| Mayme (Agnew) Clayton is a part of US Black history. Join: US Black Heritage Project Discuss: black_heritage |
Mayme (Agnew) Clayton was a librarian, and the founder, and leader of the Western States Black Research and Education Center (WSBREC), the largest privately held collection of African-American historical artifacts, books, documents, and memorabilia in the world. She also supported black filmmakers through the Black American Cinema Society and received several awards for work, including the Phoenix Award and the Paul Robeson Award.[1]
Mayme Agnew was born on August 4, 1923 in Van Buren, Crawford County, Arkansas. Her father was Jerry Modique Agnew Sr, and her mother Mary Dorothy (Knight) Agnew. Her father owned and operated a general store, the only black-owned business in Van Buren. Her mother was a homemaker and renowned Southern Cook, whose dinner gatherings drew people from afar and near. At an early age, she was exposed to African American accomplishment. In 1936, her father drove to Little Rock, Arkansas, so his family could hear Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, a famous educator, speak. After hearing Dr. Bethune speak, she developed a strong interest in black literature and history.[1][2][3]
She graduated high school at age sixteen and briefly attended Lincoln University, a historically black college in Jefferson City, Missouri. In 1944, she moved to New York City, where she worked as a model and photographer's assistant.[2][4][5] In New York, she met her future husband Andrew Lee Clayton, a soldier and barber. They married in Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware on January 27, 1946.[6] They returned to her hometown Van Buren, before heading west to California.[1]
In 1952, she became a librarian's assistant at the University of Southern California, and in 1959, she moved to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) law library. When the university established its Afro-American Studies Center Library in 1969, Clayton, who was already known for her collection of African-American literature, began consulting and helping build the library's collection. The university initially was primarily interested in contemporary black studies and was not interested in out-of-print books. So as she became acquainted with collectors and experts in black history, she began to buy the out-of-print books herself.[4][7]
Mayme and her husband divorced in June 1966 in Los Angeles, California.[8]
What started as a hobby soon became her occupation. In 1972, she left UCLA and began working at Universal Books, a used bookstore in Hollywood with a huge selection of black literature. She eventually became co-owner. She founded Western States Black Research and Education Center (WSBREC) and ran the Third World Ethnic Books out of her home. In 1973, she bought Wheatley Book, a New York dealer. She returned to school and earned her bachelor's degree in history from the University of California in 1974, and her master's in library science through correspondence from Goddard College in Vermont in 1975. She then received her doctorate in humanities from the now-defunct Sierra University in Santa Monica in 1983.[2]
Over the next forty years, she continued to comb bookstores, antique shops, garages and estate sales, flea markets and attics to add to her collection. She bought the first issue of Ebony for a dime. Throughout her life, she lived modestly to save money and add to her collection. Overall, she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to build her collection, and it grew to more than 30,000 rare, first-edition, and out-of-print books by and about black culture. Her collection included over 75,000 photographs and 9,500 sound recordings.ref name='enc'/>
Currently, the collection is in the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum in Culver City, California. She was founder of the Black American Cinema Society, which awards scholarships and hosts film festivals, and was the recipient of numerous awards including the Phoenix and Paul Robeson.[2]
Mayme died on October 13, 2006 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California.[9] She was buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, Los Angeles County, California.[10]
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Categories: USBH Notables, Needs Connection | Arkansas, Notables | University of California, Berkeley | Librarians | Models | 1930 US Census, Crawford County, Arkansas | 1940 US Census, Crawford County, Arkansas | Van Buren, Arkansas | Crawford County, Arkansas | 1950 US Census, Los Angeles County, California | Manhattan, New York | Los Angeles, California | Los Angeles County, California | Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California | US Black Heritage Project Managed Profiles | African-American Notables | Notables