Langston Hughes papers, 1910-1976, (bulk 1932-1934).

ArchivalResource

Langston Hughes papers, 1910-1976, (bulk 1932-1934).

Langston Hughes papers, 1910-1976, (bulk 1932-1934).

1910-1976

http://catalog.huntington.org/record=b1590217

This collection is arranged in three parts. The first part consists of a pocket diary, manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, and ephemera to, by, and about Langston Hughes. The second part of the collection consists of photographs and another Hughes pocket notebook. The third part consists of letters, ephemera and photographs primarily by Loren Miller and related to the 1932 Soviet Union trip. Langston Hughes was a close friend of Loren and Juanita Miller. Hughes and Miller traveled to the Soviet Union in 1932 with 19 other African-Americans onboard the ship Europa for a film project that never materialized. The bulk of the material dates between 1932 and 1934, the years that Langston Hughes traveled to and from the Soviet Union and Mexico. There are two photographs from onboard the Europa including a group photograph of 20 of the 22 who traveled to the Soviet Union. There are also two books autographed by Langston Hughes to Loren and Juanita Miller that were transferred to Rare Books in August 2002. These books are One-Way Ticket (RB 606889) and Simple Speaks His Mind (RB 606888). Correspondence consists of: 5 letters from Langston Hughes to Loren Miller; 1 letter to Juanita Miller; 2 letters from Si-lan Chen Leyda to Langston Hughes; 5 letters from Maxim Lieber to Langston Hughes about selling some of Hughes' short stories; and 4 letters to Langston Hughes from Josephine De Witt, L.B. (Lidiì'a Borisovna) Filatova, Jozsef Rem'enyi, and Agnes Smedley. There are 3 letters to Loren Miller from Bill Jordan; Helen O.; and Kenneth P. O'Donnell inviting Miller to a civil rights meeting with President Kennedy in 1963. There is also 1 letter to Maxim Lieber from Elsie Weil about a Hughes' short story. Correspondence in part III is primarily from Loren Miller to Juanita Miller and Nora Miller, with a few letters to and from other friends and family. The Manuscripts are: Mother and Child [one-act play]; The Need for Heroes [essay]; "Once again..."; Oyster's Son [short story]; Pocket Diary while in China and Japan; Professor [short story]; Reno Possess Only Negro Weather Man [essay]; The Sailor and the Steward [short story]; and Wise Men [poem]. In November 2002, photographs of the Miller family were loaned to the Huntington Library by Halvor Miller, Jr. to be copied and returned. In November 2003, a second notebook kept by Hughes while in the Soviet Union was purchased from the Millers. The second notebook and the Miller family photographs were cataloged separately and are stored in a second box.

124 pieces.

Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens