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Edric and Pearl Connor papers

 Collection
Identifier: SC83

Scope and Contents

The collection comprises documents, correspondence and photographs from both Edric and Pearl Connor. The items from Edric include several drafts of Edric Connor's autobiography, photographs, several of which illustrate his film career and many music scores that he possessed. The photographs also highlight the evacuation of the northwest peninsula of Chaguaramas in Trinidad which Connor helped to organize on behalf of the U.S. Military in the early 1940s. There are also early photographs of the steelband showing the transition from biscuit tins to oil drums.

The Pearl Connor material covers the period 1977-1978 when she was based in Trinidad. It comprises newspaper clippings and correspondence, pamphlets depicting her involvement in various aspects of Trinidad and Tobago culture, her efforts as a cultural activist, involvement in Carifesta, attempted development of a local film industry, also her work as a columnist with the Trinidad Guardian.

Dates

  • Creation: 1941-1978

Biographical / Historical

Edric Connor was born in Mayaro, Trinidad in 1913. He emerged as a cultural activist in the early 1940s and migrated to Britain in 1944 where he subsequently became a renowned singer as well as a film and stage actor. His film appearances included: Cry the Beloved Country (1951); Moby Dick (1956): and the Roots of Heaven (1958). He died in London in 1968.

Pearl Connor (also known as Pearl Connor-Mongotsi) was born in Trinidad in 1924. Originally a dancer with Beryl McBurnie, she went to Britain in 1948 to study law and subsequently married Edric Connor. In 1956, she started the Edric Connor Agency to promote actors, dancers, writers and musicians. In 1971, she married Joseph Mogotsi, leader of the South African singing group, The Manhattan Brothers. She died in South Africa in 2005.

Extent

4 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The collection was donated to the Alma Jordan Library by Ms. Geraldine Connor, daughter of Pearl and Edric Connor in 1980.

Related Materials

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture also holds a collection of items on Edric and Pearl Connor.

Bibliography

  • Connor, Edric. Horizons : the life and times of Edric Connor 1913-1968, an autobiography / Edric Connor ; with foreword by George Lamming and introduction by Bridget Brereton and Gordon Rohlehr. Kingston, Jamaica ; Miami : Ian Randle Publishers , 2007 [i.e. 2006]
Title
Edric and Pearl Connor papers
Status
Completed
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

Contact:
St. Augustine
Trinidad and Tobago
868-662-2002 Ext 82132
868-662-9238 (Fax)