- unitid
-
{"value"=>"20679", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc MG 302", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b11744767", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1949-1978", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1949/1978"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Léon-Gontran Damas papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"29 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"26.46 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"=>"This collection consists of personal papers, professional and literary correspondence, office files, research notes, and printed matter documenting the professional and literary activities of Léon-Gontran Damas, an author, lecturer, and acting-chairman of the department of African Studies and Research Program at Howard University (1975-1976)."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
{"value"=>"Some material in French."}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Damas, Léon-Gontran, 1912-1978", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Born in Cayenne, French Guiana, in 1912, Léon-Gontran Damas was a poet, journalist, educator, and statesman who co-founded the Négritude literary movement in the 1930s with the Matinique born poet Aimé Césaire and the Senegalese author and statesman Léopold Sédar Senghor. Damas studied languages, literature, history, and ethnology, and began his career in journalism and literature in Paris in the 1930s. His first volume of poems, <span class=\"title\">Pigments</span>, appeared in 1937. He served briefly in the French army during the Second World War, and joined the French Resistance after his demobilization. Elected representative of Guiana to the French Parliament after the war, he was appointed to the High Court of Justice and served as Rapporteur of a parliamentary commission to the Ivory Coast in 1949. During the 1950s and 1960s, he lectured and traveled extensively in the Caribbean and Latin America, where he studied the influence of African culture in the New World. Appointed Distinguished Visiting Professor at Howard University in 1970, he lectured extensively at colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada until his death in 1978.</p> <p>Damas's other works include: <span class=\"title\">Retour de Guyane</span> (1938), <span class=\"title\">Veilleés Noires</span> (1944), <span class=\"title\">Poèmes Nègres sur des Airs Africains</span> (1947), <span class=\"title\">Graffiti</span> (1952), <span class=\"title\">Black Label</span> (1956), and <span class=\"title\">Névralgies</span> (1966). He also edited two volumes of poetry: <span class=\"title\">Poètes Noirs d'Expression Française</span> (1947) and <span class=\"title\">Nouvelle Somme de Poésie du Monde Noir</span> (1966). His work has been translated into English, German, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian. He was awarded the Prix Carai̤bes in 1970. He died in Washington, D.C., in 1978.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>This collection consists of personal papers, professional and literary correspondence, office files, research notes, and printed matter documenting the professional and literary activities of Léon-Gontran Damas. Smaller bodies of materials document his earlier career as representative of French Guiana to the French National Assembly in the 1950s. Damas's research notes and printed matter include a voluminous compilation of writings and biographical sketches of Brazilian authors of African descent from the 18th century to the 1950s. The Négritude movement is documented throughout the collection with published and unpublished essays, biographical and bibliographical articles, student papers from Howard University and the Federal City College in Washington, D.C., conference materials, and selected records of the Lépold Sédar Senghor Foundation.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Léon-Gontran Damas papers are arranged in ten series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20679#c1618202'>Biographical</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20679#c1618230'>Correspondence</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20679#c1618249'>French Guiana</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1949-1953</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20679#c1618252'>Writings by and about Léon-Gontran Damas</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20679#c1618275'>Conferences</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20679#c1618283'>Research material</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20679#c1618306'>Léopold Sédar Senghor Foundation</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20679#c1618319'>Writings by other authors</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20679#c1618406'>Office files</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/20679#c1618411'>Printed matter</a></div>\n</li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>Arranged into 10 series: I. Biographical; II. Correspondence; III. French Guiana; IV. Writings by and about León-Gontran Damas; V. Conferences; VI. Research material; VII. Léopold Sédar Senghor Foundation; VIII. Writings by other authors; IX. Office files; and X. Printed matter.</p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Gift of Virginia de Campos Vieira, November 1989.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Transferred to the Art and Artifacts Division: artwork and posters.</p> <p>Transferred to the General Research and Reference Division: books and periodicals.</p> <p>Transferred to the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division: audio and moving image materials. For more information, please contact the division at schomburgaudiovisual@nypl.org or 212-491-2270.</p> <p>Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Divsiion: photographs.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Accessioned by Andre Elizee, 1989. Processed through the Schomburg NEH Automated Access to Special Collections Project.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Offsite material is currently closed.</p>"}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Finding aid updated by Lauren Stark.", "date"=>"2021 February 18"}
- date_start
-
1949
- keydate
-
1949
- date_end
-
1978
- date_inclusive_start
-
1949
- date_inclusive_end
-
1978
- extent_statement
-
26.46 linear feet (29 boxes)
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"[Item], Léon-Gontran Damas papers, Sc MG 302, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library"}