His collection also encompasses rare books and literature pertaining to the African American experience. Evans began collecting seriously during the late 1970s when he met Romare Bearden, the famed artist whose roots lay in the visual and literary movement of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Evans bought a collage from Bearden and went on to champion other major 20th-century figures Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Catlett and Richard Hunt. He also commissioned family portraits from photographer James VanDerzee. (right: Robert Scott Duncanson, Chapultepec Castle, c. 1855, oil on canvas, 24 x 31 inches)