The Beauford Delaney Papers consist of the American artists’ personal and professional papers from the 1900s through the 1970s (mostly 1930s-1970s). This includes correspondence with colleagues, friends and family; photographs of Beauford and others; sketchbooks and notebooks; loose sketches and other artworks; exhibition materials; and printed material collected by Delaney. The bulk of the collection consists of materials collected and created during Beauford’s time in Paris, where he lived from 1953 until his death in 1979. There are also significant materials from his years in New York (1929-1953), and -- to a much lesser extent -- Boston (1923-1929), where he moved from Knoxville, Tennessee at the age of 21.

The collection is grouped into seven series based on the format and content of the material. In order, these series are: Biographical Records (1952-1981), Correspondence (1931-1991), Photographic Material (1909-1979, undated), Artwork (undated), Journals and Sketchbooks (1929-1979), Printed Materials (1930-1978) and Artifacts (undated).

Most materials are described at an individual item level. One large exception is the Printed Material series, which is described at the folder level. The language of the materials is noted in details about separate series. Most documents are written in English and French.

I. Biographical Material (1952-1981) Delaney’s biographical material is arranged into three subseries: Financial Documents (1953-1974), Medical Documents (1962-1981, undated), and Personal Documents (1952-1975, undated). Financial documents include bank statements, contracts, checks, money orders, utility bills, and receipts. Medical Documents include health records and doctor’s notes. Personal Documents include travel documents, residential applications, and receipts. All materials in the series are described at an item level.

II. Correspondence (1931-1991, undated) This series consists of family, personal, and business correspondence, contact information, and notes. It is arranged into five subseries: Family Correspondence (1931-1979, undated); Identified Correspondence (Non-Family) (1941-1991, undated); Partially Identified Correspondence (1954-1970, undated); Unidentified Correspondence (1953-1975, undated); and Contact Cards and Notes (undated).

The Family Correspondence subseries (1931-1991) contains three sub-subseries: Family Correspondence with Beauford Delaney (1954-1973); Family Correspondence with Joseph Delaney (1931-1979); and Correspondence Between Other Family Members(1964). The first subseries contains letters and notes between Beauford, his mother Delia; his brothers, Samuel Emery Delaney (referred as Emery) and Joseph; or Emery’s children, Lois Imogene (referred to as Imogene), Ogust Mae, and Samuel Emery, Jr. (referred to as Emery or Junior) and his wife Gertrude. The correspondence is arranged by sender, with letters from Beauford to the correspondent coming before letters to Beauford from the same correspondent. The second subseries contains correspondence between Joseph and these same family members. The last sub-subseries contains a letter from Beauford's grandnephew Michael “Mike” Delaney (son of Ogust) to the family. The items are described at the item level, including an abstract of the subject matter discussed.

The Identified Correspondence (Non-Family) subseries (1941-1978, 1991) contains letters, postcards and other documents sent between Beauford Delaney and friends and acquaintances, including significant figures in Delaney’s personal and professional life. Frequent correspondents include James Baldwin, Ahmed Bioud, Charles Boggs, Larry Calcagno, Michael Freilich, Miriam and Palmer Hayden, Al Hirschfeld, Richard Long, Henry Miller, and Darthea Speyer. The series is arranged in alphabetical order by correspondent and then by date. Letters from Beauford are included adjacent to that correspondents’ letters to Beauford. Also included in this subseries are a few letters to Joseph Delaney from other correspondents, which accounts for the most recent letter in the collection (a letter to Joseph from Charles Farr in 1991).

Partially Identified Correspondence consists of letters and other written communications (mostly to Beauford Delaney), where the name of the sender is only partially known or identified. Unidentified Correspondence consists of letters where the name of the sender is completely unknown. It is described only at the folder level and is arranged by date.

The last Correspondence subseries, Contact Cards and Notes, is described at the folder level and contains printed contact cards and assorted papers with handwritten names and addresses, as well as notes by Beauford (and sometimes others). The notes range from scribbles, lists, and lyrics to paragraphs of the artist’s written observations. The content is very similar to the writing found in the notebooks and sketchbooks in the fifth series described below. In the Contact Cards and Notes subseries of Correspondence, the notes may be on any kind of paper, including envelopes, newspaper, and advertising and packaging materials (such as flattened cigarette packs). Thie subseries in Correspondence is arranged and described by format only, and not at the item level. Most of the materials are in English. Some of the materials are in French, as noted.

III. Photographic Material (1909-1979 and undated) Photographic Material includes photographs of Beauford Delaney and his friends and family; assorted candid photographs; and photographs of Delaney’s exhibitions, art shows, and sales. Some family and individuals in photographs are identified by name, such as Henry Miller, Charles Boggs, and James Baldwin. Subjects of other photographs remain unidentified. The photographs are arranged into ten subseries: 1900s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, Identification Photos (1910-1979), Artwork (1919-1979), and Oversize Photographic Material (1919-1979). The contents of all subseries are described at an item level. The first seven subseries are by decade (1900s through 1970s) and are further arranged by mostly inferred dates. Identification Photos consists of photographs of Delaney (and in one instance, Richard Long) meant for passports or other official forms of identification. Artwork (undated) includes photographs of paintings, sketches, and sculptures. Near-duplicates of photographs have also been itemized. Much of the artwork photographed is by other artists. Oversize Photographic Materials includes larger photographic portraits and images of biographical records and artwork.

IV. Artwork (mostly undated) This fourth series consists of nearly 300 individual pieces of art, such as sketches, landscapes, abstractions, portraits, and figure drawings in a variety of mediums, including graphite, ink, oil pastel, and watercolor. They are usually studies as opposed to realized works. While they are mostly created (or assumed to be created) by Beauford Delaney, there are also a few created by Charles Boggs, Henry Miller, Don Freeman, and others, as noted). Sizes of work range from 2.25 x 3.5 inches to 19.5 x 22 inches. Most of the artwork is undated. While the artworks within this series are not arranged in any particular order, they are numbered and described at an item level.

V. Journals and Sketchbooks (1929-1979) This fifth series contains 64 of Beauford Delaney’s journals and sketchbooks. These books were used for both sketches and handwritten text, and journals and sketchbooks mostly describe contents within each of the books. The sketches include landscapes, abstractions, portraits, and figure drawings in graphite, ink, oil pastel, and watercolor. Some of the sketches could be identified as preliminary versions of Delaney’s known paintings. The notes here include diary entries, daily musings, song lyrics and mediations, contact information or event times and locations. There is no known order within the pages: where text and sketches appear may be due only to time and convenience. Many pages are blank. The materials are described at the book level, with a note about the contents of each. For preservation purposes, the physical collection is arranged by size of book.

The Printed Materials series is primarily composed of published or widely disseminated material collected by Beauford Delaney, often in the normal course of living. The materials are arranged by format into five subseries: Exhibition Records (1930-1978) which documents exhibits and other aspects of Delaney’s career, as well as those of friends and associates; Press Clippings (1930-1972, undated): stand-alone articles arranged by subject; Ephemera (1948-1975, undated), includes magazine pages and other material pertaining to daily life, large and small events, travel, and art; Publications (1954-1979), which includes periodicals and books; and Oversized, which contains some larger press clippings, gallery and other larger-format materials.