Langston Hughes Papers

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).