DACS

micheauxsociety Inventory of the Oscar Micheaux Society Papers, 1976-2004 Processed by: Colby Bogie; machine-readable finding aid created by: Colby Bogie David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library Duke University Durham, N.C., USA

Aleph Number: 004983840

Machine-readable finding aid derived from XML authoring program. Date of source: July 2011Processed by Colby Bogie, July 2011; finding aid encoded by Colby Bogie, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University, July 2011 Description is in English Finding aid was prepared using DACS and local Style Guide Inventory of the Oscar Micheaux Society Papers, 1976-2004 David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library Duke University Durham, North Carolina 27708-0185 USA

Descriptive Summary David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University Oscar Micheaux Society. Oscar Micheaux Society Papers, 1976-2004 Material in English 4.5 Linear Feet 3375 Items For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog. The Oscar Micheaux Society formed in the early 1990s to promote the study of the early African-American film director, writer, and producer Oscar Micheaux. Oscar Micheaux Society newsletters, production files, administrative materials, and correspondence regarding grants, restoration projects, Micheaux-related events and exhibits, and black film scholarship. Administrative Information Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

However, collection may contain materials to which the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibilities and Privacy Rights form applies. Patrons must sign this form before using this collection.

Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.

Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Oscar Micheaux Society Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Provenance

The Oscar Micheaux Society Papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library as a gift in 2010.

Processing Information

Processed by Colby Bogie, July 2011

Encoded by Colby Bogie and Meghan Lyon, July 2011

Accession(s) described in this finding aid: 2010-0198

Descriptive sources and standards used to create this inventory: DACS, EAD, NCEAD guidelines, and local Style Guide.

This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.

Historical Note

The Oscar Micheaux Society formed in the early 1990s to promote the study of the early African-American film director, writer, and producer Oscar Micheaux. It released its first newsletter in February 1993 under the editorship of Jane Gaines and Charlene Regester, professors of film at Duke and UNC, respectively. The group would later collaborate with Turner Classic Movies to restore a recently rediscovered print of Micheaux's silent-film masterpiece Symbol of the Unconquered; the restored film aired as a part of TCM's "A Separate Cinema" series in the summer of 1998. The Society also spearheaded a book project entitled Micheaux and His Circle. The collection of essays featured several Oscar Micheaux Society Newsletter contributors, many of whom had presented their work at the "Micheaux and His Circle" conference at Yale in 1995; it was co-edited by Jane Gaines, Pearl Bowser, and Charles Musser.

Collection Overview

This collection contains copies of the first eleven issues of the Oscar Micheaux Society Newsletter, along with files relating to the production of those newsletters. (Beginning with the twelfth issue in 2004, the newsletter was published electronically.) There are several files of proposals, budgets, and correspondence from the many grant applications by which the organization attempted to secure funding for its book and restoration projects. The collection also contains information and programs from a variety of Micheaux-related events and exhibits; newspaper and magazine articles about Oscar Micheaux; resources and scholarship about Micheaux and black film generally; and a large number of photos, stills, and visual materials.

Subject Headings

These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.

Oscar Micheaux Society. Micheaux, Oscar, 1884-1951. African Americans in motion pictures. Motion pictures--United States--History--20th century. Motion picture producers and directors--United States. African American motion picture producers and directors. Archive of Documentary Arts. Contents of Collection Correspondence, 1990-2000 (1 box)

Oscar Micheaux Society correspondence, including extensive e-mail exchanges between the newsletters editors and contributors.

1Barbara White correspondence, 1996 Campaign to nominate Ben Rinaldo to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 2000 Dorothy Dandridge photo correspondence, 1998 General correspondence, 1991-1994 Micheaux book correspondence, 1995-1996 Newsletter correspondence, 1991-1997 Pearl Bowser/Charlie Musser correspondence, 1994-1995 Smithsonian Press correspondence, 1998 TCM Micheaux restoration correspondence, 1996-1997 William Greaves correspondence, 1994 Events, 1976-2001 and undated (1 box)

Programs, guides, and information from a variety of Micheaux-related events, some of which (such as the "Micheaux and His Circle" conference) were sponsored and organized by the Society.

1American Museum of the Moving Image guide to exhibitions and programs, 1990-1994 Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, 1976 Carolina Theatre Black Film Festival, 1996 Early Black Film Festival (Germany), undated Festivals/Series, 1992-1993 Gregory, SD welcome binder, 1996 John Hope Franklin 80th birthday celebration, 1995 Mapp Collection of African-American Film Posters exhibit, 1993-1994 "Micheaux and His Circle" conference, 1993-1995 "Micheaux and His Circle" conference curriculae vitae, 1994 Multicultural Film Festival, 1996 Oscar Micheaux Film Festival, 1996 Oscar Micheaux Film Festival, 1996-1999 Oscar Micheaux Film Festival, 2001-2005 Oscar Micheaux Society annual meetings, 1992-1996 The Other Oscars (Great Bend, KS), 2001 Race Reels poster, 2001 Symbol of the Unconquered screening at Duke, 1998 TCM's A Separate Cinema, 1998 Grant Applications, 1992-1997 and undated (1 box)

Proposal guidelines and drafts, budgets, and correspondence related to the Society's grant applications.

1Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Foundation, 1995-1996 Book proposal and budget, 1995 Budgets, proposals, and correspondence, 1992-1998 Ford Foundation grant, 1993-1997 Grant application drafts and correspondence, 1993-1996 Grant proposal template, 1992-1993 Louis B. Mayer Foundation, 1994-1996 Micheaux and His Circle budgets, 1993 and undated Micheaux Project funding ideas, 1993-1995 Micheaux Project restoration leads, 1993-1996 National Endowment for the Humanities/American Film Institute grants, 1992-1994 National Endowment for the Humanities grant, 1996-1997 Pennsylvania grants, 1993-1995 Rejection letters, 1994-1996 Returned proposals, 1995-1996 Micheaux Publicity, 1983-2003 and undated (1 box)

Newspapers, magazines, and clippings about Oscar Micheaux, black film generally, and the Society's activities.

2News Articles, 1983-1998 and undated Newspapers, 1994-2001 Periodicals, 1998-2003 and undated Newsletters, 1993-2003 (1 box)

Eleven printed issues of the Oscar Micheaux Society Newsletter.

2Newsletter Vol. 1, Feb. 1993 Newsletter Vol. 2, Nov. 1993 Newsletter Vol. 3, Summer 1994 Newsletter Vol. 4, 1995 Newsletter Vol. 5, Summer 1996 Newsletter Vol. 6, Winter 1997 Newsletter Vol. 7, Summer 1998 Newsletter Vol. 8, Spring 2000 Newsletter Vol. 9, Spring 2001 Newsletter Vol. 10, Fall 2001 Newsletter Vol. 11, Fall 2003 Production Files, 1992-2004 and undated (2 boxes)

Files related to the production of the Oscar Micheaux Society Newsletter, including article ideas, drafts, correspondence, and layouts. This series also includes files related to the production of a special edition of Black Film Review that Jane Gaines and Pearl Bowser curated.

2Advertising, 1999 Article ideas and submissions, 1995-1997 and undated Black Film Review, 1992-1993 Chapel Hill Printing and Graphics, 2000 Newsletter Vol. 1 production files, 1992-1993 Newsletter Vol. 2 production files, 1992-1993 Newsletter Vol. 3 production files, 1993-1994 Newsletter Vol. 4 production files, 1994-1995 Newsletter Vol. 5 production files, 1996 Newsletter Vol. 6 production files, 1996-1998 Newsletter Vol. 7 production files, 1998 Newsletter Vol. 8 production files, 1999-2000(2 folders) Newsletter Vol. 9 production files, 2000-2001 3Newsletter Vol. 10 production files, 2001 Newsletter Vol. 11 production files, 2001-2003 Newsletter Vol. 12 production files, 2003-2004 Stationary, undated Resources, 1979-2003 and undated (1 box)

Filmographies, bibliographies, catalogs, and listings relating to the life and career of Oscar Micheaux, as well as many resources relating to black film generally.

3African-American Film Collection transfers, undated Afro-American Studies at Duke, 1995-1996 Alaska Center for Documentary Film, 1997 Articles and papers, 1979-1992 and undated Available Visions conference participants contact sheet, 1992 Black film A/V resources, undated Black press bibliography, undated Blacks and the West, 1996 and undated Black Arts Research Center, undated Black-cast films at the Library of Congress, undated Black independent film information, 1987-1990 Blockson collection, 1989 British Film Institute Happy Though Married, 1994 Cinemaction: Le Cinema Noir Americain, undated The Girl from Chicago script transcribed by Sergio Mims, 1996 International Film Archive information, undated Ku Klux Klan, undated Library of Congress and Smithsonian Video rare silent film brochure, 1994 List of available Micheaux films, undated List of black-cast film producers and titles, undated Micheaux bibliography and filmography, 1997 and undated Micheaux biographical documents, undated Micheaux films and novels, 1992-1997 and undated Micheaux web resources, 1995 Midnight Ramble information, 1989 Norman Film Company filmography and visuals, undated Rhapsodies in Black exhibit program and bibliography, 1998 Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibition Service, 2001-02003 Translation of La Negra draft, undated The Tyler, TX Black Film Collection, undated W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, undated Wolfsonian Museum (Florida International University) information, 1995-2003 Scholarship, 1998-2001 (1 box)

Copies of articles and essays on Micheaux.

3A Pioneering Black Filmmaker by Scott Heller (Chronicle of Higher Education), 1995 The Outcome of that Discontent by Sarah Weiss, 2000 Stranger in a Strange Land by M.K. Johnson (Western American Literature), Fall 1998 Without the Gates by Fiona Barnett, 2001(2 folders) Subscriptions and Membership, 1993-1998 and undated (1 box)

Subscriber lists, subscription forms, and mailings.

3Accounting, 1993-1995 Mailings to members, 1996 New subscribers, 1994-1998 and undated Subscription forms, undated Subscriber lists, 1994 Visual Materials, 1992-2000 and undated (1 box)

Photos and stills for use in the Oscar Micheaux Society Newsletter or in the essay collection Oscar Micheaux and His Circle.

3Black film stills, undated Contributor photos, 2000 and undated Micheaux's grave, undated One More River to Cross cover, undated Oscar Micheaux and His Circle visuals, undated Photo rights correspondence, 1998-2003 Photos/visuals, 1992-1993 and undated Schomberg Center stills, 1998 and undated Stills, undated Xeroxed visuals, undated Xeroxes of stills from the African Diaspora Images collection, undated