Manhattan, Vol. 1, No. 1: A Night-Club Map of Harlem: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The first issue of Manhattan Magazine featuring the centerfold illustration, "A Night-Cub Map of Harlem" by E. Simms Campbell. The cartoon map provides a nightlife guide to Harlem with caricature renditions of night clubs, restaurants, musicians, entertainers, vendors, and patrons.

The viewer looks southwest over the streets of Lenox Avenue and Seventh Avenue, with Central Park at 110th street at the upper left corner, the Harlem River at the bottom left, the "Harlem Moon" in the upper right corner, and a compass rose and a police station at bottom right. In between are 131st, 133rd, 134th, 135th, and 142nd streets, running east to west. Depicted are the Radium Club, Cotton Club with Cab Calloway's band, the Savoy Ballroom, Connie's Inn, Lafayette Theatre, Log Cabin, Theatrical Grill, Gladys Bentley at Gladys' Clam House, Club Hot-Cha, and Small's Paradise. Cartoon figures do popular dances the Lindy Hop, the Bump, and Snakehips. Musicians Harlan Lattimore, Garland Wilson, and Don Redman are featured, as well as tap dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. There's a vendor selling hot peanuts, the restaurant Tillies features fried chicken, and the vendors "the Crab Man" and "the Reefer Man." Each character and venue has a brief written description. At Club Hot Cha, "Nothing happens before 2 a.m., ask for Clarence" and at Small's Paradise, "Cafe au lait girls and dancing waiters."

At bottom right, a rectangular label reads "Engraved and copyrighted 1932 by E. Simms Campbell." Beneath each page is a short text caption beginning with "Points of interest underneath the Harlem Moon..." at left and "The cafe au lait girls which are the color of coffee and cream..." at right. The very bottom right corner advertises "A 'relief' map of Greenwich Village in the Feb. 1 Manhattan" magazine.

The magazine consists of four sheets (a, b, c, d) folded to form 16 pages, with the map appearing in the centerfold of sheet d, across pages 8 and 9. The dark blue wrapper (e) has the front and back cover with black text and a black and white graphic of a man and woman against an abstracted cityscape. The magazine content consists of printed text, advertisements, and illustrations.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: January 18, 1933
• Illustrated by: Elmer Simms Campbell, American, 1906 - 1971
• Subject of: Savoy Ballroom, American, 1926 - 1958
• Subject of: Cotton Club, American, 1923 - 1940
• Subject of: Cab Calloway, American, 1907 - 1994
• Subject of: Small's Paradise, American, founded 1925
• Subject of: Gladys Bentley, American, 1907 - 1960
• Subject of: Dickie Wells, American, 1907 - 1985
• Subject of: Don Redman And His Orchestra, American, 1931 - 1940
• Type: maps
• Type: pamphlets
• Medium: ink on paper (fiber product)
• Dimensions: H x W: 16 3/4 × 24 1/16 in. (42.5 × 61.1 cm)
• Place depicted: Harlem, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Associations and institutions
• Topic: Blues (Music)
• Topic: Caricature and cartoons
• Topic: Cooking and dining
• Topic: Dance
• Topic: Entertainers
• Topic: Foodways
• Object number: 2020.26.34a-e
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Unknown - Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.