Series I: Correspondence, 1914 - 1971

Series I. Correspondence, documents Carl Van Vechten’s friendships and acquaintances with writers, artists, musicians, singers, actors, social activists and other members of the African-American community in New York City, and throughout the United States and abroad. The correspondence, which was formerly called “Letters from Blacks,” includes letters sent to Carl Van Vechten and his wife, Fania Marinoff, from Black artists, writers, and social activists, and from individuals corresponding about African-descended people and cultures. As noted in the processing note, decisions regarding the inclusion of correspondents in this collection were made by Van Vechten and curator Donald Gallup as the material was received by the library beginning in the 1940s, and those decisions have guided staff in subsequent processing of the collection.

The correspondence ranges from single letters to extensive correspondence documenting Van Vechten’s relationships with friends and associates over many years. Correspondents include writers James Baldwin, Charles W. Chesnutt, Countee Cullen, Owen Dodson, Chester Himes, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Nella Larsen Imes, James Weldon Johnson, and Richard Wright; composers and performers Marian Anderson, Pearl Bailey, William C. Handy, Nora Holt, J. Rosamond Johnson, Leontyne Price, Paul Robeson and his wife, Eslanda Robeson; artists Richmond Barthé and Aaron Douglas; educators Arna Bontemps, Elmer Samuel Imes, Harold Jackman, and Dorothy Peterson; and social activists Shirley Graham Du Bois , W.E.B. Du Bois, Grace Nail Johnson, Walter White and Roy Wilkins. Van Vechten’s philanthropic activities are documented by his correspondence with administrators and staff of institutions to which he donated collections of books, manuscripts, and photographs, including Fisk University, Howard University, Piney Woods Country Life School, and Wadleigh High School, among others, as well as individuals and institutions to which he provided financial support.

Folder-level scope and contents notes provide descriptions of third-party correspondents, photographs, writings, and other enclosures. In some cases, Van Vechten’s drafts and/or carbon copies of his outgoing letters to correspondents are included with the incoming letters. Letters to Fania Marinoff are interfiled with those to Van Vechten; folder-level scope and content notes indicate when an individual’s correspondence was sent only to Fania (FM).