Scope and arrangement
The collection consists of sixty-one audio recordings and forty-seven videos dated circa 1950s to 1998. They include items relating to Foster's career, research materials for an unproduced miniseries on Winnie Mandela, items featuring or related to her frequent collaborators Camille and Bill Cosby, and other collected recordings. Many of the audio items' original formats are cassettes and contain two or more parts. Some items with multiple recordings have been described separately. Item titles are devised from the content of the recordings. Square brackets indicate unclear names or spellings. In instances when participants share surnames, they are referred to by first name throughout this finding aid.
The Gloria Foster audio and moving image collection is arranged in four series:
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1966-199820 audio_recordings. 13 video_recordings
The series consists of twenty audio recordings and thirteen videos dated 1966 to 1998, organized alphabetically by title. They relate to Foster's career, including public and television appearances, performances, and rehearsal tapes. Foster appears in the recordings unless otherwise noted.
Public and television appearances include the 1995 Tony Awards Ceremony, "A Celebration of Black Letters" by the PEN American Center, an Amnesty International public service announcement, and the American Theater Wing's documentary series Working in the Theater.
Seven recordings relate to the play Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years, adapted from Amy Hill Hearth's book of the same name about sisters Sarah Louise "Sadie" and Annie Elizabeth "Bessie" Delany. The play was produced by Camille O. Cosby and Judith Rutherford James. Foster played the 103-year-old Sadie Delany, alongside actress Mary Alice as Bessie Delany. Six of these recordings are videos of interviews and television broadcasts with Foster and the Delany sisters, as well as Alice, Cosby, and James. One audio recording is a reading of the book On My Own: Reflections on Life Without Bessie (1997) by Sadie Delany and Amy Hill Hearth, written after the death of Bessie in 1995. Foster and Hearth narrate the book. Other plays represented in the series include a performance of A Hand Is on the Gate, rehearsal tapes for Mother Courage and Trespassing, and an interview with Foster about The Forbidden City.
Films represented in the series include Leonard Part 6 (1987) starring Bill Cosby, as well as a rehearsal tape for the movie; the Golden Globe-nominated Separate but Equal (1991); Allan Boesak: Choosing for Justice (1984), in which Foster does not appear; and The Height of Dedication: 50 Years of Service, a short film tribute to civil rights and women's rights activist Dorothy Irene Height. Television shows include an episode of The Cosby Show, and a review of Foster's performance in The Files on Jill Hatch. Also included are musical compositions by Michelle Ekizian, one in which Foster is a narrator; rehearsal tapes for unidentified productions; and vocal exercises.
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circa 1985-198723 audio_recordings. 9 video_recordings
The series consists of twenty-three audio recordings and nine videos dated circa 1985 to 1987, organized alphabetically by title and media type. They represent research materials for an unproduced miniseries on Winnie Mandela (September 26, 1936-April 2, 2018), anti-apartheid activist and second wife of Nelson Mandela. Foster had been working on this miniseries with Camille Cosby and Judith James as producers. She does not appear in any of the recordings.
Producer, director, and screenwriter Emily Mann traveled to South Africa and England to conduct interviews and research for the project, which represent many of the recordings in this series. Interviewees include Winnie Mandela, and other South African anti-apartheid activists Audrey Coleman, Helen Joseph, Virginia Mngoma, Albertina Sisulu, and Adelaide Tambo. They discuss their relationship with Winnie and their activism. Like Winnie and Nelson Mandela, many of the interviewees participated in the anti-apartheid struggle with their spouses, with whom they shared last names. In these cases, the interviewees' first names are used. Other recordings made by Mann include the wedding celebration of Ntombifuthi Irene Mhlongo and Wilton Mkwayi, overall commander of uMkhonto weSizwe, the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC); and performances by the Imilonji KaNtu Choral Society. The series includes several documentary films on Winnie and Nelson Mandela, and Black women in South Africa during apartheid. They are South Africa Belongs to Us (1980); You Have Struck a Rock! (1981), and its soundtrack; Liberation Women (1985); I Shall Never Lose Hope (1986); Maids and Madams: Apartheid Begins in the Home (1986); and two different films titled Mandela (both 1986).
Three recordings are television broadcasts of Winnie at a mass funeral at Mamelodi Stadium; an interview with Winnie about Women's Day in South Africa; and Winnie and Nelson Mandela's daughter Zindzi Mandela and Desmond Tutu addressing a crowd at Jabulani Stadium near Soweto. One recording is an interview with Stephen M. Davis, author of Apartheid's Rebels: Inside South Africa's Hidden War (1987).
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1987-19971 audio_recording. 6 video_recordings
The series consists of one audio recording and six videos dated 1987 to 1997, organized chronologically. They feature or relate to comedian and actor Bill Cosby (b. July 12, 1937) and his wife, television producer and philanthropist Camille Cosby (b. March 20, 1944). Gloria Foster and Bill Cosby have acted in many productions together, including the films Man and Boy; To All My Friends on Shore; Top Secret; and Leonard Part 6; as well as the television shows The Bill Cosby Show and The Cosby Show. Camille was one of the producers for the play Having Our Say and the unproduced miniseries on Winnie Mandela, both of which involved Foster. Foster does not appear on any of the recordings.
The series includes the 119th and the 138th commencement ceremonies for Howard University and Spelman College respectively, for which Camille was the commencement speaker; and Camille's induction ceremony into Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Also included are an episode of The Cosby Show; Two Friends (1992), a comedy special by Bill Cosby and actor, comedian, dancer, and musician, Sammy Davis Jr.; and Oh, Baby (1991), a comedy album by Bill Cosby. One recording is a Larry King Live episode discussing the murder investigation of Bill and Camille's son, Ennis William Cosby.
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circa 1950s-199717 audio_recordings. 19 video_recordings
This series consists of seventeen audio and nineteen video recordings of Gloria Foster's collected recordings dated circa 1950s to 1997, organized alphabetically by title and media type. They include films, film soundtracks, music, radio and television broadcasts, and television shows. Synopses are amended from other sources such as IMDB. Gloria Foster does not appear on any of the recordings.