- unitid
-
{"value"=>"25304", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc MG 599", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b19068365x", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1942-1995", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1942/1995"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Helen Armstead-Johnson papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"10 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"8.67 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Helen Armstead-Johnson (1920-2006) was an English professor and the founder/director of the Armstead-Johnson Foundation for Theater Research, whose purpose was to collect, preserve, document and exhibit African-American contributions to the American stage. The Helen Armstead-Johnson papers reflect some aspects of the personal life and professional career of this African American theater historian and educator."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Johnson, Helen A.", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Helen Armstead-Johnson (1920-2006) was an English professor and the founder/director of the Armstead-Johnson Foundation for Theater Research, whose purpose was to collect, preserve, document and exhibit African American contributions to the American stage. Johnson spent her professional life as an educator, primarily at the college level, and taught for 23 years at York College, City University of New York, until her retirement in 1990.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Helen Armstead-Johnson papers reflect some aspects of the personal life and professional career of this African-American theater historian and educator. The collection consists of personal papers, files from her teaching career, correspondence, lectures, writings, and research material.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Helen Armstead-Johnson papers are arranged in six series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/25304#c1607575'>Personal</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1931-1988</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series consists of biographical information about Johnson, correspondence with her family and friends, and documents pertaining to her parents' death. There is also information about her college education and a women's social and civic group called Moles, to which she belonged. A copy of her Master's thesis, \"A Semantic Analysis of [Joseph] McCarthy's Language\", is included in this series.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/25304#c1607605'>Teaching career</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1950-1989</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series reflects Johnson's search for a teaching position pending receipt of her Ph.D. and teaching posts she held prior to her appointment at York College. York College material encompasses some yearly activity reports and bibliographies, examinations she used for general English and African American literature courses, and student evaluations. Of interest is a letter she wrote giving her reasons for rejecting a proposal to initiate a course in \"Black English\" as well as a subject file for this topic. There is also correspondence with York colleagues planning the spring 1971 meeting of the Greater New York Regional College English Association.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/25304#c1607623'>Correspondence</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1954-1995</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series includes correspondence pertaining to invitations from publishers and journals for Johnson to submit articles and books, or to serve as a reviewer. Research inquiries consist of requests for information about Black theater history and guidance in interviewing older musicians. Her research relating to African American entertainers overseas is reflected in correspondence with officials in the Soviet Union and in the file for Bobby LeBrun, a white Australian comedian who worked with African American performers. Other correspondents are composer Elliot Carpenter, Oskar Pausch of Austria (about an exhibit in Vienna), and playwright John F. Matheus (regarding staging a production of his play <span class=\"title\">Tambour</span>).</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/25304#c1607654'>Professional activities</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1960-1995</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series consists of information about lectures, consultancies, research grants, and conferences. The files encompass correspondence pertaining to her lectures about various aspects of African American theater history and consultancies, such as one with WNET regarding programs on Black musical theater and another one with Rutgers University concerning a Paul Robeson exhibition. There are files for conferences in which she either attended, gave papers, or helped to coordinate, among them the College Language Association, the College English Association, the Conference on the History of American Popular Entertainment, the Musical Theater in American Conference, and the Société International des Arts du Spectacle. When available, copies of her lectures and conference papers are included. Also included is a copy of Julian Mates's paper, \"The Minstrel Show and the American Musical Stage\", presented at the American Theatre Association conference.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/25304#c1607716'>Writing</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1954-1979</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series reflects Johnson's long-standing interest in Black theater history and consists of copies of her published articles, as well as manuscript drafts of unpublished papers. Her adaption of the libretto for <span class=\"title\">In Dahomey</span>, her production files, photocopies of the original libretto and score, and material about the original production also are included. Additionally, her early interest in Edmund Burke is documented with her lengthy manuscript, \"Reform and Revolution in the Political Theory of Edmund Burke: His Interpretations of the English, American, and French Revolutions.\"</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/25304#c1607758'>Research material</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1964-1984</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series consists of Johnson's handwritten notes, news clippings (photocopies and originals), and writing by other researchers. The subjects of her Black theater research have been filed by geographic region, topic, time period and specific entertainer or composer for ease of retrieval (e.g. Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, the United States, and minstrels, jokes, lyrics, music, etc.). Most of the notes were written on yellow pads, with many on index cards and memo pads. The majority of the notes were taken from nineteenth and twentieth century newspapers and other published sources. Some of the notes were prepared for the Helen Armstead-Johnson Foundation's international exhibition on view at the Austrian Theater Museum in Vienna for three months in 1982.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>Collection organized into six series: I. Personal papers; II. Teaching career; III. Correspondence; IV. Professional activities; V. Writing; and VI. Research material.</p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Gift of Helen Armstead-Johnson, December 1996.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Divsion: photographs</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Janice Quinter, 2011.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>The following collections, all donated by Helen Armstead-Johnson, are located in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Sc MG 599, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture:</p> <p>A. Lincoln Harris scrapbook</p> <p>Armstead-Johnson Foundation for Theater Research records</p> <p>Edith Spencer scrapbook</p> <p>Elliot Carpenter papers</p> <p>Florence Mills collection</p> <p>Flournoy Miller collection</p> <p>Glenn and Jenkins scrapbook</p> <p>Helen Armstead-Johnson miscellaneous theater collections</p> <p>Opal Cooper collection</p> <p>Sidney Easton papers</p>"}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Finding aid updated by Lauren Stark.", "date"=>"2020 December 8"}
- date_start
-
1942
- keydate
-
1942
- date_end
-
1995
- date_inclusive_start
-
1942
- date_inclusive_end
-
1995
- extent_statement
-
8.67 linear feet (10 boxes)
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"[Item], Helen Armstead-Johnson papers, Sc MG 599, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library"}