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Creator
Baldwin, James, 1924-1987
Call number
Sc MIRS Baldwin 2017-03
Physical description
35 audio_recordings
Language
English
Preferred Citation
James Baldwin audio collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library
Sponsor
An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported a research library-wide grant for the digitization, and funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project.
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
Access to materials
Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.

James Baldwin (1924-1987) was an African American novelist, essayist, intellectual, and activist, renowned as one of the world's most influential voices of the twentieth century. The James Baldwin audio collection consists of thirty-five audio recordings of mostly interviews and speeches given by Baldwin from the 1960s to 1980s.

Biographical/historical information

James Baldwin (1924-1987) was an African American novelist, essayist, intellectual, and activist, renowned as one of the world's most influential voices of the twentieth century. His works include novels, essays, plays, poems, and speeches on race, class, masculinity, sexuality, justice, and love, among other themes. Baldwin was born on August 2, 1924 at Harlem Hospital in Harlem, New York City, where he grew up. He attended two schools in Harlem, Public School 24 (PS 24), now known as Harlem Renaissance High School, and Frederick Douglass Junior High School (JHS). Years later in 1963, he received the Alumnus of the Year award from Frederick Douglass JHS. The recording of the event is available in the collection.

From a young age Baldwin was a regular patron of the New York Public Library. The 135th Street Branch Library, which grew into today's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, was his home library. He has said, "I went to the 135th Street Library at least three or four times a week, and I read everything there, I mean every single book in that library. In some blind and instinctive way, I knew that what was happening in those books was also happening all around me. And I was trying to make a connection between the books and the life I saw, and the life I lived."

In the course of his groundbreaking career, Baldwin's writing and activism propelled him to international prominence. He was the recipient of Guggenheim (1954) and Ford Foundation (1958) fellowships and the George Polk Award for journalism (1963), and he was accepted into the Legion of Honour (1986), France's most prestigious order of merit. Baldwin died of stomach cancer in 1987 at his home in the south of France. His novels and essays continue to be widely read.

Scope and arrangement

The James Baldwin audio collection consists of thirty-five audio recordings. Since the collection's original formats are audio cassettes, many of the items contain two or more parts, one for each side of the cassette. Two items contain one part that appears unrelated to the collection, this is indicated in the items' descriptions. Some of Baldwin's works discussed include the novels Another Country (1962), If Beale Street Could Talk (1974), and Just Above My Head (1979). He also mentions the play Blues for Mister Charlie (1964), and the essay collections Notes of a Native Son (1955), Nobody Knows My Name (1961), The Fire Next Time (1963), and The Evidence of Things Not Seen (1985).

The James Baldwin audio collection is arranged in four series:

  • SERIES I: SPEECHES

    Seventeen audio recordings of speeches given by Baldwin from 1960 to 1964 arranged chronologically, and by speech. Item titles are derived from the names of the speeches or their location.

  • SERIES II: INTERVIEWS AND DISCUSSIONS WITH JAMES BALDWIN

    Nine audio recordings of interviews and discussions with Baldwin from 1960 to 1984 arranged chronologically.

  • SERIES III: INTERVIEWS AND DISCUSSIONS BY JAMES BADLWIN

    Seven audio recordings likely created by Baldwin for a book and screenplay. They are arranged chronologically. Five audio recordings relate to his book-length essay The Evidence of Things Not Seen, which covers the Atlanta Child Murders and examines race relations in Atlanta. The Atlanta Child Murders were a series of murders committed in Atlanta, Georgia, between July 1979 and May 1981 of approximately twenty-nine African Americans, mostly boys, children, teens, and young adults. The recordings are mainly of interviews by Baldwin with people involved in the trial of the suspected serial killer, Wayne B. Williams, and people living in Atlanta. Baldwin had ventured to Atlanta as a literary reporter on assignment by Playboy magazine.

    Two audio recordings are of a script meeting for the film The Inheritance, which Baldwin was set to direct for the production company Kelly-Jordan Enterprises. Kelly-Jordan Enterprises were specialists in the production and distribution of Black-oriented motion pictures. The film was never made because the production company went bankrupt, and in 1973 Baldwin sued to retain the rights.

  • SERIES IV: COLLECTED

    Three audio recordings likely collected by Baldwin or the estate of James Baldwin, arranged chronologically.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Purchase, Estate of James Baldwin, January 2017.

Processing information

Collection inventoried by Stacey Doyle Ference. Collection processed and described by Ornella U. Baganizi, archivist; and Shola Lynch, curator. Finding aid published in 2024.

Separated material

See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the James Baldwin papers 1936-1992, Sc MG 936.

See the Photographs and Prints Division for the photographs.

Related Material

James Baldwin - Price of the Ticket audio and moving image collection, Sc MIRS James 1998.

See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for related collections on James Baldwin.

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Third Floor

Access to materials

Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.