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Creator
Van Vechten, Carl, 1880-1964
Call number
MssCol 3142
Physical description
156.3 linear feet (208 boxes, 339 v.)
Language
Materials in English
Preferred Citation

Carl Van Vechten papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library

Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online.

Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) was a writer, promoter of African-American artists during the Harlem Renaissance, patron of the arts, and photographer. After he graduated from the University of Chicago in 1930, he entered upon a career as a reporter for newspapers that included The American in Chicago and within a few years The New York Times. At the latter he served as an overseas correspondent in Paris and subsequently as an assistant to the music critic Richard Aldrich in New York City. Van Vechten moved to New York City in 1906 with his first wife Anna Elizabeth Snyder, a teacher. After his divorce in 1912, Van Vechten met and married the stage actress Fania Marinoff. Marinoff made her stage debut at the age of eight in a stock company, and eventually developed a successful stage career. Van Vechten's novels include The Blind-Bow Boy, Interpreters and Interpretations, Nigger Heaven, Peter Whiffle, Tiger By the Tail, and The Tattooed Countess. Van Vechten promoted the careers of many authors' works by writing introductions to their monographs. In his second successful career as a photographer, he had the opportunity to photograph, and to have himself photographed, with many literary figures, stage and screen stars and others. Papers reflect Van Vechten's social life and professional career as a writer, photographer and patron of the arts; they also document Van Vechten's literary and artistic circle of friends and colleagues. An avid collector, Van Vechten retained the letters of prominent individuals who corresponded with him including Ralph Barton, James Branch Cabell, Arthur Davidson Ficke, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Donald Gallup, Langston Hughes, Edward Jablonski, Klaus Jonas, James Weldon Johnson, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Bruce Kellner, Saul Mauriber, H. L. Mencken, Georgia O'Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz, Florine Stettheimer, and Henrietta Stettheimer. Papers are also rich in Van Vechten's photographs of prominent individuals, and in 19th century photographs of his family in Iowa. Multiple editions of Van Vechten's monographs and the monographs of others add to the diversity of the papers. Many of the monographs have been autographed by the author.

Biographical/historical information

Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) writer, promoter of African-American artists during the Harlem Renaissance, patron of the arts and photographer, was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Charles Duane Van Vechten and Amanda Fitch Van Vechten. Van Vechten was the youngest of three siblings. A brother Ralph and a sister Emma were his elders by eighteen and sixteen years respectively. Both of Van Vechten's parents were college educated; his father graduated from Columbia Law school and his mother attended Kalamazoo College where she knew the women's suffrage activist Lucy Stone. As a result of Stone's influence, Amanda Fitch became a leading activist for women's rights in Iowa.

Van Vechten was educated at public schools in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; his education culminated with a PbB from the University of Chicago (1903). According to Van Vechten's oral history recorded by Columbia University (1960), it was during this time period (1901-1903) that he began to attend night clubs where he could listen to the performances of black singers and musicians. This early exposure would result in Van Vechten's becoming known as one of the foremost patrons of rising black artists during the Harlem Renaissance. His friendships and acquaintances with blacks also gave him the opportunity to photograph many of the leading black artists and public figures through the mid 20th century including, Alvin Ailey, Diahann Carroll, Ruby Dee, Billie Holiday, Langston Hughes, Joseph B. [Joe] Louis, Leontyne Price, Bojangles Robinson, Bessie Smith, William Warfield, Ethel Waters and Walter White.

After graduating from the University of Chicago, Van Vechten embarked upon a career as a newspaper journalist. One of his first positions was as a reporter for the American (Chicago). In 1906, Van Vechten moved on as a correspondent for The New York Times in Paris. Van Vechten subsequently became an assistant to the music critic Richard Aldrich. As an avid opera fan, Van Vechten frequently reviewed opera performances out of the Manhattan Opera House and the Metropolitan Opera House and interviewed opera singers. In 1910, after he returned to New York City, he began to review dance and ballet because Aldrich did not wish to. In this capacity, Van Vechten reviewed the performances of many artists including Isadora Duncan and Anna Pavlova.

In 1907, Van Vechten married his first wife Anna Elizabeth Snyder. They were divorced in 1912. Two years later, Van Vechten married his second wife Fania Marinoff (1914). When Van Vechten was introduced to Marinoff through a mutual acquaintance, she already had a successful stage career. Having been introduced to the stage at eight years of age, Marinoff was a stage veteran by adulthood. The contrast between their early lives was considerable. Van Vechten grew up in a comfortable middle-class life in the mid-west. Marinoff was born in Odessa, Russia, of Russian-Jewish parents Morris Marinoff and Leah Tuerkenitch Marinoff (stepmother). She emigrated as a child to the United States and grew up in poverty in Boston. Her career included roles in many plays, including Ariel in the tercentenary revival of "The Tempest" at the Century Theatre in New York (1916), Wendla in "The Awakening of Spring (1917), Nettie Dark in "Tarnish" (1923) and Mrs. Frail in "Love for Love". Marinoff also appeared in early movies (1910-1919), and on radio broadcasts.

Approximately a year before Van Vechten married Marinoff he changed employers. In 1913 he left The New York Times to join The New York Press as drama critic. Van Vechten met Gertrude Stein in Paris and their acquaintance developed into a life long friendship. Van Vechten held the position of drama critic for about a year when he was dismissed in 1914. Also, his first wife Anna Snyder demanded back payment for alimony. When Van Vechten was unable to pay, Snyder had an order of commitment placed against him. As a result Van Vechten went to Ludlow Street Jail in Manhattan. He remained in prison for about a month. Van Vechten was finally able to come to an arrangement with his first wife but the story did not end happily for Snyder. In 1933, afflicted with cancer she committed suicide by leaping from a third-story window of a Paris sanitorium.

In 1915, Van Vechten seriously began to consider a career as an author. Music after the Great War was the title of his first book. For nearly twenty years, Van Vechten continued to published monographs that were in part autobiographical or represented some aspect of his life experiences. His books included Interpreters and Interpretations, Nigger Heaven, Peter Whiffle, and Tiger in the House. Two of the monographs that generated a great deal of attention and comment were Tiger in the House (1920) and Nigger Heaven (1926). The former was devoted to cat lovers like himself. Tiger in the House was received with great public and critical enthusiasm.

The latter novel received publicity but not the type that Van Vechten had hoped for. Nigger Heaven was an exposé of Van Vechten's version of Harlem of the 1920s; its release generated controversy immediately because of the use of the word "nigger" in the title. Van Vechten's use of the title Nigger Heaven offended many African-Americans and he was roundly criticized by the black press. His own father did not like the use of the word "nigger" and complained to his son in a letter. Van Vechten was a patron and friend of a large circle of black artists and other prominent individuals including the young rising poet Langston Hughes. Under Van Vechten's urging Knopf published Hughes' poems under the title The Weary Blues. Van Vechten wrote the introduction. Regardless, Van Vechten under estimated the controversy that the title Nigger Heaven would generate. Although Van Vechten's motives were to bring a greater understanding between blacks and whites, he was accused of parodying blacks and many people did not read the novel beyond the title. One result of the controversy was that the book became a best-seller. Knopf continued to reprint the novel and Langston Hughes wrote some original lyrics for the seventh printing of the text. This occurred because an excerpt from the song "Shake That Thing" used in earlier editions of Nigger Heaven was removed due to copyright issues with ASCAP.

By the early 1930s, Van Vechten was a well known author having written numerous articles for newspapers and magazines and published seven novels. It was during this time period that Van Vechten began to develop a second career as a photographer. Van Vechten over the course of his lifetime proved to be as successful a photographer as he was an author. He photographed many well known African-American artists including Langston Hughes and Ethel Waters and he was equally well known for his portraits of European and white American artists and celebrities. The men and women he captured on film included Truman Capote, George Gershwin, H. L. Mencken, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Georgia O'Keeffe, Gertrude Stein and many more individuals over the decades.

Philanthropist to many cultural and educational institutions [i. e. Yale University and Fisk University. Van Vechten's legacy to the arts continues to live on after his death in December of 1964.

Scope and arrangement

The papers reflect Van Vechten's social life and professional career as a writer, photographer and patron of the arts. The papers also document Van Vechten's literary and artistic circle of friends and colleagues. As an avid collector, Van Vechten retained the letters of prominent individuals who corresponded with him including Ralph Barton, James Branch Cabell, Scott Cunningham, Muriel Draper, Donald Gallup, Langston Hughes, Klaus Jonas, Bruce Kellner, Edward Jablonski, Mabel Dodge Luhan, H. L. Mencken, Gertrude Stein, Florine Stettheimer and Ettie Stettheimer. The papers are also rich in photographs taken by Carl Van Vechten of prominent individuals and in 19th century photographs of his family in Iowa. The multiple editions of Van Vechten's monographs and the monographs of others add to the diversity of the papers. Many of the monographs are autographed by the authors.

The Carl Van Vechten Papers (1833-1965) span his life from early childhood to his career as an author and photographer, patron of African-American artists during the Harlem Renaissance, and philanthropist. The collection is representative of Van Vechten's career as a prolific writer of both letters and monographs. This point is particularly evident in two sections of the papers: the letters between Van Vechten and his wife the actress Fania Marinoff (1912-1961), and also in the section of the papers pertaining to letters he received pertaining to his writings. Van Vechten was also a well known cultural figure with numerous social, literary and scholarly colleagues and friends, and he had wide ranging interests in fine arts, literature, music, photography and theatre.

As is evident from the General Correspondence and the Correspondence Pertaining To Publications By Van Vechten, Van Vechten was a popular and well-known individual. The General Correspondence highlights his generosity for establishing endowments for educational and cultural centers e. g. Yale University - James Weldon Johnson Collection and also for his contributions to cultural institutions e. g Institute of Arts and Letters' The Academy of Arts and Letters. The Correspondence Pertaining to Publications by Carl Van Vechten focuses on the public response to his publications. For example, the novel Tattooed Countess was adapted as a silent movie in 1925 titled A Woman of The World (the movie stills are located in Photographs boxes 171-172). Van Vechten notes with the photographs indicate that he hated the movie. In 1961, the Tattooed Countess was adapted as an off Broadway musical. The critics condemned it. Correspondents within Van Vechten's literary circle included Ralph Barton, James Branch Cabell, Scott Cunningham, Muriel Draper, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Donald Gallup, Langston Hughes (Van Vechten promoted his first book of poetry, The Weary Blues), Jacob Jablonski, Klaus Jonas, Bruce Kellner (author of Carl Van Vechten and the Irreverent Decades), A. A. Knopf (Van Vechten's publisher), Sinclair Lewis, Mabel Dodge Luhan, W. S. Maugham, H. L. Mencken, Georgia O'Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz, Florine Stettheimer, Henrietta Stettheimer, Gertrude Stein, Hugh Walpole.

The papers also contain many personal letters between Van Vechten and his second wife Fania Marinoff (1912-1961), located in the Family Correspondence. The Family Correspondence also contains extensive documentation of Van Vechten's side of the family; Fania Marinoff's family is represented to a much smaller extent. Family correspondence includes papers of Van Vechten's cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces, correspondence and financial and legal especially his brother Ralph Van Vechten. The papers also contain letters written to Van Vechten when he was imprisoned in Ludlow Street Jail (1915) for non-payment of alimony to his first wife Ann Snyder, and the divorce letters and documents of Van Vechten vs. Van Vechten.

Van Vechten own financial papers consist mainly of correspondence with several banks including the Cedar Rapids Bank (1917-1934) at which his brother Ralph was chairman and nephew Van Vechten Schaffer was vice-president. Other financial documents include cancelled checks, income tax (1918-1956), receipts and royalty reports from published monographs. The legal documents consist mostly of insurance policies and some legal correspondence and other assorted documents.

The literary manuscripts represent almost the full range of Van Vechten's published works with regard to his published books. The manuscripts are annotated typescripts and many of the manuscripts are supplemented with drafts and page proofs. An oral history conducted by Columbia University (1960) offers insight into the personality and life of Van Vechten. The remainder consist of miscellaneous manuscripts, address books, date books, diaries (1901-02, 1922-30), notebooks and miscellaneous writings of other authors.

The printed material represents a fourth of the collection. It contains an odd assortment of serials, scrapbooks of newspaper clippings (1906-1955, 30 volumes) and monographs. Van Vechten's books were often published in several editions. The collection also contains autographed monographs from other authors with Carl Van Vechten introductions including Langston Hughes The Weary Blues, The Gershwin Years by Edward Jablonski and Lawrence D. Stewart, and Giselle and I by Alicia Markova.

The visual material consists largely of photographs of Van Vechten from his childhood in Cedar Rapids, Iowa through adulthood. Family photographs include images of Van Vechten's wife Fania Marinoff, his grandparents, immediate family and other relatives. The pictures also illustrate Van Vechten's career and social activities with literary, scholarly and artistic colleagues and friends, including Diahann Carroll, Geoffrey Holder (wedding pictures), Bruce Kellner, James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes and Gertrude Stein. Besides portraits of individuals, Van Vechten photographed street scenes in New York City. While Van Vechten is probably best known for the many pictures he took of others, he also made many self portraits from the early 1930s to the 1950s. These photographs are supplemented by portraits of Van Vechten taken by others including Saul Mauriber his photographic assistant. The visual material also includes posters and slides of Van Vechten and Fania Marinoff on their vacation trips.

The Carl Van Vechten papers are arranged in fifteen series:

  • Series I. Carl Van Vechten General Correspondence
    circa 1912-1965
    6.3 linear feet

    Contains incoming letters to Carl Van Vechten in his capacity as an author, critic and photographer. There are some replies. Many of the letters are from men and women with whom he maintained both professional and personal relationships. The correspondence is also reflective of Van Vechten's generosity as a donor of his manuscripts and photographs to cultural and academic institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Princeton University; Museum of Costume Art, New York City (Carl Van Vechten donations included 125 ties!); Museum of the City of New York, Theatre Collection; The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA); The National Institution of Arts and Letters, The Academy of Arts and Letters; Yale University, James Weldon Johnson Collection of Negro Arts and the New York Public Library. Prominent correspondents include James Branch Cabell, Edward Choate, Scott Cunningham, Elsie Langdon Caskey, Coleman Dowell, Georgia O'Keeffe, Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, Klaus W. Jonas, Edward Jablonski, H. L. Mencken, Florine Stettheimer and Ettie Stettheimer.

  • Series II. Correspondence Pertaining to Publications
  • Series III. Family Correspondence: Letters between Carl Van Vechten and Fania Marinoff
    6.6 linear feet

    The Family Correspondence is arranged into two sections 1) Incoming Correspondence to Carl Van Vechten from Fania Marinoff, 1912-1961 (Containers 26-32); 2) Outgoing Correspondence From Carl Van Vechten to Fania Marinoff, 1915-1961 (Containers 33-43). Each section is arranged chronologically. The correspondence chronicles the personal lives of both Fania Marinoff and Carl Van Vechten. It was generated during Marinoff's constant travel as an actress and to a lesser extent from Van Vechten's career as a writer. In general, the writers discuss daily activities, work, friends, colleagues and family. Many of Marinoff's letters were written from the various stops of the theatrical company she was travelling with. The letters include reminiscences, remarks about fellow thespians, plays she had seen and reactions to news relayed by Van Vechten. Van Vechten's letters to Marinoff also recount the progress of his career writing, reactions to the reviews of the plays Marinoff appeared in and their mutual colleagues and friends.

  • Series IV. Family Correspondence: Letters to Carl Van Vechten and Fania Marinoff from Other Family members
    1880-1955
    2.7 linear feet

    Contains letters mainly to Van Vechten from his extended family and to a lesser extent letters from Fania Marinoff's family. The subjects are mostly family related, with relatives recounting their daily lives. Correspondents include Van Vechten's uncle Charles Lewis Fitch who began to write letters to Van Vechten at the latter's birth and his cousin Elizabeth Hull Schaffer. Other correspondents represented include Maya Nafziger, Ada Fitch Neyland, Angevine Schaffer, Emma Van Vechten Shaffer and Charles Duane Van Vechten (Carl Van Vechten's father). There is some overlap of financial correspondence between Series IV and Series VI (Financial Papers) with regard to Charles Duane Van Vechten, who was a general agent for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin); Van Vechten Shaffer, who was vice-president of the Guaranty Bank Trust Co. (Cedar Rapids, Iowa); and Van Vechten's brother Ralph who was president at the Cedar Rapids National Bank and the Continental Commercial National Bank (Cedar Rapids, Iowa).

  • Series V. Family Correspondence: Other Related Family Papers of Carl Van Vechten and Fania Marinoff
    1833-1962
    3.2 linear feet

    This section contains Van Vechten's anniversary greetings (1922-1959), Marinoff's birthday greetings 1931-1940, and Van Vechten's birthday greetings (1941-1962). The letters received by Van Vechten when he was imprisoned at Ludlow Prison (1915) are letters of support from family and friends. Van Vechten's brother Ralph offered advice with regard to Van Vechten's dispute with his wife Anna Snyder but he made it clear that he did not want his name dragged into the affair. Related to the prison letters are the divorce letters and documents of Van Vechten vs. Van Vechten (1912). The remaining papers in this section are correspondence between other family members (not including Van Vechten and Marinoff), miscellaneous correspondence (1907-1945) and unidentified correspondents.

  • Series VI. Financial Papers
    1904-1960
    5.2 linear feet

    The series consists of papers and documents relating to the various financial institutions Van Vechten had interest in (Guaranty Bank Trust Co. and the Continental Commercial National Bank), income tax statements (1918-1957), receipts (1904-1956), invoices and royalty statements, account books, bank books, check books and copyrights. See also: Consult Series IV Van Vechten Shaffer and Charles Duane Van Vechten.

  • Series VII. Legal Papers
    1916-1961
    2.8 linear feet
  • Series VIII. Writings
    16.3 linear feet

    The bulk of the writings consist of literary manuscripts by Carl Van Vechten. Many of these manuscripts are typescripts and they are annotated; some of the manuscripts are accompanied by page proofs. The literary manuscripts include among others Blind-Bow Boy, In The Garrett, Interpreters and Interpretations, Nigger Heaven, Parties, Spider Boy, Peter Whiffle, The Tattooed Countess and Tiger In The House. There are also some early miscellaneous writings of Carl Van Vechten including prefaces to monographs, plays and poems. A typescript of Carl Van Vechten's oral history conducted by Columbia University (1960), address books, date books, notebooks and music sheets complete Van Vechten's writings. The remainder is manuscripts by other authors, including Coleman Dowell adaptation of the Tattooed Countess (1951), Charles Lewis Fitch's writings and miscellaneous papers relating to Van Vechten family genealogy.

  • Series IX. Printed Material: Serials and Newspaper Clippings
    68.3 linear feet

    Consists of musical compositions, assorted serials, newspaper clippings, dust covers, monographs by Van Vechten and monographs by other authors. There are usually a number of additions for each of Van Vechten's monographs; some are annotated drafts with corrections, others are special editions. The monographs also reflect some of the various European languages into which Van Vechten's works were translated. Books by other authors are equally well represented. Many of these monographs were presented to Van Vechten as tokens of friendship and are signed by the authors. Consult the separate index for monographs by Carl Van Vechten and other authors.

  • Series X. Scrapbooks
    1906-1955
    16 linear feet (), 30 volumes

    Contain newspaper clippings reflecting events of interest Van Vechten. Prepared and arranged by Van Vechten, the scrapbooks hold reviews, published photographs of Van Vechten and Marinoff, publicity and advertisements for books, quotes and references to Van Vechten and reviews of his photography. Van Vechten mounted and annotated the clippings. The articles are identified as to their source and date of publication.

  • Series XI. Photographs
    circa 1890-1960
    28 linear feet

    Photographs reflect a wide variety of subjects. The bulk of the photographs are pictures of Carl Van Vechten from childhood to adulthood. The family photographs are pictures of Van Vechten's grandparents, parents, brother, sister and other relatives. Photographs of Fania Marinoff include pictures of her at various social settings, on stage in costume and with Carl Van Vechten. There are also studio portraits of Carl Van Vechten with noted literary and artistic individuals. Van Vechten was photographed by many individuals most notably by Saul Mauriber. Other individuals who photographed Van Vechten include: James Allen, Bruce Kellner, Alfred Knopf and Mark Lutz.

  • Series XII. Artifacts; posters
    14 linear ft.

    The artifacts are a miscellaneous assortments of fabric, buttons and unrelated material; the remainder of the artifacts (Containers 195-206) are empty manuscript containers. The posters (2 linear ft) are advertisements used to promote Van Vechten's books.

  • Series XIII. Slides
    2 linear feet

    Slides of Carl Van Vechten and Fania Marinoff; vacation and related subjects.

  • Series XIV. Phonograph discs

    There are three records (.2 linear ft.) : (1) 5th Capezio Dance Award Luncheon 7 March 1956 (talk by John Martin and Carl Van Vechten, 2 sides); (2) Poems from James Weldon Johnson's Gods Trombones interpreted by Harold Scott, the Montclair Gospel Chorale, Saffel Huggs, director (2 sides, United Artists Records, Inc. 1958 promotional copy 33 1/3 rpm); (3) Yvette Gilbert 33 1/3 microgroove, Angel Records 1954.

  • Bruce Kellner's transcripts of Carl Van Vechten's daybooks

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

The Carl Van Vechten Papers were received as a gift from Carl Van Vechten and the Van Vechten estate over a period of years between 1941 to 1988. Gifts of other additions were received other donors between the years of 1965-1982 from Bruce Kellner, Saul Mauribner and Paul Padgette.

Processing information

Valerie Wingfield and John Drew, May 1992, Revised by Valerie Wingfield March 2000

Related Material

Manuscripts and Archives Division, Charles Barber Papers on Carl Van Vechten

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division: Carl Van Vechten Photographs

Performing Arts Library, Billy Rose Theatre Collection; *8MWEZ 15-062 through 15-065, Stage Door Canteen

Related Collections in other institutions: Columbia University - Oral History Program; Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University; Museum of Costume Art in New York City; National Academy of Arts and Letters [NYC] ; Princeton University, and Yale University - James Weldon Johnson Collection; Millersville University; Fisk University; Philadelphia Museum.

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328

Access restrictions

Some of the original typescripts of Van Vechten have been restricted due to their fragile condition. Photocopies must be used. Researchers must verify with the General Research Division that there are no duplicate monographs in the general stacks. Absolutely no photocopies scrapbooks or bound volumes. Reproduction is available through microfilm, scanning or photograph.

Alternative form available

Diaries, 1901-1930, available on microfilm; New York Public Library; *ZL-434

Additional resources