VAN VECHTEN, Carl. Collection of photos and ephemera, many related to Black culture. 

Extensive collection comprised of more than 600 items assembled and organized by Carl Van Vechten, highlighted by approx. 200 pamphlets, booklets, magazines, letters, invitations, photos, and other ephemera related to Van Vechten's life and career spanning from the 1910s-1960s. Approx. 400 newspaper and magazine clippings are also included. The majority of the clippings and many programs, booklets, and ephemera are mounted on individual sheets of paper with a date listed. Several are also signed and/or inscribed by Van Vechten, many to his secretary and longtime friend Saul Mauriber.

Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) was a highly influential American novelist, music and drama critic, and photographer during the early 20th century. He was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, then attended the University of Chicago, where he graduated in 1903. He worked as an assistant music critic at the New York Times in 1906, and after a trip to Europe became the first American critic of modern dance. He served as literary executor of American novelist, playwright, and art collector Gertrude Stein, whom he first met in Paris in 1913.Van Vechten was an early supporter of African American culture and was well-connected to the people and places of the Harlem Renaissance at a time when racial segregation and Jim Crow laws were intense. Throughout the 1920s, he indulged in the parties and social scene of New York's Black creative class, which he captured in his provocatively titled novel Nigger Heaven. When the Depression came, he stopped writing novels and began taking photographs, most notably of influential African Americans, producing iconic portraits of thought leaders, entertainment stars, sports figures, artists, writers of the Harlem Renaissance, and more. His collection of over 9000 images, mostly portraits, is held at the Beinecke Library at Yale University.

The collection features the following highlights: Several items related to Black art, culture, and activism, including: Program for the NAACP All-Star Benefit Concert, New York. 8 December 1929. Containing essay authored and ink signed by Van Vechten. -- 2 snapshots showing Carl Van Vechten at Fisk University, May 1955, one in which he stands with Charles S. Johnson, President of Fisk University. Each inscribed on verso. -- Multiple issues of The Crisis, 1940-1950. -- Multiple issues of Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life, 1920s-1940s. Two issues contain articles authored and ink signed by Van Vechten. -- 4pp. imprint entitled "The Proposed James Weldon Johnson Memorial," reprinted from Opportunity, February, 1940, ink signed on front cover by Van Vechten. -- Theatre Arts issues, incl. Aug. 1942 issue focusing on "The Negro in the American Theatre," featuring image of Avon Long originally taken by Van Vechten, ink signed in the lower margin. -- Fisk News, March 1953. -- Jazz Record, Sept. 1947, containing article "Memories of Bessie Smith," ink signed by Van Vechten. -- Yale University Exercises marking the opening of the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Negro Arts and Letters. Founded by Carl Van Vechten, Sprague Memorial Hall, 7 January 1950. Signed and inscribed by Van Vechten. With 5 photographs enclosed, including a portrait of notable figures who attended the opening of the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection, among them Mrs. James Weldon Johnson, Charles S. Johnson, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Carl Van Vechten, 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 in., with detailed inscription identifying the subjects on verso. Four photographs of Van Vechten and other figures walking into the opening are included, each credited to Saul Mauriber and captioned on verso, approx. 6 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. -- Yale University Gazette, October 1943, with essay regarding the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Negro Arts and Letters, signed and inscribed by Van Vechten. 

Exhibition of Photographs by Carl Van Vechten from the Countee Cullen Memorial Collection founded by Harold Jackman. May-June 1955. -- W.C. Handy Foundation for the Blind, Inc., booklet. -- Typed list of guests attending W.C. Handy's birthday dinner in 1951. -- Printed invitation from Langston Hughes, John O. Killens, Rose Morgan Louis, and Carl Van Vechten's reception on the publication of "Like One of the Family." -- Trifold pamphlet for the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and History, with notation about the Van Vechten Exhibition opening on 20 June 1955. -- 13pp. booklet entitled Negro Cavalcade, Exhibition of Printed and Pictorial Materials from the Countee Cullen Memorial Collection. April - May 1947. -- Printed invitation from the James Weldon Johnson Literary Guild for a dinner held in honor of Van Vechten, November 1942. -- Fisk University 18th Annual Festival of Music and Art, Nashville, TN, 1947, program signed inside by Van Vechten and calendar of events. -- Fisk University 81st Annual Commencement Program, 1955, with Van Vechten's American Airlines tickets mounted on the back inside cover. -- Marian Anderson program. -- Fisk University Appointment Calendar, 1951, signed and inscribed by Van Vechten. Plentifully illustrated with images of the students and grounds. -- Fisk University Herald. 18th Annual Festival of Music and Art issue. -- Yale University News Bureau typed press release announcing the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of "Negro arts and letters of the 20th Century," December 1949. -- Catalogue of the Alfred Stieglitz Collection for Fisk University produced by the Carl Van Vechten Gallery of Fine Arts. -- Printed invitation from Fisk University for the opening of the Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Modern Art, plus opening ceremonies program. -- American Airlines ticket to Nashville for the opening of the Van Vechten Fine Artrs Gallery at Fisk Univeristy, 1949. -- Typed program for the James Weldon Johnson Festival, June 1949. 

[With:] Small selection of typed speeches and essays written for or by Van Vechten, some signed and inscribed. -- A group of letters written to Saul Marinoff, many addressing the death of Van Vechten are also enclosed. Of note are 2 letters from Nora Holt, African American critic, composer, singer, and pianist, including an ALS on “WLIB Harlem Radio Center” letterhead and a TLS on personal stationery.

[With:] Photographs and artistic renderings of Van Vechten: Drawing dated 1964 by Ilonia Smithkin (1920-2022), 10 3/4 x 8 1/4 in. (sight), framed with engraved plate below portrait and manuscript notation on frame backing indicating that this was the "last life portrait" of Van Vechten, which he gave to his secretary and friend Saul Mauriber. -- 3 silver gelatin photographs of Carl Van Vechten, 13 x 9 in. or smaller, taken by Saul Mauriber. -- 9 1/4 x 7 1/4 in. (sight) silver gelatin photograph of Van Vechten by Pach Bros., NY, matted and housed in folder. Mat inscribed by Van Vechten in lower margin. -- Caricature of Carl Van Vechten by Ruth Hammond, accompanied by letter from the artist thanking Van Vechten for using her caricature in connection with Van Vechten's book. -- Also included are 4 curious photographs of a man posed with a mouse and snake, unidentified but possibly an artist of the early 20th century. 5 x 7 in. or smaller. 

Additional information available upon request. quest. 

This lot is located in Cincinnati.