Hazel V. Carby papers (Ms.2022.006)

This collection consists of the personal and professional papers of Hazel Carby, Charles C. and Dorothea S. Dilley Professor Emeritus of African American Studies and Professor Emeritus of American Studies, Yale University. Carby's foundational and extensive scholarship focuses on race, gender, class, African American Studies, and African Diaspora Studies. Materials in this collection include correspondence, administrative documents, conference files, teaching materials, lecture, essay, and book drafts, handwritten research notes, research materials, and print materials, dating 1972-2016. The collection is arranged into 10 series.

Series 1, PERSONAL and BIOGRAPHICAL, 1984 – 2006, includes an interview transcription, assorted materials that Hazel Carby produced and arranged in order to teach students at her son's elementary school about Black History Month, and Hazel Carby's bound doctoral thesis. This series is arranged alphabetically by record type.

Series 2, CORRESPONDENCE, 1982 – 1999, includes letters, greeting cards, and related research materials and writings by Carby. Of particular interest is a small selection of the letters from Carby's intellectual collaborator, Saidiya Hartman, and from other scholars and writers. Also included are cards from friends and former students. This series is arranged alphabetically by correspondent name then by topic.

Series 3, ADMINISTRATIVE, 1979 – 2010, includes meeting documents, printed correspondence, handwritten notes, and CVs. The series holds extensive documentation of Yale University's lecture series, the "Initiative for Race, Gender, and Globalization"; including presentation introductions written by Hazel Carby and materials related to scholars such as Achille Mbembe and Tina Campt and to writers such as Caryl Phillips and Nalo Hopkinson. The series also includes printed correspondence, meeting reports, book proposals, chapter drafts, and presentation drafts related to three study groups in which Hazel Carby was involved from 1979-1980 at Birmingham University: English Studies Group, Media Group, and Race and Politics Group. This series is arranged alphabetically by institution and then by record type.

Series 4, TEACHING, 1987 – 2016, includes syllabi, annotated research materials, handwritten and typed notes, and course readings. Of particular interest are printed and handwritten lectures and lecture notes written by Hazel Carby. Also included are typed assignments by students. This series is arranged alphabetically by course title and then alphabetically by record type.

Series 5, CONFERENCES, 1991 – 2013, includes correspondence, administrative documents, conference programs, handwritten notes, and printed conference papers by Hazel Carby and others. Of particular interest is an annotated typed draft of Carby's essays titled "Imagining Black Men: the Politics of Cultural Identity" (1992) and "Issues of Race and the Assault on Diversity: The End of 'Reconstruction' and the Maintenance of the Boundaries of Segregation" (1991). Also included is a typed paper by Fred Moten titled "The New International of Rhythmic Feeling(s)" (2008) and a typed paper by Tina Campt titled "What's the Score? Gender-Diaspora-Photography" (2008). Printed conference papers that include Hazel Carby's handwritten notes on each presentation will also be of interest. This series is arranged alphabetically by conference title and then alphabetically by record type.

Series 6, WRITINGS BY CARBY, 1980 – 2008, includes articles, book chapters, papers, reviews of Hazel Carby's work, and contracts. Of particular interest are Carby's rough drafts and publication contracts. Also included is correspondence between Carby and Frederic Jameson. This series is arranged alphabetically by format and then alphabetically by title.

Series 7, WRITINGS BY OTHERS, circa 1989 – 2005, includes photocopied and printed essays, photocopied books, typed and handwritten notes, and correspondence. Of particular interest is an unpublished manuscript by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. titled "Richard Wright Memorial Lectures," as well as correspondence from Gates, Jr. to Carby. Also included is a typed essay by Rinaldo Walcott titled "Origins…Beginnings…:Transatlantic Slavery" (n.d.). This series is arranged alphabetically by author's last name then by title.

Series 8, SUBJECT FILES, ca. 1990 – 2012, includes printed essays, correspondence, clippings, handwritten notes, printed interview transcriptions. Original folder titles are written in quotations. The processor created all other folder titles. This series is arranged alphabetically by title.

Series 8, Subseries 1, PEOPLE, ca. 1990 – 2012, includes research files about people. Of particular interest is Carby's handwritten notes on Kara Walker. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by subject's last name then by record type.

Series 8, Subseries 2, PEOPLE – LOUISE THOMPSON PATTERSON, ca. 1998, 2000-2005, includes research files about Louise Thompson Patterson related to a research project on which Hazel Carby collaborated with Patterson's daughter Mary Louise Patterson. The correspondence and project report related to the project may be of particular interest. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by record type.

Series 8, Subseries 3, TOPICS, includes correspondence, annotated readings, and handwritten notes about an assortment of topics including "Black film history," "Blues women" and "Migration." Also included are several bound notebooks containing Carby's handwritten notes on a variety of subjects including Zora Neale Hurston and W.E.B. Du Bois. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by topic.

Series 9, PRINT MATERIAL, 1972 – 2016, includes books, journals, lecture posters, and an exhibition program. Many books included in this series were published by small, radical presses such as The Third World's Artist Collective, English Centre, Reality Press, the Centerprise Publishing Project, and the Black Ink Collective. This series is arranged alphabetically by record type and then alphabetically by title.

Series 10, RESTRICTED, 2002 – 2015, includes tenure dossiers for active professors, materials related to the 20th Century African American History Search Committee at Yale University (2003-2004), and materials related to faculty diversity at Yale University (2015). This series is arranged alphabetically by record type. The series is closed until January 1, 2032, after which date this series will open without restrictions.