baldwin's career as an African American writer, intellectual, and activist in the United States and abroad. Dating to 1938, this archive of writings and related documents is indispensable to understanding the significance of Baldwin's career as a writer and an engaged public man of letters. The archive will enable researchers to trace the textual evolution of virtually all of Baldwin's writings. Each of his novels, essays, screen treatments (including the treatment for an unproduced film about Malcolm X) and dramatic adaptations of his novels are present in the form of detailed manuscript notes, heavily reworked manuscript drafts or significant manuscript fragments, and typescript drafts with his often copious manuscript annotations and emendations. The archive contains draft manuscripts and typescripts of his poetry and his important reviews. In addition, there are also personal papers and business records produced by Baldwin and his estate.
- Names
- Baldwin, James, 1924-1987 (Creator)
- Dates / Origin
- Date Created: 1936 - 1992
- Library locations
- Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
- Shelf locator: Sc MG 936
- Topics
- African American authors
- African American dramatists
- African American gay men
- African American political activists
- American literature -- African American authors
- American poetry -- African American authors
- Authors, Black
- Harlem (New York, N.Y.) -- Fiction&
- Political activists
- Baldwin, James, 1924-1987
- Genres
- Documents
- Manuscripts
- Correspondence
- Typescripts
- Contracts
- Notes
- Content: The James Baldwin Papers document Baldwin's career as an African American writer, intellectual, and activist in the United States and abroad. Dating to 1938, this archive of writings and related documents is indispensable to understanding the significance of Baldwin's career as a writer and an engaged public man of letters. The archive will enable researchers to trace the textual evolution of virtually all of Baldwin's writings. Each of his novels, essays, screen treatments (including the treatment for an unproduced film about Malcolm X) and dramatic adaptations of his novels, divided into published and unpublished subseries, are present in the form of detailed manuscript notes, heavily reworked manuscript drafts or significant manuscript fragments, and typescript drafts with his often copious manuscript annotations and emendations. The archive contains draft manuscripts and typescripts of his poetry and his important reviews. In addition, there are also personal papers and business records produced by Baldwin and his estate.
- Physical Description
- Extent: 81 boxes, 2 oversize folders 29.85 linear feet
- Type of Resource
- Text
- Identifiers
- Other local Identifier: Sc MG 936
- NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b21213585
- MSS Unit ID: 24143
- Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 4460cf00-5fc7-013c-4ee6-0242ac110002
