Jeff Donaldson papers, 1918-2005, bulk 1960s-2005

This series includes two transcripts of interviews of Jeff Donaldson as well as sound recordings of at least forty artist interviews conducted by Donaldson.

The 1979 interview of Donaldson, conducted by Peter Mark, focuses on AfriCOBRA, and includes related letters from Mark. The 1997 interview with Donaldson was conducted for a public television series on 20th century visual and performing arts, entitled I'll Make Me A World: Stories of African American Art, Artists, and Community.

Interviews with Charles Alston, Romare Bearden, Bob Blackburn, Aaron Douglas, Norman Lewis, Hale Woodruff, and others were conducted in 1972 as research for Donaldson's dissertation: "Generation '306' – Harlem, New York." These interviews detail each artists' experiences in the New York arts community during the Harlem Renaissance, and their memories of other African American artists working during that time. Interviews found at the end of the series possibly duplicate or supplement some of these interviews, although interviewees are not directly identified on the recordings or on the media.

Additional interviews found here were conducted primarily in 1980 and 1986-1987 as part of Donaldson's research on contemporary visual artists, and for various unspecified projects.

Following transcripts of Jeff Donaldson interviews, interviews are arranged in alphabetical order by interviewee. Some box and folder numbers appear out of order if they contain more than one interview on a single cassette.

A portion of this series has been digitized including paper records, such as transcripts, and some of the interviews.