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Edward Mapp Collection, 1937-2011

A Guide to his collections at the Black Film Center/Archive

Finding aid prepared by Mary Huelsbeck/Hannah Caproon/Gabriel Gardner

Summary Information

Repository
Black Film Center/Archive
1320 East Tenth Street
Herman B Wells Library, Room 044
Bloomington, IN 47405-7000
Phone: 812-855-6041
Fax: 812-856-5832
Email: bfca@indiana.edu
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/~bfca

Creator
Edward Mapp

Title
Edward Mapp Collection, 1937-2011

Collection No.
Special Collection EM

Extent
278 items

Language
Materials are in English

Abstract
Consists of posters, advertisements, and photographs featuring African American actors and actresses, as well as videocassettes and DVDs.

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Biographical Note

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 Note

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).

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information
The collection was donated between June 2000-December 2011.
Usage Restrictions
Photocopying permitted only with permission of the Archivist.
Preferred Citation
[item], Edward Mapp Collection, Special Collection EM, Black Film Center/Archive, Indiana University, Bloomington.
Processing Information
Processed by BFC/A staff.
  • Indexing Terms

  • The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by searching the catalog using these terms.

    • Topics
    • Advertising--Motion pictures
    • African American actors
    • Film posters
    • Motion picture plays
    • Motion pictures--United States

Collection Inventory


Series: Film publicity, 1918-2002

Subseries: Posters and Lobby Cards, 1930-2007

a.k.a. Cassius Clay (1970)

Affair of the Skin, An (1963)

Ali (2001)

Anna Lucasta (1955)

Balcony, The (1963)

Bargain with Bullets [aka Gangsters on the Loose] (1937) 

Beat Generation, The (1959)

Beloved (1998)

Big Doll House (1971)

Black Caesar (1973)

Black Girl (1972)

Black Gunn (1972)

Black Tigress, The [aka Lola Colt] (1967)

Blacula: Le Vampire Noir [aka Blacula] (1970)

Breaking Point, The (1950)

Brown Sugar (2002)

Buck and the Preacher (1972)

Carib Gold (1956) 
2 posters (one in Spanish)

Carmen Jones (1954) 
2 posters (one in Spanish)

Cobra Nero, Il [aka Mean Johnny Barrows] (1980)

Color Purple, The (1985)

Convicts 4 (1962)

Cotton Club, The (1984)

Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)

Countdown at Kusini (1975)

Cowboy Canteen (1944)

Dark Sands [aka Jericho] (1937) 
7 lobby cards

Dead One, The (1960)

Dingo (1992)

Dirty Pretty Things (2002)

Dixie Jamboree (1944)

Double Possession (1973)

Down to Earth (2001)

Dutchman (1967)

Ebony Parade (1947)

Five on the Black Hand Side (1973)

Friday Foster (1975)

Gang Tapes (2001)

Gangsters on the Loose (1937) 
9 lobby cards

Golden Eye, The (1952)

Great White Hope, The (1970)

Grootste, De (The Greatest) (1977)

Harder They Come, The (1973)

Historia de Joe Louis, La [aka The Joe Louis Story] (1953)

Hit Tune Jamboree (1943)

House Rent Party (1946)

How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)

I Ain't Gonna Open That Door (1949)

Ill Gotten Gains (1997)

I'm a Negro I'm an American (1990)

Imitation of Life (1959)

Island in the Sun (1957)

Johnny Cool (1963)

Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986)

Kuolema kulkee kannella [aka The Decks Ran Red] (1958)

Lady Sings the Blues (1972)

Last Angry Man, The (1959)

Last King of Scotland, The (2006)

Learning Tree, The (1969)

Let's Rock (1958)

Liberation of L.B. Jones, The (1970)

Light It Up (1999)

Limit, The (1972)

Long Night, The (1976)

Lord Shango (1975)

Lost Boundaries (1949)

Mack, The (1973)

Malaga (1962) 
2 posters

Malcolm X (1972)

Malcolm X (1992) 
1 lobby card and 1 poster (French)

Mantan Runs For Mayor (1946)

Meanest Man in the World, The (1948)

Mister Rock and Roll (1957) 
2 lobby cards

Mo' Better Blues (1990) 
9 lobby cards

Native Son (1951)

Nigger Lover (1973)

Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)

Ocaso de una Estrella, El [aka Lady Sings the Blues] (1972)

One Potato, Two Potato (1964)

Onkel Toms Hütte [aka Uncle Tom's Cabin] (1965)

Pelon Kädet [aka Black Jesus] (1971)

Pillow to Post (1945)

Prison Train (1938)

Reform School (1939)

Rock Around the Clock (1956)

Rock Rock Rock (1956)

Rocky IV (1985)

Rush Hour (1998)

Sanders of the River (1935)

Sarraounia (1986)

Shaft (2000) 
8 lobby cards

Soldier's Story, A (1984)

Son of Ingagi (1940)

Sparkle (1976)

St. Louis Blues (1958)

This is the Life (1944)

Thomasine and Bushrod (1975)

Training Day (2001)

Tsotsi (2005)

Tunnel, The [aka Proud Valley] (1941)

Two Can Play That Game (2001)

Uptown Saturday Night (1974)

Weekend Pass (1944)

Where's My Man To-Nite (1943) 
2 lobby cards

Why Did I Get Married? (2007)

What a Guy (1947)

Whispering Tales (1930)

Wiz, The (1978)

Zou Zou/Princess Tam Tam (1934)

Subseries: Box 2 Press sheets and advertisements, 1918-1960

Book the 4 and Pack 'Em In, Normal Film Manufacturing Co., undated

Bronze Buckaroo, The (1939)

Chaplin Award Gala Honoring Sidney Poitier, program (2011)

Double Deal (1939)

"Ebony Comedies" and "The Judge Brown Stories,"
Moving Picture World May 25, 1918

Gang War (1940)

Gems of the Box Office, Ted Toddy Pictures, undated

Girl from Chicago, The (1932)

Henry Armstrong..., undated

Jasper's Paradise (1944)

Malaga (1960)

Regeneration (1923)  
Flying Ace, The (1926)  
Black Gold (1928)

Romance on the Beat (1945)

Sepia Cinderella (1947)  
Roar of the Crowd (1953)

Son of Ingagi (1940)

Stormy Weather (1943)

Tall, Tan, and Terrific (1946)

Tulips Shall Grow (1942)

Underworld (1937)

Subseries: Box 2 Photographs, 1929-1999

100 Rifles (1969)

Amos and Andrew (1993)

Angel Levine, The (1970)

Bailey, Pearl, undated
3 photographs

Boyz N The Hood (1991)

Brown, Jim, undated

Carbon Copy (1981)

Claudine (1974)

Color Purple, The (1985) 
5 photographs

Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) 
3 photographs

Crable, Deborah, undated

Crimson Tide (1995)

Cry Freedom (1987)

Dandridge, Dorothy, undated

Death of a Gunfighter (1969)

Defiant Ones, The (1958)

Do the Right Thing (1989)

Dobson, Tamara, undated

Dutchman (1966)

Fann, Al, undated

For Queen and Country (1988)

Forrest Gump (1994)

Gang Smashers (1938) 
3 photographs

General Spanky (1936)

George McKenna Story, The (1986)

Ghost (1990)

Glory (1989)

God's Stepchildren (1937) 

Grasshopper, The (1969)

Graves, Teresa, undated

Great White Hope, The (1970) 
2 photographs

Grier, Pam, undated

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

Hallelujah! (1929)

Halls of Anger (1970)

Harlem on the Prairie (1937)

Harlem Globetrotters (1951) 
2 photographs

Hearts in Dixie (1929)

Hendry, Floria, undated

Home of the Brave (1954)

Horne, Lena, undated

Hurricane, The (1999) 
2 photographs

Imitation of Life (1959)

Jerry Maguire (1996)

Johnson, Dotts, undated

Lady Sings the Blues (1972)

Lilies of the Field (1963) 
2 photographs

Malcolm X (1992) 
3 photographs

Man Called Adam, A (1966)

McGee, Vonetta, undated

Mighty Quinn, The (1989)

Mississippi Masala (1992)

Mo' Better Blues (1990)

Much Ado About Nothing (1993)

No Escape (1994)

No Way Out (1950) 
2 photographs

Nothing But a Man (1964)

Officer and a Gentleman, An (1982)

One Mile From Heaven (1937)

Passion Fish (1992)

Pelican Brief, The (1993)

Pinky (1949) 
2 photographs

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Soldier's Story, A (1984)

Soul to Soul (1971)

Sounder (1972)

Street Smart (1986)

Ricochet (1991)

Round Midnight (1986)

Washington, Denzel, undated
5 photographs

What's Love Got To Do With It? (1993) 
2 photographs

Series: Films, 1934-2005

Subseries: Videocassettes, 1934-2000

Amazing Grace (1974)

Black Caricature (1996)

Black Hollywood 2000 (2000)

Blackenstein (1972)

For Love of Ivy (1968)

Green Pastures, The (1936)

Jeni LeGon: Living in a Great Big Way (1999)

Joe Louis Story, The (1953)

Judge Priest (1934)

New Orleans (1947)

Sitting in Limbo (1986)

Spencer Williams: Remembrances of an Early Black Film Pioneer (1995)

We've Gotta Have It: The Story of African American Film Making (1992)

Subseries: DVDs, 1975-2011

Baadasssss!: The Birth of Black Cinema (2004)

Bucktown (1975)

Gone Are the Days! (1963)

Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999)

Sign Your Song: Harry Belafonte (2011)

Unstoppable: Conversation with Melvin Van Peebles, Gordon Parks, and Ossie Davis (2005)

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