American Fund for Public Service
Manuscripts and Archives Division | MssCol 74
31 linear feet (59 boxes); 36 microfilm reels
The American Fund for Public Service, also known as the Garland Fund, was created in 1922 by Charles Garland to support radical social and economic causes. The board of directors included prominent leaders of the labor movement, the Socialist and...
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The American Fund for Public Service, also known as the Garland Fund, was created in 1922 by Charles Garland to support radical social and economic causes. The board of directors included prominent leaders of the labor movement, the Socialist and Communist parties, and civil rights and minority groups. From 1922 to 1941 the Fund gave nearly two million dollars to a variety of left-wing organizations and enterprises, such as labor unions, cooperatives, schools for workers, radical publications, bail and legal defense funds, and civil liberties, penal reform, and minority rights groups. Records of the American Fund include internal and external correspondence of members of the board of directors, treasurer, and legal counsel, 1922-1941; board of directors meeting minutes, 1922-1941; several committee reports and surveys, 1923-1939; memoranda and reports on policy, 1922-1932; auditor's reports, 1922-1941; lists of appropriations and loans, 1922-1941; and application files for each individual or organization requesting assistance. Grant and loan application files account for 70% of the collection and contain the correspondence of the applicant with the Fund and often a variety of supporting materials such as reports, memoranda, publications, financial records, leaflets, as well as comments by Fund officials regarding the application. Files are divided into two series: Applications Accepted and Applications Refused.
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Baker, Ella, 1903-1986
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 630
5.58 linear feet (14 boxes)
The Ella Baker papers provide a snapshot of Baker's life as an activist and visionary for a variety of progressive organizations in the United States, from the 1930s through the 1980s. Documented here are the organizations and individuals that...
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The Ella Baker papers provide a snapshot of Baker's life as an activist and visionary for a variety of progressive organizations in the United States, from the 1930s through the 1980s. Documented here are the organizations and individuals that were central to Baker's network such as George Schulyer, The Young Women's Christian Association, In Friendship, A. Phillip Randolph, and Bayard Rustin. The collection, however, does not document her personal life nor does it fully capture her philosophy or political ideas.
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Spingarn, Joel Elias, 1875-1939
Manuscripts and Archives Division | MssCol 2846
10 linear feet (24 boxes)
Joel Elias Spingarn (1875-1939) was an American literary critic, poet, teacher, and social reformer. After teaching comparative literature at Columbia University, he became active in literary and public affairs. He helped to found the National...
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Joel Elias Spingarn (1875-1939) was an American literary critic, poet, teacher, and social reformer. After teaching comparative literature at Columbia University, he became active in literary and public affairs. He helped to found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909 and served as president from 1930 to 1939. The Spingarn medal which he endowed in 1913 is awarded yearly by the NAACP. Collection consists of correspondence, Spingarn's writings and printed matter. Correspondence is with his wife, other family members and persons in literary and academic fields, and relates to Spingarn's interests such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and horticulture. Writings include miscellaneous lecture notes, poetry and literary manuscripts. Also, scrapbooks, newsclippings and ephemera.
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Thalheimer, Ross, 1905-
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 267
0.42 linear feet (1 box)
The Ross Thalheimer papers consist of materials related to Thalheimer's activities as a civil rights supporter from the 1940s to the 1970s. Files relate primarily to the funding and presentation of the Thalheimer Award to the National Urban...
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The Ross Thalheimer papers consist of materials related to Thalheimer's activities as a civil rights supporter from the 1940s to the 1970s. Files relate primarily to the funding and presentation of the Thalheimer Award to the National Urban League, including the prize winning essays written by students, and the Thalheimer Awards he funded for the NAACP, including information about the recipients and associated programs, 1942-1976. The collection also contains letters from Kenneth B. Clark and Lester B. Granger; typescripts of interviews given by Thalheimer; copies of an advertisement placed in
The New York Times in 1964 by the Psychologists' Committee on Interracial Relations concerning violence and race relations; and telegrams to Thalheimer from Martin Luther King, Jr., inviting him to join King on what would become known as the Selma to Montgomery March on March 9 and 21, 1965. Also included are an address that Thalheimer delivered in 1940 called "The Need for Equal Educational Opportunity in a Democracy"; an article that he wrote entitled "What Can the Church Do About Juvenile Delinquency", 1954; biographical information about Thalheimer prepared by his widow; and expressions of sympathy upon his death.
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Strickland, William, 1937-
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 806
1.87 linear feet (5 boxes)
Bill Strickland is a scholar, activist, and professor emeritus of the Department of Afro-American Studies at University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst. A native of Boston, Strickland graduated from Boston Latin School and Harvard University....
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Bill Strickland is a scholar, activist, and professor emeritus of the Department of Afro-American Studies at University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst. A native of Boston, Strickland graduated from Boston Latin School and Harvard University. After serving in the Marine Corps, he became active in civil rights and Black liberation work, serving as Executive Director of the Northern Student Movement; working in Mississippi for the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party; and serving as the Northern Coordinator of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party's Congressional Challenge. He was a founding member of Malcolm X's Organization of Afro-American Unity in 1964, and in 1969, he also was a founding member of the Institute of the Black World in Atlanta. Strickland was a key member of the faculty in Afro-American Studies at UMass Amherst, teaching history and politics, and serving as Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Papers. Strickland consulted on various documentaries including
Eyes on the Prize (1987), about the civil rights movement;
Malcolm X: Make It Plain (1994), for which he also wrote the companion book, also published in 1994; and
W. E. B. Du Bois: A Biography in Four Voices (1996). He retired in 2013. This collection consists of the research files of William Strickland on various topics. These topics include the documentary
Eyes on the Prize, for which Strickland served as a consultant, and Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow/Push Coalition (now the National Rainbow Coalition); Strickland worked on Jackson's presidential campaign in 1988. Other topics include the Black Panther Party, Black Radical Congress, Arna Bontemps, H. Rap Brown, Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), Benjamin Chavis and the NAACP, civil rights leaders and movements, Katherine Dunham, Maulana Karanga, racism, and
Roots (television program). Most of the files include notes and some writing by Strickland, but the majority of the files consist of printed matter (clippings, articles, mailings, conference materials), correspondence, and writing by some of the previously mentioned individuals. Additionally, there is one folder of correspondence to and from Strickland, mostly unrelated to the research files.
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Bunche, Ralph J. (Ralph Johnson), 1904-1971
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 290
Personal papers, family and general correspondence, writings, field notes and research materials, working papers, office files and printed matter documenting Ralph Bunche's personal life and professional career, from his enrollment at the...
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Personal papers, family and general correspondence, writings, field notes and research materials, working papers, office files and printed matter documenting Ralph Bunche's personal life and professional career, from his enrollment at the University of California to his retirement in 1971.
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Adams, Wilhelmina F. (Wilhelmina Ferris), 1900-
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 485
4.08 linear feet (6 boxes)
The Wilhelmina F. Adams Papers (Additions) consist principally of her files chronicling her work as a civic leader primarily with New York Democratic club activities, the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs...
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The Wilhelmina F. Adams Papers (Additions) consist principally of her files chronicling her work as a civic leader primarily with New York Democratic club activities, the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs (NANBPWC) and the National Council of Negro Women. These files contain correspondence, newsletters, programs, brochures, minutes of meetings, official memoranda, reports, invitations, and news clippings. Files of the NANBPWC also include membership records, directories of officers, handouts, annual conference programs, and the constitution. Scrapbooks of the NANBPWC document annual events such as contests, parties and conferences from 1968-1972, and contain programs, invitations, certificates, handmade illustrations, newsletters, correspondence, and news clippings.
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Broderick, Francis L
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 197
2.21 linear feet (3 boxes)
This collection consists of notes taken by Francis L. Broderick, who was preparing to write a biography of Du Bois. The notes came from W. E. B. Du Bois's letters and other documents in his personal library.
Peyser, Annette H., 1921-1977
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 161
0.21 linear feet (1 box)
Annette H. Peyser was a socio-economic analyst with the office of the Special Counsel of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1946-1953. This collection consists of personal and professional papers of Annette...
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Annette H. Peyser was a socio-economic analyst with the office of the Special Counsel of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1946-1953. This collection consists of personal and professional papers of Annette H. Peyser. The professional matter, the bulk of the collection, relates to the NAACP's fight against segregation in housing; it includes a letter from Roy Wilkins to President Harry Truman and a letter from Robert Weaver to Thurgood Marshall; speeches by Marshall, Weaver, and Frank Horne; memoranda and research reports from Peyser to Walter White and Marshall; and legal briefs and minutes.
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Smythe, Hugh H. (Hugh Heyne), 1913-1977
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc Micro R-966
Papers covering Smythe's professional career centering upon research, writing, and university teaching in the fields of sociology and anthropology, with special emphasis on East Asian and African studies. Correspondence including that written...
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Papers covering Smythe's professional career centering upon research, writing, and university teaching in the fields of sociology and anthropology, with special emphasis on East Asian and African studies. Correspondence including that written about his fieldwork in Nigeria. Smythe's manuscripts for articles, books, book reviews, and speeches pertaining to Africa, Nigeria, Japan, and race relations in the United States. Preliminary data relates to Hugh and Mabel Smythe's book, THE NEW NIGERIAN ELITE (1960). Material relating to Smythe's professional interests and activities includes syllabi, bibliographies, and lecture notes pertaining to his teaching at Yamaguchi National University (Yamaguchi Daigaku) in Japan and Brooklyn College. Also included is material illustrating Smythe's extra-academic interests including United Nations affairs, Crossroads Africa, and civil rights activities. The papers of Mabel Smythe (Hugh Symthe's wife) include a scrapbook, manuscripts, and some correspondence. Of particular interest is her research material on segregation in education, which was used by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People legal staff in the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education barring segregation in public schools. Also, manuscripts of articles and speeches, and some correspondence by W.E.B. Du Bois including "Economic Illiteracy," 1947, and "Race Relations in the U.S.," 1948.
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Bolin, Jane M. (Jane Matilda), 1908-2007
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 83
0.88 linear feet (3 boxes)
Jane Matilda Bolin was the first African American woman judge in the United States. This collection includes biographical and professional material.
Spingarn, Joel Elias, 1875-1939
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 174
0.42 linear feet (1 box)
This collection consists largely of correspondence; included are letters from Joel E. Spingarn to Amy Spingarn written during the 1914-1915 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) speaking tour; letters to Amy Spingarn...
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This collection consists largely of correspondence; included are letters from Joel E. Spingarn to Amy Spingarn written during the 1914-1915 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) speaking tour; letters to Amy Spingarn regarding researcher access to the Joel E. Spingarn collections at the Moorland Collection at Howard University and the James Weldon Johnson Collection at Yale University; and letters to W.E.B. Du Bois. Additional material includes information regarding the opening of Joel E. Spingarn High School in Washington, D.C.; a 1898 speech; NAACP printed material; articles by and about Arthur Spingarn, Joel's brother; a typescript by Jacques Roumain on Vodun (voodoo); and other printed material.
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Johnson, Alfred Newell, 1915-1989
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 503
33.27 linear feet (78 boxes, 1 volume)
Alfred Newell Johnson (1915-1989) was an entrepreneur whose work varied from electrical engineering, journalism, photography, public relations and publicity, to political campaign management. The A. Newell Johnson papers date from the 1920s to the...
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Alfred Newell Johnson (1915-1989) was an entrepreneur whose work varied from electrical engineering, journalism, photography, public relations and publicity, to political campaign management. The A. Newell Johnson papers date from the 1920s to the 1980s (bulk dates 1950s-1970s) and contain correspondence, notes, articles, reports, clippings, photographs, audiovisual materials, and ephemera that document his many endeavors and engagements.
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Pickens, William, 1881-1954
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc Micro R-4463
Collection primarily relates to Pickens' work as NAACP Field Secretary and Director of Branches, and contains a great deal of correspondence with NAACP officials. Of interest is material chronicling Pickens' and the NAACP's involvement in the...
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Collection primarily relates to Pickens' work as NAACP Field Secretary and Director of Branches, and contains a great deal of correspondence with NAACP officials. Of interest is material chronicling Pickens' and the NAACP's involvement in the Scottsboro Case in Alabama. Correspondents relating to the NAACP include James Weldon Johnson, Walter Francis White, Mary White Ovington, Arthur B. Spingarn, Joel E. Spingarn, Roy Wilkins, Thurgood Marshall, and W. E. B. Du Bois. Other correspondence is between Pickens and friends, acquaintances, fellow scholars, and business associates. There is correspondence with many organizations with which Pickens was involved, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, League for Industrial Democracy, Socialist Party of America, National Council of the Young Men's and Women's Christian Association, American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born, and the Council for Pan American Democracy. Correspondents include Claude A. Barnett and Percival L. Prattis of the Associated Negro Press, and other individuals in government, education, and church affairs, among them John Haynes Holmes of the Community Church of New York. Writings are primarily composed of typescripts (manuscripts and editorials), speeches, and mimeographed Associated Negro Press columns and newspaper clippings of articles and editorials written by Pickens. Subjects dealt with in these different formats cover a wide range and serve to reveal Pickens' broad interests and intellectual scope.
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Pickens, William, 1881-1954
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc Micro R-993
5.9 linear feet; 6 microfilm reels
The William Pickens papers reflect Pickens' activities as Dean of Morgan College in Baltimore, his work with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other aspects of his multi-faceted career with correspondence being the...
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The William Pickens papers reflect Pickens' activities as Dean of Morgan College in Baltimore, his work with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other aspects of his multi-faceted career with correspondence being the principal series.
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Adams, Wilhelmina F. (Wilhelmina Ferris), -1987
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 37
5.8 linear feet
Civic leader of New York City and a major figure in local Democratic Party activities. Official correspondence, minute books, press releases, photographs, invitations, annual convention and activity programs, printed material, and news clippings,...
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Civic leader of New York City and a major figure in local Democratic Party activities. Official correspondence, minute books, press releases, photographs, invitations, annual convention and activity programs, printed material, and news clippings, chiefly relating to Adams' participation in various social, political, and civic organizations in New York, including the Aeolian Ladies of Charity, Democratic Club, Friends of the Northside Center, a child guidance center for the prevention of delinquency and maladjustment, Harlem Cooperating Committee on Relief and Unemployment, Harlem Hospital Chaplaincy Committee, Nannie H. Burroughs Philanthropic Club, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs, National Committee for the American Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Liberia, National Council of Negro Women, New York State Committee on Discrimination in Housing, New York Urban League, New York World's Fair Committee of Negro Women, and the Utopia Neighborhood Club, a nursery center for small children, as well as several local New York City organizations. Also included are personal papers and memorabilia.
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Collymore, Errold, 1892-1972
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 888
4.8 linear feet (13 archival boxes)
Born in Barbados, Errold Collymore immigrated to the United States in 1912 and graduated from Howard University's dental school eleven years later. His subsequent struggle to rent an office in White Plains, New York, compelled him into a life of...
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Born in Barbados, Errold Collymore immigrated to the United States in 1912 and graduated from Howard University's dental school eleven years later. His subsequent struggle to rent an office in White Plains, New York, compelled him into a life of civil rights activism which saw him organize a local NAACP chapter and become chairman of Westchester County's United Colored Republican Clubs. He was also involved with the YMCA and served on a number of committees concerned with housing equality and standards for Westchester County's black residents. Focusing on equality in the religious realm as well, Collymore and his family integrated the American Unitarian Association's White Plains Community Church when they joined its congregation in 1927. Correspondence, reports, speeches, minutes, notes, clippings, and other material document Collymore's activities at the vanguard of civil rights in Westchester County, New York. There are files for all of the major organizations with which Collymore was associated and held office, including the NAACP (White Plains Branch) and the nation-wide anti-lynching campaign; the Colored Republicans Committee with information on Black Republican activities and politics in Westchester County; the YMCA-White Plains; and American Unitarian Association (which he and his family integrated in 1927 when they joined the White Plains congregation). Correspondence and miscellaneous documents provide a glimpse into his personal and professional lives.
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Lierop, Robert F. van
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division | Sc MG 373
36.96 linear feet (88 boxes)
Robert Van Lierop is a lawyer, political activist, filmmaker, and diplomat who served as Vanuatu's permanent representative to the United Nations. His papers date from 1965 to 2001, and chronicle his professional life and political activism. The...
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Robert Van Lierop is a lawyer, political activist, filmmaker, and diplomat who served as Vanuatu's permanent representative to the United Nations. His papers date from 1965 to 2001, and chronicle his professional life and political activism. The collection contains correspondence, legal papers, research materials, and subject files compiled from various facets of Van Lierop's career.
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O'Neal, Frederick, 1905-1992
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division | Sc MIRS O'Neal 1991-12
17 audio_recordings. 2 video_recordings
Actor and director Frederick O'Neal (1905-1992) was best known for co-founding the American Negro Theatre (ANT) with playwright Abram Hill in 1940. O'Neal was also active in the leadership of a number of professional, cultural, and labor...
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Actor and director Frederick O'Neal (1905-1992) was best known for co-founding the American Negro Theatre (ANT) with playwright Abram Hill in 1940. O'Neal was also active in the leadership of a number of professional, cultural, and labor organizations. The collection consists of seventeen sound recordings and two video recordings documenting O'Neal's activities in three organizations: the Actors' Equity Association (AEA), the American Federation of Labor-Congress of International Organizations (AFL-CIO), and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), from 1962 to 1989.
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Lortel, Lucille
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 2001-006
The papers of Lucille Lortel relate the details of her life and career from teen years to her death in 1999, and include correspondence, production files, scripts, programs, production photographs, personal and family photographs, organization...
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The papers of Lucille Lortel relate the details of her life and career from teen years to her death in 1999, and include correspondence, production files, scripts, programs, production photographs, personal and family photographs, organization files, clippings, memorabilia, and scrapbooks. Lucille Lortel's life spanned the twentieth century, so in addition to providing details of her family and personal life her papers encompass many aspects of the theatrical history of her era. Lortel is credited with fostering the Off-Broadway movement and providing a forum for avant-garde and experimental work at her Theatre de Lys. Lortel's productions at the White Barn and the ANTA Matinee Series at the Theatre de Lys brought works by Jean Genet, Sean O'Casey, Athol Fugard, and others to a wider audience. Many of these productions are represented in the collection by correspondence, programs, photographs and clippings. Over the years Lortel also worked closely with several non-profit theaters as a donor and mentor. Her affiliations with Circle in the Square, Circle Repertory Company, Goodspeed Opera House, Yale Repertory Theatre, and other companies are documented in the organization files.
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Odets, Clifford, 1906-1963
Billy Rose Theatre Division | *T-Mss 1981-008
Clifford Odets, a leading playwright of the 1930s, was born in Philadelphia on July 18, 1906. He began his performing career as "The Rover Reciter" in local talent shows, on radio, and in local stock theatre companies. In 1929, he acted in small...
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Clifford Odets, a leading playwright of the 1930s, was born in Philadelphia on July 18, 1906. He began his performing career as "The Rover Reciter" in local talent shows, on radio, and in local stock theatre companies. In 1929, he acted in small roles with the Theatre Guild, from whose auspices emerged the Group Theatre in 1931. Odets' first successful play was the one-act play
Waiting for Lefty, which received its first theatrical production by the Group Theatre in March 1935. In 1936, Odets began working in Hollywood as a screenwriter on
The Silent Partnerfor the Group. His 1937 play
Golden Boy, also written for the Group, became his biggest commercial success. His last Broadway hit was
The Country Girl in 1950. His last finished play,
The Flowering Peach, was a finalist for the 1954 Pulitzer Prize. Odets died in Los Angeles on August 14, 1963. The Clifford Odets papers contain diaries, scripts, screenplays, personal and professional notes, research materials, clippings, photographs, and scrapbooks. In addition, the collection contains other writings by Odets such as poetry, short stories, articles, and paintings. Lastly, the collection holds Margaret Brenman-Gibson's biographical notes on Clifford Odets and his father, Louis J. Odets, for her book
Clifford Odets - American Playwright: The Years from 1906-1940.
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