Guide to the Marianne Hirsch papers, 1980-2008

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 2024

Collection Overview

Title:	Marianne Hirsch papers
Date range:	1980-2008
Creator:	Hirsch, Marianne
Extent:	2 linear feet (1 record center carton and 2 file boxes)
Abstract:	This collection consists of the professional papers of Marianne Hirsch, William Peterfield Trent Professor Emerita of English and Comparative Literature and the Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender at Columbia University. Hirsch's scholarship focuses on feminist theory, narrative and rhetorical theory, comparative literature, cultural memory, and Holocaust studies. The collection includes conference materials, course syllabi and lecture notes, draft writings and related correspondence, and research materials, dating from 1980 - 2008.
Repository:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Collection number:	MS.2024.014

Scope & content

This collection consists of the professional papers of Marianne Hirsch, William Peterfield Trent Professor Emerita of English and Comparative Literature and the Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender at Columbia University. Hirsch's scholarship focuses on feminist theory, narrative and rhetorical theory, comparative literature, cultural memory, and Holocaust studies. The collection includes conference materials, course syllabi and lecture notes, draft writings and related correspondence, and research materials. The collection dates from 1980 – 2008 and is arranged into 6 series.

Series 1, ADMINISTRATIVE, 2004 – 2008, contains one folder of Academic Review Committee materials related to the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at Columbia University.

Series 2, CONFERENCES, 1983 – 2008, includes bibliographies, programs, handwritten notes, and papers by others for various conferences. Conferences include "Comparative Literature and Cultural Transnationalisms: Past and Future," "Ethnicity, Race, and Representation: Constructing Others and Selves," and "Gender and War." This series is arranged alphabetically by conference title.

Series 3, TEACHING, 1980 – 2008, includes syllabi and handwritten notes for various courses taught by Hirsch. Course titles include "Comparative Literature: Mothers and Daughters," "Heroines of Disaster: The Novel and Feminist Literary Theory," and "Women's Studies: Race, Reproduction, and Sexuality: Current Issues in Feminist Theory." This series is arranged alphabetically by course title.

Series 4, WRITINGS BY HIRSCH, 1980 – 2006, includes drafts, notes, and correspondence, for various articles, books, edited books, and talks by Hirsch. Titles include "Masking the Subject: Practicing Theory," Family Frames, Conflicts in Feminism, and "Holocaust Photographs: Icons of Post-Memory." This series is arranged alphabetically by writing format then by title.

Series 5, WRITINGS BY OTHERS, 1985 – 1995, includes drafts and related correspondence for writings by other scholars. Authors include Judith Lewis Herman and Helen Block Lewis, Alice Jardine, and Elizabeth Spelman. This series is arranged alphabetically by author's last name then by title.

Series 6, RESEARCH, circa 1985, n.d., contains readings and typed and handwritten notes on various topics. Topics include "anger," "mothers and monsters," and political correctness. Topics in quotations were created by Hirsch, all other topics were created by the processor. This series is arranged alphabetically by topic.

Access Points

Subject Organizations

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

Subject Topics

• Brown University--Alumni and alumnae
• Children of Holocaust survivors--Family relationships.
• Comparative literature
• Families--Folklore.
• Feminism in literature
• Feminist fiction--History and criticism.
• Feminist theory
• Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature.
• Mothers and daughters in literature
• Psychoanalysis and literature
• Women and Gender at Brown University

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into 6 series.

• Series 1. Administrative
• Series 2. Conferences
• Series 3. Teaching
• Series 4. Writings by Hirsch
• Series 5. Writings by Others
• Series 6. Research

Biographical/Historical Note

Marianne Hirsch is William Peterfield Trent Professor Emerita of English and Comparative Literature and the Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender at Columbia University.

A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a former President of the Modern Language Association of America, Hirsch was born in Romania and educated at Brown University where she received her A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. degrees.

Hirsch's work combines feminist theory with memory studies, particularly the transmission of memories of violence across generations. Her recent books include School Photos in Liquid Time: Reframing Difference, co-authored with Leo Spitzer (University of Washington Press, 2020), and the co-edited volumes Imagining Everyday Life: Engagements with Vernacular Photography (Steidl, 2020) and Women Mobilizing Memory (Columbia University Press, 2019). Earlier publications include The Generation of Postmemory: Writing and Visual Culture After the Holocaust (Columbia University Press, 2012), Ghosts of Home: The Afterlife of Czernowitz in Jewish Memory, co-authored with Leo Spitzer (University of California Press, 2010), Family Frames: Photography, Narrative, and Postmemory (1997), and The Familial Gaze (ed.1999). With Leo Spitzer, Hirsch curated "School Photos and Their Afterlives," an exhibit at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College.

Hirsch is the former editor of PMLA, the journal of the Modern Language Association of America, and the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute, the National Humanities Center, and the Bellagio and Bogliasco Foundations. She is one of the founders of Columbia's Center for the Study of Social Difference, and its global initiative "Women Creating Change." Along with a group of local scholars, artists and activists, Hirsch co-directed the Zip Code Memory Project, an initiative that seeks to find art and community-based ways to repair the devastating losses resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic while also acknowledging its radically differential effects on Upper New York City neighborhoods.

Biography copied from https://english.columbia.edu/content/marianne-hirsch in June 2024.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are no restrictions on access, except that 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. Advance notice is required to view any audiovisual media or born-digital records that may exist in this collection. Audiovisual media and born-digital records in this collection may not have been reformatted yet. Researchers may request access to copies by contacting the John Hay Library with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. Access to original physical audiovisual or born-digital media is restricted.
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:	Marianne Hirsch papers, MS.2024.014, 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 Marianne Hirsch.
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 2024-06-12.
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 Brown University Library.

Additional Information

Related material:

Related Materials See also the Nancy K. Miller papers (Ms.2015.002) at Brown University.

Inventory

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