Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. 20.8 lin. ft.

Summary

1. The Negro Actors Guild (NAG) records document the functions and activities of this professional organization. The collection is divided into six series and ten subseries.

Donor/Sponsor

1. Schomburg NEH Blacks on Stage: African-American Theater Arts Collections Project.

Subject

1. Brewster, Townsend, 1924-
2. Childress, Alice
3. Gilbert, Mercedes
4. Hunter, Eddie
5. Whipper, Leigh R. 1877-1975
6. Anderson, Marian, 1897-1993
7. Bush, Anita
8. Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974
9. Freeman, Kenn
10. Handy, W. C. 1873-1958
11. Jessye, Eva, 1895-1992
12. Razaf, Andy, 1895-1973
13. Robinson, Bill, 1878-1949
14. Wallace, Emmett Babe, 1909-
15. Waters, Ethel, 1896-1977
16. Negro Actors Guild
17. Calypso (Music)
18. American drama
19. American drama -- African American authors
20. African Americans -- Charities
21. African American actors -- Societies, etc
22. African Americans in the performing arts
23. African Americans -- Music
24. African American theater
25. Vaudeville -- United States
26. African American entertainers

Genre/Form

1. Scripts.

Call number

1. Sc MG 259

Note

1. Plaster of Paris cast of Leigh Whipper transferred to Art and Artifacts Division.
2. Photographs transferred to Photographs and Prints Division.
3. Audiotapes of Executive Board meetings, 1975-1981, transferred to Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.

Access (note)

1. Welfare Fund records restricted.

Terms of use (note)

1. Welfare Fund records are closed until 2086. Researchers using executive board minutes must agree in writing not to publish names or other information identifying individual welfare fund applicants or recipients.

Source (note)

1. Coles, Charles "Honi"

Biography (note)

1. The Negro Actors Guild was established in 1936 in New York City as a welfare and benevolent organization for black performers. The Guild was composed of six committees: finance, administrative, membership, entertainment, sick and welfare, with an executive board to oversee the activities of the committees.

Processing action (note)

1. Accessioned
2. Surveyed
3. Cataloging updated
4. Processed

Author

1. Negro Actors Guild of America, Inc.

Title

1. Negro Actors Guild of America records, 1904-1982, 1937-1982 (bulk)

Access

1. Welfare Fund records restricted.

Terms of use

1. Welfare Fund records are closed until 2086. Researchers using executive board minutes must agree in writing not to publish names or other information identifying individual welfare fund applicants or recipients.

Biography

1. The Negro Actors Guild was established in 1936 in New York City as a welfare and benevolent organization for black performers. The Guild was composed of six committees: finance, administrative, membership, entertainment, sick and welfare, with an executive board to oversee the activities of the committees.
2. The finance committee kept records of all expenditures accrued; the administrative committee's duties were to oversee all office procedures; the membership committee sponsored drives, promoted goodwill among the members and was responsible for raising funds; and the entertainment committee organized and sponsored a wide variety of benefits and programs whose proceeds were used primarily to assist needy entertainers. Two other core committees were the sick committee which oversaw visitations of the sick in homes and hospitals, and the distribution of gifts; and the welfare committee, which carried out the primary aim and purpose of the Guild: to give financial aid to entertainers. The Negro Actors Guild also published a quarterly journal, "The Negro Actor" from 1938-1940, which was superceded by a monthly newsletter. The Guild collapsed in 1981 due to the mishandling of funds and factional infighting.

Connect to:

1. Finding Aid

Research call number

1. Sc MG 259