Guide to the Joan Wallach Scott papers, 1954–2019

John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148
Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Published in 2021

Collection Overview

Title:	Joan Wallach Scott papers
Date range:	1954–2019
Creator:	Scott, Joan Wallach
Extent:	14 linear feet (14 record center cartons)
Abstract:	This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Joan Wallach Scott, scholar of French history, women's and gender history, and feminist theory. She is Professor Emerita in the School of Social Science in the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and was the founding director of the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women at Brown University. Materials include correspondence, administrative files, conference materials, draft writings, subject files, and print materials dating from 1954 – 2019. This collection is closed until January 1, 2048.
Language of materials:	Materials are primarily in English but there are also some items in Dutch, Finnish, French, Italian, and Spanish.
Repository:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Collection number:	MS.2021.005

Scope & content

This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Joan Wallach Scott, scholar of historical practice and labor, power, and gender in France. She is Professor Emerita in the School of Social Science in the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and was the founding director of the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women at Brown University. Materials include correspondence, administrative files, conference materials, draft writings, subject files, and print materials dating from 1954 – 2019.

Please note that folder titles listed in quotations are the creator's original folder titles. The processor created all other folder titles.

Series 1, BIOGRAPHICAL, 1954 – 2019, includes clippings and interviews about Scott, correspondence between Scott and her parents, and papers written by Scott during her time as an undergraduate student. This series is arranged alphabetically by record type.

Series 2, CORRESPONDENCE, 1965 – 2012, contains professional and scholarly correspondence. Correspondents include Barbara Anton, Dagmar Herzog, Sharon Marcus, Carole Pateman, and Mary Lou Roberts. Topics include Teachers for a Democratic Culture, visits to other universities, talks, and events. Additional correspondence that is personal or related to Scott's writings is found throughout the collection. This series is arranged alphabetically by provenance then alphabetically by correspondent's last name or by subject.

Series 3, ADMINISTRATIVE, 1966 – 2019, includes correspondence, handwritten notes, meeting materials, and reports from various institutions at which Scott was affiliated. Institutions include American Association of University Professors, American Historical Association, Brown University, Institute for Advanced Study, and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. This series is arranged alphabetically by institution then by record type.

Series 4, CONFERENCES, 1968 – 2017, includes agendas, booklets, correspondence, handwritten notes, and papers by Scott for conferences she attended. Conferences include "Anthropology and History Round Table," "The Dilemma of Difference and Arguments About Equality for Women," "The Fifth Berkshire Conference on the History of Women," "Gender, Technology, and Education," and "Women's Studies Research: Critical issues Past, Present, and Future." This series is arranged alphabetically by conference title then by record type.

Series 5, TEACHING, 1986 – 2005, includes correspondence, syllabi, and course evaluations for various courses Scott taught. Courses include "Dilemmas of Difference," "Foucault for Historians," "History, Literature, and Feminist Scholarship," and "Psychoanalysis and History." This series is arranged alphabetically by course title then by record type.

Series 6, WRITINGS AND RELATED, 1966 – 2018, includes clippings, correspondence, handwritten notes, and handwritten and typed drafts of articles, books, chapters, edited books, reviews, and talks. Titles include "Clio's Consciousness Revisited: Historians and the Study of Women and Development," "Women's Work and European Fertility Patterns," Gender and the Politics of History, The Glassworkers of Carmaux, Women, Work, and Family, "The Fantasy of Feminist History," "On Language, Gender, and Working Class History," and "Women's Archives and Women's History." This series is arranged alphabetically by format then by title then by record type.

Series 7, SUBJECT FILES, 1962 – 1998, includes clippings, correspondence, handwritten notes, and readings used for research. Topics include "Brown University CIA protests," "Inter-University Committee for Debate on Foreign Policy," "Students for a Democratic Society," "Vietnam," and "Women's Studies." This series is arranged alphabetically by subject then by record type.

Series 8, PRINT MATERIALS, 1964 – 2008, includes booklets, journals, magazines, and newsletters. Titles include Vietnam: number 1 in the read-in series, Personal Lives and Professional Careers: Report of the Women's Committee of the American Studies Association, "On Our Backs," and "Vietnam: A Faculty Student Committee Publication number 6." This series is arranged alphabetically by record type then by title.

Access Points

Subject Names

• Tilly, Louise

Subject Organizations

• Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women.
• Feminist Theory Archive.
• Christine Dunlap Farnham Archive.

Subject Topics

• Academic freedom
• Feminism -- France -- History.
• Feminist theory
• Vietnam War, 1961-1975
• Women -- France -- History.
• Women's Studies

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into 8 series.

• Series 1. Biographical
• Series 2. Correspondence
• Series 3. Administrative
• Series 4. Conferences
• Series 5. Teaching
• Series 6. Writings and Related
• Series 7. Subject Files
• Series 8. Print Materials

Biographical/Historical Note

Joan Wallach Scott was born on December 18, 1941, to high school teachers Sam and Lottie Wallach. She earned her B.A. from Brandeis University in 1962 and her M.S. and Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin in 1964 and 1969 respectively. She has taught at the University of Illinois, Northwestern University, University of North Carolina, and Brown University. During her time at Brown, Scott served as the founding director of the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women from 1981 – 1985. In 1985, she went on to take a position as a faculty member in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study where she would retire as Professor Emerita in 2014.

Scott's work has challenged the foundations of conventional historical practice, including the nature of historical evidence and historical experience. Drawing on a range of philosophical thought, as well as on a rethinking of her own training as a labor historian, she has contributed to the formulation of a field of critical history. Written in 1986, her now classic article, "Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis," continues to inspire innovative research on women and gender. In her latest work she has been concerned with the ways in which difference poses problems for democratic practice. She has taken up this question in her recent books: Only Paradoxes to Offer: French Feminists and the Rights of Man (1996); Parité: Sexual Equality and the Crisis of French Universalism (2005); and The Politics of the Veil (2007). She has extended her work on the veil to examine the relationship between secularism and gender equality. She has also prepared a collection of her essays that deals with the uses of psychoanalysis, particularly fantasy, for historical interpretation, The Fantasy of Feminist History (2011). Scott is a founding editor of History of the Present, a journal of theoretically-informed history.

Scott has been recognized with honorary degrees from a number of academic institutions, including Brown, Harvard, and the University of Bergen (Norway). In May, 2009, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Wisconsin. Several of Scott's books have won prizes from the American Historical Association, which also awarded her the Nancy Lyman Roelker prize for graduate mentoring in 1995. At its meeting in January, 2009, the AHA presented her with an award for Scholarly Distinction, the culmination of more than 40 years of research and writing in her chosen fields of French history, women's and gender history, and feminist theory. In June 2012, Scott received an honorary doctorate from Princeton University.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	This collection is closed until January 1, 2048 after which date the collection will open without restriction. The collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Use of the materials:	All researchers seeking to publish materials from the collections of the John Hay Library are requested to complete a Notice of Intent to Publish, prior to reproducing, quoting, or otherwise publishing any portion or extract from this collection. Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation:	Joan Wallach Scott papers, MS.2021.005, Box [#], Folder [#], Pembroke Center Archives, John Hay Library, Brown University.
Contact information:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts Box A Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148 Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	Gift of Joan Wallach Scott in 2020.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Finding aid prepared by Amanda Knox, on behalf of the Pembroke Center for the Teaching and Research on Women and the Brown University Library.
Encoding:	This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2021-12-17.
Descriptive rules:	Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)
Sponsor:	Curatorial work and processing provided by the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women on behalf of the Feminist Theory and Christine Dunlap Farnham Archives, Brown University Library.

Additional Information

Related material:

See also the Pembroke Center records(OF.1ZP.2017.005)and the Louise A. Tilly papers (MS.2008.023).

Inventory

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