Scope and arrangement
This collection includes personal papers and manuscripts of Obi Egbuna from 1960–2014, although the majority is from 1966–1986. It is arranged into four series: Personal and biographical, Academic career, Activism, and Writing. The Personal and biographical series includes such items such as personal correspondence, student membership cards, copies of his resume, and copies of his theses. The Academic career series consists of correspondence and teaching materials. Activism, the smallest series, is comprised of a few political posters and programs. The fourth series, Writing, the largest, contains copies of his published and unpublished work, both fiction and non-fiction.
The Obi Egbuna papers are arranged in four series:
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1960-2014
This series consists of personal and biographical papers of Obi Egbuna. The personal papers include membership cards to the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, one of the four Inns of the court in London, in which participation is required for practicing law; a personal diary and notes; personal correspondence, including fan mail; copies of different incarnations of Egbuna's curriculum vitae; medical records, which include appointments and his own notes on his health; and eulogies written for his memorial service. The educational material covers his post-graduate education at the University of Iowa and Howard University. This material includes correspondence, mostly with University of Iowa faculty, potential doctoral programs, and fellowship programs; an "Honorary Fellow in Writing" certificate and transcript from the University of Iowa; papers and dissertation proposals, mostly written during his time at the University of Iowa; a copy of his MFA thesis, "Author's Diary: Impressions from Three Worlds" (1978); and a copy of his PhD dissertation, "The Dialectical Process in Modern African Literature: A Study in the Epistemology of Decolonization" (1986).
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1980-2004
This series mostly contains material related to Egbuna's tenure at Howard University, when he was completing his doctorate and teaching in the departments of German and Russian Studies and African Studies and Research. It also includes other academic pursuits, such as conference participation. The series consists of correspondence, mostly with faculty and colleagues at Howard University, but also with potential employers; items related to speaking engagements, such as a flyer for a public reading, a folder from the Deuxieme Festival Mondial des Arts Negro Africans (1974), an invitation to the Convention of Nigerian Authors from Chinu Achebe (1981), a conference program for "Washington and Washington Writing: A Conference" (1986), and an invitation to speak at an African Heritage Literature Society event (1993); and teaching material used while at Howard University, such as syllabi, tests, and notes, for courses on Igbo, Literature of the Modern World, and Individual and Society.
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1970-1993
This small series contains memorabilia from events in which Egbuna participated, including a record album cover for Songs of Revolution! The Tolpuddle Martyrs (ca. 1970); a theater program and poster for Sizwe Banzi Is Dead (1977); a poster for "Organize for Africa" (1983); and a program for the Malcolm X conference (1993). The Tolpuddle Martyrs were six farm workers in West Dorset who formed a trade union, which led to their arrest, in 1834; the album coincided with the yearly festival dedicated to the group. The image on this album cover includes a protest sign that says, "Free Obi Egbuna", presumably after his arrest in 1970. The program is for a University of Iowa production of Sizwe Banzi Is Dead (1977) by Athol Fugard, written collaboratively with two South African actors, John Kani and Winston Ntshona, in which Egbuna played the lead. The "Organize for Africa" poster, sponsored by the All-African People's Revolutionary Party, celebrates twenty-five years of African Liberation Day in 1983. Egbuna delivered the keynote introduction at the Malcolm X conference, which was held in Seattle in 1993.
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ca. 1966-2001
The largest series in this collection focuses on Egbuna's writings. The first subseries, General, includes correspondence, mostly with publishers but also with individuals and groups interested in producing his plays; publishing contracts; research material, such as newspaper clippings and journal articles, most likely used in his writing and teaching; and reviews. The second subseries, Articles and essays, mostly contains typescripts of essays, many of which are undated. It is unclear if all of these essays, aside from the one noted, were published. "The Scepter in Mount Pleasant" was a letter written on behalf of an unknown research team signed with the name "UZI"; letters to various newspapers are included, asking for the letter to be published. The two items listed in the third suseries, Book manuscripts, are drafts of unpublished books (one fictional and the other nonfictional), also undated. The fourth series, Plays, mostly consists of typescripts, with the exception of Divinity, which is a small reading guide published by Ernst Klett in Stuttgart with an introduction by Inge Uffelmann. Didi's Mirror is an adaptation of The Madness of Didi, written by Egbuna for the Howard University Theatre in 1983. "Onugbu: A Theory of Tragedy" consists of drafts and typescripts of this unpublished and undated play. The Wind is a playscript developed from his first novel. The fifth subseries, Stories, is comprised of typescripts of stories and story collections, with the exceptions of a shorter version of "A Black Candle for Christmas" that appeared in the New Statesman in its December 1971 issue, and "Blind Date", written for the July 1973 issue of The Hoe, which was the quarterly literary magazine of the Writers' Workshop in Enugu, Nigeria. Other typescripts, such as "Da Vinchi's Curtain" and "The Homosexual", were included in later story collections. "The Homosexual and Other Stories", an unpublished typescript, includes stories later included in The Rape of Lysistrata. "Rivers Can't Speak", probably unpublished, may have been written as a class assignment. The final subseries, Other, includes handwritten notes, single pages of typescript, and short essays that appear to express Egbuna's thoughts, responses, and critiques on various subjects.