Guide to the Heather Love papers, 1977-2021

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 2023

Collection Overview

Title:	Heather Love papers
Date range:	1977-2021
Creator:	Feminist Theory Archive.
Extent:	7.25 linear feet (7 record center cartons and one .25 file box)
Abstract:	This collection consists of the personal and professional papers of Heather Love, Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. Love's research interests include gender and sexuality studies, queer theory, twentieth-century literature and culture, affect studies, sociology and literature, disability studies, film and visual culture, and critical theory. Materials date from 1977-2021 and include correspondence, conference materials, teaching materials, and handwritten notes.
Repository:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Collection number:	Ms.2022.001

Scope & content

This collection consists of the personal and professional papers of Heather Love, Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. Love's research interests include gender and sexuality studies, queer theory, twentieth-century literature and culture, affect studies, sociology and literature, disability studies, film and visual culture, and critical theory. Materials date from 1977-2021 and include correspondence, conference materials, teaching materials, and handwritten notes.

Series 1, BIOGRAPHICAL AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT, 1977 – 2020, this series includes diaries, paintings, photos, and notes and student papers from Love's high school and undergraduate education. Also included are fellowship applications and professional correspondence from Cornell University, Lehigh University, and University of Pennsylvania. Note one folder of paintings by Love from a trip to Japan in 1986. This series is arranged alphabetically by record type.

Series 2, CORRESPONDENCE, 1985 – 2018, contains personal correspondence from friends, family members, and fellow scholars. Correspondents include Love's grandmothers, parents, aunt, and sister. Note one folder contains one piece of correspondence from Barbara Johnson, scholar of deconstruction, psychoanalysis, and queer theory. This series is arranged alphabetically by correspondent's last name.

Series 3, CONFERENCES, 2010 – 2021, includes programs, schedules, and notes, from various conferences attended by Love. Conferences include, "Art Inclusion: Disability, Design, Curation," "Description Across the Disciplines," "Queer Public Feelings," and "Ways of Reading: Beyond, Beneath, and Beside Theory." Note that this series also includes talk drafts that love prepared for various conferences. Additional talk drafts that were not affiliated with a conference are in Series 5, Writings and Related. This series is arranged alphabetically by conference title.

Series 4, TEACHING, 2013 – 2020, includes lecture notes, readings, and syllabi, for courses taught by Love. Courses include "Disability and Modernism" and "Thinking Feminism at the Limits." This series is arranged alphabetically by course title.

Series 5, WRITINGS AND RELATED, 2002 – 2021, includes drafts, correspondence, and notes, related to articles, books, and talks, by Love. Titles include "Close Reading and Thin Description," Underdogs: Social Deviance and Queer Theory, "Norms, Deviance, and the Queer Ordinary?," and "The Stigma Archive." This series is arranged alphabetically by writing type then by title.

Series 6, NOTES, 1987 – 2018, contains bound and loose handwritten notes. Most do not identify specific dates or topics, but known topics include "affect and/as queer men," "lesbianism," and "the limits of argument." Note that topics in quotations were created by Love. This series is arranged alphabetically by record type.

Series 7, RESTRICTED, 1996 - 2017, contains one job talk and three correspondence files. The job talk is closed until January 1, 2042, after which date this series will open without restriction. The correspondence is closed until January 1, 2034, after which time written permission from the Heather Love is required.

Access Points

Subject Organizations

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

Subject Topics

• Affect (Psychology)
• Deviant behavior
• Disability studies.
• Gender identity
• Homosexuality in Literature.
• Literature, Modern -- 20th century -- History and criticism.
• Queer theory.
• Sociology.
• Feminist theory

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into 7 series.

• Series 1. Biographical and Career Development
• Series 2. Correspondence
• Series 3. Conferences
• Series 4. Teaching
• Series 5. Writings and Related
• Series 6. Notes
• Series 7. Restricted

Biographical/Historical Note

Heather Love received her A.B. in Literature from Harvard University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia. Her research interests include gender and sexuality studies, twentieth-century literature and culture, affect studies, sociology and literature, disability studies, film and visual culture, and critical theory. She is the author of Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History (Harvard) and the editor of a special issue of GLQ on Gayle Rubin ("Rethinking Sex") and the co-editor of a special issue of Representations ("Description Across Disciplines"). She has written on topics including comparative social stigma, compulsory happiness, transgender fiction, spinster aesthetics, and reading methods in literary studies. A new book, Underdogs: Social Deviance and Queer Theory (University of Chicago Press), came out in Fall 2021.

In approximately 2019, Love suffered a serious stroke that impacted her vision and writing ability. Some evidence of this experience is included in the collection. Additional materials about this experience may be added in the future.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are no restrictions on access, except that Series 7, Restricted, is closed until January 1, 2042, after which date this series 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:	Heather Love papers, Ms.2022.001, 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 Heather Love in 2022.
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 2023-04-11.
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 Archive, Brown University Library.

Additional Information

Inventory

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