Claude McKay collection: additions
1912 - 1953

1912 - 1953

The Claude McKay collection (additions) consists of correspondence, manuscripts, a galley, and related printed material. The correspondence includes letters from McKay to Simon Williamson, which trace the development of their friendship and its dissolution; and letters to Ruth Raphael, which discuss McKay's health, writings, and conversion to Catholicism. The general correspondence folder contains letters about "Bambara" magazine, a literary endeavor proposed during the Harlem Renaissance. McKay was to be the editor of the publication, with A. A. Schomburg as sponsor and Harold Jackman as treasurer. Manuscripts include a poem by McKay, with editorial notes, entitled Note to Harlem; a corrected typescript of My Greenhills of Jamaica; and the galley for the book, Selected Poems of Claude McKay, which was published after his death. The introduction of this last work was written by John Dewey, with a biographical sketch by Max Eastman. The news clippings are mostly obituaries and matters relating to the distribution of his literary papers. Finally, there are McKay's signed contracts for Banana Bottom, with Harper and Brothers, 1931, and "Personal Recollections and Autobiography", with Lee Furman, Inc., 1936, which was later published as A Long Way from Home.

correspondence

contracts

manuscripts

news clippings

15 linear feet (1/2 archival box)

English

Sc MG 623