Paul Laurence Dunbar
(1872 - 1906)
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR'S PUBLISHED WORKS
This page of selected resources may not be exhaustive.
Items in the Dunbar's Published Works section are listed by publication date order.
PRIMARY SOURCES
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Poetry
- Oak and Ivy, Dayton, OH: Press of the United Brethern Publishing House, 1893.
- Majors and Minors, Toledo, OH: Hadley & Hadley, Printers and Binders, 1895.
- Lyrics of Lowly Life, with an "Introduction" by W.D. Howells, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1896.
- Lyrics of the Hearthside, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1899.
- Poems of Cabin and Field, New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1899.
- Candle Lightin' Time, New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1901.
- Lyrics of Love and Laughter, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903.
- When Malindy Sings, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903.
- Li'l Gal, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1904.
- Howdy, Honey, Howdy, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1905
- Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1905.
- Joggin' Erlong, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1906.
Fiction: Short Stories and Novels
- The Uncalled, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1898. (semi-autobiographical novel)
- Folks from Dixie, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1898. (short stories)
- The Love of Landry, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1900. (novel)
- The Strength of Gideon, and Other Stories, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1900. (short stories)
- The Fanatics, New York: Dodd, Mead & Comapny, 1901. (novel)
- The Sport of the Gods, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1902. Published in England as The Jest of the Fate: A Story of Negro Life, London: Jarrold & Sons, 1902. (novel)
- In Old Plantation Days, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903. (short stories)
- The Heart of Happy Hollow, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1904. (short stories)
Other Works
- "Just Whistle A Bit," A.M.E. Church Review (October 1896): 228.
- African Romances, London: Auginer and Co., 1897. (libretto with music by Samuel Coleridge Taylor)
- Clorindy, or the Origin of the Cakewalk, New York: Witmark Music Publishers, 1898. (libretto with music by Will Marion Cook)
- Dream Lovers: An Operatic Romance, London: Boosey, 1898. (libretto for operetta with music by Samuel Coleridge Taylor)
- Uncle Eph's Christmas, 1900. (one-act musical)
- "Negro Society in Washington," Saturday Evening Post 174 (December 14, 1901): 9.
- In Dahomey, 1903. (stage show with music by Will Marion Cook, produced in Boston, then at Buckingham Palace, London, England, in honor of the birthday of the Prince of Wales)
- "Representative American Negroes," in The Negro Problem: A Series of Articles by Representative American Negroes, 1903. (Contributor of article)
- "The Tuskegee Song," in Selected Songs Sung by Students of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Tuskegee Institute, 1904.
- Lyricist for several songs, including "Jes Lak White Folk," "Down De Lover's Lane: Plantation Croon," and "Who Knows."
- Contributor to newspapers and periodicals, including Atlantic Monthly, Blue and Gray, Century, Dayton Herald, Denver Post, Harper's Weekly, Nation, New York Times, Lippincott's Monthly, and Saturday Evening Post.
Selected Collected Works
- The Life and Works of Paul Laurence Dunbar, edited and with biography by Lida Keck Wiggans. Naperville, IL: J. L. Nichols, 1907.
- The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, New York: Dodd, 1913.
- Speakin' o' Christmas, and Other Christmas and Special Poems, New York: Dodd, 1914.
- The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, with the introduction by W.D. Howells from Lyrics of Lowly Life, New York: Dodd, Mead, 1958.
- The Letters of Paul and Alice Dunbar: A Private History, 2 vols., edited by Eugene Wesley Metcalf, 1974.
- The Paul Laurence Dunbar Reader, edited by Jay Martin and Gossie H. Hudson. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1975.
- The Collected Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, edited and with an introduction by Joanne M. Braxton. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993.
- In His Own Voice: The Dramatic and Other Uncollected Works of Paul Laurence Dunbar, edited by Herbert Woodward Martin and Ronald Primeau, with a forward by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2002.
- The Complete Stories of Paul Laurence Dunbar, edited by Gene A. Jarrett and Thomas L. Morgan. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2005.
- The Collected Novels of Paul Laurence Dunbar, edited by Herbert Woodward Martin, Ronald Primeau, and Gene A. Jarrett. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2009.
Works by Alice Ruth Moore Dunbar
- Moore, Alice Ruth. Violets and Other Tales. Boston: Monthly Review, 1895.
- Dunbar, Alice. The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1899.
- Dunbar, Alice. Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence. Harrisburg, PA: Douglass Publishing, 1914.
- Dunbar, Alice. "The Poet and His Song." A.M.E. Review 12 (October 1914): 121-35.
- Dunbar-Nelson, Alice. The Dunbar Speaker and Entertainer. Naperville, IL: J. L. Nichols, 1920.
Archival Collections
- Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers (MSS 114 and MSS 659), Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH [available on microform in Special Collections and Archives]
- Paul Laurence Dunbar Photograph Collection (P-70) (ca. 1860-1970), Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH
- Paul Laurence Dunbar Collection (1892-1902), New York Public Library, New York, NY
- Paul Laurence Dunbar materials, Special Collections and Archives, Paul Laurence Dunbar Library, Wright State University, Dayton, OH
- Paul Laurence Dunbar Collection (MS-002), Dayton-Metro Library, Dayton, Ohio
SECONDARY SOURCES
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Articles, Chapters, and Essays
- Alexander, Andrew. "The Dunbar Letters: The Tragic Love Affair of One of America's Greatest Poets." Washington Post Magazine, June 28, 1981: 24-29.
- Allen, Walker M. "Paul Laurence Dunbar, A Study in Genius." Psychoanalytical Review, 38 (January 1938): 52-82.
- Arnold, Edward F. "Some Personal Reminiscences of Paul Laurence Dunbar." Journal of Negro History 17 (October 1932): 400-408.
- Brawley, Benjamin. "Dunbar Thirty Years After." Southern Workman 59 (April 1930): 189-91.
- Bryan, Violet Harrington. "Race and Gender in the Early Works of Alice Dunbar-Nelson." In Louisiana Women Writers: New Essays and a Comprehensive Bibliography. Edited by Dorothy H. Brown and Barbara C. Ewell. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1992.
- Hull, Gloria T. "Alice Dunbar-Nelson: Delaware Writer and Woman of Affairs." Delaware History 17:2 (Fall-Winter 1976): 87-103.
- Hull, Gloria T. "Shaping Contradictions: Alice Dunbar-Nelson and the Black Creole Experience." New Orleans Review 15:1 (1988): 34-37.
- Hull, Gloria T. "'Two Facing Life': The Duality of Alice Dunbar-Nelson." Collections 4(1989): 19-35.
- Hull, Gloria T. "Dunbar-Nelson, Alice Ruth Moore (1875-1935)." In Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. 2 vols. Edited by Darlene Clark Hine et al. Bloomington: Indiana University, 1993.
- Stronks, James B. "Paul Laurence Dunbar and William Dean Howells." Ohio History Quarterly 27 (1957): 95-108.
- Turner, Darwin T. "Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Rejected Symbol." Journal of Negro History 52 (January 1967): 1-13.
- Whitlow, Roger. "Alice Dunbar-Nelson: New Orleans Writer." In Regionalism and the Female Imagination: A Collection of Essays. Edited by Emily Toth. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1985.
Dissertations and Unpublished Works
- Alexander, Eleanor. "Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow: The Courtship and Marriage of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Alice Ruth Moore; A Social History of Love, Sex, and the African-American Elite, 1870-1910." Ph.D. dissertation, Brown University 1996.
- Best, Felton O. "Crossing the Color Line: A Biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar, 1872-1906." Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1992.
- Boyd, Rubie. "An Appreciation of Paul Laurence Dunbar." Unpublished manuscript. The Life and Works of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Dayton Public Library (microfilm edition).
- Hudson, Gossie H. "A Biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar." Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1970.
- Lucas, Doris M. "Patterns of Accomodation and Protest in the Fiction of Paul Laurence Dunbar." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1973.
- Metcalf, Eugene W. "The Letters of Paul and Alice Dunbar: A Private History." 2 vols. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Irvine, 1972.
- Williams, Ruby Ora. "An In-Depth Portrait of Alice Dunbar-Nelson." Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Irvine, 1974.
Books
- Alexander, Eleanor. Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow: The Tragic Courtship and Marriage of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Alice Ruth Moore. New York: New York University Press, 2001.
- Austin, Charles M. Paul Laurence Dunbar's Roots and Much More. Dayton, OH: Sense of Roots, 1989.
- Brawley, Benjamin. Paul Laurence Dunbar: Poet of His People. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat, 1967.
- Conover, Charlotte Reeve. Some Dayton Saints and Prophets. Dayton: United Brethern Publishing House, 1907.
- Cunningham, Virginia. Paul Laurence Dunbar and His Song. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1953.
- Derby, Sally. Jump Back, Paul: The Life and Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2015.
- Gayle, Addison. Oak and Ivy: A Biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971.
- Gentry, Tony. Paul Laurence Dunbar. New York: Chelsea House, 1989.
- Gould, Jean. That Dunbar Boy. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1958.
- Hull, Gloria T., ed. Give Us Each Day: The Diary of Alice Dunbar-Nelson. New York: Norton, 1984.
- Hull, Gloria T., ed. The Works of Alice Dunbar-Nelson. 3 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
- Martin, Herbert Woodward. Paul Laurence Dunbar: A Singer of Songs. Columbus: The State Library of Ohio, 1979.
- Martin, Jay, editor. A Singer in the Dawn: Reinterpretations of Paul Laurence Dunbar. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1966.
- McKissack, Patricia C. Paul Laurence Dunbar: A Poet to Remember. Chicago: Children's Press, 1984.
- Metcalf, Eugene W. Paul Laurence Dunbar: A Bibliography. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1975.
- Revell, Peter. Paul Laurence Dunbar. Boston: Twayne, 1979.
- Schultz, Pearle H. Paul Laurence Dunbar: Black Poet Laureate. Champaign, IL: Garrard, 1974.
- Williams, Ruby Ora, editor. An Alice Dunbar-Nelson Reader. Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1979.
Adaptations
- Carroll, Vinette. When Hell Freezes Over, I'll Skate (stage production).
- Lewis, Frederick. Paul Laurence Dunbar: "Beyond the Mask" (video documentary), Ohio University, Central Region Humanities Center, 2017.
- Martin, Herbert Woodward. Jump Back, Honey: The Poetry and Performance of Herbert Woodard Martin (video), 2009.
- Martin, Herbert Woodward. "Paul Laurence Dunbar: Common Ground" (one-act production commissioned by Dayton Opera, Dayton, OH, libretto written and poems selected by Herbert Woodward Martin, English professor and poet-in-residence at the University of Dayton, which premiered in 1995 at the Victoria Theater). [catalog record]
- Myers, Pauline. The World of My America: A One Woman Dramatization (stage production).
Lesson Plans
The Making of a Poet and a People: Learning American History at the Paul Laurence Dunbar State Memorial, by Timothy Binkley. This lesson plan is designed to teach students about the life and poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Grade 9(10) Field Trip Model.
Lesson 10: Paul Laurence Dunbar, Ohio Reading Road Trip lesson plan, Grades 7-8.
Websites
Ohio Memory, Ohio Historical Connection (formerly Ohio Historical Society), contains many images relating to Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Paul Laurence Dunbar web guide, Library of Congress.
Paul Laurence Dunbar, Poets.org.
Paul Laurence Dunbar, Modern American Poetry, University of Illinois.
Seven works by Paul Laurence Dunbar are available on the Project Gutenberg website.