Release date: Oct. 24, 2002
Contact: Deb Hammacher, Associate Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0644 or dhammac@emory.edu

Emory Receives Major Gift to African-American Studies Archive

Emory University has received a gift to its library collections that greatly increases teaching and research opportunities in 20th-century African-American studies. A portion of the Hatch/Billops Collection in New York--an extraordinary collection assembled during the past 35 years--has been given to Emory by the collectors. The Emory archive will be known as the Camille Billops and James V. Hatch Archives at Emory University.

The Hatch/Billops Collection in New York, built by artist and filmmaker Billops and theater historian Hatch, will continue its active program of documentation and acquisition, including development of the oral history archive and publication of an annual volume of interviews, "Artist and Influence: The Journal of Black American Cultural History."

"Virtually every great research library in the United States has been built upon the core acquisition of a major private library. The Camille Billops and James V. Hatch gift is that order of gift for African-American collections at Emory," says Joan Gotwals, university vice provost and director of libraries.

Materials in the process of being transferred to Emory include oral history tapes, scripts of unpublished plays, posters, photographs, and many boxes of books and periodicals. Included among the several hundred playscripts received are works by Amiri Baraka, Ed Bullins, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Lorraine Hansberry, Zora Neale Hurston, Willis Richardson, Wole Soyinka, Melvin Van Peebles, Derek Walcott and Richard Wright.

"Emory received this wonderful gift not only because of the growing reputation of our collections, but also because of the commitment we were willing to make: this includes a designated space, a curator and fellowships for researchers," says Linda Matthews, director of Emory special collections and archives.

The Camille Billops and James V. Hatch Archives at Emory University will be a center for scholarly research in African-American arts and letters, according to Randall Burkett, curator of African-American collections for the university. "This is, to my knowledge, the most important archive of African-American arts and letters of the 20th century in private hands. The archive is a rich resource for students and scholars that significantly boosts the research offerings in African-American studies at several Atlanta institutions. This sort of material will attract students and researchers from across the country."

An archive of this nature is significant not just on its own merits, but also attracts additional collections, says Burkett. One example already is the acquisition of approximately 25 boxes of the Delilah Jackson Archives. Jackson has been a rescuer of papers, photographs, and memorabilia of New York performers of all kinds, including dancers, singers, musicians and theater folk.

The Hatch/Billops collection was born of necessity, according to one of the collectors. "The Hatch/Billops Collection originated in 1968 when Camille and I were teaching art and literature respectively at the City College of New York," says Hatch. "With the rise of the civil rights movement and a concomitant increase in racial consciousness, a demand rose for courses in black American art, drama and literature. We found that very little had been published on the history of the African-American cultural arts, and much that had been published was out of print. We began collecting primary materials for our students, and soon, artists, writers and theater folk were sending material to us for safekeeping."

With a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Hatch and Billops began to conduct oral histories with artists in all disciplines--art, cinema, dance, drama, literature, music--and on related

educational and political topics. Billops began photographing the works of black artists in exhibitions and private collections. To complement this project, that now numbers nearly 10,000 slides, she and her husband

assembled a library of books, periodicals and clippings. Hatch began to collect published and unpublished plays, set designs, theater programs, and historical and biographical works, and today the black theater collection is one of the most comprehensive to be found.

One of the highlights of the Billops and Hatch gift to Emory is a complete run of "Artist and Influence," as well as a set of more than 1,200 interviews from which the published transcripts were selected. Hatch and Billops began publishing the journal in 1981, featuring transcripts of interviews, panel discussions and forums with minority artists. The publication makes available in print a portion of the holdings of the Hatch/Billops oral history archive in New York, and is a valuable resource for scholars wanting to study the artists‚ careers, perceptions and insights in autobiographical format. The archive is one of the few resources of its kind focusing on minority artists, according to Burkett.

With 21 volumes to date, "Artist and Influence" sheds new light on movements such as the Harlem Renaissance, the role of black musicians, and the careers of filmmakers, actors, sculptors, photographers, animators, choreographers, vocalists and painters. Featured artists include Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Andrews, Langston Hughes, Adrienne Kennedy and Richmond Barthe, to mention just a few.

An advisory board has been created to assist in planning and development for the archives. Members include Richard A. Long, Atticus G. Haygood Professor Emeritus at Emory; Atlanta art collectors James W. Jackson and Brenda Thompson; La Grange, Ga., collector Wesley Cochran, as well as Billops, Hatch and

Burkett.

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