- unitid
-
{"value"=>"Sc MG 35", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"20766", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1918-1973", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1918/1973"}
{"value"=>"1918-1963", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1918/1963"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1918
- date_inclusive_end
-
1973
- keydate
-
1918
- date_start
-
1918
- date_end
-
1973
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Andy Razaf papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"1.2 lin. ft."}], "supress_display"=>true}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division.</span> <div class=\"address\"> <span class=\"addressline\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture</span> <span class=\"addressline\">515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801</span></div>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Songwriter, poet. Material reflecting Razaf's career as a songwriter, lyricist, and poet. Papers consist of correspondence concerning the performance or publication of Razaf's work, and with Jean Blackwell Hutson, his second wife and the chief of the Schomburg Center. Manuscripts of his published and unpublished poetry including POEMS FOR A MIXED UP WORLD and THE NEGRO HAS TO LAUGH AND OTHER POEMS. Also, printed matter, citations, and bound volumes of Razaf's collected songs."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"Materials in English"}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>Andy Razaf papers, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Razaf, Andy, 1895-1973", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Andy Razaf was born Andreamentania Paul Razafinkeriefo on December 16, 1895 in Washington D. C., months after his mother had fled Madagascar because the government there had been overthrown. His father Henri Razafkeriefo, a member of the nobility, was killed after the French captured the island, exiled his aunt, the Queen and abolished the nobility.</p> <p>When Razaf was sixteen, he quit public school to support his mother and seriously write songs. His first published song was \"Baltimo\" which was used in the show, \"the Passing of 1913.\" Razaf kept the abbreviated form of his name after a song publisher shortened it because it would never be pronounced correctly or remembered by the public.</p> <p>In 1923, Razaf met Thomas \"Fats\" Waller after hearing him play in a contest at the Roosevelt Theater in Harlem. From that moment on the two had a very profitable and congenial partnership. Over the next twenty years the song writing team of Razaf and Waller produced floor shows, Broadway musicals and many memorable hits, including \"Ain't Misbehavin\", \"Honeysuckle Rose\" and \"Black and Blue\". In 1930 Razaf collaborated with Eubie Blake to write the score for Lew Leslie's \"Blackbirds of 1930\", a musical show. That same year proved to be the lyricist's most prolific, producing such hits as \"S'posin'\" and \"My Handy Man.\" Razaf also collaborated with J. C. Johnson and the stride pianist James P. Johnson.</p> <p>Although Razaf never attended college, he was self-taught and highly educated. Numerous hours spent in the public library at 135th Street motivated him to write a poem entitled \"Reflections in a Public Library.\" In 1941 he married the head librarian Jean Blackwell, Chief (1948-1980) of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, formerly the 135th Street Branch Library. His love of the Schomburg Center prompted a library official to offer him a scholarship which Razaf declined for lack of time. Razaf was married three times, but had no children.</p> <p>After his marriage to Jean Blackwell the couple moved to Englewood. In 1947 he decided to run for City Council. Although he lost, it marked the first political effort by a black person in that city.</p> <p>Razaf moved to California in 1948. He was stricken by paralysis brought on by tertiary syphilis that confined him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Despite his physical handicap, he continued to write poems, lyrics and letters; his stationery depicts him in his wheelchair with the words, \"From the Wheelchair of Andy Razaf.\" Although he experienced daily agonizing pain, Razaf still found time to appear every Thursday on radio and write a column, \"Time Out for Thinking\", for a Los Angeles weekly.</p> <p>After the war, Razaf was honored by the United States Department of the Treasury for special songs written for its War Bond Drive. He continued to receive citation from numerous organizations. His poem, \"A Mixed-Up World\", appeared in the Appendix of the Congressional Record in 1959 at the request of his former Congressman, Frank C. Osmers, Jr., of New Jersey. The Los Angeles Library Commission honored him after he donated his book and map collection to their Vernon Branch in 1963. In 1972 he returned to live in New York and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.</p> <p>On February 3, 1973 Andy Razaf, one of Tin Pan Alley's greatest songwriters and author of over 1000 tunes, died at the age of seventy-seven in North Hollywood, California.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Andy Razaf Papers, 1918-1963, 1973, consist of correspondence, poetry, citations, photographs, newspaper clippings, printed material and bound volumes of printed sheet music. Although some personal material is also included, the collection largely documents Razaf's prolific career as songwriter, lyricist and poet.</p> <p>The collection has been organized into three series Correspondence, Poetry, Printed Material and Collected Songs.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Presented by Andy Razaf between 1958-1962.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Transferred to Schomburg Library (1958-1962):</p> <p>Books, pamphlets, periodicals, newspapers, government publications.</p> <p>Transferred to Schomburg Photographs and Print Division:</p> <p>20 photographs.</p> <p>Other: Sheet music collection: 3 pieces, \"Le Petit Mousse Noir\" (French) by P. Cheret, \"That's What I Like About the South\", word and music by Andy Razaf (1944), \"My Handy Man\", words and music by Andy Razaf (1928).</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"type"=>"processing", "value"=>"<p>Processed by S. M. Howard/S. D. Sharlin, 28 December 1978</p>"}
- note
-
{"value"=>"Photographs transferred to Photographs and Prints Division"}
- extent_statement
-
1.2 linear feet
- date_bulk_start
-
1918
- date_bulk_end
-
1963