Randolph Linsly Simpson African-American collection.

1728-1991 (bulk 1850-1970)

30 linear feet (95 boxes + 6 broadsides, 5 artwork).

Purchased from Swann Galleries on various funds, 1995. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.

The collector Randolph Linsly Simpson was born on June 1, 1927, and grew up both in Rochester, New York, where his father, Charles A. Simpson, worked in banking, and in Northford, Connecticut, at the family home of his mother, Eunice Hall Linsly Simpson. After graduating from the Harley School in Rochester in 1945, he served two years in the U. S. Navy, and later worked as a voice teacher. Simpson lived the latter part of his life at the Linsly homestead in Northford. Simpson's interest in the material record of black history in America was apparently inspired by his family's abolitionist history, and by the proximity of his childhood home in Rochester to the cemetery in which Frederick Douglass is buried. Simpson's large collection of images, artifacts, and other memorabilia documenting the African-American experience drew a great deal of interest during his lifetime. In 1989 the Wadsworth Atheneum purchased approximately 7,000 items from Simpson. Simpson died on January 6, 1992.

The Randolph Linsly Simpson African-American Collection consists chiefly of photographs dating from circa 1850 to 1970, but also includes printed illustrations, original artwork, documents and printed ephemera that provide a record of black history in the United States for the period circa 1770 to 1970. The focus is on African-American subjects, but the collection also includes the work of black photographers, as well as images of white men and women, many of whom were associated with the abolitionist movement. Collected with a broad scope, the images provide information about individuals at all socio-economic levels and include people of all ages and gender. They represent the work of professional photographers in various regions of the United States and some European countries, and the image formats present in the collection reflect the development of photographic processes, beginning with Daguerreotypes and extending through mid-twentieth century formats.

English

June 01, 2002

Finding aid available.

Randolph Linsly Simpson African-American Collection. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Randolph Linsly Simpson African-American Collection. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.