Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities

Writers at their typewriters.
From the Beinecke Digital Image database: http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/dl_crosscollex

William Carlos Williams, 1940s

Eric Knight, [1942?]

H. L. Mencken, 1913

Rachel Carson, undated

Joseph Brodsky, undated

Photographs of dancer and choreographer Pearl Primus dancing “Hard Time Blues,” her dance based on a folk song about sharecropping by singer Josh White. Primus was well known and widely celebrated for her dance performances based on important African American poems and songs, including “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes and “Strange Fruit” by Lewis Allen. Photographs by Carl Van Vechten, 1943.

Additional resources: Pearl Primus on Wikipedia; Josh White on Wikipedia; Carl Van Vechten on Wikipedia. All photographs by Carl Van Vechten are used with permission of the Van Vechten Trust; the permission of the Trust is required to reprint or use Van Vechten photographs in any way. To contact the Trust email: Van Vechten Trust.

William Carlos Williams

Joseph Brodsky

Witold Grombrowicz

Ruth Stephan

James Weldon Johnson

Edith Wharton

Fore-edge photograph of a collection of programs issued by the Writer’s Forum reading series at SUNY Brockport, 1968-1975. The collection was complied by poet William Heyen, one-time director of the Forum. Each program includes a poem by and a photograph of the featured poet; most are signed by the poet. Poets represented include: W.S. Merwin, Diane Wakoski, John Hollander, Richard Wilbur, Galway Kinnell, William Stafford, Robert Creeley, John Berryman, Robert Bly, Nadine Gordimer, Louis Simpson, Erica Jong, C.K. Williams, Richard Howard, Carolyn Kizer, Ishmael Reed, Robert Bly, Denise Levertov, Gary Snyder, John Ashbery, Anne Sexton, Allen Ginsberg, Adrienne Rich, Richard Hugo, Marge Piercy, James Tate, William Matthews, Richard Eberhart, among others. Related collections: William Heyen Papers; Heyen Papers Addition; Al Poulin and Boa Editions Papers; additional materials may be located in the Beinecke Library’s Uncataloged Acquisitions Database.

Billie Holiday and Mister, photographed by Carl Van Vechten

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Joseph Brodsky and his cat, photographed by Julia Schmalz

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Eugene and Carlotta O’Neill with Ben and Blemie

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Eric Knight and Toots

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Young Rachel Carson with her dog

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Witold and Rita Gombrowicz with Psina

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F.T. Marinetti and Friends

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Esther Newton and her dog, photographed by Robert Giard

From Gertrude Stein to Alice B. Toklas (YCAL MSS 76, Folder 727)

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Georgia O’Keeffe to Alfred Stieglitz (YCAL MSS 85, Folder 1861)

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From Carlotta Monterey O’Neill to Eugene O’Neill (inscription on cigarette lighter)(YCAL MSS 123, Box 130,Folder 2464)

Drawings of jazz performers, on wood, by Ted Joans. (Uncat JWJ MS 55)

“Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman 1959,
with Leroi Jones and A.B. Spellman Digging”

…a dog named Basket

A portrait by Marie Laurencin of Basket II, Gertrude Stein’s and Alice B. Toklas’s poodle (admired by curator Tim Young).

Painted card sent to art dealer Katharine Kuh from George and Juliet Kepes. More painted cards from the Katherine Kuh papers can be viewed by searching the Beinecke’s Digital Library: Beinecke Digital Library; a record for the Katharine Kuh papers is available on line: YCAL MSS 15 Katharine Kuh Papers.

Collage pages from H.D.’s scrapbook combining classical figures with photographs of H.D. and friends. (YCAL MSS 24, Folder 1430)

Punch and Judy puppets from the Edmund Wilson Papers (YCAL MSS 187): Punch, Judy, Devil, Police Officer, Skeleton, & Monk (to see the complete collection, search the Beinecke Digital Library .

With Filippo Tommaso Marinetti at the Futurist Table,

Richard Wright and friends,

the Romanov family,

Edith Wharton and friends,

Langston Hughes and writers in Russia,

and the James Joyce family

Photographs of cast members of the musical Gay Paree (1927-30), collected by cast members Josephine and Sophie Schlenk. The collection includes photographs of:

Josephine and Sophie Schlenk

Red Skelton

Dulcy Dowd

Irene Cornell dancing “The Gold Plaque”

and the cast party at the restaurant owned by

Bob Berger, “Waffle King” of Boston

View the full record for the collection: Josephine Schlenk and Sophie Schlenk photographs of theatrical performers

Collages by Lenore Tawney, for Georgia O’Keeffe, from the Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe Papers (YCAL MSS 85 ).

Images from the papers of Nate Salsbury, co owner with Buffalo Bill of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, beginning with a photo of Nate during his days as leader of the comic-theater troupe the Salsbury Troubadours, before he joined Buffalo Bill in 1885. For a description of the archive see: Nathan Salsbury Papers.

Blanche Dunn’s legs and shoes, Photographed by Carl Van Vechten

And, photographed in Morningside Park, New York City, by Carl Van Vechten in 1940.

The Poet’s Dinner Table, (New Haven): O.A. Dorman, [ca. 1875] (click image for detailed view)

At the Piazza of St. Mark, Venice, Italy: Williams Carlos Williams & Flossie Williams; Blanche C. Mathias; Fania Marinoff & Carl Van Vechten; Alice B. Toklas & Gertrude Stein [1914-1935]

Theatre Guild, production of Oklahoma! [1943].

Photograph of chorus line.