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Creator
McMillan, Allan W., 1900-1991
Call number
Sc MG 206
Physical description
4.88 linear feet (7 boxes)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
[Item], Allan W. McMillan public relations files, Sc MG 206, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Allan W. McMillan, a longtime columnist for The Amsterdam News and the first Black syndicated columnist, made his reputation as an entertainment writer, Broadway columnist, and publicist. The Allan W. McMillan public relations files document the public relations work of McMillan on behalf of his clients.

Biographical/historical information

Allan W. McMillan, a longtime columnist for The Amsterdam News and the first Black syndicated columnist, made his reputation as an entertainment writer, Broadway columnist, and publicist. His column for The Amsterdam News, "Allan's Alley", was syndicated in the late 1930s; he wrote a similar gossip column entitled "On Broadway" in the 1970s for the weekly The New York Voice, which billed itself as "New York's fastest growing interracial newspaper".

McMillan headed several public relations firms primarily for Black entertainers; the bulk of his clients were singers and musicians. His companies, all in New York City, were Allan McMillan and Associates, D'Or Recording Company, Jay-R-Jay Magazine and News Publishing Corporation, and T. P. Productions. He was also a personal press representative and president of the New York Business, Civic and Cultural Association as well as editor-in-chief of the International News and Picture Syndicate.

McMillan was born in Valdosta, Georgia, in 1900, attended Morris Brown College in Atlanta, and in 1933, worked as a reporter for The Chicago Defender, beginning his career as the first African American to interview Al Capone. It was in Chicago that McMillan developed a friendship with the promoter Joe Glaser and began to mingle with well-known Black entertainers. He died in 1991 in New York.

Scope and arrangement

The Allan W. McMillan public relations files document the public relations work of McMillan on behalf of his clients. The collection consists primarily of information that he maintained about his clients, most of whom were in the entertainment business. Nearly all the clients were individuals, but he also represented events sponsored by organizations. Client files include newspaper and magazine clippings of articles and advertisements for the performers, promotional flyers and postcards, itineraries, resumes, correspondence, contracts, press releases, notes about the clients, photograph captions, and a few layouts prepared by McMillan.

Among his many clients whose files are housed in this collection are B. B. King; pianists Hazel Scott and Natalie Hinderas; singers Ruth Brown, Shirley Caesar, Lu Elliot, Morgana King, and Martha Mitchell; actors Roxie Roker, Clarice Taylor, and Giancarlo Esposito; Emme Kemp (singer, pianist, composer); Carolyn Adams (dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company); Beaufort Express Band; pianist and conductor Margaret Harris; and poet Lou LuTour. Fan letters (1970) addressed to Aretha Franklin at Atlantic Records are also included in the collection; however, nothing in his papers indicates that McMillan represented her at that time. Some of the organizations and events he publicized include the Louis Armstrong Memorial Concert (1972), which raised money for the Louis Armstrong Memorial Cultural Arts Center and Memorial Plaza in Corona, Queens; the New York Jazz Festival (1967-1968); the Peg Leg Bates Country Club (1973); and the W. C. Handy Memorial Scholarship Club (1977). He also represented Gladys Blair Productions, which produced Loften Mitchell's A Lonesome Journey(script is in the collection) and The Computer Candidate (book and lyrics by Elmer Zinner, M.D.). There are financial records for some of McMillan's companies, in addition to correspondence and legal documents.

The Allan W. McMillan public relations files are arranged in two series:

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift, Marlene McMillan, March 1990.

Revision History

Finding aid updated by Lauren Stark. (2021 May 21)

Processing information

Accessioned by Janice Quinter, December 17, 2007.

Separated material

Transferred to the General Research and Reference Division: books and periodicals.

Transferred to the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division: audio materials. For more information, please contact the division at schomburgaudiovisual@nypl.org or 212-491-2270.

Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division: photographs.

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Second Floor