Jean-Christophe Cloutier is assistant professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. He is coeditor of Claude McKay’s Amiable with Big Teeth (2017) and editor of the original French writings of Jack Kerouac, La vie est d’hommage (2016).

A very timely addition to the contemporary discussion of “the archives” among scholars of African American literature, culture, and history and in literary studies generally.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroduction: “Not Like an Arrow, but a Boomerang,” or The Lifecycles of Twentieth-Century African American Literary Papers1. Black Special Collections and the Midcentury Rise of the Institutional Collector2. Claude McKay’s Archival Rebirth: Provenance and Politics in Amiable with Big Teeth3. “At Once Both Document and Symbol”: Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, and the Lafargue Clinic Photographic Archive4. An Interlude Concerning the Vanishing Manuscripts of Ann Petry5. “Too Obscure for Learned Classification”: Comic Books, Counterculture, and Archival Invisibility in Invisible ManCoda. Disappointed Bridges: A Note on the Discovery of Amiable with Big TeethAppendix: Artifact Biographies or Vagabond Itineraries of Key Documents Discussed in This BookNotesPermissionsIndex

Jean-Christophe Cloutier is assistant professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. He is coeditor of Claude McKay’s Amiable with Big Teeth (2017) and editor of the original French writings of Jack Kerouac, La vie est d’hommage (2016).

A very timely addition to the contemporary discussion of “the archives” among scholars of African American literature, culture, and history and in literary studies generally.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroduction: “Not Like an Arrow, but a Boomerang,” or The Lifecycles of Twentieth-Century African American Literary Papers1. Black Special Collections and the Midcentury Rise of the Institutional Collector2. Claude McKay’s Archival Rebirth: Provenance and Politics in Amiable with Big Teeth3. “At Once Both Document and Symbol”: Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, and the Lafargue Clinic Photographic Archive4. An Interlude Concerning the Vanishing Manuscripts of Ann Petry5. “Too Obscure for Learned Classification”: Comic Books, Counterculture, and Archival Invisibility in Invisible ManCoda. Disappointed Bridges: A Note on the Discovery of Amiable with Big TeethAppendix: Artifact Biographies or Vagabond Itineraries of Key Documents Discussed in This BookNotesPermissionsIndex

Jean-Christophe Cloutier is assistant professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. He is coeditor of Claude McKay’s Amiable with Big Teeth (2017) and editor of the original French writings of Jack Kerouac, La vie est d’hommage (2016).

A very timely addition to the contemporary discussion of “the archives” among scholars of African American literature, culture, and history and in literary studies generally.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroduction: “Not Like an Arrow, but a Boomerang,” or The Lifecycles of Twentieth-Century African American Literary Papers1. Black Special Collections and the Midcentury Rise of the Institutional Collector2. Claude McKay’s Archival Rebirth: Provenance and Politics in Amiable with Big Teeth3. “At Once Both Document and Symbol”: Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, and the Lafargue Clinic Photographic Archive4. An Interlude Concerning the Vanishing Manuscripts of Ann Petry5. “Too Obscure for Learned Classification”: Comic Books, Counterculture, and Archival Invisibility in Invisible ManCoda. Disappointed Bridges: A Note on the Discovery of Amiable with Big TeethAppendix: Artifact Biographies or Vagabond Itineraries of Key Documents Discussed in This BookNotesPermissionsIndex