Research Catalog

Title

Kenneth W. Porter papers, 1912-1984.

Author

Porter, Kenneth Wiggins, 1905-1981.

Supplementary Content

Finding Aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

• 44 lin. ft.
• 10 microfilm reels.

Summary

• The Kenneth W. Porter Papers primarily consist of his manuscripts and research materials pertaining to African-American and Native American studies. Porter's interests in socialism, poetry and literature, folklore, and general American and European history are documented. Aspects of his personal life are represented in the papers as well.
• The Personal Papers focus on Porter's graduate studies at Harvard University and consist of long detailed letters to his family providing much information on the process of obtaining his doctoral degree in business history. The series African-American and Native American Manuscripts and Research Material contains Porter's most significant work. The collection consists of numerous versions of his unpublished manuscript, "Black Riders: The Negro on the Frontier of the Cattle Country," a study examining the role of African Americans in the Far West. He wrote about African-American cowboys and their relationships with American whites and Native Americans, in addition to African Americans who lived in the cattle country, but did not work directly with cattle. Reference material consists of correspondence, notes, printed matter and numerous index card notes.
• Material for Porter's book, "The Negro on the American Frontier" (1971), is represented by a relatively small amount of research proposals, manuscripts, correspondence, reference articles, and index card notes. This book is a collection of Porter's most significant published articles about African Americans on the American frontier.
• Porter wrote several manuscripts about Black Seminoles living in Florida, Texas, and Mexico, their wars with the United States, and war chiefs and leaders. Seminole material includes manuscripts, correspondence, index card notes, reference articles written by other researchers as well as other articles published by Porter, and microfilm publications of material primarily housed by the National Archives (Sc Micro R6765).
• Included in the series are correspondence, research material and manuscripts for entries Porter either wrote or contributed ideas to for the "Dictionary of American Negro Biography." This series concludes with a large amount of material that pertains to African Americans, Native Americans, and general American and European history that cannot be identified as belonging to any of Porter's manuscripts. The type of matter includes correspondence, manuscripts, research notes, numerous index card notes, news clippings, articles by other researches, and Porter's published articles and book reviews.
• The American and European Manuscript Research Material series contains material which is not related to Porter's interests in African-American and Native American history. The writings subseries includes Porter's Master's thesis about French history, his published articles about Oregon business history and the fur trade, and research material and manuscripts for his other studies. The folklore subseries consists of correspondence, research notes, manuscripts, book reviews, newsclippings, and other printed matter reflecting Porter's interests in American, European, and Australian folklore. His socialist and literary correspondents spanning a period of more than half a century document the breadth of Porter's wide range of thinking and interests. General correspondence completes the collection.

Alternative Title

Black riders: the negro on the American frontier of the cattle country.

Subjects

• Porter, Kenneth Wiggins, 1905-1981 > Negro on the American Frontier
• Socialism > United States
• Seminole Indians
• African American cowboys
• Cowboys
• African Americans > Relations with Indians
• Seminole War, 2nd, 1835-1842
• African Americans > History
• American poetry
• Black Seminoles
• Frontier and pioneer life > United States

Note

• Audiotape transferred to Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.
• Photographs transferred to Photographs and Prints Division.
• Microfilm records from the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1881, which form part of the Seminole Manuscripts subseries of the African-American and Native-American Manuscripts and Research Material series, have been transferred to the General Research and Reference Division of the Schomburg Center. Originals are in the National Archives, Washington, D.C.; 23 reels (boxes 36-38).

Access (note)

• closed until 2022.
• Series III American and European Manuscripts and Research Material. Material stored offsite, advanced notice required.

Reproduction (note)

• on microfilm.

Source (note)

• Porter, Annette M.

Biography (note)

• Kenneth Wiggins Porter was a professor of history at several colleges and conducted research on African-American frontiersmen and cowboys, Black Seminoles, and American folklore and folk history. He also wrote poetry and was a Socialist, maintaining an active correspondence with both groups of people.
• Born in Kansas, Porter graduated from Sterling College in Kansas with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1926, and obtained his Master of Arts degree the following year from the University of Minnesota in history. Porter's affiliation with Harvard University began in 1927 and he worked intermittently as a research assistant in business history until he eventually received his doctoral degree in 1936, most likely in the field of business history.
• Porter taught history at several universities: Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas (1936-1938); Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York (1938-1948); University of Oregon (1951-1952 and 1958-1972); and Arizona State University, Tempe (1972-1973).
• Porter's interest in African-American frontiersmen and cowboys culminated in a book, "The Negro on the American Frontier." His manuscript, "Black Riders: The Negro on the Frontier of the Cattle Country," is about a related topic. Among several unpublished manuscripts he wrote are two about the interrelationship between Seminole Indians and African Americans: "Freedom Over Me" which focuses on the Black Seminoles living in Florida, Mexico, and Texas and "Seminole: The Life of Wild Cat (Coacoochee)." As a business historian, he wrote three books: "John Jacob Astor: Business Man" (1931); "The Jacksons and the Lees: Two Generations of Massachusettes Merchants, 1755-1844" (1937); and "History of Humble Oil and Refining Company: A History of Industrial Growth" (1959).
• Porter's many other interests included American folklore and folk history, Australian folklore, American socialism, and poetry. He died in 1981.

Processing Action (note)

• Accessioned
• Partially accessioned
• Processed, cataloged

Call Number

Sc MG 222

OCLC

NYPW93-A147

Author

Porter, Kenneth Wiggins, 1905-1981.

Title

Kenneth W. Porter papers, 1912-1984.

Reproduction

Some Black Seminole research material on microfilm.

Access

Correspondence with Sheldon Avery closed until 2022.

Series III American and European Manuscripts and Research Material. Material stored offsite, advanced notice required.

Biography

Kenneth Wiggins Porter was a professor of history at several colleges and conducted research on African-American frontiersmen and cowboys, Black Seminoles, and American folklore and folk history. He also wrote poetry and was a Socialist, maintaining an active correspondence with both groups of people.

Born in Kansas, Porter graduated from Sterling College in Kansas with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1926, and obtained his Master of Arts degree the following year from the University of Minnesota in history. Porter's affiliation with Harvard University began in 1927 and he worked intermittently as a research assistant in business history until he eventually received his doctoral degree in 1936, most likely in the field of business history.

Porter taught history at several universities: Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas (1936-1938); Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York (1938-1948); University of Oregon (1951-1952 and 1958-1972); and Arizona State University, Tempe (1972-1973).

Porter's interest in African-American frontiersmen and cowboys culminated in a book, "The Negro on the American Frontier." His manuscript, "Black Riders: The Negro on the Frontier of the Cattle Country," is about a related topic. Among several unpublished manuscripts he wrote are two about the interrelationship between Seminole Indians and African Americans: "Freedom Over Me" which focuses on the Black Seminoles living in Florida, Mexico, and Texas and "Seminole: The Life of Wild Cat (Coacoochee)." As a business historian, he wrote three books: "John Jacob Astor: Business Man" (1931); "The Jacksons and the Lees: Two Generations of Massachusettes Merchants, 1755-1844" (1937); and "History of Humble Oil and Refining Company: A History of Industrial Growth" (1959).

Porter's many other interests included American folklore and folk history, Australian folklore, American socialism, and poetry. He died in 1981.

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Finding Aid

Added Title

Black riders: the negro on the American frontier of the cattle country.

Research Call Number

Sc MG 222