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LIT 494: Guide to Literary Archives (Capstone)

Welcome

Welcome! Use this guide to find out more about literary archives and archival research, and to understand some of the terminology associated with archives and the materials they hold. Use it as a starting point to locate literary collections and take steps to getting access to authors' papers, whether in digital or physical format.  

                   Lit 494 flyer: Join Professor Linda Karell, English, and Professor Jan Zauha, Archives & Special Collections, to explore what lies behind a published work. We’ll lift the printed veil and peer into the archives of regional American writers and their selected works: • Emily Dickinson (poetry) • Ivan Doig (memoir: Heart Earth) • Willa Cather (short stories) • Zora Neal Hurston (novel: Their Eyes Were Watching God) The archives of these authors include manuscripts, letters, photographs, diaries, notes, recordings, and other evidence. Through the authors’ private documents and their published texts, we will grapple with concepts of authorial identity, public/private personae, the ethics of literary archives, the avant-texte, genetic criticism, and more.