Nancy Lyman Roelker papers (Ms.2012.006)

The Nancy Lyman Roelker papers include research notes and photocopies, publications, correspondence, course announcements and notes, personal documents and photographs relating to the scholarship and career of the historian and university professor. The material dates from 1927 to 1993, and includes juvenilia, travel information and posthumous writings about Roelker.

The collection comprises four series, each of which corresponds to a separate accession.

Series 1, July 1994 Accession (1929-1993), is the largest of the series and has five subseries. The first, Teaching materials, contains syllabi, class notes and reading materials from Roelker's classes at Tufts, Boston University, Stanford and Brown in French and European history of the Reformation and the Renaissance. The second subseries, Manuscripts and research, contains a bound volume of Roelker's 1940 Harvard dissertation An Application Of Whitehead’s Concepts Of Conformity and Novelty to the Philosophy of History (Box 2), along with research for and manuscript drafts of Queen of Navarre: the correspondence of Jeanne d'Albret and One King, One Faith: The Parlement of Paris and the Reformations of the Sixteenth Century (Boxes 2 to 5). The third subseries, Conventions and conferences, contains correspondence, proceedings and notes from numerous conferences, including those of the American Historical Association and the Society for French Historical Studes. Subseries four, Correspondence and topic files, is an alphabetical arrangement of correspondence, offprints (often inscribed to Roelker by the author), photocopies and recommendation letters written for former students and colleagues. The fifth and last subseries contains a small collection of juvenilia and memorabilia from Roelker's secondary school teaching career at Concord Academy and Winsor School, as well as pocket journals, photographs, diplomas and personal documents such as passports. Also included are several folders of travel guidebooks, maps and brochures.

Series 2, February 1996 Accession (1929-1970) and Series 3, February 2002 Accession (1929-1990) are each arranged in the same five subseries as the first accession, but are smaller in scope. Both include a significant amount of personal correspondence and greeting cards, along with juvenilia (Boxes 31-32 and 38-39).

Series 4, January 2003 Accession (1927-1986) comprises a small collection of notes, correspondence and personal memorabilia from Roelker's early life such as theater programs, calendars and datebooks (Box 40 to 41).