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Art & Museums

The Collector's Collector: Mark E. Mitchell
By Lisa R. Foeman

The mere mention of historical artifacts ignites an inextinguishable flame of passion in Mark E. Mitchell-historian, expert, dealer and appraiser of rare newspapers and manuscripts, and President of the Mitchell Archives.

Mark Mitchell
Mark E. Mitchell
The Mark E. Mitchell Collection of African American History, comprised of well over 1,000 individual pieces, includes priceless gems such as handwritten letters penned by Frederick Douglass, an unpublished Paul Laurence Dunbar poem (September), a censored note written by Martin Luther King, Jr. from an Alabama jail cell, a vintage signed photograph of singer Marian Anderson, twenty issues of Douglass’ North Star newspaper, and letters written by Malcolm X.

Mitchell also has an impressive business inventory of 20,000 individual newspapers. Said Mitchell of the newspapers, “[They’re] like a timeline. [They’re] the closest thing we get to a time machine. They give us the language of the day.”

Inspired by former Washington Redskins football player, Terry Orr, Mitchell decided ten years ago to assemble his finds in a collection. Speaking of his collection of African American artifacts, Mitchell stated, “I wanted to do it visually and comprehensively. I wanted to bring at least four centuries of African American history alive so it covers all the bases…. For me, it’s like trying to put together the puzzle piece by piece.” Shared Mitchell, the “strength of [my] collection” is that “the persons speak for themselves.” Case in point are original letters from Malcolm X to Elijah Muhummad and Alex Haley which dramatically reveal the philosophy-altering impact of his pilgrimage to Africa. “It’s what Malcolm says about Malcolm in his own words” that makes these letters so significant, observed Mitchell.

Mitchell is clearly ecstatic about and proud of his $70,000 acquisition last year of Ocean, the 227-year old poem by Phillis Wheatley, the first published African American writer. Gushed Mitchell, “I used to dream about finding a Phillis Wheatley poem. I’m astonished.” As he should be. Much of Wheatley’s work was never published and remains lost today. Ocean is the only Wheatley poem in private hands.

Mitchell also builds collections for interested individuals. Of Sacramento Kings forward Chris Webber’s collection, Mitchell explained, “I took my own collection and built a mini-collection [for Webber].” An especially unique item in Webber’s collection is a postcard from Malcolm X. The postcard, which displays a chimpanzee on the front, inspired Malcolm to comment that it is treated better than Black people in America. Distinguishing this postcard from the typically benign ones, Mitchell remarked, “what makes an artifact valuable is the content. The content is the key to valuation in anything.”

Mitchell’s latest passion is the establishment of a museum dedicated to African American history on The Mall in Washington. Acknowledging the past failures of others to establish such a museum, Mitchell urged, “the time has come and I believe I can do it.” Armed with the assistance of Frederick Douglass IV, former Redskin Art Monk, congressmen, and Salomon Smith Barney, Mitchell pronounced, “This is huge. No one will get in our way.” Let’s hope not!
M

February 2001
 

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