Accession No. RARE.2019.0093: Purchased, 2019 July
[identification of item], Illinois Bell Telephone Company “We Asked Gwendolyn Brooks About the Creative Environment in Illinois” Promotional Booklet, SPEC.RARE.MMS.0341, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Ohio State University
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Processed by: David Mezick, 2024 October; Finding aid written by: David Mezick, 2024 October
The Illinois Bell Telephone Company was a telephone company in Illinois. From the beginning of the 20th century until 1984, it was part of the Bell network of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T).
Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) was a poet who lived in Chicago, Illinois. In 1950, she became the first Black poet to win the Pulitzer Prize, and she was appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1968. She is celebrated for her use of language and her portrayal of the experiences of Black people in the United States, especially Black women.
The Illinois Bell Telephone Company “We Asked Gwendolyn Brooks About the Creative Environment in Illinois” Promotional Booklet, dated circa 1965, is a promotional booklet created and distributed by the Illinois Bell Telephone Company that contains the transcript of an interview with Gwendolyn Brooks. The booklet is part of series by the Illinois Bell Telephone Company that advertises the state of Illinois. The interview was conducted by Paul M. Angle. Brooks and Angle discuss Brooks’s poetry and creative process, the city of Chicago as an environment for creative writing, the civil rights movement in the United States, and education.