Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#4641
WILSON L. NEWMAN
CORRESPONDENCE WITH GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER
Inventory
Abstract: George Washington Carver (1864?-1943), African-American
scientist of the Experimental Station of the Tuskegee
Normal and Industrial Institute, was known for his work in
agricultural experimentation, especially in investigations
of uses of peanuts and sweet potatoes and extraction of
dyes from soils and clays. He was also an accomplished
painter and lectured extensively in behalf of agricultural
improvements and interracial cooperation. Wilson L. Newman
first met George Washington Carver when Newman was a
student at Vanderbilt University and chair of the
Commission on Race of the Regional Council of the Student
Y.M.C.A. Newman later taught in the Home-Study Department
of the University of Chicago.
Correspondence between George Washington Carver and
Wilson L. Newman, beginning in 1926, when Newman asked
Carver to tour Southern colleges in support of interracial
communication. An instant rapport developed between the
two men, who corresponded frequently until Carver's death
in 1943. Letters, chiefly from Carver to Newman, are
personal in nature, reflecting Newman's membership in
Carver's "family," which was made up of young men who were
expected to keep in touch with Carver by mail and to visit
him periodically. Among these men were Howard Kester and
Paul Newman Guthrie. Although most letters are filled with
news of "family" members and with Carver's unbridled praise
of Newman's mental and physical attributes, some letters
address questions of race relations, Carver's work in
agricultural experimentation, activities at Tuskegee, and
the pleasures of music and painting that Carver and Newman
shared. Also included are clippings, 1927-1943, chiefly
1943 obituaries and appreciations of Carver, but also
earlier announcements of speeches and lay reviews of his
work; six small landscape and floral paintings, 1928-1932
and undated, apparently painted by Carver and sent to
Newman as Christmas greetings; and miscellaneous printed
materials relating to Carver, including a few brochures on
agricultural topics and advertisements for books by him and
for penol tonic, a "Tissue Builder and Germ Arrester"
derived from peanuts and marketed by the Carver Penol
Company.
Online Catalog Terms:
Afro-American painters--History--20th century.
Afro-American scientists--United States--History--20th century.
Agriculture--Experimentation--History--20th century.
Carver, George Washington, 1864?-1943.
Guthrie, Paul Newman, 1903- .
Kester, Howard, 1904-1977.
Newman, Wilson L.
Painting, American--History--20th century.
Peanut oil--Therapeutic use.
Peanut products.
Race relations--Southern States--History--20th century.
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. Experiment Station.
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute--Teachers.
Tuskegee University--History.
Size: About 275 items (0.5 linear feet).
Provenance: Received from Wilson L. Newman of Chicago, Ill., in
June 1989 (Acc. 92191).
Access: No restrictions.
Related Collections: Howard A. Kester Papers (#3834);
George Washington Carver Papers, Tuskegee
University.
Processing Note: This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship
of a grant from the National Endowment for the
Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington,
D.C., 1990-1992.
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their
descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. Correspondence
1926-1943. About 240 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Correspondence between George Washington Carver and Wilson L.
Newman began with a letter from Newman to Carver, dated 5 April 1926.
In this letter, Newman, then a senior at Vanderbilt University, wrote
that he admired Carver, who had gained international recognition in
agricultural experimentation as head of the Department of Research and
Experiment at Tuskegee Institute, "... in spite of the fact that I am
the grandson of slaveholders and that I have had--and I am afraid
still have--a great deal of prejudice toward the Negro." He explained
that in the South, "There are a number of us who want more light on
the problems of interracial cooperation," and asked if Carver would
consider undertaking a lecture tour of Southern colleges. Newman said
that he was making a two-fold plea, "... as an ordinary chemistry-
hating college student who is interested in the racial situation and
as chairman of the Commission on Race of the white Regional Council of
the Student Y.M.C.A."
Carver's reply of 14 April 1926 indicates that, although already
heavily booked, he was interested in the project. More important,
however, Carver expressed his feeling of instant rapport with Newman:
"I certainly would appreciate a talk with you and especially along the
lines of chemistry, as I thoroughly believe that you belong to that
rare group of individuals who dare to think independently."
By 15 May 1926, Carver had decided to make a Southern college tour
in the fall, and his letters to Newman had taken on a very personal
flavor. On 17 May 1926, for example, Carver wrote: "God is in your
chemistry. You do not know it. ... God has a definite plan in the
making." Newman, perhaps surprised by the intensity of this
relationship wrote, on 19 May 1926, "I am still marveling now that a
few punches on a little Corona would convey so much of human feeling,"
to which Carver responded on 21 May 1926, "Sir, I appreciate your
letter because you have expressed yourself to me with a freedom not
accorded to the average stranger."
By late June 1926, Carver addressed Newman as "My dear friend Mr.
Newman," a salutation he felt comfortable using: "I feel perfectly
safe in addressing you thus because you love Jesus." By July, Carver
called Newman "My very dear friend Mr. Newman," and, after their first
meeting in August 1926, "My very, very dear boy Mr. Newman." By mid
1927, Newman was regularly addressed as "My dear, handsome boy."
In June 1926, Carver had explained that he was always interested in
young men who were full of life, regardless of color. After their
August meeting, Newman had joined Carver's "family," which seems to
have been made up chiefly of young men who were expected to keep in
touch with Carver by mail and to visit him periodically. Among these
men were Howard Kester and Paul Newman Guthrie, both of whom were
included by Carver in a subset of the family called the Blue Ridge
Boys. Many of Carver's letters to Newman deal exclusively with
"family" doings, chiefly who wrote or visited Carver and who did not.
In a great many letters, Newman was chastised by Carver for not
writing and threatened with demotion from "adopted" status within the
family to that of "a red-haired step child."
Because of the flattery that fills most of the letters from Carver
to Newman and because few of the letters from Newman to Carver are
preserved here, it is difficult to track the activities of the two men
through their correspondence. A brief synopsis of subjects addressed
in the letters appears below.
1926: Early letters relate to the initial contact between Carver and
Newman and the growth of intimacy through correspondence, which
includes mention of the activities of mutual friends,
especially Howard Kester. The first meeting of Carver and
Newman took place in Tuskegee in August, after which Carver
wrote, on 17 September, of his delight in his new friend,
saying that he had "... no words to express my true feeling for
you." Carver frequently wrote of the enjoyment of music that
he and Newman shared (Newman appears to have been a pianist,
although it is not clear how serious a musician he was).
Carver also frequently wrote of his concern over Newman's
physical well-being, including maintenance of his physique and
healthy skin. Carver's letters and a few from Newman show that
in the fall of 1926, Newman, while studying for a master's
degree at Peabody, was in the process of making arrangements
for Carver's lecture tour.
1927: Many letters deal with planning for the lecture tour. On 16
January, Newman wrote to Carver: "I hope you can make the trip
because the situation in Mississippi needs to be broken open.
... If you could not go on the campus in some places, you
might speak in a church in the town and let the students come
hear you." By 28 February 1927, Carver had completed the tour
and was back at Tuskegee, from which he wrote, "Owing to some
misunderstanding, the visits to the white colleges were
cancelled. I made all of those for the colored, and was
greeted everywhere with overflowing houses." In summer 1927,
Newman was in New York with the Y.M.C.A. Summer Service Group,
and Carver wrote of "visualizing" Newman in different
situations. In 1927, as throughout the collection, there are
periodic references to activities at Tuskegee, chiefly about
the football team, which, as of October 1927 had not lost a
game in three years. There are also infrequent references to
race relations. In a 28 November letter, Carver wrote, "Grand
Opera is coming to our Capital City, but I am sure no colored
people will be allowed to go." Letters also offer limited
glimpses into Carver's work, as on 16 December, when Carver
wrote, "I have undertaken the job of finding out just what wood
is best suited for the making of paper, as it will not be a
great many years before the now favorite wood will be
exhausted."
1928: On 11 February, Carver wrote about entertaining several white
school groups at Tuskegee, and about visits from Howard Kester
and Paul Newman Guthrie. In May, Carver discussed his love for
painting. Carver was considered an accomplished practitioner
of this art, especially skilled at color manipulation, an
interest probably fostered by his investigations of dyes
derived from soils and clays (see Series 2). He encouraged
Newman in his exploration of water-color painting as a creative
outlet. Also in May, Newman made a visit to Carver, which gave
rise to a series of letters from Carver in which there is much
praise for Newman's mental and physical attributes. Carver
described their activities during the visit, including many
references to peanut oil massages administered by Carver.
1929: Letters are chiefly about Carver's reflections on Newman's
activities, which Carver continued to "visualize." These
apparently included work, perhaps for a Y.M.C.A. committee, in
Birmingham, Ala., and a summer touring Europe. There is very
little description of events in these letters, most of which
deal with how Carver "punished" family members who did not keep
in contact.
1930: Letters are shorter and concerned chiefly with tracking the
activities of "family" members. Little reference is made to
events in the outside world, an exception being an 18 July
letter in which Carver mentioned a lynching in Texas.
1931: On 16 February, there is a form letter from the Tom Huston
Peanut Company, which Carver apparently forwarded to Newman.
Attached to the letter is a copy of Carver's "Some Peanut
Diseases," a paper that Huston's company distributed to
farmers. Most of the letters are full of "family" news, but
some contain references to 50th anniversary celebrations at
Tuskegee, which included the placing of a bas relief of Carver,
paid for by the Tom Huston Peanut Company. There is also a 29
September letter in which Carver mused on the possibility that
the depression might serve to draw the races together. By
1931, Newman was in Chicago, apparently studying at the
University of Chicago.
1932-1943: In 1932-1933, there are several letters from Carver
complaining about ill health. In 1935, Carver lamented
that the "family" was falling apart, since he had lost
contact with so many of the members. In 1936, there is a
solicitation to Newman from a group in Tuskegee that was
raising money to commission a bust of Carver. Carver wrote
on 7 June 1937: "My boys have scattered hither and
thither, so that I cannot keep up with them." A letter on
16 October of that year shows that Newman was still in
Chicago, where he taught in the Home-Study Department of
the University of Chicago (see letter, 3 April 1939, Howard
A. Kester Papers) and was married. In the late 1930s,
Carver wrote of being severely limited in his activities by
illness. Carver died on 5 January 1943, and, on 14 January
1943, Carver's assistant, A. W. Curtis, Jr., wrote to
Newman, who had apparently asked that his letters to Carver
be returned to him. Curtis said that he had been unable to
locate the letters, and, if he found them, "... it will be
our established policy to keep everything that Dr. Carver
had any contact with together so that we might assemble it
for the benefit of posterity."
Folder 1 1926
2 1927
3 1928
4 1929
5 1930
6 1931
7 1932-1943
Series 2. Other Papers
1927-1943. About 35 items.
Folder 8 Clippings, 1927-1943, chiefly 1943 obituaries and
appreciations of Carver, but also earlier announcements
of speeches and lay reviews of his work.
Folder 9 Pictures, 1928-1932 and undated. Six small landscape
and floral paintings, apparently sent to Newman as
Christmas greetings. One is annotated: "Made from
Macon Co. Clays. G. W. Carver. 12-25-1932." Filed as
P-4641/1-6.
Folder 10 Miscellaneous printed materials relating to Carver,
including a few brochures on agricultural topics and
advertisements for books by him and for penol tonic, a
"Tissue Builder and Germ Arrester" derived from peanuts
and marketed by the Carver Penol Company. Shelf List
Box 1 Series 1. Correspondence (folders 1-7)
Series 2. Other Papers (folders 8-10)
Items separated:
P-4641/1-6