Countee Cullen papers, 1900-1947 | Amistad Research Center

By Florence Borders, Christopher Harter, Duncan May, Jessica Macleish, and Topher England

Collection Overview

Title: Countee Cullen papers, 1900-1947

Creator: Cullen, Countee (1903?-1946)

Extent: 11.9 Linear Feet

Arrangement: Collection is arranged in thirteen series. Most series are arranged chronologically or topically within each series. Correspondence is arranged alphabetically and then chronologically.

Date Acquired: 01/01/1970. More info below under Accruals.

Languages: English, French, Portuguese, German

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The papers of poet and playwright Countee Cullen document his personal and professional lives, as well as his relations with leading writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance era. Among the papers, which measure 7.8 linear feet, are correspondence; accounts, records, documents, legal papers, and certificates; a fragmentary diary (1928); teaching plan books and other teaching records; writings, including, articles, a book review, letters to editors, juvenile novels, plays, poems, a radio serial, and a short story; sheet music; notes and lists; scrapbooks and clippings; biographical sketches and obituaries; photographs; programs, invitations, and announcements; pamphlets, leaflets, and several periodicals; and phonograph records. The greater part of the collection consists of the correspondence of Countee Cullen and his writings.

The letters of Cullen and his contemporaries reveal their close associations and provide insight into their lives, as well as their thoughts on the writing and art, collectively and individually, being produced during the Harlem Renaissance. Cullen's writings represented in the collection range from hand script and typescript drafts to published works in serial, book, and broadside formats. A number of Cullen's poems set to music are also represented.

Cullen's personal life is represented by legal, medical, and other documents, as well as certificates and other ephemera. The collection also includes a number of scrapbooks and notebooks containing Cullen's thoughts, essays, and poems. Teaching plan books, as well as student exams and poems, provide a view of Cullen's later life as a teacher. Much like the correspondence in the collection, the photographs include those of not only Cullen, but many of his contemporaries.

Biographical Note

One of the leading figures in the Harlem Renaissance, Countee Cullen achieved recognition as a respected writer at an early age and was one of the most widely read American poets during his lifetime. Cullen contributed greatly to African American letters as a poet, playwright, and editor. He later taught in the New York school system.

Cullen's early life, including his date of birth and birthplace, has been speculated on by scholars. He was likely born on May 30, 1903, in Louisville, Kentucky, although his birthplace has also been cited as Baltimore, Maryland; New Orleans, Louisiana; and New York City. His father is unknown, and his mother, Elizabeth Thomas Lucas, died in Louisville in 1940.

By 1916, Cullen was living with Amanda Porter, presumably his grandmother, in New York. He attended Public School 27 under the name Countée L. Porter. After her death in 1917, Cullen went to live with Reverend Frederick Asbury Cullen and his wife, Carolyn, in Harlem. Although he was never formally adopted by the Cullens, he assumed their surname in 1918.

Cullen did well in school, was active in various clubs, and received a number of awards and recognitions. Throughout secondary school and at New York University, he was active in various literary societies and his poetry began appearing regularly in school publications. His poetry won awards from contests sponsored by the Empire Federation of Women's Clubs, the Poetry Society of America, and The Crisis magazine, and was published in magazines such as American Mercury, Poetry, Opportunity, The Crisis, Harper's, and others. Cullen's first book, Color, was published in 1925 during his senior year at New York University, where he received his bachelor's degree. He received his master's degree from Harvard University.

Cullen's second book, Copper Sun, was published in 1927 and was awarded a prize by the Harmon Foundation. During that same year, he edited an anthology of African American poetry entitled Caroling Dusk, which was illustrated by Aaron Douglas. Cullen's work received widespread acclaim due to his ability to portray the African American experience through classical poetic forms. He was soon hailed as the leading literary figure of the "New Negro Movement," which later became known as the Harlem Renaissance.

Cullen served as assistant editor of Opportunity from 1926 to 1928, which regularly featured his column, "The Dark Tower." The year 1928 saw the publication of his third volume of poetry, The Ballad of a Brown Girl. He began studying in Paris on a Guggenheim Fellowship that same year. The Black Christ and Other Poems was published while he was living in France.

In 1928, he married Nina Yolande Du Bois, daughter of W.E.B. Du Bois. However, they divorced two years later, in part because of Cullen's admission to her that he was sexually attracted to men. During the 1930s and 1940s, Cullen continued to write; however, he failed to receive the critical acclaim of his earlier works. He wrote his only novel, One Way to Heaven (1932), a volume of poems entitled The Medea and Some Poems (1935), and two books for children, The Lost Zoo (1940) and My Lives and How I Lost Them (1942).

Cullen lectured and conducted readings during those decades. He began teaching in New York public schools in 1932, and accepted a full-time position teaching English and French at Frederick Douglass Junior High School two years later. He married Ida Mae Roberson in 1940. Cullen died on January 9, 1946.

Cullen's interests in classical and romantic lyrical poetry lead some critics, including contemporaries such as Langston Hughes, to fault his work for not addressing African American themes on a deeper level, especially in his later work. His collaboration with Arna Bontemps on the script for the musical St. Louis Woman was also opposed by the NAACP for its representation of African Americans. However, Cullen remains one of the leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance and was for many years the most celebrated poets in the United States.

Administrative Information

Accruals: Three additions to this collection were received in 1970, 1976, and 1986.

Access Restrictions: This collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions: Copyrights and other intellectual property rights for all books, plays, and literary works of Countee Cullen have been assigned to the Amistad Research Center. It is the responsibility of an author to secure permission for publication from the holder of the copyright to any material contained in this collection.

Technical Access Note: Phonograph records are unavailable for use.

Acquisition Source: Ida Cullen Cooper and Ida Cullen Cooper Estate

Acquisition Method: Gift and Purchase

Appraisal Information: The Countee Cullen papers document the life and career of the Harlem Renaissance poet and playwright.

Original/Copies Note: Portions of the collection as originally processed in 1975 have been microfilmed. For more information please see http://www.amistadresearchcenter.org/_pdfs/Archon/Countee Cullen Papers - Microfilm Guide.pdf.

Related Materials:

Ida Cullen Cooper papers

Robert Cooper papers

Countee Cullen's library is housed within the Amistad Research Center's library collection.

Related Publications:

Early, Gerald (ed.). My Soul's High Song: The Collected Writings of Countee Cullen, Voice of the Harlem Renaissance. (New York: Doubleday, 1991).

Perry, Margaret. A Bio-Bibliography of Countee P. Cullen, 1903-1946. (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1971).

Preferred Citation: Countee Cullen papers, Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana

Processing Information: Collection originally processed by Florence Borders in 1975.

Finding Aid Revision History:

In 2009, the collection was reprocessed to include a 1986 addendum. During this reprocessing, the collection was reorganized into series and material postdating Cullen's life and collected by Ida Cullen Cooper was transferred to the Ida Cullen Cooper papers.

This finding aid represents the entirety of the Countee Cullen papers, including portions not listed in the guide to the microfilm edition of the papers.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Correspondence, 1921-1946],
[Series 2: Financial, Legal, and Other Documents, 1928-1946],
[Series 3: Writings, circa 1917-1947],
[Series 4: Diaries, Notebooks, and Scrapbooks, 1928-1945],
[Series 5: School Materials, 1921-1926],
[Series 6: Teaching Materials, 1930-1946],
[Series 7: Photographs, circa 1903-1946],
[Series 8: News Clippings, 1924-1946],
[Series 9: Memorabilia and Related Materials, 1900-1946],
[Series 10: Rev. Frederick A. Cullen Materials, 1923-1946, undated],
[Series 11: Realia, undated],
[Series 12: Oversize Materials],
[Series 13: Phonograph Records],
[All]

Series 3: Writings, circa 1917-1947

Boxes 8-11

The writings of Countee Cullen in this collection include typescripts with revisions of his juvenile novels: The Lost Zoo (1940), My Lives and How I Lost Them (1942), and The Monkey Baboon (unpublished, n.d.). His plays, The Medea of Euripides (1935), One Way to Heaven (1932), Heaven's My Home by Cullen and Harry Hamilton (unpublished, n.d.), and St. Louis Woman by Arna Bontemps and Cullen (1935 and later versions) are well represented in the collection. While most are represented in typescript form with little revision, St. Louis Woman is shown in various draft forms with extensive revisions. Also included are poems set to music and an assortment of miscellaneous items: an article, a book review, two letters to editors, two speeches, a radio serial, and a short story.

An interesting group of writings are the poems, especially those set to music and dedicated or presented to Countee Cullen. These include early poems by Jessie Fauset, Langston Hughes, and others less well known. Cullen's own poems are found in both typescript and hand script, while some are in final published form in various periodicals.

Box 8

Folder 1: Speeches, 1923, [1942-1944?]
Folder 2: Article: The Development of Creative Expression, 1943: In High Points, September 1943
Folder 3: Book reviews: by and about C. Cullen, 1921-1940
Folder 4: Letters to editors, [1926], 1943
Folder 5: Novels, Juvenile: The Lost Zoo, circa 1940: typescript with hand script revisions
Folder 6: Novels, Juvenile: The Lost Zoo, circa 1940: typescript, [final draft]
Folder 7: Novels, Juvenile: The Lost Zoo, 1940: photocopy of published version; contains inscription "To Pumble from Pop Christmas, 1940"
Folder 8: Novels, Juvenile: The Adventures of Monkey Baboon, undated: typescript with hand script revisions, unpublished
Folder 9: Novels, Juvenile: The Adventures of Monkey Baboon, undated: illustrations by Petion Savain with hand script notes
Folder 10: Novels, Juvenile: My Lives and How I Lost Them, circa 1942: proofs with hand script corrections; Note: Housed in Box 23
Folder 11: Novels, Juvenile: My Lives and How I Lost Them, circa 1942: final proofs; Note: Housed in Box 23
Folder 12: Novels, Juvenile: Nine Lives - An Autobiography by Christopher Cat [published as My Lives and How I Lost Them], undated: typescript with hand script revisions [fragment, pp 1-68]
Folder 13: Novels, Juvenile: Nine Lives - An Autobiography by Christopher Cat [published as My Lives and How I Lost Them], undated: typescript with hand script revisions [fragment, pp 1-57]
Folder 14: Plays: Heaven's My Home, circa 1935: synopsis, [fragment]
Folder 15: Plays: Heaven's My Home, 1935: typescript [Copy 1, text in all black]
Folder 16: Plays: Heaven's My Home, 1935: typescript, [Copy 2, stage directions in red]
Folder 17: Plays: Heaven's My Home, 1935: typescript, [Copy 3, text in all black]
Folder 18: Plays: Byword for Evil: An Adaptation of the Medea of Euripedes with a Prologue and Epilogue, circa 1935: typescript
Folder 19: Plays: Byword for Evil: An Adaptation of the Medea of Euripedes with a Prologue and Epilogue, circa 1935: typescript with minor hand script revisions

Box 9

Folder 1: Plays: The Medea of Euripides, circa 1935

typescript [stage directions in red]

Folder 2: Plays: The Medea of Euripides, circa 1935

typescript carbon

Folder 3: Plays: The Medea of Euripides, circa 1935

typescript [marked obsolete]

Folder 4: Plays: The Medea of Euripides, circa 1935

typescript carbon, Note attached reading: "This version, numbered 101, typed according to cuts in version numbered #1, marked "obsolete." Printed Score for songs matched words of #101, after cutting. This seems to indicate that #101 is the preferred version. md July 21, 1970."

Folder 5: Plays: One Way to Heaven, circa 1932

typescript

Folder 6: Plays: One Way to Heaven, circa 1932

typescript carbon

Folder 7: Plays: One Way to Heaven, circa 1932

typescript carbon

Folder 8: Plays: St. Louis Woman, notes, undated

Folder 9: Plays: St. Louis Woman, 1945, December

typescript draft

Folder 10: Plays: St. Louis Woman, 1945

Folder empty, with note: "Pulled and sent to Mrs. Cooper, 7/21/75"

Folder 11: Plays: St. Louis Woman

Item 1: typescript draft with hand script revisions and additions. [fragment, Act I], undated
Item 2: typescript letter from the Regional Director for New York City of the Federal Theatre Project to Cullen and Bontemps, 1935, December 20

Folder 12: Plays: St. Louis Woman, 1945

typescript draft with hand script revisions and additions [fragment, Act II]. Includes a draft of a July 27, 1945, letter from Countee Cullen to Edward Gross on verso of hand script addition to play.

Folder 13: Plays: St. Louis Woman, undated

typescript with extensive hand script revisions by Cullen.

Folder 14: Plays: St. Louis Woman, circa 1945

typescript with hand script revisions.

Folder 15: Plays: St. Louis Woman, 1935

typescript; first produced version with production notes

Folder 16: Plays: St. Louis Woman, undated

typescript, revised by Langston Hughes, [Stage directions in red]

Box 10

Folder 1: Plays: St. Louis Woman, undated

typescript, revised by Langston Hughes,[text in all black]

Folder 2: Plays: St Louis Woman, list of songs, undated

hand script

Folder 3: Plays: St. Louis Woman, lyrics - "Can't You See That I'm Happy", undated

4 typescript copies

Folder 4: Plays: St. Louis Woman, lyrics - "I Got Teeth Made of Gold" [First Act Finale], undated

6 draft copies - 2 hand script, 2 typescript with hand script revisions, and 2 typescript.

Folder 5: Plays: St. Louis Woman, lyrics - "I'm a Saint Louis Woman", undated

6 draft copies - 2 hand script, 1 typescript with hand script revisions, 3 typescript

Folder 6: Plays: St. Louis Woman, lyrics - "I'm Little but I'm Loud", undated

5 draft copies - 3 typescript with hand script revisions, 2 typescript.

Folder 7: Plays: St. Louis Woman, lyrics - "In the Beginning", undated

6 draft copies - 2 hand script, 4 typescript

Folder 8: Plays: St. Louis Woman, lyrics - "It's Leaving Time", undated

3 draft copes - 1 hand script, 1 typescript with hand script revisions, 1 typescript

Folder 9: Plays: St. Louis Woman, lyrics - "Love Takes the Cake", undated

6 draft copies - 4 hand script, 1 typescript with hand script revisions, 1 typescript

Folder 10: Plays: St. Louis Woman, lyrics - "Mean, Mean, Mean: Sweet, Sweet, Sweet", undated

4 draft copes - 1 hand script, 2 typescript with hand script revisions; 1 typescript

Folder 11: Plays: St. Louis Woman, lyrics - "Money Talkin'", undated

2 draft copies, typescripts with hand script revisions

Folder 12: Plays: St. Louis Woman, lyrics - "Take Me Along", undated

2 draft copies, both typescript

Folder 13: Plays: The Third Fourth of July, August 1946

by Countee Cullen and Owen Dodson. In Theatre Arts, Vol. XXX, No. 8 (August 1946)

Folder 14: Plays, School: For Armistice Day, undated

typescript

Folder 15: Plays, School: Mellowdrama, 1942, March 26

typescript, in the French and English

Folder 16: Plays, Untitled

Item 1: Notes on a Play, possibly for Ethel Waters - a sociological comedy-satire to be laid on an island somewhere off the coast of South America, undated: typescript, with hand script revisions
Item 2: Dialogue between Harry, Jack, and Ted, undated: typescript, [fragment]
Item 3: Dialogue between Batchelo and Andy, undated: typescript with hand script revisions, [fragment]

Folder 17: Poems: Advice to Youth, undated

photostatic copy of hand script

Folder 18: Poems: Apostrophe to the Land, Fall 1942

in Phylon, Vol. III No. 4 (Fourth Quarter 1942)

Folder 19: Poems: Ave Atque Vale, January 1921

photocopy from The Magpie, Vol. XX, No. 4 (January 1921)

Folder 20: Poems: La Belle, La Douce, La Grande, 1944

photocopy from the New York Herald Tribune, July 10, 1944

Folder 21: Poems: Black Majesty, November 1930

photocopy from the Expository Times, Edinburgh, November 1930

Folder 22: Poems: Brown Boy to Brown Girl (Remembrance on a Hill), September 1924

photocopy from Opportunity, September 1924

Folder 23: Poems: Christus Natus Est, December 1943

broadside (3 copies)

Folder 24: Poems: Clinton Alma Mater, June 1922

photograph of The Magpie, June 1922

Folder 25: Poems: Clinton to Her Graduates, January 1921

photocopy from The Magpie, Vol. XX No. 4 (Jan 1921)

Folder 26: Poems: Dad, April 1924

In a photocopy of the article "A Pair of Youthful Negro Poets" by Robert T. Kerlin. From the April 1924 edition of Southern Workman. Also includes text of the poem Road Song.

Folder 27: Poems: "Epilogue" and "To One Who Was Cruel", Spring 1946

photocopy of poems from Copper Sun, in Embers Vol. 4, Nos. 2-3 (March-April, May-June 1946)

Folder 28: Poems: The Dance of Love, September 1924

2 photocopies from Les Continents, September 1, 1924

Folder 29: Poems: Elegie - In Memoriam: Jacques Roumain, 1944

In Cahiers d'Haiti Vol. II No. 4 (November 1944)

Folder 30: Poems: From Fifty Years, undated

typescript

Folder 31: Poems: Ghosts, 1929

hand script, includes a hand script letter from Allen Tate to Cullen on verso, dated January 25, 1929

Folder 32: Poems: Heritage, undated

pamphlet

Folder 33: Poems: I Have a Rendezvous with Life, 1921

photocopy from The Magpie, Vol. XX No. 4 (January 1921)

Folder 34: Poems: If You Should Go, circa 1931

photostatic copy of hand script [written for Yolande Du Bois] with a note from Cullen to Du Bois

Folder 35: Poems: Afterword, circa 1931

photostatic copy of hand script [written for Yolande Du Bois]

Folder 36: Poems: An Incident in Baltimore, May 1925

photocopy from The World Tomorrow

Folder 37: Poems: Incidente Em Baltimore, undated

photocopy of a Portuguese translation of "An Incident in Baltimore"

Folder 38: Poems: Karenge Ya Marenge, Winter 1943

in India News, Vol. 3, Nos. 1 & 2 (January-February 1943)

Folder 39: Poems: Life's Rendezvous, 1927

from Caroling Dusk... (1927 ed.)

Folder 40: Poems: The Loss of Love, undated

typescript

Folder 41: Poems: A Negro Mother's Lullaby (After Visiting John Brown's Grave), circa 1941

typscript

Folder 42: Poems: An Old Story, May 1927

in The Carolina Magazine, Vol. 57, No. 7 (May 1927)

Folder 43: Poems: Only the Polished Skeleton, circa 1933

typescript

Folder 44: Poems: A Song of Sour Grapes, October 1926

in Palms, Vol. IV No. 1 (October 1926)

Folder 45: Poems: Song of the Wakeupworld, circa 1917-1924?

typescript

Folder 46: Poems: Untitled Sonnet, 1934

from The Courier, Berkeley CA, April 7,1934

Folder 47: Poems: Sonnet to Yolande, September 1923

photostatic copy of hand script [written for Yolande Du Bois]

Folder 48: Poems: Untitled Sonnet, Spring 1932

in Trend: A Quarterly of the Seven Arts, Vol. I, No. 1, (Spring 1932)

Folder 49: Poems: To a Swimmer, May 1918

in The Modern School: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Libertarian Ideas in Education, Vol. V, No. 5 (May 1918) [Poem signed Countee L. Porter]

Folder 50: Poems: Where Two or Three are Gathered (At Padriac Colum's Where There Were Irish Poets), December 1930

in the program for the NAACP Benefit Concert at the Waldorf Theatre, December 7, 1930

Folder 51: Poems: The Wise, 1924

photocopy from The Nation, 1924

Folder 52: Poems: Youth to Age, 1923

photocopy of unknown source

Folder 53: Poems: The Medea and Some Poems, circa 1935

corrected proofs

Note: Housed in Box 23

Folder 54: Poetry, Anthologies: On These I Stand, circa 1946

typescript and hand script lists of poems suggested for inclusion in anthology; typescript and tear sheets with hand script revisions of poems to be included in anthology [fragment, pp 1-22]

Folder 55: Poetry, Anthologies: On These I Stand, circa 1946

typescript and tear sheets with hand script revisions [fragment, pp 23-41]

Box 11

Folder 1: Poetry, Anthologies: On These I Stand, circa 1946

typescript and tear sheets with hand script revisions, [fragment, pp 42-69]

Folder 2: Poetry, Anthologies: On These I Stand, circa 1946

typescript with hand script revisions [fragment, pp 70-115]

Folder 3: Poetry, Anthologies: On These I Stand, circa 1946

typescript with hand script revisions [fragment, pp 116-139]

Folder 4: Poetry, Anthologies: On These I Stand, circa 1946

typescript with hand script revisions, [fragment, pp 140-159]

Folder 5: Poems Set to Music: List of Poems Set to Music, undated

typescript

Folder 6: Poems Set to Music: A Brown Girl Dead, [1925/1926]

Item 1: Poems Set to Music: A Brown Girl Dead, [1925/1926]: lyrics by Cullen, music by Harold Bruce Forsythe, hand script score; Note: Housed in Box 23

Folder 7: Poems Set to Music: Christus Natus Est, 1945

Item 1: Christus Natus Est, 1945: [6 copies] lyrics by Cullen, music by Charles H. Marsh, typescript score
Item 2: Christus Natus Est, 1945: poem by Countee Cullen, music by Charles H. Marsh, hand script score

Folder 8: Poems Set to Music: Clinton, My Clinton, 1922

Item 1: Poems Set to Music: Clinton, My Clinton, 1922: photograph, 1922; lyrics by Cullen, music by W. Samuels, arranged by L.F. West
Item 2: Poems Set to Music: Clinton, My Clinton, 1922: lyrics by Cullen, music by W. Samuels, arranged by L.F. West, photostatic copy, 1922

Folder 9: Poems Set to Music: Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts, undated

Item 1: typescript score
Item 2: Lyrics by Cullen, music by William Lawrence, hand script score
Item 3: Lyrics by Cullen, music by William Lawrence, typescript score, [3 copies]

Folder 10: Poems Set to Music: Epitaph to Joseph Conrad, circa 1942

lyrics by Countee Cullen, music by William Schuman. In Schuman's Four Canonic Choruses, part of the Choral Compositions series

Folder 11: Poems Set to Music: If You Should Go, [1925/1926], 1928, undated

[3 settings] hand script scores

Note: Housed in Box 23

Folder 12: Poems Set to Music: A Rendezvous with Life, undated

lyrics by Cullen, music by John J. Moed, photostatic copy

Folder 13: Poems Set to Music: Requiescam, 1926

hand script score

Note: Housed in Box 23

Folder 14: Poems Set to Music: Seven Choruses from the Medea of Euripides, 1935, 1942

Item 1: 1935: in Countee Cullen's translation into English, with music by Virgil Thomson, typescript score
Item 2: 1942: in Countee Cullen's translation into English, with music by Virgil Thomson, typescript score

Folder 15: Poems Set to Music: Song of the Wake Up World, circa 1944

lyrics by Cullen, music by Donato Fortuno, hand script score

Folder 16: Poems Set to Music: To a Brown Girl, [1925/26]

lyrics by Cullen, music by Harold Bruce Forsythe, hand script score

Note: Housed in Box 23

Folder 17: Poems Set to Music: The Wise, 1926

hand script score.

Note: Housed in Box 23

Folder 18: Radio Serial: Ma Perkins, June 25th, 1943

by Leston Huntley and Henry Selinger, Script # 2585. Typescript. [Probably used as example for script written for radio serial by Countee Cullen and Hughes Allison]

Folder 19: Radio Serial: The Sunny Side of the Street - An Adaptation of the Leston Huntley-Natalie Johnson Radio Serial Idea, circa 1944

By Countee Cullen and Hughes Allison. Includes a prospectus, character sketches, an outline of one week's worth of shows, and a letter from Countee Cullen and Hughes Allison to Leston Huntley. Typescript, with a few hand script revisions.

Folder 20: Radio Serial: The Sunny Side of the Street, circa 1944

Lead-in and scripts for 5 episodes in typescript and some hand script notes about further episodes.

Folder 21: Short Stories: Maricoyo, undated

Typescript; a story for children.

Folder 22: Outline of Proposed Book: You Learn to Love Then, undated

Typescript.

Folder 23: Dust Jackets, undated

An assortment of dust jackets from Cullen's publications.

Item 1: Copper Sun
Item 2: The Ballad of the Brown Girl: The front and rear boards of The Ballad of the Brown Girl - An Old Ballad Retold by Countee Cullen with illustrations and decorations by Charles Cullen.
Item 3: My Lives and How I Lost Them: [2 copies]
Item 4: The Black Christ
Item 5: One Way to Heaven
Item 6: Caroling Dusk - An Anthology of Verse by Negro Poets
Item 7: On These I Stand: [2 copies]

Folder 24: Sheet Music from St. Louis Woman, 1946

Item 1: I Wonder What Became of Me, 1946: music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Sheet music, 1946
Item 2: Cakewalk Your Lady, 1946: music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Sheet Music.

Folder 25: Opera: Detailed Synopsis of Rashana, undated

By Gracy Bundy Still [and William Grant Still]; Countee Cullen was to write the libretto for this in 1928/1929.

Folder 26: Score: Seven Choruses from the Medea of Euripides, 1942

by Virgil Thompson, photocopy of published score.