Scope and arrangement
The Maya Angelou papers, dated 1857 to 2015, details Maya Angelou's career and life through personal files, correspondence, writings, professional files, financial and legal files, and printed matter. While there are many personal details present through Angelou's autobiographical writings, personal correspondence, and family history, the collection's focus is on her professional life and writing.
The collection holds many drafts and galleys of Angelou's writing including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Hallelujah the Welcome Table, I Shall Not Be Moved, A Song Flung Up to Heaven, Heart of a Woman, and All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes. Also present is Angelou's final incomplete work, an autobiography with the working title "Encounters." The collection also contains essays, drafts of children's books, poetry, notes and notepads, and some additional unpublished works.
Angelou received thousands of letters from friends and colleagues, including artists, educators, writers, and politicians. Correspondents in the collection include Ashford and Simpson, James Baldwin, Margaret Courtney Clarke, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Victor Di Suvero, Mari Evans, Tom Feelings, Rosa Guy, Quincy Jones, Erica Jong, Coretta Scott King, Norman Lear, Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach, Julian Mayfield, Dolly McPherson, Jessica Mitford, Barack and Michelle Obama, Betty Shabazz, Robert Treuhaft, Alice Walker, Oprah Winfrey, and Malcolm X. The collection includes Angelou's business files, which compiles numerous requests for Angelou to read or perform her work at universities and other organizations, as well as files from the boards and committees of organizations she served on. Also present are Angelou's financial and legal files and documentation from her Hallmark greeting card series.
Additionally there is documentation on Angelou's teaching career, which covers her tenures at California State University, Sacramento; Radford University; University of Exeter; and Wake Forest University. These files hold syllabi, reading assignments, lecture notes, and faculty memos.
Angelou kept a large number of subject files on various individuals, organizations, geographic locations, publications, and schools. She also compiled a considerable amount of files on her own career, including newspaper clippings, magazine articles, reviews, and other printed material about her publications and appearances.
The Maya Angelou papers are arranged in five series:
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1927-20147.71 linear feet (22 boxes)
This first series contains information about Angelou's personal life, including items from her grandmother and uncle, such as a will and financial records; visas for Egypt; correspondence with her mother, son, and other family members; and various awards and honors, including honorary degrees that she received over the years.
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1960-2015173.87 linear feet (361 boxes)
Series II, dating from 1960 to 2015, holds hundreds of letters sent to Maya Angelou over the course of her lifetime from friends, business contacts, corporations, authors, educators, scholars and multiple colleagues in the creative arts. There is also a significant amount of fan mail reflecting the vast impact of Angelou's work. Correspondence with Angelou's family is held in Subseries I.B.
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bulk 1857-201484.25 linear feet (214 boxes)
Series III covers all aspects of Angelou's writing process, from handwritten first drafts to final edited proofs. The series holds Angelou's most well-known publications, including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Letter to My Daughter. Additionally, there are a large number of unpublished works, including poems, essays, and articles.
This series also consists of writings by others, mostly by friends and colleagues, as well as from publishers requesting quotes or comments.
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1937-201483.54 linear feet (197 boxes)
This series, dating from 1937 to 2014, covers Angelou's professional life, addressing her participation on boards and committees, her collaboration with Hallmark, administrative work by her assistants, her teaching career, her research, financial files, and legal matters. The series holds printed matter, correspondence, travel itineraries, contracts, schedules, course syllabi, reading lists, subject files, legal documents, and financial files.
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1955-201527.29 linear feet (51 boxes)
Series V, dating from 1955 to 2015, includes printed matter about Angelou. The majority of the files contain newspaper and magazine article clippings of her interviews and appearances. Some clippings contain quotes by Angelou or refer to her in some way.
The series also includes publicity, such as advertisements for Angelou's work and public appearances, as well as numerous reviews of her work. There are a large amount of clippings about President Bill Clinton's inauguration ceremony and Angelou's inauguration poem, "On the Pulse of the Morning." In many instances, the original clippings are included, but there are also a number of photocopies.