Scope and arrangement
Family correspondence, writings, news clippings, photographs, music programs, serials, and awards. Most material pertains to Philippa's life and her professional career, including her travels in Southeast Asia and the memorial foundation established in her memory by Josephine Schuyler. Philippa's papers include personal correspondence, a complete set of programs for her national and international tours, published and unpublished writings for her books, articles and plays, and manuscript music for her own compositions. George Schuyler's papers consist of typescripts of his writings including "How to be Happy Though Colored," "The Negro in America," "The Plantation American Negro," "Robert Clifton Weaver," and "Portrait of a Public Servant." Also, a smaller amount of material concerns Josephine Schuyler, including her writings under the name Heba Jannath, her diaries, and her work in the memorial foundation established for Philippa.
The Schuyler family papers are arranged in three series:
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1915 - 19787.3 linear feet
The Geogre S. Schuyler has three subseries: Personal Papers, Professional Correspondence and Activities, and Writings. These materials document his career as a journalist, novelist and critic, and illustrate his relationship with his wife and daughter. Early in George's life he espoused a more liberal agenda in terms of race relations and African-Americans' position in mainstream America, and worked alongside people such as A. Philip Randolph while writing for the Messenger. However, as his career advanced, George became very conservative in his views on race and politics. Where he once praised groups like the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) for its efforts advancing sit-in movements, he eventually became a staunch critic of the Civil Rights Movement and spoke out regularly in opposition to most of its proponents.
The Personal (2 lin. ft.) subseries consists mainly of correspondence, but there are also biographical materials including awards, certificates and discharge papers from the Army and an admissions ticket to the New York World's Fair (1939), containing a picture of Schuyler. Notable items relate to the deaths of Philippa and Josephine, such as legal documents, letters from the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam, and a copy of Josephine's death certificate and suicide note.
Due to George's frequent travels on various assignments, both Josephine and Philippa communicated with him through letters. The bulk of the letters to George from Josephine concern Philippa and her daily activities and performances, spanning childhood to adulthood. Of particular note are letters received from both Josephine and Philippa detailing their trip to Mexico (ca. 1945) and letters from Josephine about her trip to the Caribbean where she and George were to meet during a delicate time in their marriage.
Additionally, there is correspondence concerning Philippa's professional career as a performer, inquiries around scheduling concerts, requests for her compositions as well as materials relating to her estate. The correspondence about Philippa also contains school test results for piano, invitations to events, letters from abroad concerning her recitals, letters of admiration, travel logistics, and publicity. There is a large amount of condolence letters sent to George and Josephine concerning Philippa's untimely death includes condolences from black leaders, fraternal organizations, national black organizations, family acquaintances and friends. The correspondence concerning Josephine relate to repeated efforts to have her manuscript "From Texas to Harlem with Love" published, but the majority of the letters relate to Josephine's death, including a letter from George to the medical examiner detailing the circumstances surrounding Josephine's suicide and a letter to Fania Van Vechten asking for money to help with funeral expenses. There are also letters relating to George's health insurance after his tenure with the Pittsburgh Courier.
The materials relating to the Philippa Schuyler Memorial Foundation reveals that although short-lived, the foundation really represented more of a symbolic testimony of the Schuyler's love for their daughter. The purpose of the foundation was to help with the humanitarian effort in Vietnam, and the bulk of the materials relate to fundraising endeavors. However, there are administrative records including legal documents surrounding the incorporation of the foundation and its dissolution (1967-1975), as well as lists of the advisory board members, some correspondence and clippings which detail the circumstances related to Philippa's death, and financial and legal records and papers. Of note are correspondence and clippings relating to tax-avoidance by private foundations (the Philippa Schuyler Memorial Foundation was connected to the American Building Constitution, which was under investigation for a tax fraud scheme).
The Professional Correspondence and Activities (.8 lin. ft.) subseries documents George Schuyler's role as a foreign correspondent, and although he worked primarily for the Pittsburg Courier the majority of his career, much of the material organized here is unrelated. In 1925, he was hired by the Courier where he wrote a weekly series called "Aframerica Today." For his series George surveyed over two hundred southern cities, towns and communities in order to provide an analysis on the varying social, religious, economic and cultural aspects of African American life in the South at that time. Throughout his career his articles were published in some of the most prominent magazines and periodicals including the American Mercury, for which he wrote "Traveling Jim Crow," "Uncle Sam's Black Step-child" and "Mississippi is Dry," American Opinion, "Anatomy of Black Insurrection," Manchester Union Leader and The Crisis "A Long War Will Aid the Negro". There is correspondence relating to the numerous articles George wrote, his books Black and Conservative and Black No More, his speaking engagements, letters to and from editors, from people whose work he reviewed and/or edited, letters of admiration, travel accommodations, itineraries, payment from various publications and promotional materials. Additionally, there is correspondence from Arlington House-Publishers, the John Birch Society and from Syracuse University discussing publishing his work and the donation of some of his papers to the Manuscripts Division.
Also represented in this subseries are papers from associations and organizations George belonged to, or was associated with, e.g. American-African Affairs Association Inc., American Afro-Asian Educational Exchange Inc., American Committee for Cultural Freedom, Committee on Race Relations, etc., among others. These organizations' missions were focused on fighting the influences of communism and educating people against communist propaganda in their respective countries. After Schuyler left the Army he founded the Association for Tolerance in America (ATA), an organization with the mission to uphold American patriotism while advancing and developing a positive image of African Americans in mainstream American society. Schuyler was deeply troubled by racial relations, the increasing conflict between blacks and whites during and after the war, and believed a formal association was necessary in transforming white thought and perceptions of blacks through the use of "scientific propaganda." There is correspondence, clippings, writings, promotional materials, financial materials including a ledger, speaking engagements, radio announcements and travel arrangements relating to the ATA. The Writing ca. 1930s-1970s (3.8 lin. ft.) subseries comprises the bulk of George's papers, and is alphabetically arranged by genre and format. The writing consists of published and unpublished work, some annotated and accompanied with correspondence. George prided himself on being a race-writer and spent most of his career writing about the social and economic conditions of African Americans. Most of his writing reflects a conservative, anti-communist viewpoint, frequently criticizing black leaders for their alliance with so-called communist groups in his earlier writings, and then later attacking those in the Civil Rights Movement who openly condemned discriminatory white practices and institutions and black groups that supported the separation of the races. Of particular note are the typescripts and scrapbooks of his column: "Views and Reviews" (1931-1939) for the Pittsburg Courier, and manuscripts of his books How to Be Happy Though Colored, The Negro in America, The Phantom American Negro and Robert Clifton Weaver, Portrait of a Public Servant. The writings cover a variety of issues from the Scottsboro Boys case, the Harlem Renaissance and racial segregation, fiction and nonfiction. The scrapbooks span George's writing career and include clippings of his work.
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1931 - 1970
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1909 - 1969