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Creator
Sterling, Philip, 1907-1989
Call number
*T-Mss 1991-026
Physical description
0.84 linear feet (3 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Philip Sterling Research Materials on Bert Williams, *T-Mss 1991-026. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online.

The Philip Sterling Research Materials on Bert Williams primarily contain clippings, correspondence, notes, and other research materials compiled by Philip Sterling, a writer and public relations executive for CBS, mainly between the years, 1959-1962. Sterling began conducting research on Williams during the late 1950s in the hope of writing a biography, which, apparently never was completed. He performed extensive research at a number of libraries and interviewed some of Williams's surviving relatives, as well as other individuals with firsthand memories of Williams, including Andy Razaf and Carl Van Vechten.

Biographical/historical information

Philip Sterling (1907-1989) was a writer and a public relations executive who worked for the Columbia Broadcasting System for many years. Born Philip Shatz in New Rochelle, New York, he worked as a copy editor and journalist for several newspapers in the Midwest and suburban New York from 1926 through 1931. During the 1930s, he found employment with government agencies, including serving as an associate editor for three years on the Film Index, a unit of the Federal Writers Project. Sterling, who legally changed his surname in 1936, began as a writer for CBS Radio in 1945. In 1959, he became the assistant director of press information. He later worked for CBS Television until his 1965 retirement. After 1960, Sterling published several books, primarily biographies and children's literature. Among his most well-known works was Sea and Earth (1970), a biography of environmentalist Rachel Carson for young adults, which won a Christopher Award. Sterling, like his wife Dorothy (the former Dorothy Dannenberg, who also was a prolific writer of children's books), was particularly interested in researching and writing about prominent figures in African American history and the civil rights movement. His works for children on these topics include Four Took Freedom (1967) and The Question of Color (1973). Sterling also was interested in African American humor and vaudeville, editing the anthology, Laughing On the Outside: The Intelligent White Reader's Guide to Negro Tales and Humor (1965) and conducting extensive research on Bert Williams and his associates during the early 1960s.

Bert Williams (1873-1922) was one of the most influential African American entertainers of the early years of the twentieth century. Born Egbert Austin Williams in Nassau, Bahamas, Williams spent much of his childhood in Riverside, California. He developed a comedy act with George Walker, whom he had met in San Francisco in 1893. By 1895, the two had made their way to the East Coast, eventually breaking into vaudeville in New York City. In keeping with the conventions of minstrelsy, Williams, as the comedian of the act, performed in blackface makeup. By appropriating demeaning stereotypes, however, the pair was able to break new ground and to exert greater creative control over their own material in such Broadway hits as In Dahomey (1902), Abyssinia (1906), and Bandanna Land (1906). Following Walker's retirement in 1909, Williams began appearing as a solo artist. He became the first African American performer to be featured in the Ziegfeld Follies (1911), playing in editions of the Follies regularly throughout the decade. Williams also became a successful recording artist. Having signed with the Shubert Brothers in 1920, Williams was touring with an all-black show, Under the Bamboo Tree (1921), at the time of his death.

Scope and arrangement

The Philip Sterling Research Materials on Bert Williams primarily contain clippings, correspondence, notes, and other research materials compiled by Sterling, mainly between the years, 1959-1962, a period in which he was preparing to write a biography of the African American entertainer. Sterling began conducting research on Williams during the late 1950s in the hope of writing a biography, which, apparently never was completed. He performed extensive research at a number of libraries and also traveled to Riverside, California to speak with individuals who may have known Williams as a teenager, as well as to Chicago, Illinois to interview Lottie Tyler, one of his surviving nieces. He also corresponded frequently with another one of Williams's nieces, Eunice Shreeves, who agreed to authorize Sterling's project and assisted him with research advice. Sterling was in contact with several other individuals with firsthand memories of Williams as well, including Andy Razaf and Carl Van Vechten. In addition to making audiotapes of rare Williams's recordings, Sterling appears to have taped many of the interviews he conducted. While no complete transcripts exist for any of the extant tapes, notes from a few of these sessions or conversations (including one with W. E. B. Du Bois) can be found among the correspondence and research notes in the collection. Audiotapes have been separated from the collection and will be cataloged separately. Also included with the collection is a small set of photographs and printed ephemera relating to Williams and other contemporary African American performers, including the wives of Williams and his professional partner, George Walker, Lottie Williams and Aida Overton Walker.

The Philip Sterling research materials on Bert Williams are arranged in two series:

  • Series I: Research Materials, and
    1941 - 1981
    2 boxes

    The Research Materials series is comprised of clippings, correspondence, notes (handwritten and typescript), and subject files relating to Philip Sterling's research on Bert Williams and other African American entertainers. Of special interest is correspondence between Sterling and some of Williams's surviving contemporaries and relatives, including his niece, Eunice Shreeves. Sterling's letters to Shreeves most fully document his progress on the project. Other correspondents of note include Carl Van Vechten. In addition to these items, the collection also includes notes that Sterling made from his conversations with Van Vechten and other individuals who had seen performances by Williams, including Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois.

  • Series II: Photographs and Printed Ephemera, and
    1899 - 1921

    The Photographs and Printed Ephemera series contains several original photographs of Bert Williams and other prominent African American performers, including his wife, Lottie Williams, as well as Bob Cole, S. H. Dudley, Ernest Hogan, and Aida Overton Walker. Also included are a few promotional materials relating to Williams's appearances with the Ziegfeld Follies and his recording career. Some of these items were included in the Vaudeville Nation exhibition that opened at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in 2005. It is not clear whether or not any of these materials ever belonged to Philip Sterling.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

The Philip Sterling Research Materials on Bert Williams were donated to the Billy Rose Theatre Division in 1991 by Dorothy Sterling.

Processing information

Processed by Helice Koffler; Machine-readable finding aid created by Helice Koffler.

Separated material

Audio-Visual items separated from the paper materials in this collection are comprised of the following. Items may not be available for immediate consultation. See the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound for further details.

  • Notebooks of Bert Williams Side 2,1957 June 5
  • Bill Scott,undated
  • The Journey, etc. from Yale,1959 Nov. 27
  • Lottie Tyler--L. Miller,undated
  • Saunders Tape,undated
  • Bert Williams Songs,undated
  • Lester Walton--Lee Whipper--Abbie Mitchell,1959 July 7
  • Sons of Ham/ Mabel Rowland Part 1 and 2,undated
  • Rosenbaum,undated
  • Saunders Reynolds Songs,undated
  • Saunders Reynolds Songs,undated
  • Nora Holt,undated
  • Lee Whipper--Abbie Mitchell,undated
  • Van Vechten Re Bt. Wms,1959 Sept. 10
  • Sam Battle,1960 July 20
  • Ed Rosenbaum,1960 May 6
  • Bert Williams Yale,undated

Related Material

The Philip Sterling Papers (Ax 751) are held by the Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon.

Using the collection

Location

Billy Rose Theatre Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division.