Pinkney R. Webster verses, correspondence, and other papers
Overview
Verses, correspondence, ephemera, and other papers of African American comic, Pinkney R. Webster Jr.
Dates
- Creation: 1945-1981
Condition Description
In good condition.
Physical Description
(1 box)
Extent
.1 linear feet (1 box)Collection assembled by Pinkney Webster includes notes from various performances including Webster's USO shows, original verses, contracts, correspondence, photographs, sheet music, and clippings.
Includes a program for the performance of Pinkney Webster and the Beau Brummel Minstrels on 1948 May 3 in Kansas City (Mo.), a photograph of Webster (who performed as Little Pinky Roberts), a letter from Eugene Rummons to Webster, and a song sheet, these last two items laid into the program.
Biographical / Historical
Pinkney R. Webster Jr. (1919-2013) worked in comedy before and during World War II. After its end, he was known in performance as Little Pinky Roberts and also as the Fashion Plate Emcee with stints at many clubs including the Crystal Caverns in Washington, D.C. He shared bills with Billie Holiday, Louis Jordan, and others, and organized a dance troupe called The Pinketts. He managed a duo called the "Two Slick Chicks" composed of ex-Sweethearts of Rhythm members Evelyn Lee and Irene Mclaurin. He toured with Larry Steele's Gold Coast Review in the 1960s and worked as a host at the Michigan African-American club, Idle-Wild. (source: dealer's description)
Arrangement
Arranged as received.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2022MT-75. Purchased from Auger Down Books with the Frank E. Chase Bequest, 2022 March 28.
2024MT-19. Purchased from Auger Down Books with the Frank E. Chase Bequest, 2023 October 16.
Processing Information
This collection was processed to a basic level with minimal rehousing, organization, and preservation. (Melanie Wisner, 2022)
Subject
- Webster, Pinkney R., Jr. (Person)
- Beau Brummel Minstrels (Organization)
- Title
- Webster, Pinkney R. Pinkney R. Webster Verses, Correspondence, and Other Papers, 1945-1981 (MS Thr 2188): Guide
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University
- Date
- 2022 April 18
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- hou03460
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440
Houghton_Library@harvard.edu