Bibliography
Notten, Eleonore van. Wallace Thurman’s Harlem Renais-
sance.Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1994.
Thurman, Wallace. “Grist in the Mill.” Richard Barks-
dale and Kenneth Kinnamon, eds. Black Writers of
America: A Comprehensive Anthology.Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1972.
Guggenheim Fellowship
A prestigious fellowship awarded to promising
scholars and artists. It was established in 1925 by
the Guggenheim family, whose patriarch John
Simon Guggenheim was the son of Swiss immi-
grants. The family made their wealth through a
successful lace import business and in silver min-
ing. Awards are distributed to individuals working
in a broad number of fields.
The Guggenheim Foundation is among an im-
pressive set of American philanthropic organizations
that made deliberate efforts to support African-
American arts and scholarship. During the Harlem
Renaissance, a number of writers received critical
support and endorsement from Guggenheim, as well
as from the HARMON FOUNDATION and the
ROSENWALDfund. Until recently, it was possible to
win more than once, and Harlem Renaissance fig-
ures like PAULGREEN, ZORANEALEHURSTON, and
ERICWALRONDwere among those who did.
Winners are selected on the basis of published
work and demonstrated excellence in the humani-
ties, social sciences, and sciences. In 1927 WALTER
WHITEbecame the first African American to win
an award; his was based on his probing fiction
about LYNCHING. In 1930 NELLALARSENwas the
first African-American woman awarded the fellow-
ship. Between 1927 and 1940, awards in literature
were made to STERLING BROWN, COUNTEE
CULLEN, Paul Green, LANGSTONHUGHES, Zora
Neale Hurston, Nella Larsen, and Eric Walrond.
E. FRANKLINFRAZIERwon for his work in sociol-
ogy, and Miguel Covarrubias won the fellowship
for his accomplishments in fine arts.
Recipients use the generous stipend to support
creative ventures, travel, and literary endeavors.
Countee Cullen used his 1928 fellowship to fi-
nance a productive and restorative sojourn in
France. During his Guggenheim year, he com-
pleted THEBLACKCHRIST ANDOTHERPOEMS.
Langston Hughes planned to use his $1,500
monthly fellowship stipend to support himself as
he completed research for a historical novel based
on the Haymarket Riot of 1886.
Zora Neale Hurston won back-to-back fellow-
ships in 1936 and 1937. In her letter of acceptance,
Hurston declared that it was her “earnest hope
and... firm determination to add something to
human understanding and to art” as a result of
being selected. She used her first award to finance a
six-month study of the Maroons in Jamaica. She
used this research in Tell My Horse(1938). Her sec-
ond award facilitated an eventful though physically
debilitating residence in Haiti. She arrived there in
March 1937 to complete work on hoodoo practices.
In September 1944 she wrote to Dr. Henry Allen
Moe of the Foundation asking for consideration of a
third application. “I want a recording machine this
time, and a good camera to take along,” she wrote
in a forthright plea. Scholar Carla Kaplan, editor of
the first published collection of Hurston’s letters, re-
veals that Hurston’s references often threatened to
undermine the writer-anthropologist’s applications.
Both FANNIEHURSTand Ruth Benedict suggested
that Hurston did not have the discipline to conduct
independent fieldwork. The author’s publications
and use of the fellowships, however, proved them
wrong. Hurston’s correspondence with the founda-
tion, and in particular with Secretary Moe, reveal
the foundation’s steady belief in the artists’ creative
freedom. These documents also illuminate the ways
in which the fellowship enriched the intellectual life
and pursuits of its recipients.Bibliography
Davis, John. The Guggenheims (1848–1988): An Ameri-
can Epic.New York: Morrow, 1978.
Kaplan, Carla. Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters.New
York: Doubleday, 2002.
Tanselle, G. Thomas, Peter F. Kardon, and Eunice R.
Schwager, eds. The John Simon Guggenheim Memo-
rial Foundation 1925–2000: A Seventy-fifth Anniver-
sary Record.New York: John Simon Guggenheim
Memorial Foundation, 2001.Gumby Book Studio Quarterly
A short-lived journal produced by Alexander
Gumby, an avid collector of Harlem RenaissanceGumby Book Studio Quarterly 207