Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
The Langston Hughes reader
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Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
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Manuscripts
An authobiographical sketch donated by Langston Hughes to a special poetry file, at the request of fellow poet Beulah May.
mssHM 63817
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Manuscripts
This collection is arranged in three parts. The first part consists of a pocket diary, manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, and ephemera to, by, and about Langston Hughes. The second part of the collection consists of photographs and another Hughes pocket notebook. The third part consists of letters, ephemera and photographs primarily by Loren Miller and related to the 1932 Soviet Union trip. Langston Hughes was a close friend of Loren and Juanita Miller. Hughes and Miller traveled to the Soviet Union in 1932 with 19 other African-Americans onboard the ship Europa for a film project that never materialized. The bulk of the material dates between 1932 and 1934, the years that Langston Hughes traveled to and from the Soviet Union and Mexico. There are two photographs from onboard the Europa including a group photograph of 20 of the 22 who traveled to the Soviet Union. There are also two books autographed by Langston Hughes to Loren and Juanita Miller that were transferred to Rare Books in August 2002. These books are One-Way Ticket (RB 606889) and Simple Speaks His Mind (RB 606888).
mssHM 64070-64101, HM 68429-68442, HM 73900-73977
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Manuscripts
Langston Hughes is one of several California poets who donated items to a special poetry file, at the request of fellow poet Beulah May.
mssHM 63818
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Manuscripts
These letters, cards, and one manuscript were sent to Isabella Brown, an African-American poet from Natchez, Mississippi (there is one letter by American poet Walter Lowenfels to Brown). The items include:
mssHM 80590-80595
![Reminiscences of John Langston [microform] : 1877](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Frail.huntington.org%2FIIIF3%2FImage%2F22APN451J7E5%2Ffull%2F%5E360%2C%2F0%2Fdefault.jpg&w=750&q=75)
Manuscripts
Microfilm of the autobiography of John Langston, covering his childhood through 1875. Langston recalls growing up in England and briefly moving to the United States before his father's interests failed and the family returned to England. Langston worked at iron works in Staffordshire and Wales before returning to the United States at the age of sixteen. He writes of working at iron works in New Jersey and Pittsburgh, and of spending the early 1840s looking for work in Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky. He eventually got hired as a steamer fireman in St. Louis and settled in Independence, Missouri, in 1844. Langston then describes a serious illness he suffered and his subsequent decision to join the Carmelite Church. He briefly covers his time in California, his journey to Council Bluffs, and his decision to join the Mormon Church after much internal debate over the practice of polygamy. After briefly writing of his overland journey to Utah, Langston focuses on the Utah War of 1857-1858, including his time in the Alpine militia at Echo Canyon. He believed that the U.S. Army was "sent out ... with the intent of hanging and killing all the leading Mormons." The last few pages of the volume trace Langston's move to Rockville and his cotton growing experiences through about 1875.
MSS MFilm 00124
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Manuscripts
The collection consists mainly of manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, and ephemera to, by, and about African-American writer Langston Hughes. The bulk of the material dates between 1932 and 1934, the years that Langston Hughes traveled to and from the Soviet Union and Mexico. There are also correspondence and photographs to and about Hughes's friend African-American lawyer Loren Miller and the Miller family. This collection is arranged in three parts reflecting three different acquisitions. Part I consists of a pocket diary kept while Hughes was in China and Japan in 1933 (HM 64076), manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, and ephemera to, by, and about Langston Hughes. Part II consists of photograph reproductions and another pocket notebook (HM 68429), kept by Hughes while in the Soviet Union, dating from 1932-1933. Part III consists of letters, ephemera and photographs primarily by Loren Miller and related to the 1932 Soviet Union trip. Langston Hughes was a close friend of Loren and Juanita Miller. Hughes and Miller traveled to the Soviet Union in 1932 with 19 other African-Americans onboard the ship Europa for a film project that never materialized. There are two photographs from onboard the Europa including a group photograph of 20 of the 22 who traveled to the Soviet Union (HM 64100). Correspondence in Part I consists of: 5 letters from Langston Hughes to Loren Miller (HM 64082-64086); 1 letter to Juanita Miller (HM 64081); 2 letters from Si-lan Chen Leyda to Langston Hughes (HM 64088-64089); 5 letters from Maxim Lieber to Langston Hughes about selling some of Hughes' short stories (HM 64090-64094); and 4 letters to Langston Hughes from Josephine De Witt (HM 64070), L.B. (Lidiì'a Borisovna) Filatova (HM 64071), Jozsef Rem'enyi (HM 64097), and Agnes Smedley (HM 64097). There are 3 letters to Loren Miller from Bill Jordan (HM 64087); Helen O. (HM 64095); and Kenneth P. O'Donnell (HM 64096) inviting Miller to a civil rights meeting with President Kennedy in 1963. There is also 1 letter to Maxim Lieber from Elsie Weil about a Hughes' short story (HM 64099). Correspondence in Part III is primarily from Loren Miller to Juanita Miller and Nora Miller, with a few letters to and from other friends and family. Manuscripts (in Part I) consist of Mother and Child [one-act play] (HM 64072); The Need for Heroes [essay] (HM 64073); "Once again..." (HM 64074); Oyster's Son [short story] (HM 64075); Professor [short story] (HM 64077); Reno Possess Only Negro Weather Man [essay] (HM 64078); The Sailor and the Steward [short story] (HM 64079); and "Wise Men" [poem] (HM 64080).
mssHM 64070-64101