Gwendolyn Brooks Collection, 1909-2003 | Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Title: Gwendolyn Brooks Collection, 1909-2003

Predominant Dates:bulk 1960-2000

ID: 01/01/MSS00086

Primary Creator: Brooks, Gwendolyn (1917-2000)

Extent: 200.0 Linear Feet

Date Acquired: 09/19/2013

Subjects: Poets, American - 20th century

Languages: English

Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) was an American poet and educator born in Topeka, Kansas and raised on the South Side of Chicago. In 1950, Brooks was the first Black person to win a Pulitzer Prize in any category, receiving the award in Poetry for Annie Allen (1949). Brooks was a beloved mentor to many poets and artists from the Black Arts movement, and started the Illinois Poet Laureate Awards to encourage poetry writing amongst young people. During her life, Brooks received numerous accolades for her work, including her appointment as Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1968 and Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (now the Poet Laureate of the United States) in 1985.

This collection contains materials that were collected by Gwendolyn Brooks throughout her life and professional career. Formats include correspondence; poetry and prose drafts; interview transcripts; notebooks and loose notes and jottings; photos and scrapbooks; drawings; calendars and diet books; public engagements files and teaching materials; awards, honorary degrees, and doctoral hoods; newspapers and news clippings; A/V media; realia; and ephemera. The collection also contains volumes, pamphlets, and periodicals from Brooks's personal library, as well as related materials collected by RBML ("Supplementary Material").

This record does not contain collection content for the first series of the Gwendolyn Brooks Collection. Series 1, which contains alphabetical correspondence and correspondence files, was separated from the rest of the collection in an attempt to improve load times. Click here to view series 1 (temporarily MS00086a).

Poet Gwendolyn Brooks was born to parents David Anderson and Keziah Wims Brooks on June 7, 1917 in Topeka, Kansas. A few weeks later, her family moved to Chicago where she would live for the rest of her life. Brooks began writing at an early age and was encouraged by her mother saying, "You are going to be the lady Paul Laurence Dunbar." When she was 13, her poem "Evening" was published in the children's magazine American Childhood [1]. By the time she graduated high school, Brooks had published over one hundred poems in the "Lights and Shadows" poetry column of the Chicago Defender [2]. After high school, Brooks graduated from a two-year program at Wilson Junior College [3]. In 1939, she married Henry Blakely, Jr. whom she met after joining the Chicago NAACP Youth Council. They soon had their first child, Henry III, and later their daughter, Nora.

Early in her career, Brooks was encouraged by poet James Weldon Johnson and Harlem Renaissance writers Langston Hughes and Richard Wright [4]. In her work, Brooks drew inspiration from her life and surroundings in Chicago. Her first book of poetry, A Street in Bronzeville (1945), received praise for its authentic portraits of the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. Her second collection of poems, Annie Allen (1949), chronicles the life of a young Black Bronzeville girl. It was for this book that Brooks won the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, making her the first Black person to win the award in any category [5].

In the 1960s, Brooks work became more overtly political as she became close with activists and writers involved in the Black Arts Movement, a group of artists whose work reflected the cultural side of the growing Black Power movement [6]. She became especially close with Haki Madhubuti, to whom she became both a mentor and a mother figure. Soon Brooks began working exclusively with Black publishers, especially Broadside Press, founded by her close friend Dudley Randall, and Third World Press, founded by Madhubuti. In the 1980s, Brooks also established her own imprint called The David Company.

Throughout her long career, Brooks published more than twenty books of poetry, including The Bean Eaters (1960), Selected Poems (1963), In the Mecca (1968), Riot (1969), Family Pictures (1970), Aloneness (1971), Beckonings (1975), To Disembark (1981), Black Love (1982), The Near-Johannesburg Boy and Other Poems (1986), Blacks (1987), Gottschalk and the Grand Tarantelle (1988), Winnie (1988), and Children Coming Home (1991). She also published one novel, Maud Martha (1953), as well as children's literature such as Bronzeville Boys and Girls (1956) and The Tiger Who Wore White Gloves (1974). Brooks also published two autobiographies, Report from Part One (1972), and Report from Part Two (1995).

In addition to her writing, Brooks taught poetry and creative writing at numerous colleges and universities. In 1990, the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing was founded at Chicago State University, where Brooks served as distinguished professor and writer-in-residence [7]. Brooks influenced generations of writers, not only with her words, but with her actions. For most of the year, she traveled the country to perform her poetry for children of all ages as well as at universities, public libraries, hospitals, and prisons. As she especially encouraged young poets, Brooks sponsored youth poetry awards for over thirty years. Renowned for her generosity, Brooks dedicated her life to promoting the value of poetry and inspiring young writers.

Brooks was the recipient of more than seventy-five honorary doctorates and countless accolades [8]. In 1968, she was appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois, a position which she held until her death in 2000 [9]. In 1985, Brooks was selected for an honorary one-year term as the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress [10]. She received lifetime achievement awards from both the National Endowment for the Arts in 1989 and the National Book Foundation in 1994. Brooks then received the National Endowment for the Humanities' highest honor when she was named the 1994 Jefferson Lecturer. The next year, Brooks received the National Medal of Arts.

Today, Gwendolyn Brooks' legacy persists as one of the most significant poets of the twentieth century, because of both her contribution to American literature and her kindness and generosity, especially toward young poets and authors of color.

Poets, American - 20th century

Repository: Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Acquisition Source: Nora Brooks Blakely

Related Materials:

Celebrating Brooks @ 100

Gwendolyn Brooks Supplementary Materials

Gwendolyn Brooks Collection (Sc MG 271) | New York Public Library

Gwendolyn Brooks Papers (BANC MSS 2001/83 z) | University of California, Berkeley

Dudley Randall Papers (2017014 Aa 2) | University of Michigan

Sterling Plumpp Collection (MUM00368) | University of Mississippi

Useni Eugene Perkins Papers (2014/01) | Chicago Public Library

Finding Aid Revision History: This finding aid is experiencing ongoing revision, beginning in June 2023.

Box and Folder Listing

Series 14: Gwendolyn Brooks Personal Realia/Artifacts

Box 536

Folder 1: Anacin medicine bottle, undated

Includes four tablets.

Folder 2: “LOLA” matchbook, undated

Replaced by a separation sheet. Includes a black velvet drawstring bag.

Folder 3: Black two-pocket folder, undated

Folder 4: Magnifying sheet, undated

Wrapped in a plastic sleeve.

Folder 5: Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival button pin, undated

Folder 6: Memorial prayer card for Daley, Richard J. (City of Chicago), 1976

Folder 7: Gray scrapbook cover, 1960s

Replaced by a separation sheet.

Folder 8: Souvenir Russian cheeseboard, 1982

Given to Gwendolyn Brooks from “Sasha (Alexander).” Wrapped in tissue paper.

Folder 9

Item 1: Major League Poet Cards deck, 1995?

Hall of Fame series. 14 cards.

Item 2: Identification card for Illinois Teachers College Chicago–North, 1960s

Item 3: PEN American Center membership card, 1992

Item 4: Harrods price tag, undated

Folder 10

Item 1: Stapler user manual, undated

Item 2: Bergdorf Goodman credit card, 1993

Includes stationery and a “Retail Installment Credit Agreement.” Replaced by a separation slip.

Folder 11

Item 1: Paper doily, undated

Item 2: Marshall Field’s magazine perfume sample, 1999?

Item 3: National First Ladies’ Library napkin, undated

Item 4: Moleskin shoe pad, undated

Item 5: Brown-and-white card, undated

Folder 12

Item 1: Flower petal fragments, undated

Item 2: Cosmetic powder puff, undated

Folder 13: Black NCA folder, undated

Folder 14

Item 1: McCormick Celery Flakes jar of keys, undated

Includes 18 keys and a pin, paperclip, button, and plastic tab.

Item 2: Shields Fifth Avenue clamshell jewelry box, undated

Includes a ring of keys and four lapel pins. Two rechargeable nickel-cadmium AA batteries were removed for preservation reasons (01/2014).

Box 537

Folder 1

Item 1: Weber’s Hof Brau metal clipboard with calendar, 1944?

Item 2-3: Bags, undated

Replaced by a separation sheet.

Folder 2: Pressed rose on a scrapbook page, 1959

Includes a burgundy scrapbook cover and a white sheet of paper.

Folder 3

Item 1: Plastic purple and blue floral frame, undated

Item 2: “FLAT FOR RENT. WORKING COUPLE” sign, undated

Folder 4: “1973 Last Christmas presents from my brother Raymond”, 1973

Includes a mechanical pencil, a plastic bag, three embroidered handkerchiefs, and a “1973 Last Christmas presents from my brother Raymond. Christmas handkerchiefs (plus pen and stationery.)” envelope.

Folder 5: “Mama’s Last Birthday. (90th). Birthday Party Napkins”, 1978

Includes six paper napkins and a “Mama’s Last Birthday. (90th). Birthday Party Napkins” envelope.

Folder 6

Item 1: “‘Words in the Mourning Time’: Conference on Robert Hayden” perforated card, undated

Item 2: The Poetry Society of America membership card, undated

Item 3: George Washington University. Columbian College of Arts and Sciences commencement ticket, 1986

Includes an envelope.

Item 4: The Cliff Dwellers membership card, 1991

Item 5: The Cliff Dwellers membership card, 1992

Includes a blank dues card and a “Membership Card” envelope.

Item 6: Voter Address Verification card, 1994

Folder 7: “Kwanza First Fruits” green button, undated

Folder 8: Blue floral wrapping paper, undated

Includes a hanging calendar and attached notes (replaced by a separation sheet).

Box 538

Folder 1

Item 1: Postcards grouping, undated

Includes Hotel Pontchartrain (Detroit) (5 copies) and the London Bridge, and a piece of yellow card.

Item 2: Carefree Koolerz bubble gum wrapper, undated

Folder 2

Item 1: Postcard for The Palm Tavern (Chicago), undated

Item 2: Flipbook calendar, 1994

Folder 3: 80th birthday celebration grouping, 1997

Includes a banner on continuous feed printer paper; a card and envelope from Meece, June and Russell; flyers on colorful paper; and a manila envelope.

Folder 4: Northeastern University button, undated

White button with green text: “NORTHEASTERN. This University Works Because WE DO.”

Folder 5: Glass heart with blue, pin, and white swirls, 1998

Includes a red drawstring bag and a mailer from Blackside, Inc. Film and Television Productions.

Folder 6: Wood train whistle toy, undated

Stamped for The Great Train Store (Pittsburgh). Wrapped in original plastic film.

Folder 7: White box and periwinkle pouch, undated

Box 539

Folder 1: Box of Kleenex facial tissues, undated

Potentially belonged to a member of the Brooks family. Includes a separation sheet.

Folder 2

Item 1: Yashica AW-mini AF 35mm film camera, 1990s

Includes a roll of film.

Item 2: Painted pink granite slab, 1970s

Reads “When life gives you lemons __ make lemonade.”

Item 3: Post-it Page Markers package backing, 2000?

Folder 3: Mansion Hill Inn travel sewing kit, undated

Folder 4: Metal pen stand, undated

Folder 5: Dr. Byte USA Stackable Letter/Legal File Drawer user instructions, undated

Includes connector pins in plastic bags and a “SPECIAL! WHITE ExacTech Companion Sensor” sticker.

Box 540

Folder 1

Item 1: Art Treasure dinner mats, undated

Replaced by a separation sheet.

Item 2: Green pillar candle, undated

Item 3: Carved wooden head rests, undated

One deep brown, one medium brown.

Item 4: Lenox Candles Inc. candle ring, undated

Plastic evergreen needles with wax and felt fruits. Wrapped in paper.

Item 5: Plastic bag filled with buttons, undated

Includes a needle with pink thread and an “Extra Buttons” paper envelope.

Folder 2: “Fashioned by Oyinda Onafeka” clothing tag, undated

Includes a Mansion Hill Inn travel sewing kit.

Folder 3: Leather strap, undated

Folder 4: Wooden door stop, undated

Wrapped in paper.

Folder 5: Recipe box contents, 1957, 1963-1973, undated

Includes manuscript recipes, newspaper clippings with recipes and health tips, and dividers. View digitized content: 00086_14_01.

Box 541

Item 1: Wooden recipe box, 1960s

Lid reads “Penna Turnpike.” View digitized content: 00086_14_01.