Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents ix
3. Illustrations xi
4. Acknowledgments xiii
5. Abbreviations xxi
6. Introduction: “Not Like an Arrow, but a Boomerang,” or The Lifecycles of Twentieth- Century African American Literary Papers 1
7. 1. Black Special Collections and the Midcentury Rise of the Institutional Collector 39
8. 2. Claude McKay’s Archival Rebirth: Provenance and Politics in Amiable with Big Teeth 95
9. 3. “At Once Both Document and Symbol”: Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, and the Lafargue Clinic Photographic Archive 145
10. 4. An Interlude Concerning the Vanishing Manuscripts of Ann Petry 209
11. 5. “Too Obscure for Learned Classification”: Comic Books, Counterculture, and Archival Invisibility in Invisible Man 241
12. Coda. Disappointed Bridges: A Note on the Discovery of Amiable with Big Teeth 285
13. Appendix: Artifact Biographies or Vagabond Itineraries of Key Documents Discussed in This Book 305
14. Notes 313
15. Permissions 361
16. Index 363