CLR James collection
Abstract
The collection comprises the manuscripts, correspondence and personal and literary papers which remained in his possession at the time of his death, together with the books which formed his working library. Included among the papers are assorted typescripts of James' Toussaint L'Ouverture and The Black Jacobins; material on the life of Pan-Africanist, George Padmore; miscellaneous autobiographical writings. The most sustained correspondence covers the period 1950-1969, when James was involved with the Johnson-Forest Tendency. Other miscellaneous correspondence covers the period 1965-1969 and 1982-1989. The books, about 1500 volumes, consist of standard texts of nineteenth and twentieth century English literature, history, politics, sociology and the like. There is also a collection of Wisden Almanacks and other books on cricket, as well as a substantial number of monographs on art and artists.
Dates
- 1930-1988
Biographical / Historical
Cyril Lionel Robert James, writer, political activist and Marxist intellectual, was born in Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago in 1901. He attended Queen's Royal College and later migrated to England where he worked as a cricket correspondent. He read extensively and evolved as a leading Marxist thinker of his time. He spent periods of his life in the United States of America (1938-1953) and in his homeland (1958-1962 and 1964-1965), involved in political activity. Between 1968 and 1975 he lived in the United States, mostly engaged in lecturing. He spent his later years in London, lecturing and writing, and died there in 1989.
Extent
3 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Organized into subject categories and arranged by form of material.
Custodial History
The collection comprises the manuscripts, correspondence and other personal and literary papers which were in the author's possession at the time of his death, together with the books which formed his working library. They were offered for sale some years after his death and the University of the West Indies Library purchased them.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
C.L.R. James Estate was purchased in 1997 and 2006.
Existence and Location of Originals
C.L.R. James Collection also located at Quintin O'Connor Library of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union, 99A Circular Road, San Fernando.
- Title
- CLR James collection: Serials
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Special Collections Department
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the The Alma Jordan Library, The University of the West Indies Repository
St. Augustine
Trinidad and Tobago
868-662-2002 Ext 82132
868-662-9238 (Fax)