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Guide to the Rudolph Fisher papers available online!
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In celebration of African-American history month, the University Archives is pleased to announce that the guide to the Rudolph Fisher papers is available online at http://pike.services.brown.edu/bamco/bamco.php?eadid=ms-1u-f5.
Rudolph Fisher is a 1919 graduate of Brown University where he majored in English and Biology. After receiving his master’s degree in Biology from Brown, Fisher attended medical school at Howard University. In 1927, Fisher began to work in New York City hospitals as a specialist in roentgenology, an early form of radiology.
While studying and working in the medical field, Fisher wrote numerous short stories and two novels. “The City of Refuge,” Fisher’s first short story, was accepted for publication at Atlantic Monthly in 1923. Following this first success, Fisher has many stories published in well-known publications such as: Opportunity, Crisis, McClure’s, and Story. “The City of Refuge” and “Miss Cynthie” were both selected for Edward O’Brien’s Best Short Stories, in 1925 and 1934.
In 1928, Fisher released his first novel, The Walls of Jericho, to rave reviews in both American and British publications. The Conjure-Man Dies, published in 1932, also received strong reviews, hailing Fisher as the first black mystery writer. Fisher also wrote reviews for many titles, including those later recognized as key works of the Harlem Renaissance, printed in The New Amsterdam and The New York Herald Tribune.
Rudolph Fisher suffered from an intestinal ailment in 1934 that required multiple surgeries in six months. The third surgery proved fatal, and Fisher died December 26, 1934. His death was a shock to the black literary community. Jane Ryder Fisher received sympathy notes from Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Thurston, Alain Locke and other known authors and publishers who helped to create the canon of Harlem Renaissance literature.
Donated to the University Archives by family members, the papers primarily contain various drafts and published copies of twenty-six Rudolph Fisher short stories and novels, as well as book reviews and essays. The collection also contains correspondence, publicity materials, personal papers, family papers and newspaper clippings. Materials cover Fisher’s life from 1919 to his death in 1934, as well as the work on behalf of Fisher done by his sister, Pearl, until 1983.
For more information, please contact the University Archives at archives@brown.edu -
Brown Daily Herald: Grant to broaden Hay’s global stamp collection
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By Colin Chazen
02/15/08
Comprising over 100 volumes and covering every country that issues stamps as postage, the John Hay Library’s George S. Champlin Memorial Stamp Collection is one of the world’s largest collections of international postage – and it’s about to get even bigger.
The University received two grants from the Champlin Foundations last month, which fund an array of projects on the condition that they benefit the public. A grant of $50,000, received annually, will be used for the continued support and expansion of the Champlin Stamp Collection. An additional grant of $200,000 will be used to fund display cases that will be placed inside the Hay’s reading room, and will increase the library’s exhibit capacity, according to the Library’s Web site.
The display cases are part of a proposed $4,000,000 renovation to open up the Hay Reading Room and restore it to its original size and purpose. The Reading Room currently houses Library staff offices and materials waiting to be processed, with the remaining one-third of the room open only to those working with the Library’s special collections. Once the renovation is complete, the special collections reading room will be moved and the Hay reading room will again be open to students seeking a quiet, elegant place to study.
“(The reading room) could be wonderful, as it once was and was intended to be,” said Harriette Hemmasi, the University librarian.
Though the proposed renovations are still millions of dollars in fundraising away, the installment of the new display cases should begin later this year, according to Hemmasi. The display space inside the Hay is currently restricted to a small exhibit room and a scattering of cases, an amount “inadequate for the amount of material in the Library,” Hemmasi said. The Library houses more than 2.5 million items.
Beginning in 1960, George S. Champlin, the president of a family-owned jewelry manufacturing company in Providence, began donating to the University a collection of stamps from countries around the world. He added to the collection almost every year, and by the time of his death in 1979, it had grown from six to 90 volumes.
“This was his great passion,” said Brent Lang ’04, the Library’s communication and marketing specialist. “He’d ask all his employees, when they went to various countries, to look for stamps.”
The Champlin Foundations’ primary goal is to “fund tax exempt organizations within Rhode Island that have the greatest impact on the broadest possible segment of the population,” according to its Web site. The foundation has a long history of supporting the University Library, and was awarded the William Williams award in 1997, the Library’s highest honor, according to a press release on the library’s Web site.
“We’re so grateful for the grant,” Hemmasi said. “The foundation has been a great supporter of Brown.” -
Brown Daily Herald: Alums can now borrow books for $15
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By Jing Yi Hon
02/15/08
Alums who miss the familiar smell of dusty old books from the Rockefeller Library have cause for celebration – University library cards are now available to alums at a one-time cost of $15.
The service came into effect on Jan. 1 and will offer borrowing privileges free of charge to alums, according to the library’s Web site. Due to copyright issues, electronic books and journals will be restricted to in-library access only.
In the past, access to borrowing privileges had been available only to alums who paid the $75 annual membership fee and to non-alums who paid $400 annually.
This new adjustment in fees doesn’t affect fees for the general public.
“We thought it’d be nice if we could offer it as a sort of a promotion, or PR, for alums to connect with the University,” said Florence Doksansky, associate University librarian.
Doksansky hopes that the release of these new library cards will increase alumni awareness of the different programs offered by the library, including the “Friends of the Library” program, which organizes different talks and events regularly for members.
Only 33 alums have applied for the alumni library cards thus far. But Doksansky is optimistic about the service’s popularity – The library has sent letters to only about 100 alums since the program was launched, she said.
And she has reason to feel confident. “I know that there are interesting events happening in the library and in (the) John Hay (Library),” said Ari Savitzky ’06, a former Herald opinions editor and Providence resident.
“It seems like a great deal,” he said. “I haven’t been to get the card, but I’m going to make a point to do it.”