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Randolph Linsly Simpson African-American Collection

 Collection
Call Number: JWJ MSS 54
Scope and Contents

The Randolph Linsly Simpson African-American Collection consists chiefly of photographs dating from circa 1850 to 1970, but also includes printed illustrations, original artwork, documents, and ephemera that provide a record of black history in the United States for the period circa 1770 to 1970. The focus is on African-American subjects, but the collection also includes the work of black photographers, as well as images of white men and women, many of whom were associated with the abolitionist movement. Collected with a broad scope, the photographs represent the work of professional photographers in various regions of the United States and some European countries, and the formats present reflect the development of photographic processes, beginning with Daguerreotypes and extending through mid-twentieth century formats. The collection contains images of Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Marcus Garvey, W. E. B. DuBois, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Sojourner Truth, Louis Armstrong, and Joe Louis, as well as of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, among other highly recognized figures. It also includes a large number of photographic portraits of lesser-known African-American subjects, including politicians, bankers, athletes, entertainers, domestic servants, formerly enslaved people, and soldiers. Among the few documents in the collection is a ship manifest noting enslaved people aboard the "Telegraph," out of Providence, Rhode Island, in 1811. The collection also includes three-dimensional artifacts such as commemorative spoons, lapel buttons, and a plaster bust of Booker T. Washington.

Note that there is some overlap between the series, and that images can be found not only in Series I. Visual Material, but in Series II. and III. as well. In Series II. Printed Material, several printed documents and booklets include illustrations or postcards. In Series III. Artifacts, images are often incorporated into objects.

Conditions Governing Access

Box 105 (film): Restricted fragile material. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.

Conditions Governing Use

The Randolph Linsly Simpson African-American Collection is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchase from Swann Galleries, Inc., 1995 on various funds.

Arrangement

Organized into three series: I. Visual Material. II. Printed Material. III. Artifacts.

Associated Materials

The Amistad Center for Art & Culture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art holds a related collection acquired from R. L. Simpson in 1989.

Dates
1728 - 1991
Majority of material found within 1850 - 1970
Extent
30 Linear Feet ((95 boxes) + 6 broadsides, 5 artwork)
Related Names
Simpson, Randolph Linsly, 1927-1992
Language of Materials
English