Title: Langston Hughes Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1917-1967

Creator:

• Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967

Call Number: U.S. Mss 3AN

Quantity: 0.8 c.f. (2 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of a prominent black author and playwright, consisting mainly of scripts and librettos in both published and unpublished form. Represented are such titles as The Barrier (1950), Don't You Want To Be Free (1937), The Prodigal Son (1960), Shakespeare in Harlem (1959), and Simply Heaven (1957). There is also a biographical sketch listing all of Hughes' literary work and a group of playbills and memorabilia.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0003an

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Langston Hughes--poet, novelist, playwright--was born in Joplin, Missouri on February 1, 1902. As a boy he lived in Kansas and Missouri, and he attended high school in Cleveland, Ohio. In the early 1920's the young man extended his travels even further, working as a seaman from 1923 to 1925; shortly thereafter he returned to school and received his B.A. from Lincoln University in 1929. Although Hughes traveled extensively throughout his life, Harlem was his home and he wrote of its people.

“Discovered” by Vachel Lindsay in 1924, Hughes was one of the young black poets who rose to prominence during the “Negro Renaissance” of the 1920's. His first book of poems, Weary Blues, was published in 1926 and his literary output from then on was prodigious, totaling more than 30 volumes.

Hughes was the recipient of many awards during his career, including several honorary degrees, a Guggenheim Fellowship (1925), the Harmon Gold Medal for Literature (1931), the Rosenwald Fellowship (1941), the American Academy of Arts Letters Grant (1947), the Anisfield-Wolfe Award (1953), and the N.A.A.C.P.'s Spingarn Medal (1960). He taught creative writing at Atlanta University in 1947 and in 1949 was poet-in-residence at the Laboratory School of the University of Chicago.

Although Langston Hughes is most well-known for his poetry and for the creation of his “Simple” character--a kindly and perceptive black man--he also wrote extensively for the theatre. His first full-length play, Mulatto (1935), was successful in New York, but banned in Philadelphia because it dealt with miscegenation. Despite his Broadway success it was difficult to find producers for his work and, recognizing the problem for black playwrights generally, Hughes founded two dramatic groups during the thirties, the Suitcase Theatre in Harlem and the Negro Art Theatre in Los Angeles. Don't You Want to Be Free?, his successful one-act play, opened at the Harlem Suitcase Theatre in 1937.

Poetry and music were never far from the theatrical medium for Hughes; indeed, they were a vital part of it. He wrote the lyrics to accompany Kurt Weill's music for Street Scene (1947); the book for the opera, Troubled Island (1949); and the book and lyrics for the opera, The Barrier (1950). In 1957 Simply Heavenly, called “the definitive folk comedy of life in Harlem,” was produced, and in 1959 Hughes collaborated with James Weldon Johnson on Shakespeare in Harlem.

Hughes remained active in the theatre through the mid-sixties, writing Tambourines to Glory, Jerico-Jim Crow, and The Prodigal Son in the successive years 1963, 1964, and 1965. Late in his career Langston Hughes was criticized because his work did not reflect the bitterness and cynicism of other black writers or, indeed, of the racial scene of the 1960's. Even so, his main concern--the plight of the black man in the United States--remained constant and it was a theme he handled with sensitivity. The “poet of Harlem” died in 1967.

The Langston Hughes Papers consist primarily of plays and librettos by Hughes, in both published and unpublished versions. This theatrical material has been organized chronologically according to the date of production or, if unproduced in New York, according to the date of the script. A folder of miscellaneous programs and clippings (Box 2, Folder 7) is at the end of the collection.

A microfilm of Langston Hughes' unpublished plays is located in the Rare Books Room of the Memorial Library. Plays included are Emperor of Haiti, Mulatto, Little Ham, Sun Do Move, Tambourines to Glory, and When the Jack Hollers or Careless Love.

Much of Langston Hughes' correspondence is located at the James Weldon Johnson Library, Yale University. In Box 1 is a list of Hughes Papers at the State University of New York, Buffalo.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Langston Hughes, New York, N.Y., 1961-1967.

Processing Information

Processed by L. Blank, March 1971.

	Series: Biographical Materials
Box   1 Folder   1	Biographical information
Box   1 Folder   1	List of his works
Box   1 Folder   1	List of papers held by the State University of New York, Buffalo
	Series: Theatre	⇧
	The Gold Piece (published , 1921)
Box   1 Folder   2	Script
	Soul Gone Home
Box   1 Folder   3	Script, 1936; libretto, , 1961 Note: See also Box 1, Folder 8.
	Don't You Want to Be Free? (1937 February)
Box   1 Folder   4	Script, W.W.I version; script, centennial version (1963)
	Troubled Island (1949 March 31) Note Prod: Laszlo Halasz Dir: Eugene Bryden Libretto: Langston Hughes Music: Wm. Grant Still Cast: Robert Weede, Richard Charles, Helena Bliss, Marie Powers
Box   1 Folder   5	Libretto, published copy, 1949
	Emperor of Haiti (play from the opera Troubled Island)
Box   1 Folder   6	Script, 1963; programs
	The Barrier (1950 November 2) Note Prod: Michael Myerberg, Joel Spector Dir: Doris Humphrey Book & Lyrics: Langston Hughes (based on his earlier play Mulatto) Music: Jan Meyerowitz Cast: Lawrence Tibbett, Muriel Rahn
Box   1 Folder   7	Libretto, 1959; programs; notes
	Love From a Tall Building
Box   1 Folder   8	Libretto, 1954 Note: See also Box 1 Folder 3.
	Simply Heavenly (1957 May 21) Note Prod: Stella Holt Dir: Joshua Shelley Book & Lyrics: Langston Hughes (based on his story Simple Takes a Wife) Music: David Martin Cast: Melvin Stewart, Marilyn Berry, Stanley Greene
Box   1 Folder   9	Script; published copy, 1959; programs
	Shakespeare in Harlem , (1959 October 27) (Based on poems by Langston Hughes. Presented with Soul Gone Home) Note Prod: Howard Gottfried and Robert Glenn Dir: Robert Glenn Author: Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson Music: Margaret Bonds Cast: Jan Riley, John McCurry, Alma Hubbard, Calden Marsh
Box   1 Folder   10	Script, 1960; programs; clippings
	Mister Jazz
Box   1 Folder   11	Libretto, 1960; program
	Mother and Child (based on his short story of the same name)
Box   1 Folder   12	Script, 1961
	Gospel Glow
Box   2 Folder   1	Script, 1962; programs
	Tambourines to Glory (1963 November 2) Note Prod: S. & H. Venture, Sydney S. Baron Dir: Nikos Psacharopoulos Book & Lyrics: Langston Hughes Music: Jobe Huntley Cast: Robert Guillaume, Joseph Attles, Rosalie King
Box   2 Folder   2	Libretto, 1960; program
	Jerico-Jim Crow (1964 January 12) Note Prod: Stella Holt Dir: Alvin Ailey, William Hairston Book & Lyrics: Langston Hughes Music Dir: Hugh Porter Cast: Gilbert Price, Hilda Harris, Joseph Attles, Rosalie King
Box   2 Folder   3	Script, 1963; programs; clippings and reviews
	The Prodigal Son (1965 May 20) Note Prod: Stella Holt Dir: Vinnette Carroll Book & Lyrics: Langston Hughes Music: Marion Franklin Cast: Phillip Stamps, Dorothy Drake, Vinnette Carroll, Robert Pinkston
Box   2 Folder   4	Script, 1963; programs, clippings and reviews
Box   2 Folder   5	Series: Miscellaneous programs and clippings	⇧