Scope and arrangement
This collection consists of correspondence, press clippings, and ephemera primarily relating to Arthur Schomburg's activities as a book collector, historian, and curator at the New York Public Library (NYPL).
The correspondence files mostly contain letters written to Schomburg, with some of his responses included. Correspondents include Booker T. Washington, lawyer John Wesley Cromwell, poet George Reginald Margetson, author Benjamin Brawley, and heiress and activist Nancy Cunard, among others.
The other material includes press clippings, mostly in scrapbooks, of articles by and about Schomburg; printed ephemera; and memorials of Schomburg written after his death. The memorials include remembrances by various friends and scholars including Alain Locke, Rayford W. Logan, Dorothy B. Porter, and E. Franklin Frazier. The file of ephemera and personal papers contains invitations, flyers, and programs for speaking engagements and other events; as well as miscellaneous notes and papers, including a signed testimony from Schomburg acting in his capacity as a clerk at a law firm. Additionally of note are two petitions: one from the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) presented to the League of Nations on behalf of "four hundred million Negros" worldwide, and inscribed to Schomburg from UNIA Special Secretary John E. Bruce, and one presented to the NYPL from W.E.B. DuBois, protesting racial discrimination in Library hiring practices. The NYPL petition is also accompanied by correspondence regarding Schomburg's position as Curator.
The Arthur Alfonso Schomburg papers (additions) is arranged in three series:
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1909-19330.2 linear feet (1 box)
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1902-19390.43 linear feet (2 boxes)