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Creator
Steward, Gustavus Adolphus, 1881-1966
Call number
Sc MG 487
Physical description
1.71 linear feet (5 boxes)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
[Item], Gustavus Adolphus Steward papers, Sc MG 487, 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.

Gustavus Adolphus Steward was an educator, writer, and businessman. The Gustavus Adolphus Steward papers consist of correspondence, writings, financial records, and material from his family members.

Biographical/historical information

Gustavus Adolphus Steward was an educator, writer, and businessman. He was one of eight sons born to African Methodist Episcopal minister Theophilus Gould Steward and Elizabeth (Gadsden) Steward. Gustavus Steward attended the University of Montana, Missoula (1895-1898), and graduated from Wilberforce University (1901). His career as an educator included teaching at a government school in Agno, Zambales in the Philippines (1901); the St. Paul Normal and Industrial School in Lawrenceville, Virginia; the Cheyney (Pennsylvania) Training School for Teachers; and the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. In 1919, he began working as a cashier for the Supreme Life and Casualty Company (later called Fireside Mutual Insurance) in Columbus, Ohio, from which he would retire in 1947 as an officer and board member. During the 1920s-1940s, Steward was also a contributing writer to various publications, including The Crisis magazine, The Dearborn Independent, and Opportunity. He wrote essays and articles, on race relations, social issues, and religion; book reviews; and short stories, sometimes under the alias Peter Gadsden.

Scope and arrangement

The Gustavus Adolphus Steward papers consist of correspondence (bulk 1907-1939); writings, both published and unpublished, including short stories and newspaper columns (1928-1943); diaries (1941-1949); deeds; and financial records (1869-1937).

Much of Steward's correspondence is career-related (job offers, resignations, and recommendations from many of the black Southern schools). Correspondents include Theophilus Gould Steward, Emmett J. Scott, Walter White (concerning school segregation in Columbus, Ohio), and other leading African-American educators in the South.

Also included in the collection are many of Steward's college notebooks; an autograph book dated 1882, belonging to Anna H. Jones, the mother of his wife Winona; and files of correspondence and writings of his brother, Theophilus Bolden Steward, his father, Theophilus G. Steward, and other family members.

The Gustavus Adolphus Steward papers are arranged in five series:

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of Anna Bishop, December 1992.

Processing information

Accessioned and processed by B. Robinson, 1993, and Janice Quinter, 2000.

Separated material

Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division: photographs

Related Material

Theophilus Gould Steward papers, Sc Micro R-5910, General Research and Reference Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Theophilus G. Steward research collection, Sc MG 445, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

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