697 E. Vernon Ave
Los Angeles 11.Cal.

Mar. 7, 1948.

Dear Arna:

It was lovely hearing from you through Langston.
It was like having a brief visit with you. He mentioned
that I should send the biographical material to you which
is enclosed. Thanks to you two.

When are you planning on coming out this way again?
The coast hasn't seen you in quite some time now. Maybe
that is one of the reasons for this terrific drouth that
we are experiencing.

Ivan joins me in sending love to you and yours.

Dorothy Vena Johnson.

Born in Los Angeles, Calif. Spent elementary days in a convent. Attended U.C.L.A. and U.S.C earning A.B. and M.A. degrees. Now teaching Creative Writing and Drama in Junior High school. Member of; L.A. Teachers Creative Writing Assocation, Chaparrel Poets, founder-president of The League of Allied Arts. Have had many poem published in various Anthologies and poetry journals, post-war Anthologies in Holland and London. Married to a lawyer. Hobby-bowling.

Dear Arna:

Your new book is excellent! It should certainly go far, especially throughout the country in schools. It was something sorely needed.

Thanks for informing us about the A. Douglass exhibit. It would be fine if we could have it during his visit to L.A., but we always adjourn for the summer months. We are planning to have a large exhibit in the fall at the Greek theater and we would like to exhibit his work at that time. The place is enormous and we would have plenty of space for it, that is if it doesn't cost too much. Shall I write to him concerning it?

I am enclosing the poem because Langston likes it and wishes that you could use it instead of the one you have. I changed the word he remembered you didn't like, but he couldn't find the part where the rhythm changed. I had revised the poem (slightly) after sending it to him. Maybe you can tell me the section that needs revision, if it isn't too late.

Ivan joins me in sending regards to you and your family. Langston meets with our group last Sunday at the home of Laura Bruce Fowler. I'm sure he will tell you about it.

697 E. Vernon Ave.
Los Angeles, Calif. 11
May 17, 1946

Sincerely,

Dear Mr Bentemps:

It was kind of you and angsten to include me in
your forthcoming anthology. It was gracious. It is cold with rain
and snow today but in my heart are many cozy memories which I
amtri ging out in review. Among them re memories of you when
you were here and ypir later considerations.

Sent the letter to Jean Toomer at once. he is usually
contacted through his pub ishers but knowing your press for time . I
got his Pennsylvania address and send the note poste haste.

What about William verett Hawkins? is now
a Portugese but still writing. 's in a new Yrrk sanitariom.

PLEASEa ask Dover to answer regarding th
The Book of DUNBAR and whatever else he has to pre port to
me. Tell Mr Marrett shall send a crad some time in the New Year-
am too spent now wi with work in House.

Tell me why this new anthology is all about. I can
help with the publicity in some ways here and through Mr Huff in
Chicago. I need a co-worker - have SO MUCH material all but ready fo
f for the print mill. what can you suggest?

Cordially

Georgia D Johnson

82

Georgia Douglas Johnson

First wanted to be a musician, t aching herself first, the organ, then violin, then chello, then composition. But the road to musicianship, especially along the line of com ozition, was too obstructed. Even a year crowded with eight hours o day of study, at times, did not clear the way. It is said , # thef fool never changes", - she veered to poetry for what is poetry but music in words- then too there were fellow travellers along this not so too lonesome road.

But poetry too has its limitations , its fields, its sanctu arios its very elusive re compensate its siberia. She veered into the bypaths of the drama... is not poetry dramatic ? what more nat- ural ?

Summing up sh had some twenty songs, eight books of verse, two recieving prizes three printed, thirty plays, six printed/and then she inventoried.

In the wake of the years were a novel or two, a biography , thirty sttries ( some recieving prizes - one among O'Briens Best ( under *Paul Tremaine) six hundred minature philosophies( used editorially , some under Mary Strong) and a collection of in- spiring sayings gathered through a life-time's reading with the high privilege of the open stacks with card, at the Congressionsl library, resulting in some five volumes of such inspirational matter

In looking over this mass of material, she found that letter y, her thoughts had turned more and more into the bright highway of TOLERANCE and its sister subject BROTHERHOOD- which sum into five books on TOLERANCE. - which means that at present , the trend of writing along all lines is into this channer.

PERSONAL NOTE

Thinking along these lines the following came to me which I send along to you as a kind of key to the above conclusion:

DREAM

I'd like to dry the tear-dimmed eye

To make sad faces smile

I'd like to make the whole world glad for some dear little-while.

I'd like to feel my life was lived

With this one end in view

That high above all dreams I dream

I'll make this dream come true!

G D J

2. (continued)

With each of the above enclose a note of your own saying that you notice
that biographical data on them is not complete in my file, and since the
last of the manuscript is being turned in next week would they kindly
supply the information requested on the enclosed card and send it direct
to Arna Bontemps at Yaddo, etc. This will be a delicate way of approach-
ing those who neglected (?) to tell me the dates of birth, etc. I
believe it will serve all cases, since some have not been written be-
fore.

Also send the same card to Mr. Hubert T. Delany, Justice, Domestic Relations court, 135 East 22nd Street, New York, N. Y. but asking him to supply the information on his former wife, the late Clarissa Scott-Delany.

3. In J. W. Johnson's BOOK OF AMERICAN NEGRO POETRY you will find the full names of poets McClellan, Cotter (Sr.) and Holloway (the older man, related to Nareda and Josephine, I believe). Please inquire locally of old Nashvillians to discover which, if any, of these men are dead and the dates of their death. Also birth. And see what you can learn, with the help of Miss Long, Mrs. Bowles, etc. about one James David Corrothers, birth, death, etc. McClellan and Holloway were once enrolled at Fisk, so the Registrar or Alumnae Secretary may be able to help. Also the Holloway family. The Works may have some recollections.

4. Will you make a list of all the poets with whom we communicated with the addresses we had (including those above) and indication of the source from which we got the poems by them which we are including. Make the list in duplicate and send one copy to Langston Hughes, 634 St. Nicholas Avenue, New York 30, N. Y. and one to me here and keep a carbon there. I hope you have the material there with which to do this, but if there are gaps, leave space, and I will fill in the ones I can from this folder of letters you collected for me when I was leaving.

5. From my GOLDEN SLIPPERS please copy what I wrote on Gladys H. ?, the African girl poet whose other name is Aqualah Laluah and whose poems through the Reader's Guide or the ATLANTIC MONTHLY under this African name. I need this information to write a note on her. If no dates or places are mentioned by me, try to supply these from the ATLANTIC or from other sources.

6. Please look up (through Reader's Guide, the jacket of her book--in our collection--and elsewhere) information on the white poet Elizabeth Bishop. Her book is NORTH AND SOUTH. Date of birth, place, etc. If you don't find it, write to the publicity department of Houghton Mifflin Company, 2 Park Street, Boston, Mass., asking them to send the information directly to me to save time.

7. I now find some addresses that may help with some of the requests above: George Marion McClellan, A. M. E. Sunday School Union, Nashville, Tenn. John Wesley Holloway, 314 - 14th Avenue, North, Nashville, Tenn. Joseph Cotter, Sr., 2306 Magazine Street, Louisville, Kentucky.

8. Please see if you can find birth and death dates for these non-Negroes: Hart Crane and Alice Corbin (Henderson), both American poets of this century.

9. Tells Mrs. Bowles I'll write her tomorrow, but I hope she will be able to give you some help on all of this.

10. In order to refresh my mind, please return this letter with your data.

11. And here is another point: from what book did we get William Ellery Leonard's poem "The Lynching Bee?" We borrowed it from the Joint, I remember.

Best ever,

89

Fisk University Library

Nashville 3, Tennessee

ARNA BONTEMPS, LIBRARIAN

July 26, 1948

Dear Mr. Bontemps,

Sorry to be late with this poem but perhaps Mrs. Bowles has told you that I spent last week in Shelbyville as a part of my vacation. (It was nice and I enjoyed it very much.)

The poem is taken from *Classmate*, vol. LIII, No. 1, January, 1946. I am sending the original copy on to Mr. Hughes.

Dr. Collins' date of birth is 1914 and Mr. Holloway's death occurred in 1935. As for Joseph Cotter, Sr. he is still living in Louisville.

The notes have gone to all those you named. This should about take care of it now except for the final typing of the biographical sketches, shouldn't it? I hope the novel is progressing smoothly.

Fisk University Library

Nashville B, Tennessee

OFFICE OF LIBRARIAN

August 9, 1948

Dear Mr. B,

You have probably received the information that I sent to
you yesterday before your letter arrived this morning. I
enclose the most important data on Dalcour and Lanusse. I
checked several places for the birth and death dates of Dal-
cour but was unable to find them.

The address of Helene Johnson is 81 North Portland Avenue,
Brooklyn (she is Mrs. William Hubbell now).

I was very surprised to learn that you will be returning
next week. More so because I have not located a new
secretary for you. Is there anything I can do on this end
towards your return--like reservations, etc?

I was born in New York city where I attended the pub-
lic schools and later, Hunter College. For the past four years
I have been teaching French and sometimes English in college.
At present I teach French at A. and I. State College in Nash-
ville.

My chief interest is literature, poetry especially. My
favorite poets:Keats and Shelley. My chief regret: the small
size of the poetry-reading public. My chief frustration: not
having enough time to devote to becoming a maturer poet. My
chief desire: that Negroes concentrate less on their liabilities
and more on making significant contributions to the American
culture. My chief fear: that Americans are too embroiled in their
day-to-day problems to see the atom bomb for its terrible self.

Gladys R. Kellogg

May 19, 1958

Mr. Allen T. Klots, Jr.
Dodd Mead and Company
432 Fourth Avenue
New York 16, New York

Dear Mr. Klots:

Here is a version of "Stagolee" which could be substituted for the one we have by Ohah Spencer if you and Langston consider it preferable. This one is in Woody Guthrie's Folkways record album collection (FP 78/1) and was sent to me by Moses Agch, who issued it (Folkways Records and Service Corporation, 117 West 46th Street, NYC) with the explanation that it is at our disposal without fee. I don't know what you may have heard from Ohah Spencer about his version, but I would not be inclined to pay more than a mere token for it if anything, nor to give him anymore than the usual mention among the acknowledgments in the back of the book.

The Introduction will be ready by next week. I hope all outstanding permissions have been accounted for.

AB/aj

Beatrice M. Murphy
(Mrs. Beatrice Murphy Campbell)
4928 Just St., N. E.
Washington 19, D. C.

105

1935-1935 Special Feature Column, THINK IT OVER, for Washington Tribune, Washington, D. C. weekly column on various subjects

1935-1937 Feature Editor and Children's Editor, Washington Tribune, Washington, D. C. responsible for 2 pages weekly

1938-1943 Book Review Editor Afro-American, San Antonio Register and other Negro newspapers

Oct. 1940-1941 Poetry column for Associated Negro Press

1943-Present Book Review Editor *Pulse Magazine*, Washington, D. C.

Nov. 2, 1947 First Book Review Assignment for *New York Times*

## BOOKS

Nov. 1938 "Negro Voices; an anthology of contemporary verse" Editor and compiler. New York, Henry Harrison, Pub

June 1945 "Love is a Terrible Thing". New York, Hobson Press

April 1947 "Catching the Editor's Eye", a pamphlet for writers.

Jan. 1948 "Ebony Rhythm; an anthology of contemporary verse" Editor and compiler. New York, Exposition Press

## ANTHOLOGIES

1929 *The Light of Day*. "The Lesson"- N.Y., Henry Harrison

1930 *Parnassian*. "Clay". Washington, Laurel Publishers

1933 *Galaxy*. "The Day Will Bring Some Lovely Thing". Garen Press, N. J.

1935 *Spring*. "Suicide". New York, Cornwall House

1937 *Contemporary American Women Poets*: 1937. "Dilemma"! N. Y., Henry Harrison

1938 *Crown Anthology of Verse*. "Request". Crown Publications, N.Y.

Beatrice M. Murphy
(Mrs. Beatrice M. Campbell)
4928 just St., N. E.
Washington 19, D. C.

1938 *Negro Voices*. "Waste, Anniversary, Safeguard, The Gown, Hatred, and Release". New York, Henry Harrison.

1941 *Golden Slippers*. Edited by Arna Bontemps. "Signs of Spring". New York, Harper & Bros.

1945 Listed in Negro Catholic Writers
Listed in the Literary Market Place
Member, Women's National Book Assn

PUBLICATIONS
ARTICLES

Feb. 1929 "Man of Joy" - *The Congregationalist*, Boston, Mass

1932: "I am a Woman and a Negro" *Associated Negro Press*

May 1937 "What Does the Negro Wants?" *Interracial Review*,
New York, N. Y.

Reprinted by National Catholic Welfare Syndicate
News Release May 1937

August 1937 "Words for the Wise" - *Preservation of the Faith*
Silver Spring Md.

October 1937 "Interracial Wisdom for the Negro" - *Preservation
OF the Faith*, Silver Spring Md.

October 1937 "One Must Be Born Again" - *Interracial Review*,
New York, N. Y.

April 1938 "Interracial Wisdom for Children", *Preservation
of the Faith*,

Reprinted: *St. Anthony's Messenger*, July-Aug. 1938
*Catholic Herald-Citizen*, April 1938
*Our Colored Missions*, April 1938

June 1939 "Interracial Language", *Preservation of the Faith*,
Silver Spring, Md.

Reprinted: *Our Colored Missions*

1944 "Well I am a Negro" - Washington Tribune, Washington, D.C.

Beatrice M. Murphy
(Mrs Beatrice M. Campbell)
4928 Just St., N. E.
Washington 19, D. C.

POETRY
(excluding anthologies)

Nov. 1927 "Words" 6 _The Harp_, Belpre, Kansas

May 1928 "The Parting" - _The Crisis_, New York

July 1930 "Respite" - _Embryo Magazine_, New York

Oct.-Nov. 1930 "You, Too" - _Embryo Magazine_

Dec. 1930-Jan. 1931 "Irony" - _Embryo Magazine_ (2nd Prize Winner)

Nov. 1932 "Thanksgiving" - _Washington Tribune_, Wash, D.C.

Apr. 29, 1933 "Sunshine" - _BPaterson Morning Call_, Paterson, N.J.

Autumn 1933 "Spring Rain" - _Expression_, Paterson, N.J.

Aug. 1934 "Storm" - _Paterson (N.J.) Morning Call_

Spring 1934 "March Wind" - _Expression_, N.J.

Feb. 1937 "Prayer of the Shut In" _Nuggets_, Upland, Ind. (First Prize)

July 1937 "Warning" _Calif. Sun_, San Francisco

Autumn 1938 "Requiem" - _Expression_, Paterson, N.J.

Jan. 1938 "Dilemma" - _Washington Times-Herald_, Wash, D. C.

Spring 1940 "Vow" - _Washington Tribune_, Wash. D. C.

Oct. 1940 "The Negro Prays" - _Interracial Review_, New York

June 1944 "Oratio" - _Interracial Review_, New York

Dec. 1944 "Black Concerto" - _Pulse Magazine_, Wash. D.C.

Feb. 1945 "What Shall We Tell Our Children" - _Pulse Magazine_

Apr. 1945 "Betrayal" - _Pulse Magazine_

July 1945 "Their Crime Was Race" - _Pulse Magazine_

May 1946 "How Long Will You Remember" - _Pulse Magazine_

Sept. 1946 "Repay" - _Christian Herald_

June 1946 First Prize The Easterner Story Contest
"Something to Remember"

Dec. 1947 Afro-American If I Were Editor Contest. Prize $5.00

388 Chauncey Street
Brooklyn 33, N. Y.

February 24, 1948

Mr. Arna Bontemps
Fisk University Library
Fisk University
Nashville 8, Tennessee

Dear Arna Bontemps:

I sent Langston Hughes a copy of a long poem, *Dark Testament*, which he writes me he is forwarding on to you for consideration by you as editor of the American section of your new anthology. He suggests that it may be too long in its present form and wants to know if I will permit the use of portions of it if you like it well enough to *include* it in your book. You have my permission to adapt it as you see fit, so long as you select the most poetic passages and those with the most universal appeal.

I'm sending you a few shorter things in the event
you'd like to use one or two. They're evenly divided be-
tween racial and non-racial themes. I hope you can use
some of them.

My best wishes to you on your new project.

P.S. Can you tell me where Robert Hayden is this year?
Did he and family return to Fisk?