- unitid
-
{"value"=>"22986", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc MG 830", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b21989312", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1961-2009", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1961/2009"}
{"value"=>"1857-2015", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1857/2015"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Maya Angelou papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"844 boxes, 1 volume", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"377.5 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"=>"The Maya Angelou papers documents the literary career and personal life of poet and memoirist Maya Angelou (1928-2014) through her writings of autobiographies, essays, and poetry and children's books. The collection holds correspondence, manuscripts, computer generated typescripts, galleys, notes, financial and legal documents, and printed matter."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Angelou, Maya", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Maya Angelou (1928-2014) was a celebrated voices in American literature. She was a poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, dancer, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist.</p> <p>In the mid-fifties, Angelou toured Europe with a production of the opera <span class=\"title\">Porgy and Bess</span>. She studied modern dance with Martha Graham, danced with Alvin Ailey on television variety shows and in 1957, recorded her first album, <span class=\"title\">Calypso Lady</span>. In 1958, she moved to New York, where she joined the Harlem Writers Guild, acted in the historic Off-Broadway production of Jean Genet's <span class=\"title\">The Blacks</span>, wrote and performed <span class=\"title\">Cabaret for Freedom</span>. She also worked for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), under Martin Luther King Jr.'s leadership. In the early 1960s, she moved with her son to Africa, where she lived and worked for various news outlets, as a journalist, in Egypt and Ghana. Inspired by James Baldwin to write her story, Angelou published her first book, <span class=\"title\">I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</span> (1969) to international acclaim and enormous popular success. Her published verse, non-fiction, and fiction include more than thirty bestselling titles, such as <span class=\"title\">Gather Together in My Name</span> (1974), <span class=\"title\">And Still I Rise</span> (1978), and <span class=\"title\">I Shall Not Be Moved</span> (1990). Among her accomplishments, Angelou wrote the screenplay and composed the score for the 1972 film <span class=\"title\">Georgia, Georgia</span>. Her script, the first by an African American woman ever to be filmed, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. She made numerous television and film appearances, in Alex Haley's <span class=\"title\">Roots</span> (1977) and John Singleton's <span class=\"title\">Poetic Justice</span> (1993), among others. The feature film, <span class=\"title\">Down in the Delta</span>, was Angelou's directorial debut.</p> <p>Angelou composed and read her poem \"On the Pulse of the Morning\" at President William (Bill) Clinton's first inaugural ceremony in 1993. Angelou served on two presidential committees; was awarded the Presidential Medal of Arts in 2000 and the Lincoln Medal in 2008; and has received three Grammy Awards. Despite never attending college, she received over thirty honorary degrees from universities across the nationa. Angelou died in 2014, leaving a legacy of artistry for generations to come.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Maya Angelou papers, dated 1857 to 2015, details Maya Angelou's career and life through personal files, correspondence, writings, professional files, financial and legal files, and printed matter. While there are many personal details present through Angelou's autobiographical writings, personal correspondence, and family history, the collection's focus is on her professional life and writing.</p> <p>The collection holds many drafts and galleys of Angelou's writing including <span class=\"title\">I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</span>, <span class=\"title\">Hallelujah the Welcome Table</span>, <span class=\"title\">I Shall Not Be Moved</span>, <span class=\"title\">A Song Flung Up to Heaven</span>, <span class=\"title\">Heart of a Woman</span>, and <span class=\"title\">All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes</span>. Also present is Angelou's final incomplete work, an autobiography with the working title \"Encounters.\" The collection also contains essays, drafts of children's books, poetry, notes and notepads, and some additional unpublished works.</p> <p>Angelou received thousands of letters from friends and colleagues, including artists, educators, writers, and politicians. Correspondents in the collection include Ashford and Simpson, James Baldwin, Margaret Courtney Clarke, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Victor Di Suvero, Mari Evans, Tom Feelings, Rosa Guy, Quincy Jones, Erica Jong, Coretta Scott King, Norman Lear, Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach, Julian Mayfield, Dolly McPherson, Jessica Mitford, Barack and Michelle Obama, Betty Shabazz, Robert Treuhaft, Alice Walker, Oprah Winfrey, and Malcolm X. The collection includes Angelou's business files, which compiles numerous requests for Angelou to read or perform her work at universities and other organizations, as well as files from the boards and committees of organizations she served on. Also present are Angelou's financial and legal files and documentation from her Hallmark greeting card series.</p> <p>Additionally there is documentation on Angelou's teaching career, which covers her tenures at California State University, Sacramento; Radford University; University of Exeter; and Wake Forest University. These files hold syllabi, reading assignments, lecture notes, and faculty memos.</p> <p>Angelou kept a large number of subject files on various individuals, organizations, geographic locations, publications, and schools. She also compiled a considerable amount of files on her own career, including newspaper clippings, magazine articles, reviews, and other printed material about her publications and appearances.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Maya Angelou papers are arranged in five series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/22986#c1887113'>Series I: Personal</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1927-2014</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>7.71 linear feet (22 boxes)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This first series contains information about Angelou's personal life, including items from her grandmother and uncle, such as a will and financial records; visas for Egypt; correspondence with her mother, son, and other family members; and various awards and honors, including honorary degrees that she received over the years.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/22986#c1887385'>Series II: Correspondence</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1960-2015</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>173.87 linear feet (361 boxes)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Series II, dating from 1960 to 2015, holds hundreds of letters sent to Maya Angelou over the course of her lifetime from friends, business contacts, corporations, authors, educators, scholars and multiple colleagues in the creative arts. There is also a significant amount of fan mail reflecting the vast impact of Angelou's work. Correspondence with Angelou's family is held in Subseries I.B.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/22986#c1890623'>Series III: Writing</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>bulk 1857-2014</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>84.25 linear feet (214 boxes)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Series III covers all aspects of Angelou's writing process, from handwritten first drafts to final edited proofs. The series holds Angelou's most well-known publications, including <span class=\"title\">I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</span> and <span class=\"title\">Letter to My Daughter</span>. Additionally, there are a large number of unpublished works, including poems, essays, and articles.</p> <p>This series also consists of writings by others, mostly by friends and colleagues, as well as from publishers requesting quotes or comments.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/22986#c1892173'>Series IV: Professional</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1937-2014</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>83.54 linear feet (197 boxes)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series, dating from 1937 to 2014, covers Angelou's professional life, addressing her participation on boards and committees, her collaboration with Hallmark, administrative work by her assistants, her teaching career, her research, financial files, and legal matters. The series holds printed matter, correspondence, travel itineraries, contracts, schedules, course syllabi, reading lists, subject files, legal documents, and financial files.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/scm/22986#c1893365'>Series V: Printed Matter</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1955-2015</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>27.29 linear feet (51 boxes)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Series V, dating from 1955 to 2015, includes printed matter about Angelou. The majority of the files contain newspaper and magazine article clippings of her interviews and appearances. Some clippings contain quotes by Angelou or refer to her in some way.</p> <p>The series also includes publicity, such as advertisements for Angelou's work and public appearances, as well as numerous reviews of her work. There are a large amount of clippings about President Bill Clinton's inauguration ceremony and Angelou's inauguration poem, \"On the Pulse of the Morning.\" In many instances, the original clippings are included, but there are also a number of photocopies.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Purchased from the Maya Angelou Foundation in 2008 and 2024.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>See the Art and Artifacts Division for Gavel and paperweight from President Clinton; \"Colored\" and \"White\" toilet signs; Pacific State Association Daughters of IBPOE of W sash; \"Mammy\" brand label; \"Do Not Stand Idly By—Save Darfur\" green bracelet; \"I Have a Dream\" medal; Marvtastic Society pin; National Organization for Women pin; Christmas in Washington ornament; Horizon's Day '90 pin (with Angelou's photograph); \"Still We Rise!\" pin; Thurgood Marshall stamp pin, and posters.</p> <p>See the Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division for published books.</p> <p>See the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division for audio and moving image recordings.</p> <p>See the Photographs and Prints Division for the Maya Angelou photographs, Sc Photo Maya Angelou Collection.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Initially processed by <span class=\"name\">Steven G. Fullwood</span>, <span class=\"name\">Miranda Mims</span>, <span class=\"name\">Natiba Guy-Clement</span>, <span class=\"name\">Christopher Stahling</span>, and <span class=\"name\">Fred Sayles</span> in <span class=\"date\">2016</span>-<span class=\"date\">2017</span>.</p><p>Processing of initinal acquisition completed by <span class=\"name\">Lauren Stark</span> in <span class=\"date\">2019</span>.</p><p>Additions processed by <span class=\"name\">Valerie Wingfield</span> in <span class=\"date\">2025</span> and <span class=\"date\">2026</span>.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Fan mail is closed until 2030.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Maya Angelou Film and Theater collection, Wake Forest University</p>"}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Boxes 409 to 844 processed by Valerie Wingfield.", "date"=>"2025-2026."}
- date_start
-
1857
- keydate
-
1857
- date_end
-
2015
- date_bulk_start
-
1961
- date_bulk_end
-
2009
- date_inclusive_start
-
1857
- date_inclusive_end
-
2015
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"[Item], Maya Angelou papers, Sc MG 830, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library"}