Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- Edward Mapp
- Abstract:
- Consists of posters, advertisements, and photographs featuring African American actors and actresses, as well as videocassettes and DVDs.
- Extent:
- 278 Items
- Language:
- Materials are in English
- Preferred citation:
[item], Edward Mapp Collection, Special Collection EM, Black Film Center & Archive, Indiana University, Bloomington.
Background
- Biographical / Historical:
Born in New York City in 1929, Edward C. Mapp has spent his career as an honored educator, writer, and collector of Black film memorabilia. He received his B.A. from the City College of New York in 1953, his M.S. from Columbia University in 1956, and his Ph.D. in Mass Communications from New York University in 1970.
After working for the New York Public Library's Research Libraries Information Division and teaching in the Brooklyn public schools early in his career, Mapp has served as Dean of Faculty at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, Vice Chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago, and Professor of Speech and Communciation at the City University of New York, from which he retired in 1998.
Mapp's interest and research in Black film has led to the publication of numerous books and articles, including a regular column in Movie/TV Marketing, the Directory of Blacks in the Performing Arts (Scarecrow, 1990), A Separate Cinema: Fifty Years of Black Cast Posters with John Kisch (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1992), and most recently African Americans and the Oscar (Scarecrow, 2003).
Dr. Mapp has also amassed a personal collection of over 1,000 black cast film posters and other memorablia, a portion of which toured the country through 2005 as "Close Up in Black: African American Film Posters," under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. His work in this area earned him induction into the Black Collectors Hall of Fame in 1992.
Dr. Mapp has received numerous honors throughout his career, including being appointed by the Mayor of New York City as Commissioner of the New York City Commission on Human Rights in 1987, a position he held for seven years. Mapp also served on the National Conference on Christians and Jews Brooklyn Board from 1972 to 1982, the Advisory Committee of the National Project Center for Film and the Humanities from 1974 to 1975 and the United Nations Association of New York Board of Directors from 1975 to 1978. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Friends of Thirteen (NYC public television station) since 2000, and was elected First Vice Chairman in 2003.
- Scope and Content:
The Mapp Collection, donated by Dr. Edward Mapp of New York City, consists of two series: Film Publicity, 1930-2002 and Films, 1934-2004.
The first series, Film Publicity, 1918-2004, is divided into four subseries. The first subseries, Posters and Lobby Cards, 1930-2002, includes full-sized posters and lobby cards for Black cast films from the 1930s to 2000s. The second subseries, Press Sheets and Advertisements, 1918-1960, includes publicity material for films from the early to mid-20th century, the earliest being an advertisement for the Ebony Film Corporation from 1918. The third subseries, Programs and Monographs, 1941-2004, consists of two programs from Paul Robeson performances, a program for an AFI screening of Gone Are the Days!, and a book, Close Up in Black: African-American Film Posters from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The final subseries, Photographs, 1929-1999, consists of publicity stills for films featuring African American actors and actresses from the second half of the 20th century. Included are photographs of Sidney Poitier, Whoopi Goldberg, and many photographs of Denzel Washington throughout his career, as well as many other actors and actresses. A photograph of a poster for the 1937 film God's Stepchildren is also included.
The second series, Films, 1934-2004, is arranged in two subseries: Videocassettes and DVDs. The Videocassettes, 1934-2004 subseries consists of videocassettes including documentaries like We've Gotta Have It: The Story of African American Film Making (1992) and fiction features, including For Love of Ivy (1968) and Blackenstein (1972). The DVDs, 1975-2011 subseries includes DVDs, Bucktown (1975) and Baadasssss!: The Birth of Black Cinema (2004).
- Acquisition information:
- The collection was donated between June 2000-December 2011 .
- Processing information:
Processed by BFCA staff.
- General note:
In 2022, the Black Film Center/Archive (BFC/A) transitioned to its current name, the Black Film Center & Archive (BFCA). This finding aid was created under the organizational name Black Film Center/Archive. Upon this organizational name change, all previous references to the BFC/A were updated in this finding aid to match the current name, Black Film Center & Archive.
Access
- RESTRICTIONS:
-
This collection is open for research.
- TERMS OF ACCESS:
-
Photocopying permitted only with permission of the Archivist.
- PREFERRED CITATION:
-
[item], Edward Mapp Collection, Special Collection EM, Black Film Center & Archive, Indiana University, Bloomington.
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
-
1320 East Tenth StreetHerman B Wells Library, Room 044Bloomington, Indiana 47405-7000, United States
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- CONTACT:
-
812-855-6041bfca@indiana.edu