Deux piles de documents liées à la thèse de Martin Steins « Les mouvements nègres à Paris 1919 – 1939. Vers la négritude » (+ de 1000 feuillets)

Plastic folder. Extract (from thesis?) about Senghor, Césaire etc., written in German. 16 pages. Handwritten annotations and revisions.

Letter from JP Richer on behalf of the French President, 8 February 1974. Summary: the President received Steins’s letter of 16 Jan but cannot respond to personal communications. Enclosed within a small, white envelope.

Letter from the Kharis Archiv (written in German), 13 March 1974.

Letter from Léopold Sédar Senghor, President of Dakar, 11 March 1980. Summary: he read Stein’s thesis, particularly interested by chapter one, and as a result wrote to Michel Fabre, the professor responsible for the direction of the thesis. Enclosed within is Senghor’s subsequent letter to Fabre in which he agrees to participate in the Jury presiding over Steins’s defense of his thesis.

Letter to Steins from Senegalese Ambassador to Belgium, El Hadj Malick Diakhate, 25 January 1977. Summary: The Ambassador shared with Senghor the “brochure” by Steins’s entitled, “Jeunesse nègre” and writes to Steins’s to share Senghor’s brief feedback and appreciation.

Invitation from President Senghor to meet with him at the embassy in Brussels (on 26 October 1976), invitation dated to 22 October 1976.

Letter to Steins from Senghor, 12 February 1974. Summary: Senghor responds to Steins’s question about “l’importance de mon commerce spirituel avec le Comte Hermann von Keyserling. » Senghor explains that, in particular, what he is taken by in the thought of Keyserling is “son ethnopsychologie en general et aussi sa conception … de la civilisation du métissage.’

Letter to Steins from Michel Fabre, 15 February 1981? Summary: organising of jury and details of other participants, including Senghor, Pageaux, Albert Gérard etc.,

Letter to Steins from Michel Fabre, 22 April 1981? Summary: more organising details for the jury.

Letter to Steins from Michael Fabre, 7 May 1981. Summary: details of the jury including Senghor intention to ‘se defender comme un beau diable de vos ‘allégations’ et dit n’avoir jamais été influencé par Faure et la Race Nègre.’

Letter to Fabre, 3 March 1981. Summary: composition of the jury, intention to revise his thesis into a book, dismisses aspiration to higher education in Germany, discussion of two law suits he’s brought against Dyserinck, claims of plagiarism against Dyserinck, asks Fabre to forward him the letter from Dyserinck.

Illegible hand-written letter.

Letter to Steins from (difficult to read signature) from the Bibliothèque Nationale. 20 July 1978.

Letter to Steins from Jean-Paul Guiter, Jazz Manager, RCA, 17 November 1975. Summary: in response to Steins’s letter inquiring about ‘Solitude’ by Duke Ellington, clarifies the recording date and other details.

Letter to Steins from Michel Fabre, 7

Martin Steins thesis with hand-written annotations in the bottom margins.

Supplementary material includes a reproduction of the avant-propos, a one-page description of the thesis and the immediate response amongst university circles (also says that ‘several rare notes’ are contained at the bottom of the pages of the thesis), a one-page document in German with handwritten letters in the margins, and a page of notes entitled ‘Notes de l’Avant-propos’ which include hand-written annotations.

Letter to Mr Lindfords, of University of Texas, editor RAL, December 27, 1984. Summary: about Steins’ dispute with Mr Comhaire.

Letter to the Secrétaire de l’Académie Royale des Sciences d’Outre-Mer, Bruxelles 21 Janvier, 1985. Summary : about modifications to his planned talk « Mouvements nègres en France entre 1919 et 1939”.

Letter to Dr Bernth Lindfors, March 15, 1985, Austin. Summary: on-going dispute with Mr Comhaire. Enclosed within is the letter to the Secretary of the Academy (which went unanswered).

Letter to Dr Steins from Bernth Lindfors, 5 March 1985. Summary: Decision to withdraw his correspondence with Mr Comhaire from the ‘Letters to the Editor’ section of the RAL.

Letter to Dr Steins from Bernth Lindfors, 12 December 1984. Summary: offer to respond to a letter that will be published in ‘Letters to the Edtitor’ section of RAL.

Letter from J Comhaire to Dr Lindfors, 20 October, 1984, Brussels. Summary: Comhaire outlines ‘several factual errors’ of Steins’s article on African and Afro-American movements in Paris around the year 1932.

Manuscript sent to Steins from Bernth Lindfors an enclosed within the letter dated 1 February 1985 below. Light blue paper. Addressed to Paulette Nardal and seems to be feedback/criticism of an article about the role of the Nardal sisters in the Negritude movement.

Letter from Bernth Lindfors to Dr Steins, 1 February 1985. Summary: dispute about Mr M’Bow’s letter, the letter from Mr Comhaire and request to review manuscript submitted to RAL.

Letter to Secrétaire de l’Académie Royale des Sciences d’Outre-mer, Bruxelles, 21 January 1985. Summary : same request for modifications to his talk on « Mouvements nègres en France entre 1919 et 1939.”

Letter to Mr Lindfors, September 20, 1984. Summary: criticism of Edward O Ako’s article ‘L’Etudiant Noir and the Myth of the Genesis of the Negritude Movement.’

Letter to Dr Steins from Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow, Directeur Général de l’Unesco Paris, 24 Mai, 1983. Summary : details of Steins’s talk « Les Mouvements Nègres à Paris, 1919 – 1939 » at the Académie Royale des Sciences d’Outre-Mer.

Duplication of the above letter from Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow.

Letter to Mr Lindfors, University of Texas, Austin, editor RAL, December 27, 1984. Enclosed within is the letter from UNESCO President M’Bow which indicates ‘that Mr C may have been trying, apparently in vain, to discredit me.’

Review written by Steins of Daniel Racine’s “Leon-Gontran Damas: L’Homme et L’oeuvre.” (Light blue paper).

Letter to Dr Steins from D Rochay of Silex Editions, 3 January 1986.

Publishing contract between Martin Steins and Ngal for the work entitled ‘Cesaire 70.’ 3 December 1983.

Receipts and bank correspondence between Martin Steins and Société Générale.

Letter to Steins from Société Générale, 3 April 1986. Summary: suggests he should contact Silex for details of payment.

Receipt from Société Générale, 21 March 1986.

Letter to Steins from D Rochay, Direction Commerciale of Silex, January 3 1986. Summary: payment and publishing details, reminds Steins that Silex was the only one willing to take ‘a risk’ on the manuscript. Pressed between first and second page is a small, unopened white envelope. 

Letter to Silex Editions from Banque Drèze. 17 July 1986.

Contract between Steins and Ngal, Silex Editions, 3 December 1983.

Receipt and check, Silex Editions and Steins. 17 March 1986

Contract between Steins and Ngal, Silex Editions, 15 March 1984.

Letter to Steins from D Rochay, Direction Commerciale, Silex Editions, 21 Juin 1986.

Receipt and rights of author, Silex Editions and Steins, 17 March 1986.

Letter to D Rochay, Editions Silex, 13 January 1986. Summary: dispute over terms and payment.

Letter from D Rochay, Editions Silex, 23 June 1986. Summary: matters of banking.

Duplication of letter to D Rochay, Editions Silex, 13 January 1986.

Letter to P Dakeyo, Editions Silex, December 30, 1985. Summary: on-going dispute about author’s rights and publishing of Steins’s book ‘Césaire 70.’

Small white envelope. Addressed to Martin Steins from Silex Editions. 24 June 1986.

Letter from the lawyer Jean de Beer de Laer, 14 November 1986. Summary: Steins’s outstanding payment from Silex Editions, ongoing dispute with the publishing house.

Publishing contract between Editions Bayardère and Martin Steins for the latter’s work entitled “Entrée en Négritude: Les Premiers Poèms de L.S. Senghor.” No date.

Letter to Editions Bayardère, 8 November, 1986. Summary: follow up questions to contract.