American Historical Ephemera & Photography, including African Americana

Extensive collection comprised of more than 600 items assembled and organized by Carl Van Vechten, highlighted by approx. 200 pamphlets, booklets, magazines, letters, invitations, photos, and other ephemera related to Van Vechten's life and career spanning from the 1910s-1960s. Approx. 400 newspaper and magazine clippings are also included. The majority of the clippings and many programs, booklets, and ephemera are mounted on individual sheets of paper with a date listed. Several are also signed and/or inscribed by Van Vechten, many to his secretary and longtime friend Saul Mauriber.

Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) was a highly influential American novelist, music and drama critic, and photographer during the early 20th century. He was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, then attended the University of Chicago, where he graduated in 1903. He worked as an assistant music critic at the New York Times in 1906, and after a trip to Europe became the first American critic of modern dance. He served as literary executor of American novelist, playwright, and art collector Gertrude Stein, whom he first met in Paris in 1913.

Van Vechten was an early supporter of African American culture and was well-connected to the people and places of the Harlem Renaissance at a time when racial segregation and Jim Crow laws were intense. Throughout the 1920s, he indulged in the parties and social scene of New York's Black creative class, which he captured in his provocatively titled novel Nigger Heaven. When the Depression came, he stopped writing novels and began taking photographs, most notably of influential African Americans, producing iconic portraits of thought leaders, entertainment stars, sports figures, artists, writers of the Harlem Renaissance, and more. His collection of over 9000 images, mostly portraits, is held at the Beinecke Library at Yale University.

The collection features the following highlights:

Several items related to Black art, culture, and activism, including: Program for the NAACP All-Star Benefit Concert, New York. 8 December 1929. Containing essay authored and ink signed by Van Vechten. -- 2 snapshots showing Carl Van Vechten at Fisk University, May 1955, one in which he stands with Charles S. Johnson, President of Fisk University. Each inscribed on verso. -- Multiple issues of The Crisis, 1940-1950. -- Multiple issues of Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life, 1920s-1940s. Two issues contain articles authored and ink signed by Van Vechten. -- 4pp. imprint entitled "The Proposed James Weldon Johnson Memorial," reprinted from Opportunity, February, 1940, ink signed on front cover by Van Vechten. -- Theatre Arts issues, incl. Aug. 1942 issue focusing on "The Negro in the American Theatre," featuring image of Avon Long originally taken by Van Vechten, ink signed in the lower margin. -- Fisk News, March 1953. -- Jazz Record, Sept. 1947, containing article "Memories of Bessie Smith," ink signed by Van Vechten. -- Yale University Exercises marking the opening of the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Negro Arts and Letters. Founded by Carl Van Vechten, Sprague Memorial Hall, 7 January 1950. Signed and inscribed by Van Vechten. With 5 photographs enclosed, including a portrait of notable figures who attended the opening of the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection, among them Mrs. James Weldon Johnson, Charles S. Johnson, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Carl Van Vechten, 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 in., with detailed inscription identifying the subjects on verso. Four photographs of Van Vechten and other figures walking into the opening are included, each credited to Saul Mauriber and captioned on verso, approx. 6 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. -- Yale University Gazette, October 1943, with essay regarding the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Negro Arts and Letters, signed and inscribed by Van Vechten.

Exhibition of Photographs by Carl Van Vechten from the Countee Cullen Memorial Collection founded by Harold Jackman. May-June 1955. -- W.C. Handy Foundation for the Blind, Inc., booklet. -- Typed list of guests attending W.C. Handy's birthday dinner in 1951. -- Printed invitation from Langston Hughes, John O. Killens, Rose Morgan Louis, and Carl Van Vechten's reception on the publication of "Like One of the Family." -- Trifold pamphlet for the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and History, with notation about the Van Vechten Exhibition opening on 20 June 1955. -- 13pp. booklet entitled Negro Cavalcade, Exhibition of Printed and Pictorial Materials from the Countee Cullen Memorial Collection. April - May 1947. -- Printed invitation from the James Weldon Johnson Literary Guild for a dinner held in honor of Van Vechten, November 1942. -- Fisk University 18th Annual Festival of Music and Art, Nashville, TN, 1947, program signed inside by Van Vechten and calendar of events. -- Fisk University 81st Annual Commencement Program, 1955, with Van Vechten's American Airlines tickets mounted on the back inside cover. -- Marian Anderson program. -- Dance 62 program containing article "Eloquent Alvin Ailey" written by Van Vechten and ink signed. -- James Weldon Johnson: A Biographical Sketch. Fisk University. Containing article by Van Vechten, ink signed by the author. -- Phylon: The Atlanta University Review of Race & Culture, 1945. -- Fisk University Appointment Calendar, 1951, signed and inscribed by Van Vechten. Plentifully illustrated with images of the students and grounds. -- Fisk University Herald. 18th Annual Festival of Music and Art issue. -- Jerome Bowers Peterson Memorial Collection of Photographs of Celebrated Negroes by Carl Van Vechten, New York City, February 1949. 22pp. typed list of Black artists, signed by Van Vechten. -- Yale University News Bureau typed press release announcing the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of "Negro arts and letters of the 20th Century," December 1949. -- Catalogue of the Alfred Stieglitz Collection for Fisk University produced by the Carl Van Vechten Gallery of Fine Arts. -- Printed invitation from Fisk University for the opening of the Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Modern Art, plus opening ceremonies program. -- American Airlines ticket to Nashville for the opening of the Van Vechten Fine Arts Gallery at Fisk University, 1949. -- Typed program for the James Weldon Johnson Festival, June 1949. -- "American Negro Exhibit," Syracuse University Library, December 1945. Typed list of contents of exhibit, signed by Van Vechten. -- The Van Vechten Revolution by George S. Schuyler, 1950. Signed and inscribed by Van Vechten. -- Why and What. Booklet inscribed on inside cover, "An early opus which I made," signed and dated by Van Vechten. -- Catalogues from Borzoi Books and The Holliday bookshop. -- A First List of books printed and published by the Banyan Press. With foreward by Van Vechten, signed by Van Vechten.

Additional items include: 4pp. circular printed in 1917, promoting Van Vechten's work, signed by Van Vechten Saturday Review, January 1952, containing article written and ink signed by Van Vechten. -- Dustjacket for George Freedley's book, Mr. Cat, signed by Van Vechten. -- University of New Mexico program for the final examination for the degree of doctor of philosophy signed by Van Vechten. -- Documentary Photographs by Carl Van Vechten, April-May 1949, pamphlet. -- "Confidential" Bulletin No. 1, January 1926, Preliminary Announcement, The Friends of the Saloon. -- 4pp. program featuring Ram Gopal, Danseur de temple Hindou, signed by Van Vechten. -- Additions to the Bibliography of Carl Van Vechten by Klaus W. Jonas, 1961, signed and inscribed on front cover by Van Vechten. -- Napkin with "O'Keeffe-Van Vechten" imprint. -- Promotional materials for The Tiger in the House by Carl Van Vechten, two of the imprints signed by the author. -- W. Somerset Maugham, Novelist, Essayist, Dramatist. New York: George H. Doran Co. Signed by Van Vechten. -- Dance Index. Signed by Van Vechten. -- The Tow-Headed Blind Boy by Samuel Hoffenstein. 1923. Appears to be signed by the author and Van Vechten. 

[With:] Small selection of typed speeches and essays written for or by Van Vechten, some signed and inscribed by Van Vechten. Included in the selection is lengthy essay by John Townsend Barrett entitled "Analysis and Significance of Three American Critics of the Ballet: Carl Van Vechten, Edwin Denby, and Lincoln Kirstein. With signed inscription from Van Vechten dated August 1956. -- Manuscript notes from a tape recording of Carl Van Vechten by William Ingersoll, Columbia University, 1960.

[With:] A group of letters written to Saul Marinoff, many addressing the death of Van Vechten are also enclosed. Of note are 2 letters from Nora Holt, African American critic, composer, singer, and pianist, including an ALS on “WLIB Harlem Radio Center” letterhead and a TLS on personal stationery. Each letter, which is addressed to Saul, mourns the loss of Van Vechten. – Additional letters/notes from the following personalities are included: Fania Marinoff, American actress. -- Sarah Rubenstein. -- 2 Christmas cards addressed to Carl from R. Hugh Breckenridge, Los Angeles, CA. – Don Bachardy. – Orrin Carter Taylor. – Edward Leuders. – And others. 

[With:] Photographs and artistic renderings of Van Vechten, including: Drawing of Carl Van Vechten in 1964 by Ilonia Smithkin (1920-2022), 10 3/4 x 8 1/4 in. (sight), framed with engraved plate below portrait and manuscript notation on frame backing indicating that this was the "last life portrait" of Van Vechten, which he gave to his secretary and friend Saul Mauriber. -- 3 silver gelatin photographs of Carl Van Vechten, 13 x 9 in. or smaller, taken by Saul Mauriber. Versos with caption, credit to Mauriber, date, and inventory number, in ink. -- 9 1/4 x 7 1/4 in. (sight) silver gelatin photograph of Van Vechten by Pach Bros., NY, matted and housed in folder. Mat inscribed by Van Vechten in lower margin. -- Caricature of Carl Van Vechten by Ruth Hammond, accompanied by letter from the artist thanking Van Vechten for using her caricature in connection with Van Vechten's book. -- Also included are 4 curious photographs of a man posed with a mouse and snake, unidentified but possibly an artist of the early 20th century. 5 x 7 in. or smaller.

[With:] The following titles are also enclosed: Van Vechten, Carl. Music and Bad Manners. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1916. -- Van Vechten, Carl. The Tattooed Countess. 2 copies, the first, New York: A.L. Burt Co., 1924. Second, New York: Popular Library, 1963. Each copy signed and inscribed by the author. -- Van Vechten, Carl. Peter Whiffle, His Life and Works. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1922. -- Cabell, James Branch. The Music from Behind the Moon. An Epitome. New York: The John Day Co., 1926. With detailed manuscript notation in unknown hand in the back of the book dated 1966.

Together, a collection of more than 600 items associated with the life and career of Carl Van Vechten.