- unitid
-
{"value"=>"185439", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc MG 903", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b22347522", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"ca. 1970-2010", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1970/2010", "certainty"=>"approximate"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Rosa Guy papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"35 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"13.17 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division</span>"}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Guy, Rosa", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Rosa Guy was an internationally acclaimed, award-winning author. With more than 20 published works, Guy was a respected literary voice of the Black experience and an active member of the Harlem community. Guy's success enabled her to support herself and her family financially, exclusively, as an author and lecturer, a privilege not afforded many Black female authors of her time.</p> <p>Guy was born in Diego Martin, Trinidad, on September 1, 1922. Although there is some debate about the actual year she was born, most documents support 1922. Her parents, Henry and Audrey Cuthbert, emigrated from Trinidad to Harlem, New York, in 1927. Guy and her sister, Ameze, left Trinidad in 1932 and joined their parents in Harlem. Shortly after Guy's arrival in Harlem, her mother fell ill and sent Guy and her sister to live in Brooklyn with a cousin. In Brooklyn, Guy was exposed to Garveyism and Black Nationalism, which help shape her worldview at a young age. After the death of her mother in 1934, Rosa and her sister lived in Harlem with their father until he passed in 1937, leaving the sisters orphaned. At the age of 14, Guy dropped out of Wadleigh High School and started working in a factory in the garment district to support her and her ailing sister, while they lived in foster homes and orphanages. In Guy's own words she \"had the good fortune of dropping--or of being dropped--out of the New York City school system at a very young age and so escaped its paralyzing effects.\"</p> <p>In 1941, Rosa married Warner Guy and gave birth to Warner Guy, Jr., a year later. While her husband was serving in World War II, she continued to work in factories and sweatshops in the garment district of New York City. During that time, one of her co-workers introduced her to the American Negro Theatre, where she studied acting. After the end of World War II, Guy moved to Connecticut with her husband and son. Her marriage ended in 1950 and she returned to New York City with her son.</p> <p> The same year, Guy founded the Harlem Writers Guild with John O. Killens, John Henrik Clarke, Willard Moore, and Walter Christmas. The Guild provided an informal setting for aspiring black writers to critique one another's work. As its membership grew and its reputation spread, it became one of the most influential Black literary organizations of its time. Its membership included Killens, Clarke, Moore, Christmas, Maya Angelou, Paule Marshall, Audre Lorde, Alice Childress, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, and Douglass Turner Ward.</p> <p>After years of sharpening her craft and briefly returning to school at New York University, Guy's first book, <span class=\"title\">Bird at My Window</span>, was published by J.P. Lippincott. Guy is well-known for her award winning triology about three Black girls coming of age in Harlem, which includes <span class=\"title\">The Friends</span>, <span class=\"title\">Ruby</span>, and <span class=\"title\">Edith Jackson</span>. Her novel <span class=\"title\">My Love, My Love: or The Peaseant Girl</span>, has been made into the award-winning musical <span class=\"title\">Once on This Island</span>.</p> <p>Guy loved to travel and often found inspiration for her writings during her travels to Africa, the West Indies, and Europe. No matter where her travels took her, she always considered New York City home. On June 3, 2012, Guy lost her battle with cancer and passed away in New York City.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p> The Rosa Guy papers contain material related to her personal life, her writing, and her professional career. The personal matter includes correspondence and biographical information. The material in the writing series includes drafts, notes, and proofs, among other documents, for Guy's published and unpublished writing. Professional papers consist of correspondence, grant applications, and materials related to professional organizations.</p>", "supress_display"=>true}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Rosa Guy papers are arranged in three series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/185439#c1608316'>Personal</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>ca. 1970-2009</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains biographical information, personal correspondence, notes, journals, and articles about Guy. Of note in the biographical information files are Guy's accounts of her career and writing, resumes, articles about Guy, publication lists, fellowship and grant applications, contact lists, awards, medical records, speeches, family history, obituaries (of John Henrik Clarke and Walter Christmas), and a Maya Angelou file, which contains a transcript of an intimate interview between Guy and Angelou. In an account of her career, Guy references \"Benidine\" as her first completed novel, which was never published. That reference, and a note in an inventory list of Guy's library from 2003, are the only references to the unpublished novel.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/185439#c1608327'>Writing</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>ca. 1970-2000</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series, the largest, contains drafts, excerpts, and illustrations from most of her published books; articles, essays, and reviews written by Guy; and literary reviews of her published works.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/185439#c1608411'>Professional</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>ca. 1970-2010</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains financial and tax records, including detailed royalty, banking, and tax statements; grant applications for the Guggenheim; personal research; information about professional organizations with which Guy was involved, including the Harlem Writers Guild, the National Writer's Voice Project, and the Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars; legal documents and deposition transcripts from various legal proceedings; professional correspondence; and fan letters.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>Arranged into three series: I. Personal; II. Writing; and III. Professional.</p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Purchased from the Estate of Rosa Guy, 2013.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p> Transferred to the Art and Artifacts Division: drawings and paintings</p> <p>Transferred to the General Research and Reference Division: books</p> <p>Transferred to the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division: audio materials. For more information, please contact the division at schomburgaudiovisual@nypl.org or 212-491-2270.</p> <p>Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division: photographs</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Steven G. Fullwood and Candice Carr, ca. 2015.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Maya Angelou papers, Sc MG 830, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture</p>"}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Finding aid updated by Lauren Stark.", "date"=>"2020 December 7"}
- date_start
-
1970
- keydate
-
1970
- date_end
-
2010
- date_inclusive_start
-
1970
- date_inclusive_end
-
2010
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"[Item], Rosa Guy papers, Sc MG 903, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>" The Rosa Guy papers contain material related to her personal life, her writing, and her professional career. The personal matter includes correspondence and biographical information. The material in the writing series includes drafts, notes, and proofs, among other documents, for Guy's published and unpublished writing. Professional papers consist of correspondence, grant applications, and materials related to professional organizations.", "generated"=>true}