The Gwendolyn Brooks Papers, 1917-2000 (bulk 1950-1989), document her personal life and career as a distinguished poet, Pulitzer Prize winner, and Poet Laureate of Illinois. The papers are divided into seven series: Correspondence, Writings, Professional Papers, Personal Papers, Clippings, Writings by Others, and Miscellaneous and consist of correspondence, manuscripts, flyers, announcements, scrapbooks, family papers, clippings, writings by others, and miscellaneous materials.

At the age of thirty-three, Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Her legacy as one of the most influential poets of the Twentieth Century endures. Richard Wright, an early advocate of Brooks, once said that her poetry captured "the pathos of petty destinies, the whimper of the wounded, the tiny incidents that plague the lives of the desperately poor, and the problems of common prejudice" (Watkins, 2000, The New York Times).A Street in Bronzeville. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1945.Bloom, Harold. Gwendolyn Brooks. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2005.

Number of containers: 15 cartons, 1 box, 3 oversize boxes Linear feet: 23.75 linear ft.

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