Collection inventory

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Braithwaite, William Stanley, 1878-1962.
Title:	William Stanley Braithwaite Papers
Inclusive Dates:	1916-1962
Quantity:	3.5 linear ft.
Abstract:	Papers of the African-American poet, author, critic. Correspondence, and manuscripts by Braithwaite and others. Notable correspondents include Arna Bontemps, Louis Bromfield, Sterling Brown, Marie Bullock, Witter Bynner, Cass Canfield, Bliss Carman, Bennet Cerf, Katherine Chapin, James Cozzens, Countee Cullen, Gustav Davidson, W.E.B. DuBois, Kimball Flaccus, Robert Frost, Claire and Nina Gerbaulet, Louis Ginsberg, Hermann Hagedorn, Leigh Hanes, Robert Hillyer, John Holmes, Langston Hughes, Georgia Johnson, MacKinlay Kantor, Joseph Joel Keith, Florence Lennon, Benjamin Mays, David McCord, Marianne Moore, Maurice Peloubet, Bliss Perry, Minerva Perry, Helen Channing Pollock, Ruby Altizer Roberts, Paul Robeson, Angelo Schmuller, Lulu Schultz, George S. Schuyler, Delmore Schwartz, Eli Siegel, Jules Siegel, Noble Sissle, Chard Powers Smith, Vladimir Sokoloff, Arthur Spingarn, Jesse Stuart, A.M. Sullivan, May Swenson, Ridgely Torrence, Carl Van Vechten, George Sylvester Viereck, Harold Vinal, Booker T. Washington, Robert C. Weaver, John Hall Wheelock, Margaret Widdemer, William Carlos Williams, and Roscoe Wright.
Language:	English
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center

Biographical History

William Stanley Braithwaite (1878-1962) was an African-American poet, literary critic, editor, and anthologist. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he was for the most part educated at home, but his love of literature led him to his first job as an apprentice at the publishing firm of Ginn & Company. Over the course of his career he wrote numerous books of poetry and literary criticism, including Lyrics of Life and Love (1904), The House of Falling Leaves (1908), The Poetry of Thomas S. Jones Jr. (1910), The Story of the Great War (1919), Our Essayists and Critics of Today (1920), The Grecian Influence of John Myers O'Hara (1926), Frost on the Green Leaf (1928), and The Bewitched Parsonage: The Story of the Brontes (1950). Anthologies edited by Braithwaite include The Poetic Year for 1916 (1916), Golden Treasury of Magazine Verse (1918), The Book of Modern British Verse, Victory: Contributed by 38 American Poets, and Anthology of Massachusetts Poets (1922).

He served as literary editor of the Boston Evening Transcript, editor of The Poetry Journal in Boston, Massachusetts, executive editor for B. J. Brimmer Publishing Company, and editor of the annual Anthology of Magazine Verse and Year Book of American Poetry, published from 1913 to 1939. He was also Professor of Literature at Atlanta University for nearly ten years.

In 1918 Braithwaite received Honorary Masters degrees from Atlanta University and Talladega College, and the same year the NAACP awarded him its Spingarn Medal.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The William Stanley Braithwaite Papers is comprised of 3-1/2 boxes of literary correspondence and 3-1/2 boxes of manuscripts.

Correspondence contain more than a thousand letters, cards, telegrams and other items; correspondents include J. Donald Adams, Arna Bontemps, Witter Bynner, James Gould Cozzens, W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Joseph Joel Keith, Paul Scott Mowrer, Helen Channing Pollock, A.M. Sullivan, and many others.

Manuscripts contains numerous manuscripts of the author's works, outlines for projected works, and typescripts of work of many leading poets collected for the Braithwaite's famous anthologies.

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Arrangement of the Collection

Correspondence is arranged alphabetically by name. Manuscripts are arranged ???

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

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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Related Material

A large part of William Stanley Braithwaite's personal library is at Boston University.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Subjects

Genres and Forms

Occupations

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

William Stanley Braithwaite Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Mrs. William S. Braithwaite, 1964.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: JSP
Date: Oct 1964
Revision history: 14 Mar 2008 - converted to EAD (MRC); 18 Jun 2012 - LCSH updates (MRC)

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Inventory

	Correspondence
		Incoming literary correspondence
Box 1			Aa-Az
Box 1			Academy of American Poets 1959
Box 1			Adams, J. Donald 1957-1959
Box 1			Auslander, Joseph 1959
Box 1			Austin, Edmund O. 1950-1958
Box 1			Ba-Bz
Box 1			Bardolph, Richard 1955-1957
Box 1			Beebe, Lucius 1946
Box 1			Benet, Rosemary 1959
Box 1			Black, John 1921-1948
Box 1			Bligh, E. W. 1919
Box 1			Bonner, Amy 1941
Box 1			Bontemps, Arna 1948-1960
Box 1			Brennan, John Payne 1958-1959
Box 1			Bromfield, Louis undated
Box 1			Brown, Sterling 1941
Box 1			Buchman, Marion 1960-1961
Box 1			Bullock, Marie 1958-1961
Box 1			Bynner, Witter 1958-1960
Box 1			Ca-Cz
Box 1			Canfield, Cass undated
Box 1			Carman, Bliss 1911
Box 1			Carpenter, Margaret 1958
Box 1			Cerf, Bennet A. 1942
Box 1			Chapin, Katherine Garrison 1958
Box 1			Clairmonte, Glenway and Joy
Box 1			Clemens, Cyril 1945
Box 1			Code, Grant H. 1939
Box 1			Coward-McCann 1949-1953
Box 1			Cozzens, James Gould 1924
Box 1			Crews, Caswell W. 1931
Box 1			Cullen, Ida and Countee undated
Box 1			Da-Dz
Box 1			Dargan, Olive T. 1958-1960
Box 1			Davidson, Gustav 1958-1960
Box 1			DuBois, W. E. B. 1939-1949
Box 1			Ea-Ez
Box 1			Eaton, Charles Edward 1958-1960
Box 1			Ebony Magazine 1950-1956
Box 1			Engle, Paul 1959
Box 1			Evans, Charles 1956
Box 1			Fa-Fz
Box 1			Farber, Norma 1959
Box 1			Fenton, Charles 1956
Box 1			Flaccus, Kimball 1953
Box 1			Frost, Robert 1958
Box 1			Ga-Gz
Box 1			Gardiner, George L. 1959-1960
Box 1			Ginsberg, Louis 1959
Box 1			Gerbaulet, Joy and Claire 1916-1917
Box 1			Gomme, Laurence 1958-1962
Box 2			Ha-Hz
Box 2			Hagedorn, Hermann 1959
Box 2			Hanes, Leigh 1951-1956
Box 2			Hillyer, Robert 1925
Box 2			Holmes, John 1956-1958 - includes 2 copies of poems
Box 2			Hughes, Langston 1947-1959
Box 2			Hunting, H.B. 1938-1939
Box 2			Ja-Jz
Box 2			Jackson, Ralph
Box 2			Johnson, Georgia Douglas undated
Box 2			Ka-Kz
Box 2			Kantor, Mackinlay 1956-1959
Box 2			Keith, Joseph Joel 1959-1960 - includes 1 inscribed poem
Box 2			Kline, Burton 1955-1957
Box 2			La-Lz
Box 2			Lawrence, Lillith 1958-1959
Box 2			Lennon, Florence Becker undated
Box 2			Ma-Mz
Box 2			Mays, Benjamin 1942
Box 2			McCord, David 1958-1959
Box 2			Moore, Marianne 1960
Box 2			Mowrer, Paul Scott 1959-1961
Box 2			Na-Nz
Box 2			Negro Digest 1947-1948
Box 3			Oa-Oz
Box 3			Pa-Pz
Box 3			Peloubet, Maurice 1958-1960
Box 3			Perkins, Maxwell 1939-1949
Box 3			Perry, Bliss undated
Box 3			Perry, Minerva 1947
Box 3			Poetry Society of America
Box 3			Pollock, Helen Channing 1949
Box 3			Ra-Rz
Box 3			Reid, Ira De A. 1941-1946
Box 3			Roberts, Ruby Altizer 1956-1960
Box 3			Robeson, Paul 1949
Box 3			Ross, David 1960
Box 3			Sa-Sz
Box 3			Schmuller, Aaron 1959
Box 3			Schultz, Lula Minerva
Box 3			Schuyler, George S. 1953-1958
Box 3			Schwartz, Delmore 1958
Box 3			Scott, Dorothy L. 1942
Box 3			Siegel, Eli 1959-1960
Box 3			Siegel, Jules 1958
Box 3			Sissle, Noble
Box 3			Smith, Chard Powers 1955-1961
Box 3			Sokoloff, Vladimir undated
Box 3			Spingarn, Arthur B. 1941-1955
Box 3			Stiles, Roberta undated
Box 3			Stuart, Jesse 1958-1959
Box 3			Sullivan, A. M. 1958-1960
Box 3			Swenson, May 1958
Box 3			Ta-Tz
Box 3			The Dryden Press 1941-1942
Box 3			Tillman, N. P. 1944-1948
Box 3			Torrence, Ridgeley 1942 - inscribed photo
Box 3			Tutin, William L. 1945-1947
Box 3			Ua-Uz
Box 3			Va-Vz
Box 3			Van Vechten, Carl 1947
Box 3			Viereck, George Sylvester 1958
Box 3			Vinal, Howard 1948
Box 3			Wa-Wz
Box 3			Wakefield, Oliver Lindsay
Box 3			Washington, Booker T. 1939
Box 3			Weaver, Robert C. 1961
Box 3			Wheelock, John Hall 1952
Box 3			Whitcomb, George Faunce 1958-1959
Box 3			Widdemer, Margaret 1958
Box 3			Williams, William Carlos undated
Box 3			Wright, Roscoe 1927-1962
Box 3			Unidentifiable correspondence signed "Barbara"
Box 3			Unidentifiable correspondence
Box 3			Incoming family correspondence
Box 3			Miscellaneous correspondence
		Outgoing literary correspondence
Box 4			Aa-Bz
Box 4			Ca-Gz
Box 4			Ha-Lz
Box 4			Ma-Pz
Box 4			Qa-Zz
Box 4			Unidentifiable and/or fragments

	Manuscripts
		Verse by others
Box 4			Aa-Cz, typescripts
Box 4			Da-Lz, typescripts
Box 4			Hanes, Leigh, holograph, with short article
Box 4			Ma-Rz, typescripts
Box 4			Sa-Zz, typescripts
Box 4			Printed copies of verse by others
Box 4			Miscellaneous typescript copies of poems by other
		Verse by Braithwaite
Box 5			Holograph
				A Christmas card you cannot read Among my friends and those An Easter Song For Wynone A Mother's Prayer A rose to the living is more Dear Ike, we honor and adore you For Marianne Moore Go, book, to her be heart and eyes Idiomatic If Herrick had his Julia I looked at the moon In a sunken Pool Not Wise Enough Of One Who Spurns the Lyric One Book Review by J— On An Alabaster Burial Urn Return of the Native Rorty Stardust Vendor Shadows Tenderer I Would Be The Greeks Lost the Word For It The Lady And the Census Taker The Praying Hands There are windows to houses This is the year of great decision Though he may come but once a year Three tall candles may they flame To Helen Channing Pollock To Jane and Julie To Laurie My Granddaughter On Her Second Birthday To M. To Robert Frost We are the music-makers What can I wish you more than this When Mary, flower of maiden head Who Makes the Wind
Box 5			Typescript
				Ascension Ambrose Bierce Anne Bradstreet and Phyllis Wheatley An Easter Song Another Avowal Bewitchment Blessing Bryant Park Chastisement Christopher Cinicampius Writes a Letter in Memory of his Friend Erasmus Del Cascar Cynthia Taggart Emily Bronte Ever Old, Ever New Femininity Flower of the Hawthorne For a Lady Who Asked Me to Write a Petrarchan Sonnet For Truda T. Weil Guynemer Idiomatic If I Were Prickled With the Scratch of Rhyme Iron and corn to rust and ripen How Have I Reached This Height That Now Surveys Life's Trivia Loves of the Puppets Mr. Kasebier's Orchard Mysteries Not Wise Enough Keat's Birthday Of Dead Ladies Of One Who Spurns the Lyric O Lady of the Hawthorne On An Alabaster Burial Urn On Being Threatened With Blindness On the Centenary of the Birth of Booker T. Washington Only To the Soul Is lt Given On the Jiffy Bag Petition Photograph of Robert Frost Prophecy Remembrance of Elizabethan Springtide Saint Rose of Lima Sara Teasdale Sea Honeymoon To Icaria Shadows Sidney Lanier Should the bright world now fade out on a weight Signal Some Literary Epigrams Tender I Would Be The Age of Ebony The Echo of the Singers The Ghost In the Carpet The Greeks Lost the Word For lt The Hour Most Still The King's Daughter The Mutuel Player's Prayer These things now swept me on a tide The Palm The Praying Hands The Septuagenarian Approaches Christmas The Signal The Tragedy of Lovers Leap They Are Awakened Time For A Change To Jane And Julie To Marianne Moore For Her Birthday To One In Whose Feeding Lurks A Dragon To Robert Herrick, In the Spring To Smith, — Her Dog Trail-Breaker Who Makes the Wind With a fierce spring and loud alarm Wreckage Will There Be Another April You Flashed Like A Cardinal Bird
		Articles and books by Braithwaite
Box 5			Selected Poems - typescript
Box 5			Selected Poems - printer's proofs
Box 5			A Letter In Memory of Erasmus and Other Poems - typescript
Box 5			Anthology of Magazine Verse and Yearbook of American Poetry 1958 - partial proofs
Box 5			The Bewitched Parsonage: The Story of the Brontes - typescript table of contents
Box 5			The Bewitched Parsonage: The Story of the Brontes - typescript copies, Chapters I, II, III, V, VII, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX, XX
Box 5			The Bewitched Parsonage: The Story of the Brontes - typescript copies, Chapters XXII, XXIV, XXV, XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX, XXX, XXXI, XXXII
Box 5			The Bewitched Parsonage: The Story of the Brontes. - typescript partial manuscript
Box 5			unnumbered chapters on Emily, Charlotte, Branwell Bronte, Emily's Poems, and The Bronte Family. - typescript copies
Box 5			Miscellaneous material on The Bewitched Parsonage: The Story of the Brontes.
Box 6			Proposed book A Century of the Negro Novelist - holograph outline
Box 6			Proposed book A Century of the Negro Novelist - holograph copy
Box 6			Proposed book A Century of the Negro Novelist - typescript copies
Box 6			Further material concerning author's proposal for book A Century of the Negro Novelist
Box 6			Article, "Alain Locke and Negro Authorship" - typescript copies
Box 6			Article, A Pioneer Magazine - typescript
Box 6			Article, "A Prophetic Bible Course" - holograph copy
Box 6			Article, "A Prophetic Bible Course" - typescript
Box 6			Article, "Dispensational Truth or God's Plan and Purpose In The Ages" - holograph copy
Box 6			Article, "Dispensational Truth or God's Plan and Purpose In The Ages" - typescript
Box 6			Article, "Emily Bronte: A Study in Literary Alchemy." - holograph copy
Box 6			Article, "Emily Bronte: A Study in Literary Alchemy." - typescript
Box 6			Article, "Gallant Sir Harry Vane." - typescript
Box 6			Pandora's Garden: An Anthology of the Women Poets of America - typescript outline
Box 6			Story of the Years Between: 1918-1939 - typescript
Box 6			Article, "The Contemporary Novelist." - typescript
Box 6			Article, "The Feast of the Poets." - typescript
Box 6			The House Under Arcturus: An Autobiography - typescript partial manuscript
Box 6			Article, "The Magazines and The Poets and Other Studies in Prose and Verse." - typescript
Box 6			Article, "The Negro in American Literature." - typescript
Box 6			Article, "The New Emancipation." - typescript
Box 6			The Years Between 1918-1939 - typescript table of contents
Box 6			The Years Between 1918-1939 - holograph copy
Box 6			The Years Between 1918-1939 - transcript fragments
Box 6			Article, "Three Friends: A Sheaf of Memoirs" - holograph copy
Box 6			Article on Boston and New England - typescript
Box 6			Article on W. E. B. DuBois - holograph copy
Box 6			Article on Negro Community of New York - typescript
Box 6			Typescript and holograph copies of several short manuscripts
Box 6			Several short articles - holograph copies
Box 6			Several short articles - typescript copies
		Reviews
Box 6			Reviews by W. S. Braithwaite - holograph copies
Box 6			Reviews by W. S. Braithwaite - typescript copies
Box 6			Reviews - printed copies
Box 6			Review of The Bewitched Parsonage: The Story of the Brontes
Box 6			Reviews of Anthology of Magazine Verse and Yearbook of American Poetry
Box 6			Review of Selected Poems
Box 6			Miscellaneous reviews
		Other material
Box 6			General clippings
Box 6			Material concerning anthology
Box 6			Song with lyrics by W. S. Braithwaite
Box 6			Photograph of W. S. Braithwaite
Box 6			Miscellaneous photographs
Box 6			Typescript articles on W. S. Braithwaite
Box 7			Tape recording: "Enjoyment of Poetry" series, WEVD 6 Jul 1958
Box 7			Pamphlets and programs
Box 7			Magazines (2 folders)
Box 7			Miscellaneous material

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