P.J. Gibson photographs

id
12010
origination
Gibson, P.J.
date statement
1971-2009
key date
1971
identifier (local_mss)
188367
org unit
Photographs and Prints Division. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
call number
Sc Photo P.J. Gibson collection
b-number
b24009176
total components
18
total series
0
max depth
2
boost queries
(none)
component layout
Default Layout
Extended MARC Fields
false
Extended Navigation
false
created
2026-08-20 16:52:36 UTC
updated
2026-08-20 16:52:38 UTC
status note
(missing)
Display Aeon link
true

Description data TOP

unitid
{"value"=>"188367", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc Photo P.J. Gibson collection", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b24009176", "type"=>"local_b"}
unitdate
{"value"=>"1971-2009", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1971/2009"}
unittitle
{"value"=>"P.J. Gibson photographs"}
physdesc
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"3 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"0.75 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"approximately 200 photographic prints", "unit"=>"photographic_prints"}]}
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"approximately 450 photographic slides", "unit"=>"photographic_slides"}]}
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"approximately 35 photographs", "unit"=>"photographs"}, {"name"=>"physfacet", "value"=>"negatives"}]}
repository
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division</span>"}
abstract
{"value"=>"P.J. Gibson was a Black American playwright, poet, writer, and educator closely associated with Woodie King Jr.'s New Federal Theatre. The P.J. Gibson photographs (dating from 1971 to 2009) contain her portraits, as well as photographs from productions of her work, speaking engagements, travel, promotional materials, and casting."}
langmaterial
{"value"=>"English"}
origination
{"value"=>"Gibson, P.J.", "type"=>"persname"}
bioghist
{"value"=>"<p>P.J. (Patricia JoAnn) Gibson (1952-2022) was a Black American playwright, poet, writer, and educator. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Gibson was raised in Washington, DC and Trenton, New Jersey. She received a Bachelor of Arts in drama, religion, and English from Keuka College in 1973. In 1975 she received a Master of Fine Arts in theater arts from Brandeis University, which she attended under a Schubert Fellowship and where she wrote her earliest extant plays.</p> <p>Over the course of Gibson's career, she wrote thirty-five full-length plays. Her work was performed both domestically and internationally, and of particular note is a tour of Africa she undertook in the late 1970s. She received a playwriting grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, which resulted in her play <span class=\"title\">Miss Ann Don't Cry No More</span> (1980). She is perhaps most well-known for her play <span class=\"title\">Long Time Since Yesterday</span> (1985), which was the recipient of two AUDELCO awards, including Best Play. Gibson also wrote numerous treatments for both film and television, worked as a script doctor, and wrote and published poetry and fiction. Her prose works include erotica and romance novels that she authored under the pseudonym Magenta Rise.</p> <p>While working as a writer, Gibson had a parallel career as an educator, most notably at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, where she served as a professor in the English department starting in 1992. While there, she received two PSC-CUNY research grants in order to support her playwriting. She also taught graduate courses at Rutgers University, was an instructor in an early academic outreach project at the University of California at Berkeley, and from 1987 to 1989 taught in the English department at the College of New Rochelle. Gibson was an instructor in playwriting at Playwrights Horizons in New York City and the Bushfire Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Gibson maintained a long-standing working relationship with Woodie King Jr.'s New Federal Theatre, as well as George Houston Bass' Rites and Reason Theater.</p> <p>Gibson was a member of the Writers Guild of America, East and the Dramatist Guild. She also served as board member and the vice president of programming for The League of Professional Theatre Women.</p> <p>Gibson died on May 6, 2022 in New York City. After her passing, John Jay College of Criminal Justice established the P.J. Gibson Memorial Scholarship for Creative Writers.</p>"}
scopecontent
{"value"=>"<p>The P.J. Gibson photographs (dating from 1971 to 2009) consists of approximately 195 black-and-white or color prints, nine contact sheets, fifty negatives, and 430 slides from Gibson's life and career. Subjects depicted include staged productions of Gibson's work, speaking engagements, travel, promotional materials, casting, and portraits of Gibson. Also present are a number of images from unidentified events. The earliest images in this collection date from productions of Gibson's plays staged when she was in graduate school, while the majority of this collection is from the 1980s to 2000s.</p>"}
arrangement
{"value"=>"<p>Alphabetical.</p>"}
acqinfo
{"value"=>"<p>Donated by Dahlia Damas in 2024.</p>"}
separatedmaterial
{"value"=>"<p>See the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division for the P.J. Gibson papers, Sc MG 1017.</p> <p>See the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division for audio and moving image recordings.</p>"}
processinfo
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Stacey Ference in 2026.</p>"}
date_start
1971
keydate
1971
date_end
2009
date_inclusive_start
1971
date_inclusive_end
2009
extent_statement
0.75 linear feet (3 boxes). approximately 200 photographic prints. approximately 450 photographic slides. approximately 35 photographs : negatives
prefercite
{"value"=>"P.J. Gibson photographs, Photographs and Prints Division. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library"}

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