Oral history interview with Charles Henry Alston
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 24 minutes.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Alston, Charles Henry, 1907-1977
label: Interviewer
content: Phillips, Harlan B. (Harlan Buddington), 1920-1979
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
label: Names
content: Artists' Union (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Federal Art Project (N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Harlem Artists Guild
label: Names
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
label: Names
content: Public Works of Art Project
label: Names
content: United States. Federal Emergency Relief Administration
label: Names
content: Block, Lou, 1895-1969
label: Names
content: Davis, Stuart, 1892-1964
label: Names
content: Diller, Burgoyne, 1906-1965
label: Names
content: Dlugoszewski, Lucia, 1931-2000
label: Names
content: Halpert, Edith Gregor, 1900-1970
label: Names
content: Lawrence, Jacob, 1917-2000
label: Names
content: Pachano, Ernest
label: Names
content: Schmoo, Aaron Ben
topic: label: Occupation
content: Muralists -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Occupation
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Federal aid to the arts
label: Topic
content: African American artists
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Alston, Charles Henry, 1907-1977
label: Interviewer
content: Phillips, Harlan B. (Harlan Buddington), 1920-1979
label: Creator
content: New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Charles Henry Alston (1907-1977) was an African American painter and mural painter in New York, New York.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 39 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1965 September 28
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.alston65
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Charles Alston conducted 1965 September 28, by Harlan Phillips, for the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Alston speaks of his work as an art director of a community camp and as director of a boys' club in Harlem; the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) and his involvement; the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and his involvement in it; his membership in the Harlem Artists Guild; his contribution to WPA Federal Art Project murals at Harlem Hospital; mural versus easel painting; problems with the Artists Union; and camaraderie among FAP artists. He recalls Lou Block, Stuart Davis, Burgoyne Diller, Edith Halpert, Jacob Lawrence, Ernest Pachano, Aaron Ben Schmoo, and others, and describes his associations with musicians including Billie Holliday, Duke Ellington and Chick Webb.