Charles W. White papers, 1933-1987, bulk 1960s-1970s

Printed material provides a substantial overview of the range of work White produced over the course of his career, and his involvement with multiple art and educational institutions, community organizations, and the television, film, and music industries. This series houses announcements, invitations, catalogs for exhibitions and events in which White participated, including solo and group exhibitions; publicity about White in journals, magazines, newspapers, and press releases; copies of, or clippings from, publications for which White provided artwork and illustrations; and obituaries and other printed material documenting memorial events and tributes to White following his death.

The earliest announcement is for a 1936 Eberhard Faber art contest for high school students in which White won 4th prize in the black lead pencil division as a high school student at Englewood High School. Early exhibition catalogs of note include a 1933 Exhibition of Productions by Negro Artists at the Harmon Foundation, Exhibition of the Art of the American Negro (1851-1940) (1940) at the American Negro Exposition in Chicago, and Exhibition of Negro Artists of Chicago (1941) at Howard University, curated by Alonzo Aden.

A substantial portion of the news clippings about White, particularly the ones from the 1930s and 1940s, are photocopies.

Posters from exhibitions and events are for exhibitions at Forum Gallery (1970) and Pepperdine University (1978); a Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., event at Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (1976); a Robinson's store promotion by California Originals which featured artwork by White; a Pratt Graphics Center event; and an Artists' Benefit for Civil Liberties Association of Men and Women in the Arts Concerned About Vietnam.

Publications with illustrations by White include covers for magazines such as Ebony, feature articles for newspapers including the New York Times and the New York Times Book Review, and the National Negro Congress publication, Congress Vue (Congress View). Congress Vue also includes cartoons by colleagues and friends of White including Ernie Chrichlow, Ruth Jeff, Thelma Dale, Fredi Washington, and Elizabeth Catlett. These retain their original order and are accompanied by an explanatory note by Frances White. Also found are copies of the Marxist publication (New Masses, and The Worker, both of which featured illustrations by White.

This series houses printed material grouped by name of organization, gallery, and occasionally, subject, in named files believed to have been established in the original arrangement. Some of this material relates to White indirectly in that it documents organizations of which White was a member, such as the National Academy of Design, or in which he participated as part of a larger group. Other material relates specifically to White, such as printed material documenting White's exhibitions at Heritage Gallery; material related to Brown Pharmaceutical's limited edition portfolio of reproductions of White's work; material about a portfolio of drawings by White published by the magazine Masses and Mainstream; and a folder of news clippings reporting a series of racist attacks on Charles White and others in New York's Greenwich Village in 1947.

This series houses announcements, catalogs, and event posters of artists other than Charles White.

This series consists primarily of announcements and exhibition catalogs documenting White's interest in other Black artists of his generation and younger, many of whom were friends and colleagues of his such as Bing Davis and Betye Saar, and some of whom were his students at Otis Art Institute.

Of particular note are the catalog from Romare Bearden's first New York exhibition at Samuel M. Kootz Gallery; a WPA student art exhibition at the South Side Community Art Center in Chicago; and a catalog for a 1933 Harmon Foundation Exhibition of Work by Negro Artists.

Subject files reflect the original arrangement of some of White's printed material by people, places, and subjects of interest to him. Some of the files contain notes by Frances White about the significance of a particular subject. Some of the material relates to friends of Charles and Frances White, such as issues of Kozmic Times, a publication started by Paul Finot, and Camp Trywoodie, a long running summer camp in Hyde Park, New York, established by White's friends, Morris and Lally Salz.