Exploring Archival Media
The Schomburg Center is organized by material format. This means that appointments to view photographs, art work, and audiovisual materials need to be made separately. Click through the tabs below to learn about the types of materials and see some examples of poems and poetry material in the Art and Artifacts, Moving Image and Recorded Sound, and Photographs and Prints Divisions.
Archival Media at the Schomburg Center
The following is a sample of materials in the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division that documents the poetry and poets. These materials include albums, oral histories, documentaries, and other audio visual materials that capture the history, present, and future of Black poetry.
On the bottom right is a small sampling of some poetry LPs available in The Schomburg Center's Moving Image and Recorded Sound division. With more than 25,000 long-play (LP) albums, the recorded sound collections cover the various traditional and contemporary music genres from across the diaspora. The holdings range from the earliest recordings of classic blues singers and jazz bands through gospel, rhythm and blues, and a growing collection of rap and hip-hop music.
Additional materials and information and accessing these materials can be identified with the divisional staff. Please contact them directly at schomburgmirs@nypl.org
Moving Image and Recorded Sound collections
- Alexis De Veaux audio and moving image collection : 150 items. by The collections consists of sound recordings featuring De Veaux's interviews, readings, and recordings of various events, and moving image recordings of performances of "Elbow Rooms," "The Tapestry," "A Season to Unravel," and readings and interviews with De Veaux, and more.Call Number: Sc MIRS DeVeaux 2012-06
- Jayne Cortez audio and moving image collection : 146 items. byCall Number: Sc MIRS Cortez 2010-11
- Maya Angelou audio and moving image collection. byCall Number: Sc MIRS Angelou 2010-19
Audio Materials
- LeRoi Jones reads and comments on his poetry [sound recording]. byCall Number: Sc Audio C-128Publication Date: 1964
Biographical visual materials
- A Higher Form of Politics: the Rise of a Poetry Scene, Los Angeles, 1950-1990 by Poetry. California Interest. African & African American Studies. Latino/Latina Studies. Literary Nonfiction. Translated from the French by Mindy Menjou and George Drury Smith. This comprehensive history of the Los Angeles poetry scene from the 1950s to the 1990s appears for the first time in English in Mindy Menjou and George Drury Smith's skillful translation. The book includes a DVD copy of Innerscapes, 10 Portraits of Los Angeles Poets, a documentary made by the author in Los Angeles from 1986-88.Call Number: Sc Visual DVD-1508ISBN: 9780986017353Publication Date: 2015-01-15
- Reverberations. The Poet finds himself in Harlem [videorecording] : Black poets, there and here byCall Number: Sc Visual VRA-866 Service copy.Publication Date: 1977
- Right on! byCall Number: Sc Visual VRA-1107
The Photographs and Prints Division of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, contains both documentary and fine art photographs, which document the history and culture of people of African descent worldwide as well as the work of photographers of African descent. The collection of over 300,000 images ranges from mid-eighteenth-century graphics to contemporary documentary and art photography.
Additional collection materials can be identified with the help of the reference librarian. Please contact them directly at schomburgphotography@nypl.org
Photograph Collections
- Akasha Hull photographs.Call Number: Sc Photo Akasha Hull Collection
- Brad Johnson photographs.Call Number: Sc Photo Brad Johnson Collection
- Cheryl Boyce-Taylor photograph collection.Call Number: Sc Photo Cheryl Boyce-Taylor Collection
- Craig G. Harris photographsCall Number: Sc Photo Craig G. Harris Collection
- Essex Hemphill and Wayson Jones photograph collection.Call Number: Sc Photo Essex Hemphill and Wayson Jones Collection
- Photographs [graphic] / Leandre Jackson. by Features photographs and poets and poetry eventsCall Number: Sc Photo Portfolio (Jackson, L.)
Portrait Collections
- Amiri Baraka portrait collectionCall Number: Sc Photo Baraka, Imamu Amiri
- Countee Cullen portrait collectionCall Number: Sc Photo Cullen, Countee
- Juan Latino portrait collectionCall Number: Sc Photo Latino, Juan
- Nicolás Guillen portrait collectionCall Number: Sc Photo Guillen, Nicolás
- Nikki Giovanni portrait collectionCall Number: Sc Photo Giovanni, Nikki
- Paul Laurence Dunbar portrait collectionCall Number: Sc Photo Dunbar, Paul Laurence
The Art and Artifacts Division collects, documents, preserves, and interprets art and artifacts by and about peoples of African heritage throughout the world. Fine and applied art and material culture objects from the seventeenth century to the present are collected, with emphasis on the visual arts of the twentieth century in the United States and Africa.
For more information on resources in their division, please email schomburgart@nypl.org.
- Black authors and poets poster collectionPosters manufactured between 1940 and 1991 (primarily the 1970's and 80's), bearing information related to black authors and poets. About half of the collection announce new books published by a variety of presses including the Howard University Press, Dial Press, Leswing Press, Anchor Books, Alfred A. Knopf and Delacorte Press. Authors advertised include Nicolas Guillen, Nikki Giovanni, Margaret Walker, Alice Walker, Alex Haley, Vera B. Williams, Virginia Hamilton and many others. Books being advertised include fiction and nonfiction titles; many are ads for children's literature.
MIRS LP Collection
Below is a small sampling of some jazz LPs available in The Schomburg Center's Moving Image and Recorded Sound division. With more than 25,000 long-play (LP) albums, the recorded sound collections cover the various traditional and contemporary music genres from across the diaspora. The holdings range from the earliest recordings of classic blues singers and jazz bands through gospel, rhythm and blues, and a growing collection of rap and hip-hop music. We encourage researchers to email the division at schomburgaudiovisual@nypl.org to inquire further about their holdings.
