Research Catalog

Arthur Alfonso Schomburg collection

Title: Arthur Alfonso Schomburg collection [graphic].
Publication: 1911-1997.

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Status	Container	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person.	box 2	Still image	Use in library	Sc Photo Arthur Alfonso Schomburg Collection box 2	Schomburg Center - Photographs & Prints
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person.	box 1	Still image	Use in library	Sc Photo Arthur Alfonso Schomburg Collection box 1	Schomburg Center - Photographs & Prints

Details

Additional Authors

Description

264 items (.6 lin. ft., 2 boxes); 28 x 21 cm. and smaller.
87 photographic prints : silver gelatin, b&w ;
56 photographic prints : silver gelatin, b&w ;
72 photographic prints : silver gelatin, b&w ;
34 photographic prints : silver gelatin, b&w ;
2 photostats : b&w ;
4 photomechanical prints : some halftone, b&w ;
2 photographic postcards : b&w ;
1 drawing : pencil on paper, b&w ;
2 news clippings : halftone, b&w ;
1 greeting card : col. ;
3 photocopies : b&w ;

Summary

The Arthur Alfonso Schomburg Collection depicts aspects of his personal life and his activities as a Freemason, bibliophile and curator from the 1870s to 1938.

Subjects

Genre/Form

Portrait photographs – 1910-1999.
Group portraits – 1910-1989.
Snapshots – 1920-1939.
Gelatin silver prints – 1910-1999.
Photomechanical prints – 1930-1989.
Photograph albums – 1920-1929.
Scrapbooks – 1920-1929.
Clippings – 1930-1939.
Reproductions – 1980-1999.
Inscriptions – 1900-1930.
Stats – 1980-1989.

Note

Title devised by cataloger.
Two photographs have photographer's handstamp on verso; some photographs have photography studio name printed on recto. Some photographs bear handwritten notations on verso; many photo album images are accompanied by handwritten captions. Some items have printed captions attached to verso; some items have captions or notations printed on recto. Some items bear inscriptions. Many photographs, mostly snapshots, are mounted on photo album pages; some images are mounted on copy boards; some photographs are on photo mounts. Some items have cropping and/or retouching marks; some images are duplicates.
Collection contains work by James L. Allen, Helen Marcus and Campbell Studios, New York, among others.

Biography (note)

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, bibliophile, was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, of racially mixed parentage in 1874.

Publications (note)

Arthur Alfonso Schomburg: black bibliophile & collector / Elinor Des Verney Sinnette. Detroit : Wayne State University; New York : New York Public Library, 1989.
The legacy of Arthur Alfonso Schomburg: a celebration of the past, a vision for the future. [New York] : New York Public Library, 1986.

Call Number

Sc Photo Arthur Alfonso Schomburg Collection

OCLC

NYPG00-F13

Title

Arthur Alfonso Schomburg collection [graphic].

Imprint

1911-1997.

Biography

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, bibliophile, was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, of racially mixed parentage in 1874. He received a formal education, but was largely self-taught. He moved to the United States in 1891, settling in New York City, where he would join the Masons, became active in the independence movement for Puerto Rico and Cuba, and began his lifelong quest to acquire the literature and art of persons of African descent. After working for five years in a law office, he began a 23 year tenure at the Bankers Trust Company, in 1906, eventually working his way up to head of the mail room.

As an expert in the history of persons of African descent, Schomburg, now known as Arthur, was an important figure during the Harlem Renaissance. He was active in the Prince Hall Freemasons; helped to co-found the Negro Society for Historical Research, with journalist John Bruce, in 1911; became the president of the short-lived American Negro Academy in 1922; and wrote numerous essays and bibliographical studies on African and African-American history. In 1925, the New York Public Library opened a Negro Division at the 135th Street Branch Library in Harlem, followed the next year by the Carnegie Corporation's $10,000 donation to purchase Schomburg's collection of books, manuscripts and art, which was then donated to the library. Schomburg, who was a librarian at Fisk University from 1930 to 1932, became the Carnegie funded curator of his collection at the 135th Street Branch, and remained in this position until his death in 1938. His collection was named the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and History in 1940; in 1973, it was renamed the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Publications

Arthur Alfonso Schomburg: black bibliophile & collector / Elinor Des Verney Sinnette. Detroit : Wayne State University; New York : New York Public Library, 1989.

The legacy of Arthur Alfonso Schomburg: a celebration of the past, a vision for the future. [New York] : New York Public Library, 1986.

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Added Author

Allen, James L. (James Latimer), 1907-1977. Photographer

Colorado, R. Photographer

Marcus, Helen. Photographer

Sprinkle, W. A. Photographer

Argudín y Pedroso, Pastor, painter.

Braxton, William Ernest, 1878-1932, painter.

Brent, Richard. Illustrator

Smith, Albert Alex. Illustrator

Campbell (New York, N.Y.)

De Bellis Studio (New York, N.Y.)

Gillman & Co. (Oxford, England)

Strohmeyer & Wyman.

Vernon (New York, N.Y.)

Research Call Number

Sc Photo Arthur Alfonso Schomburg Collection

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