Mayfield, Julian, 1959

The photographs consist mainly of portraits and publicity photographs of those prominent in the African American world. There are also some snapshots of Harold Jackman, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, and others. The majority of the photographs are portraits taken by Carl Van Vechten. Van Vechten was a white man who had been accepted into African American society. In Van Vechten's lifetime he had many different professions; music critic, author, collector, and finally photographer. Van Vechten tried to photograph prominent and influential African Americans who lived in or passed through New York City. Some of those photographed were: Josephine Baker, Countee Cullen, Romare Bearden, Sammy Davis, Jr., Katherine Dunham, Billie Holiday, James Earl Jones, Leontyne Price, Paul Robeson and Noble Lee Sissle. The other subseries is photographs taken by various photographers. This group contains candid snapshots as well as publicity shots and film stills. The majority of the photographs are sepia tone. Color prints are noted in the catalog.

Carl Van Vechten had many of his photographs made into postcards which can be found under Van Vechten in Series 1. Also, some of the Van Vechten photographs are part of a rotating display and are kept separately.