Alfred·A·Knopf Incorporated

501 Madison Avenue

NEW YORK (22), N.Y.

January 4, 1949

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Harper:

I hope you can come to a cocktail party honoring Langston Hughes, Arna Bontemps, and Jacob Lawrence upon the publication of "One-Way Ticket," poems by Langston Hughes, illustrated by Jacob Lawrence, and published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., and "The Poetry of the Negro," edited by Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps, and published by Doubleday and Company. It will be at the Downtown Gallery, 32 East 51st Street, on Monday, January tenth at five o'clock.

Sincerely yours,
for ALFRED A. KNOPF, Inc.

Mr. and Mrs. Emerson Harper
20 East 127th Street
New York, N. Y.

PUBLISHER OF BORZOI BOOKS

719 Parsons Avenue
Columbus 6, Ohio
October 22, 1950

Dear Mrs. Harper,

I hope you remember me--Bertha Freeman's sister who, with her little boy--visited Bertha this summer and spent two nights in your lovely home. I trust, too, that both you and your husband are enjoying the best of health.

I have a rather big favor to ask of you but one which I suspect is made rather frequently by those who chance to find out that your illustrious nephew is Langston Hughes. This is it:

Will you ask Mr. Hughes for me if he can supply me with a list of Negro newspapers and magazines that buy the longer short stories of Negro life?

Let me hasten to explain. As I told you, I sometimes write short stories and have sold several to the Pittsburgh Courier. But the Courier is interested chiefly in the short short. I have written a story that I think will sell but I don't know how to go about selling it or to whom to even send it.

Frankly, being a school teacher(!) my experience is rather limited--worldly experience--and my stories are somewhat tame, but I do believe I have written a pretty good one this time, but I know it's too long to interest the editors of the Courier and frankly I don't believe it treats of a subject that would interest the large magazines such as the Ladies Home Journal, The Post or McCall's, nor do I believe I'm THAT good. If I could cut it down I know the Courier would buy it, but I can't and still have my story. It is going to run about thirty pages of double-spaced typed material.

If Mr. Hughes does not have a list, I would appreciate any suggestions from him as to how to go about disposing of these longer ventures in the literary field. I would be very grateful for any suggestions he might find time to offer.

Thanks so much.

THE CITY CENTER OF MUSIC AND DRAMA, Inc.

Executive Offices: 130 WEST 56th STREET, NEW YORK 19, N. Y.

Telephone: Circle 6-7474

Paul Moss, Managing Director

Officers:

October 22, 1947.

WILLIAM O'DWYER
President

GERALD F. WARBURG
Vice-President

HOWARD S. CULLMAN
Treasurer

MRS. ARTHUR M. REIS
Secretary

FRANCIS J. BLOUSTEIN
Assistant Secretary

NEWBOLD MORRIS
Chairman, Board of Directors

Directors:

RICHARD ALDRICH
MORTON BAUM
HOWARD S. CULLMAN
HUBERT T. DELANEY
CLARENCE DERWENT
FREDERIC ERNST
WILLIAM FEINBERG
JOHN GOLDEN
MRS. LYTTLE HULL
F. H. LA GUARDIA
MRS. OSWALD LORD
WALTER S. MACK, JR.
MACKLIN MARROW
RICHARD MCCANN
JOSEPH D. McGOLDRICK
CLARENCE L. MENSER
MRS. HENRY MORGENTHAL JR.
NEWBOLD MORRIS
JACOB S. POTOFSKY
MRS. JOHN T. PRATT
MRS. ARTHUR M. REIS
MRS. LAWRENCE TIBBETT
FREDERICK F. UMHEY
GERALD F. WARBURG
JOHN A. WARNER

Mrs. Toy Harper
634 St. Nicholas Avenue
New York 30, N. Y.

My dear Mrs. Harper:

You will recall that at the end of 1944 a group of us who were interested in producing the opera, "Troubled Island", with music by William Grant Still and book by Langston Hughes, commenced raising funds from our friends in various parts of the country.

I regret to advise you that only a small part of the expected cost of such a production has been raised.

Although I should have liked to have kept at it until we secured the necessary amount, Mr. Still has asked me to return the contributions.

I have polled the committee of sponsors and the majority indicate their desire to comply with Mr. Still's request.

Accordingly, I am enclosing a check to your order for $30, the amount which you so generously gave.

Tel. AUdubon 3-2777
(After June 1st
AUdubon 3-1000)

HARLEM Y.W.C.A. DEFENSE RECREATION CENTER

179 West 137th Street
New York City

DORIS M. DUBISSETTE, Director

August 18, 1942

Mrs. Toy Harper
634 St. Nicholas Avenue
New York, N. Y.

My dear Mrs. Harper:

I want to thank you for appearing on our program on Friday night. I hope that you enjoyed working with us as much as we enjoyed having you. Perhaps in the future we can get together for some other programs.

I am enclosing a copy of the script we used. When you write to Langston, please tell him how much we enjoyed working out this idea and that the comments we heard about the program were stimulating and highly appreciative of his work.

With best wishes, I am,

HOLLOW HILLS FARM

JAMESBURG ROUTE
MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA

June 12, 1946

Dear Mrs. Harper:

In the past two weeks I have been to New York and seen Langston, though even before my departure from here he told me on the telephone that you were in the West.

Now that I am home again and have your address, I am writing to say how very happy I would be if you could come up and pay us a visit. All of Langston's many friends in this vicinity would be so glad of the opportunity to meet you, and I am sure you would enjoy seeing a place that he has in the past, and will again in the future (I hope) call home!

He was very well when I saw him and busy as always. This time the work on "Street Scene" seemed to be very absorbing.

We can meet you at Salinas (that is where the Los Angeles-San Francisco train passes) any time you say, unless, perhaps, you are air-minded and prefer to fly. Roland Hayes is here at present and expects his wife and child on June twenty-second.

October 7, 1946

Dear Toy,

Since hearing of your mother's illness and the cloud
of sadness that darkened your return to New York, I have
been meaning to write and tell you how sorry I am that your
Western outing had to end in this way. I hope your anxiety
will lessen soon.

It was really your very cordial invitation to Eulah to
visit you in New York that made me realize how desirable it
would be not to postpone indefinitely a trip that for years
I have wanted her to make. Her illness and operation last
year, which was so quickly followed by her mother's death,
have left her rather nervously shocked, and I felt a complete
change would be of great benefit. We have consequently made
a reservation for October twenty-second, and of course she
would be lost arriving in New York were not you and Langston
and a few other friends there to greet her. I hope this
plan will work out conveniently for you.

Lee and Bill left here on the first of September to go
to Texas for the organization of the theatrical project
about which they told you. It was Lee's plan to come back
at once, but on arriving there he found that Bill had such
a big job on his hands that he decided to wait and help him
do it.

The opening is set for next Thursday evening, and tomorrow
I am flying down to Phoenix to see my niece for a day and then
to go on to Pampa. I think Lee will come back with me.

I had a fine summer with lots of guests and lots of
music, but I can say in all sincerity that your visit was
the high-water mark.

With affectionate remembrances,

August 7, 1944

Mr. Henry J. Taylor
WJZ Broadcasting Station
New York, N. Y.

Dear Mr. Taylor:

Just what do you mean, <u>Have Patience?</u>
And It Can Never Be?

In your broadcast of August 4, over W.J.Z.
at 6:45 P.M. you stated that colored people whom you
had grown up with wished that those leaders seeking
equality between colored and white people would stop.
You further said that colored people that you grew up
with did not wish any changes to be made too rapid.

You must have grown up in the "deep South".
You further stated that more harm would come by white
folks pushing colored folks into situations like the
Philadelphia strike. You implied that the colored
folk should be satisfied to take any job they could
get just so it would keep peace. Well, we colored folks
do not want peace at that price! We are dying abroad to
get PEACE here at home, and if we have to die on our
own soil, let us die! We have been passive too long
waiting for you to make up your mind. In that we are
complete citizens, we are tired of second-class treatment.

Now you talk of decent white folks who would
help the Negro get his rights, as being stupid and dangerous.
Believe me, the kind of speech you made is the dangerous
one. It just shows the Negro people what to expect. Hence
they are prepared for anything.

If you think our boys, fighting in this war,
are going to be satisfied to just sit down and wait until
you and others like you, are ready to give them their
rights of employment and citizenship, you are sadly mis-
taken. If you were a Negro, I am sure you would not want
to wait forever for racial decency in American life.

Sincerely yours,

Mrs. Emerson Harper
634 St. Nicholas Avenue
New York, 30, N. Y.

Yale University Library,

New Haven, Connecticut

January 30, 1942

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the gift mentioned below, and I beg you to accept our sincere thanks.

Abbott's Monthly. October, 1931.

Florence Mills' last Christmas card.

(For The James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Negro Arts and Letters.)

To Mrs. Toy Harper
634 St. Nicholas Avenue, Apt. 1D
New York, New York

Yale University Library
New Haven Connecticut

Bernhard Knollenberg
Librarian

January 31, 1942

Mrs. Toy Harper
634 St. Nicholas Avenue, Apt. 1D
New York City

My dear Mrs. Harper:

I wish to add this word of personal
thanks to the enclosed formal acknowledgment
of your gift to the James Weldon Johnson
Memorial Collection. We are delighted to
have Florence Mills' last Christmas card,
and the issue of Abbott's Monthly.

I hope that when you are next in
New Haven, you will drop into the Library
and give me the pleasure of seeing you.

Kn/wh
Enc.

Miss
Mr.
Mr.

May 19, 1946

We wish to announce a Piano Recital at the Y.W.C.A.
144 West 138 Street Sunday, July 21, 1946, presenting the
Misses Florence Paul & Gloria Smith. Also appearing on the
program will be the well known pianist Mr. Irving Jones as
guest artist. Tickets may be obtained at the following
places.

Mr. James F. Staten
695 East 165 Street Bronx, N.Y.
Mrs. Geraldine P. Jones .........JE. -8-2313
1388 Clinton Ave. Bronx, N.Y.
MR. Lorenzo A. Paul .........Da.-3-5952
1057 Forest Ave. Bronx, N.Y.

Subscription price...................$.85
Patrons...................................$.25

*Patrons subscription will be accepted for the PROGRAMME up until June 15, 1946

763

CONGRATULATIONS

by WESTERN UNION

NN342 11 SC=KANSASCITY MO
MRS TOY HARPER=
=634 STNICHOLAS=

1942 JUL 30 PM 11 52

CONGRATULATIONS TO LANGSTON EMERSON AND YOU. RECEPTION WAS
FINE STOP WRITE=
ADA AND CHESTER.(03) r.

July 27, 1951

Dear Toy,

Thanks so much for the stockings which were delivered quite nicely
by M. Piquion. They are always welcome, of course, and it was thoughtful of
you to send anything. Unfortunately, I haven't seen the gentleman to thank him
personally (I wrote) because I was in such a state with the end of school and
moving (just came back to the apartment I had last summer--just for the summer
again) that I didn't write at the very moment I got the package from the con-
cierge, and when I did he had already left the city for the suburbs. I hope
he will call or come by when he comes back.

I hope that you are feeling better these days. It doesn't surprise me that you're not sewing, as it seems to me you were not happy to do it often even when I left. After all, you don't need to be so busy, so you should "take it easy".

Yesterday was the first day of vacation for me. (School ended on Wednesday until September, that is.) Friends laugh when I talk about d'vacation! I'm careful where I say that, because it's true that while working with the government, I had quite a few very enjoyable trips. In fact, that was what made it so horribly boring. Each time I went away, the work, the office and those stupid people would seem duller than ever. The periods between trips seemed longer and longer, and I could neither afford to go oftener, nor would the man I worked with have been happy to let me, I'm sure.

I think that the school is going to be fascinating. It was just exactly as you always said, I discovered right away, this matter of copying styles is based on certain quite definite arithmetical formulae. As I always said to you, though, I do think one has to have the "eye" to see proportions, etc. for really beautiful and involved things. I hope that I shall have or develop it. Learning the basic patterns is the first part of the course and up to now I have completed "skirts"--which I suppose is the simplest part. As a matter of fact, I'm sitting now in a sea of paper, the result of exercises in class which I have to transfer to my notebook.

One day a week (or less) I shall be taking millinery. This month I went every day--in the morning--since it was not reasonable to begin the other courses three weeks before the end of school. Hats are fun, rather relaxing, in fact, after the other. The second week I made myself a white grosgrain beret from the basic beret pattern which we had. After that, I practiced making forms with sparterie and mousseline (which is not really mousseline in English, but I don't know the word) Crinoline--it just came to me. This name business is really funny. You probably know, but I didn't, until I came to Paris, that what we call "Crepe de Chine" is not what the French call that material at all, but _is_ what we call just "silk crepe". And I've never seen a special name for chiffon here. It's just "soie naturelle". "Chiffon" means rag. One of the girls at work was kidding one day and said that the French would probably make "chiffon pie" exactly like that, out of rags. It's no reflection on French cuisine, but was a commentary on the restaurant at work which was run by a Frenchman and was not good.

Incidentally, I must tell you that even though my interest in hats is limited, I may accidentally turn out to be good at them. All that I've made so far (the forms) look like I-hope-God-may-kill-me on me, so-o---they look fine

-2-

on other people, probably. The beret was quite a success, but I guess any
dope can make a beret. At least nearly all the dopes in class have.

I wish I could tell you in one of our long chats about the folks in
my class—to say nothing of the people I see on the outside. But the students
in the "coupe" class are mostly quite serious young women—very young(girls, in
fact) or older people coming back for something special. There's one man—no,
three, but only one whom's charming—a Swiss who designs for ready-mades and
is planning to go to the States next year. There are three Americans, all of
us former service people—representing the Coast Guard, the Army and you know
what—no American men.

In hats, however, there are a raft of Americans, mostly men (?) who
tint their hair, dress too carefully and speak in high, lazy voices. Two or
three of them work as models on the side, and to hear them talk about clothes—
you'd die, their clothes, that is, not styles in general. What's funnier
is seeing them modeling their own creations—ladies' hats, I mean. To date
there seems to be only one man man, a former sailor.

Until the 14th I look forward to being quite busy entertaining
various friends who will be passing through Paris (this is the busy, busy
tourist time) then I shall go to the Haute-Savoie to visit the Wrights for two
weeks. I'd like to go to Brussels for the weekend of the 3rd, but don't know
whether I'll get that in or no.

Keep well and give my love to Emerson and lots for you, of course.

FROM