- unitid
-
{"value"=>"21884", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc MG 599", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b15110580", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1818-1998", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1818/1998"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Helen Armstead-Johnson miscellaneous theater collections"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"46 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"16.79 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division</span>"}
- physloc
-
{"value"=>"The Playscripts, Programs, and Sheet music series boxes are indicated by the first two initials of the series name followed by the box number. For example, the first box in the Playscripts series is Pl1."}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"The Helen Armstead-Johnson miscellaneous theater collections (HAJMTC) were formed by over two hundred file-folder level collections (one-three file folders per personality or event). The collections contain information dating from the mid-nineteenth century to the late twentieth century, and they document early dramatic actors, minstrel shows, vaudeville, musical revues, Broadway productions, and protest dramas, among others. In addition to actors, playwrights, singers, musicians, and dancers and the productions in which they appeared, there are collections for poets and visual artists."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Johnson, Helen A.", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Helen Armstead-Johnson began conducting research into African-American theater following a chance meeting in 1966 with Noble Sissle (1889 - 1975), musician, band conductor and show business partner of composer Eubie Blake. As a result of her interest in black theater, she established The Armstead-Johnson Foundation for Theater Research in February 1974, for the purpose of collecting, preserving, documenting, and exhibiting the history of black contributions to the American stage. As the Foundation's director her research and other activities for the Foundation took her across the United States, Europe, Africa, South America, and Australia.</p>"}
- custodhist
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Helen Armstead-Johnson miscellaneous theater collections consist of materials gathered by Helen-Armstead Johnson from Amanda Aldridge (pseudonym Ring, Montague), Bessie Oliver Miller, Ulysses S. Thompson, Leigh Whipper, Fess Williams, Margot Webb, and others over various periods. It was subsequently donated by Helen Armstead-Johnson, along with other theater-related collections, to the Schomburg Center.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Helen Armstead-Johnson miscellaneous theater collections (HAJMTC) were formed by over two hundred file-folder level collections (one-three file folders per personality or event), known here as the Alphabetical collections. These collections contain information dating from the mid-nineteenth century to the late twentieth century, and they document early dramatic actors; minstrel shows; vaudeville acts; musical revues; 1920s-1930s Broadway productions; the protest dramas of the 1940s-1950s; plays written during the Black Arts Movement of the late 1960s-1970s; and theatrical productions of the 1980s-1990s. In addition to actors, playwrights, singers, musicians, and dancers (classical and popular) (e.g. Ira Frederick Aldridge, Eubie Blake and Katherine Dunham), and the productions in which they appeared, there are collections for poets and visual artists. There are eighteen collections documenting performers of the nineteenth century; twenty-nine collections covering the period 1900-1919; thirty-seven collections document the 1940s-1950s; and eleven collections cover the 1980s-1990s. The bulk of the collections represent the two most productive periods for Black theater: ninety-two collections for the 1920s-1930s, and ninety collections for the Black Arts Movement. This collection also includes information on white personalities if they were involved in some way with Black performers, productions, or events.</p> <p>Programs, sheet music, and scripts were transferred from individual collections and placed in the Playscripts, Programs, and Sheet music series with the following exceptions: pre-1940 programs associated with the performer or production for whom the file is named; manuscript music composed by the performer for whom there was a collection; skits and incomplete scripts. Transferred programs are identified by a photocopy of the cover in the original collection file. These collections complement the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division's Sheet music, Programs and Playbills, Broadsides, and Playscripts collections, but were not interfiled with those collections in order to maintain the integrity of the Helen Armstead-Johnson collection.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Helen Armstead-Johnson miscellaneous theater collections are arranged in four series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/21884#c1608705'>Alphabetical collections</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1818-1998</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p> Types of materials in this series include printed matter (reviews and feature articles, programs, flyers and broadsides, sheet music, newsletters), letters, including correspondence generated by Armstead-Johnson with donors and individuals documented in the collections, lyrics and music scores, resumes and other biographical information, scripts, sketches, academic papers, and speeches. In many cases the file consists of clippings only. Often the material documenting a performer or performance is not contemporaneous to the era in which the individual lived and worked, but comes from a source produced decades later. In several collections there is a notation for \"Helen Armstead-Johnson Notes.\" These notes are the product of Armstead-Johnson's research on the personality or production in question. Additional research notes can be found in the Armstead-Johnson Foundation for Theater Research records and the Helen Armstead-Johnson papers.</p> <p>A sampling of the documents found in the collection include Bessie Oliver Miller's (Flournoy Miller's wife) draft of her unpublished manuscript entitled \"Forbidden Kin\" (letters in the collection reflect attempts to have the book published); questionnaires that include personal and professional information on a variety of performers including Minto Cato and Joseph Attles; a transcript of the interview Helen Armstead-Johnson conducted with Ulysses S. Thompson; and Fess Williams's arrangement for <span class=\"title\">Roll Jordan Roll</span>. The collections also document non-theater related black personalities such as Shirley Black (painter), James Lowe (lawyer), and Leopold Sedar Senghor, poet and former President of Senegal.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/21884#c1608706'>Playscripts</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1901-1991</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/21884#c1608771'>Programs</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/21884#c1608804'>Sheet music</a></div>\n</li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>Arranged into 4 series: (1) Alphabetical collections; (2) Playscripts; (3) Programs; and (4) Sheet music.</p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Gift, Helen Armstead-Johnson, December 1996.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Photographs were transferred to the Center's Photographs and Prints Division; this information is noted only when the transfer was done by the manuscripts processors. The bulk of the photographs, however, were not physically associated with these collections and were accessioned directly by the Schomburg Center's Photographs and Prints Division at the time of acquisition.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Also located under Sc MG 599 in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, 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 papers</p> <p>Opal Cooper collection</p> <p>Sidney Easton papers</p>"}
- sponsor
-
{"value"=>"Home to Harlem Project funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation"}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Finding aid updated by Allison Hughes.", "date"=>"2022 October 7"}
- date_start
-
1818
- keydate
-
1818
- date_end
-
1998
- date_inclusive_start
-
1818
- date_inclusive_end
-
1998
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"[Item], Helen Armstead-Johnson miscellaneous theater collections, Sc MG 599, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library"}