Jacob Lawrence Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Lawrence, Jacob, 1917-2000
Title:	Jacob Lawrence Papers
Inclusive Dates:	1937-1971
Quantity:	3.25 linear ft.
Abstract:	Spanning 1937-1971, the Jacob Lawrence Papers consist of biographical material, correspondence, artwork reproductions, writings, printed material, and memorabilia of the African-American painter, printmaker, and artist.
Language:	English
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 http://scrc.syr.edu

Biographical History

Considered a leading black artist, Jacob Lawrence worked in gouache, an opaque water colour, and tempera, a mixture of pigment and a binder. He is famous for the distinctive flat surfaces of his narrative paintings depicting social problems, as in The Migration of the Negro (1940-41) and Struggle: From the History of the American People (1955). Lawrence was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He studied under Charles Alston at the Art Workshop in Harlem, New York (1932-39), and at the Harlem Art Center and the American Artists School in New York City (1937-39). He was a professor of art emeritus at the University of Washington, Seattle. [From Hutchinson Encyclopedia of Biography (2000)]

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Jacob Lawrence Papers consist of Biographical data, Correspondence, Artwork (reproductions), Writings, Printed material, and Memorabilia of the African-American painter, printmaker, and artist. Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1917, Jacob Lawrence was an alumnus of the Harlem Workshop and the WPA Federal Art Project. The collection reflects not only the development of his artistic career, but also the social climate of the American art scene from the Depression through the early 1970s.

Two folders of Biographical data begin the collection.

Spanning 1937 through 1971, the Correspondence is almost exclusively of a business nature and comprises incoming letters and a few drafts of Lawrence's outgoing responses. Arranged chronologically with a selected name index, the Correspondence includes that of art historians (Alfred H. Barr, David C. Driskell, Creighton Gilbert, Abram Lerner, Alain Locke, Lee Nordness, Regenia A. Perry) and artists (Charles Alston, Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden, Lizzie Borden, Frank Bowling, Gerard Charriere, Claude Clark, Hy Cohen, Ernest Crichlow, Miki Denhof, Fritz Eichenberg, Philip Evergood, Elton C. Fax, Chuck Forsman, Harry Gottlieb, Eugene Grigsby, Joseph Hirsch, Carl Holty, Joe Lasker, Jack Levine, Frank Mechau, Earl Miller, Gregorio Prestopino, Charles Sheeler, Vincent Smith, Moses Soyer, Raphael Soyer, May Stevens, Walter Williams, Ed Wilson, Richard Yarde); as well as authors and poets (Miriam Biskin, Mildred Cummings, Harold Ehrensperger, M. A. Harris, Harry B. Henderson, Langston Hughes, Raymond Patterson, Margaret Rigg). Lawrence also received correspondence from educational institutions at which he has held teaching positions (Art Students League, Brandeis University, Denison University, Five Towns Music and Art Foundation, Inc., New School for Social Research, Pratt Institute, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture); foundations and institutions which have awarded him grants and/or fellowships (American Artists School, American Academy of Arts and Letters, Chapelbrook Foundation, Ford Foundation, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Julius Rosenwald Fund, National Institute of Arts and Letters); galleries which represented his work (Downtown Gallery, Alan Gallery, Terry Dintenfass, Inc.); museums which have purchased and/or exhibited his work (Art Institute of Chicago, Brooklyn Museum, Carnegie Institute, Detroit Institute of Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Museum of Modern Art, North Carolina Museum of Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Whitney Museum of American Art); and institutions and publications which support and promote the study of Afro-American art and culture (American Society of African Culture, Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Freedomways, Museum of African Art, Opportunity, National Urban League). In addition, Lawrence was approached by many local, national, and international organizations, from New York City high schools and churches to the Institute of International Education, to serve as a juror for art shows and the awarding of scholarships.

Artwork consists of reproductions of Lawrence's work, and features photographs, printed items, and slides. The photographs include images of both Lawrence's painting and a number of interior shots of gallery and museum shows. Printed material of Lawrence's work includes post cards, greeting cards, magazine covers, and appearances in various art and general publications which have illustrative material with minimal text.

Writings include interviews, speeches, and miscellaneous manuscripts which suggest Lawrence's philosophy about his work.

Printed material, consisting of academic brochures and course catalogs, exhibition announcements, invitations, catalogs, and posters, reflects Lawrence's dual career as teacher and artist. Course catalogs include those of Brandeis University (1965), the New School (1966-1969), and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (1968-1970). Exhibition announcements, invitations, and catalogs, document the course of Lawrence's artistic career, and include catalogs from his first one-man exhibition in 1938 sponsored by the James Wheldon Johnson Literary Guild at the Harlem YMCA, the American Negro Exposition (1939) in Chicago, at which he won second prize, and many other exhibition catalogs of one-man and group shows from the late 1930s through 1971. The collection also contains posters for two of his shows.

Memorabilia comprises awards, financial material, non-exhibition-related invitations, personal photographs, printed material, and manuscript writings about Lawrence by others. Printed material contains magazine articles about Lawrence (1939-1969) from various general and art periodicals, newspaper clippings (1937-1970), and programs and calendars from public events at which Lawrence spoke or was honored.

In their original state, the Lawrence Papers contained three scrapbooks which held a variety of materials, including correspondence, exhibition announcements and catalogs, magazine appearances, and newspaper clippings, which documented the early stages of his career (pre-1950). In the interest of preservation, the scrapbooks were dismantled and the materials integrated into various parts of the collection.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Genres and Forms

Occupations

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Jacob Lawrence Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Library

Finding Aid Information

Created by: Anne Diekma, KM
Date: Jan 1992
Revision history: 19 Mar 2007 - converted to EAD (AMCon)

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Inventory

	Biographical data
Box 1		Biographical material (2 folders)

	Correspondence
Box 1		1937-1971, undated (36 folders)

	Artwork (reproductions)
Box 1		Photographs
Box 1, 2		Printed material (14 folders)
Box 2		Slides (2 folders)

	Writings
Box 2		Interviews
Box 2		Speeches
Box 2		Miscellaneous

	Printed material
		Academic brochures, course catalogs
Box 2			Brandeis University 1965
Box 2			New School 1966-1969
Box 2			Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture 1968-1970 (2 folders)
Box 2			Miscellaneous
Box 2		Exhibition announcements, invitations (2 folders)
Box 2		Exhibition catalogs 1937-1959 (28 folders)
Box 3		Exhibition catalogs 1960-1971, undated (16 folders)
Box 3		Exhibition posters

	Memorabilia
Box 3		Awards
Box 3		Financial
Box 3		Invitations (non-exhibition related)
Box 3		Photographs
		Printed material
Box 3			Articles about 1939-1969, undated (10 folders)
			Books about
Box 3				Jacob Lawrence / Aline Saarinen - page proofs
Box 3				Peripheral mention (3)
Box 3			Clippings 1937-1970, undated (17 folders)
Box 4			Programs, calendars (2 folders)
Box 4			Miscellaneous - about
		Writings by others
Box 4			The Beloit Poetry Chapbook, no. 1 - inscribed presentation copy from Langston Hughes
Box 4			Various - manuscripts
Box 4		Miscellaneous (2 items)

	Selected index to correspondence
		Abernathy, Ralph David 11 June 1968 1 Oct. 1968 Alan Gallery 20 June 1955 23 Sept. 1955 Alston, Charles 12 Oct. 1970 American Artists School 26 Aug. 1937 American Negro Exposition 6 Aug. 1940 23 Aug. 1940 Ames, Elizabeth 10 Jan. 1953 7 Jan. 1954 Andrews, Benny 12 Dec. 1966 Art in America 15 July 1963 Barr, Alfred Hamilton 24 Nov. 1945 Bearden, Romare H. 19 May 1965 9 Apr. 1971 undated (3) Biskin, Miriam 2 Feb. 1964 Bocour, Leonard 21 May 1965 Borden, Lizzie undated Bowling, Frank 15 Dec. 1966 Burns, Andrew 5 Feb. 1953 31 Jan. 1956 3 Feb. 1965 Carty, Leo S. 4 Mar. 1970 Chamberlain, Betty 23 Feb. 1971 Charriere, Gerard 12 Feb. 1970 Chase, Judith Wragg 19 Feb. 1971 Clark, Claude 26 June 1968 7 Aug. 1968 30 Nov. 1968 2 Feb. 1969 7 Feb. 1969 17 May 1969 Cohen, Hy 11 Mar. 1966 22 Mar. 1966 9 June 1967 29 Mar. 1968 Crichlow, Ernest T. 2 Nov. 1961 Cummings, Mildred H. 16 Mar. 1968 11 Apr. 1968 4 July 1968 13 July 1968 Davis, Robert Tyler 8 Nov. 1945 Denhof, Miki undated [Terry] Dintenfass, Inc. 5 Feb. 1963 23 Apr. 1963 9 May 1963 13 July 1964 30 Sept. 1964 6 Mar. 1965 9 Mar. 1965 11 Mar. 1965 4 May 1965 Downtown Gallery (See Halpert, Edith Gregor) Davis, Stuart 1945 Sept. 30 Driskell, David C. 7 May 1962 7 May 1968 31 May 1968 26 June 1968 11 Sept. 1968 18 Oct. 1968 21 Nov. 1968 19 Dec. 1968 10 May 1969 14 July 1969 Ehrensperger, Harold 18 Nov. 1949 Eichenberg, Fritz 24 Mar. 1964 1 Sept. 1964 21 Apr. 1969 Evergood, Philip 21 Oct. 1963 17 Nov. 1963 23 Nov. 1964 5 Feb. 1965 8 Mar. 1965 Fax, Elton C. 7 Apr. 1967 9 Aug. 1967 15 Aug. 1967 Forsman, Chuck undated Fortune 1 July 1941 6 June 1947 Gahagan, James E. 13 Apr. 1969 Gaither, Edmund B. 29 Oct. 1969 Gilbert, Creighton 25 Sept. 1964 19 Oct. 1964 28 Dec. 1964 8 Jan. 1965 26 Jan. 1965 26 Aug. 1968 Gonzalez, Xavier 16 Dec. 1966 26 Dec. 1966 Gottlieb, Harry 4 Oct. 1937 Grigsby, Eugene Howard 22 Aug. 1968 11 Nov. 1968 Gwathmey, Rosalie (Mrs. Robert) undated (2) Halpert, Edith Gregor 15 Dec. 1941 12 Feb. 1942 12 Mar. 1942 4 June 1948 1 Apr. 1961 13 July 1964 31 Aug. 1964 undated Harris, M. A. 20 Nov. 1967 Henderson, Harry Brinton 17 Nov. 1970 4 Jan. 1971 Hirsch, Joseph undated Hirshhorn, Joseph H. 8 Apr. 1968 Holty, Carl 22 May 1969 Hough, Winston Harry undated Hughes, Langston 26 Feb. 1966 Jefferson, Louise E. 11 Feb. 1969 Kent, Norman 17 Apr. 1970 Koch, John 24 Nov. 1969 Lasker, Joe 11 Dec. 1968 Lerner, Abram 3 Feb. 1960 Levine, Jack 9 May 1966 undated Lindsay, John V. 26 Sept. 1968 Lion, Stephan 20 Sept. 1968 Lipman, Jean (See Art in America) Locke, Alain LeRoy 11 Nov. 1948 undated Mayor, A. Hyatt 23 July 1962 2 Aug. 1962 10 Sept. 1962 Mebane, Mary E. 30 Mar. 1964 Mechau, Frank 24 Apr. 1940 23 Sept. 1940 Meltzer, Milton 29 Apr. 1966 Miller, Earl 14 Jan. 1968 Moore, Trevor Wyatt 14 Mar. 1965 Nordness, Lee 15 Jan. 1962 18 July 1962 O'Connor, Francis V. Mar./Apr. 1968 Patterson, Raymond 9 Jan. 1968 4 May 1968 18 Oct. 1968 6 Mar. 1969 14 June 1969 Penney, Edmund F. 2 Apr. 1970 Perry, Regenia Alfreda 8 Mar. 1971 Pratt Institute 7 June 1956 2 Oct. 1958 Aug. 1962 Aug. 1963 21 Nov. 1963 18 Feb. 1965 8 July 1965 29 June 1966 24 May 1968 10 June 1969 17 June 1971 15 Sept. 1970 Prestopino, Gregorio undated Randolph, A. Philip 14 Oct. 1970 Rigg, Margaret 18 Jan. 1962 20 Mar. 1962 25 Sept. 1962 18 Oct. 1962 12 July 1963 8 Oct. 1963 24 Sept. 1970 [Julius] Rosenwald Fund 17 Apr. 1940 11 Apr. 1941 18 Apr. 1942 Ross, John 1 June 1964 30 Apr. 1968 Sheeler, Charles undated Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture 13 Apr. 1967 26 Sept. 1968 4 Aug. 1967 7 Nov. 1967 16 Nov. 1967 24 Nov. 1967 5 Nov. 1968 1 Apr. 1969 16 Feb. 1971 undated Smith, Joseph A. undated Smith, Vincent 28 Dec. 1967 29 Mar. 1968 Soyer, Moses undated Soyer, Raphael 21 Nov. 1968 Spingarn, Amy undated Stevens, May 26 Aug. 1968 Taylor, Francis Henry 5 Nov. 1945 United States Committee for the First World Festival of Negro Arts, Inc. 12 Oct. 1964 beg. 1966 11 Mar. 1966 17 Aug. 1966 Walker, Constance 1 Oct. 1968 Williams, Walter 27 May 1969 Wilson, Ed 23 Dec. 1967 11 Mar. 1969 Yarde, Richard 19 Oct. 1967

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