| Abstract: |
Karamu House was founded in 1915 in Cleveland, Ohio, by Russell W. and Rowena Woodham Jelliffe, in conjunction with the Second
Presbyterian Church Men's Club, as the Neighborhood Association (later as the Playhouse Settlement), a settlement house promoting
interracial activities and cooperation through the performing arts. The Jelliffes saw a need to provide activities and social
services for the city's growing African American population, in order to assist in their transition from rural Southern life
to an urban setting. The Playhouse Settlement was renamed Karamu Theater in 1927. By 1941, the entire settlement had taken
the name Karamu House. The Dumas Dramatic Club was created to support and encourage interest and activities in the performing
arts. In 1922, the theater troupe's name was changed to The Gilpin Players in honor of noted African American actor Charles
Gilpin. During the 1920s and 1930s, works by many accomplished playwrights were produced at Karamu, including those of Zora
Neale Hurston, Eugene O'Neill, and Langston Hughes, whose career was launched at Karamu. In 1939, the house was destroyed
by fire. Rebuilding was not completed until 1949. The Jelliffes' mission of an interracial institution continued until the
late 1960s, when, under the leadership of new director Kenneth Snipes, Karamu's mission became one of promoting African-American
theater and plays specifically about the African-American experience. During this time a professional troupe of actors was
formed. In 1982, Karamu formally returned to its original mission as an interracial organization. The collection consists
of articles of incorporation, building construction applications, historical accounts, minutes, records of the Board of Trustees,
reports, proposals, publications, financial records, contribution records, correspondence, play scripts and related information,
announcements of events, programs, memoranda, date books, guest books, newspaper clippings, subject files, ledgers, scrapbooks,
and student enrollment cards. Notable correspondents include Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Ida B. Wells, Hubert Humphrey,
Eleanor Roosevelt, A. Phillip Randolph, Coretta Scott King, Carter G. Woodson, Eliot Ness, Walter White, Marian Anderson,
W.C. Handy, Zora Neale Hurston, Ethel Waters, Countee Cullen, Arna Bontemps, Harry E. Davis, Harry C. Smith, and Jane Edna
Hunter. The majority of the papers date from the period after World War II, particularly the 1950s and 1960s.
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