Books often carry more than just the contents within their covers. Reminders of fond memories and friends, books can also be storehouses for bereavement and loss. The latter is the case with the Rare Book & Special Collections Division’s copy of Ralph Ellison’s posthumously published novel, Juneteenth.
In keeping with Ellison’s wishes that his library be housed in a unique institution that belongs to all Americans, the Ralph Ellison Collection is partially displayed in a special set of rooms near the Great Hall in Library of Congress’ Jefferson Building. Beginning in 1997 the general public had, for the first time, the opportunity to view Ralph Ellison’s “working library” (image below).
Displayed within these rooms are the thousands of heavily-used volumes that Ellison’s friends saw lining the walls of the Ellison apartment on Riverside Drive at the edge of Harlem. Most of this personal library consists of volumes of American and modern literature and literary criticism, theory, and biography. Other volumes address jazz and music, plays and the theater, antiques and collectibles, and African Art. There are also inscribed first editions of Ellison’s friends’ works, including those by Saul Bellow, John Berryman, Langston Hughes, William Meredith, Toni Morrison, Leopold Sedar Senghor, William Styron, Genevieve Taggard, Melvin Beaunorus Tolson, Robert Penn Warren, Richard Wilbur, and Richard Wright.
Shelved among these volumes there are copies of Ellison’s own works in numerous languages, styles, and editions. Perhaps most notable is a first edition copy of Invisible Man inscribed “Ralph Ellison, my own copy.” One volume of Ellison’s works however, never knew its author’s hand: Juneteenth.
Though Ellison had been contemplating a new book since the publication and success of Invisible Man, the work was never completed during his lifetime. Instead, for 40 years he wrestled with his ideas for the new novel, leaving nearly 2,000 pages of notes, drafts, and revisions for posterity.
When Ellison met Fanny McConnell in 1944, he had no way of knowing how important she would be to his life, work, and legacy. She supported him financially while he was writing, and she helped to edit Invisible Man, the work that cemented him in the canon of African American literature. She was also instrumental in getting his final novel published after his death in 1994. With Fanny’s blessing, Ellison’s literary executor, John F. Callahan, took the amassed pages of notes and drafts, and he crafted out of them the novel, Juneteenth, published in 1999.
When the book was finally published, Fanny made a small, but moving note on an otherwise empty page in a first edition copy that she then gave to the Library to be added to the Ellison Collection. On the front endpaper, a note in blue pen indicates that “Ralph died, April 15, 1994.”
Fanny lived another 11 years after Ralph’s passing. As a theater director for many years and a political activist, she left her own legacy of cultural production in addition to making Ralph’s second work – posthumously published though it may be – possible. Her small inscription represents a monumental gift.
Recommended Resources
- For more information about the books in Ralph Ellison’s library, please refer to the following LibGuide: Ralph Ellison Rare Book Collection: A Resource Guide.
- To learn more about the content and context for the literary work Juneteenth, please see this blog post from Barbara Bair, curator of literature, culture and the arts in the Library’s Manuscript Division.
- For more information about the Juneteenth holiday, please see this blog post from the Library’s Folklife Division.