Linda Williams papers (Ms.2015.011)

This collection contains the papers of Linda Williams, Professor Emerita in Film & Media and Rhetoric from the University of California at Berkeley. Her academic interests center on film studies, feminist theory, and "body genres," genres designed to elicit a specific physical reaction. These include pornography, melodrama, and horror. Other areas of focus in both research and teachings include "race" films, Oscar Micheaux, Spike Lee, Surrealist cinema, David Lynch, Pedro Almodóvar, Luis Buñuel, film theory, musicals, and the HBO series "The Wire." Materials in this collection date from approximately 1945 to 2020 and document her academic career through correspondence, conference materials, teaching, writings, and research. The collection is arranged into two subgroups by accession. Original folder titles created by Williams are listed in quotation marks while the processor created the remaining folder titles.

Subgroup 1, First Accession, 1945-2010, is arranged roughly in its original order. Researchers will note Williams' scholarly interest in pornography studies and film, given the size and scope of related material. Subgroup 1 also highlights the way Williams arranged her own files, intermixing handwritten film notes along with items like course lectures. Williams may have developed some of this material into publications, such as Williams seminal text Hardcore: Power, Pleasure, and the "Frenzy of the Visible" (1999).

Series 1, Pornography, 1962-2010, documents Linda Williams' research on pornography. The majority of this material pertains to the second edition of her book, Hard Core, published in 1999, with new material focusing on pornography outside the white heterosexual sphere as well as pornography in the age of the Internet. It is made up of three subseries: Film Notes, Research by Author, and Research by Subject. "Film Notes" contain handwritten notes and observations on a variety of pornographic and/or erotic films, as well as collected newspaper or magazine articles pertaining to those works. The "Research by Author" subseries contains collected relevant scholarly materials arranged by author's last name. The "Research by Subject" subseries collects Williams' pornography research by subject. This subseries includes newspaper and magazine articles. This subseries also contains two research binders that would evolve as the basis of the first edition of her seminal work, Hard Core (first edition, 1989). Also interspersed within this series is personal communication or ephemera between Williams and artists working in pornography. Most significant among these are important figures Radley Metzger, Annie Sprinkle, and Nina Hartley. Newspaper articles have been photocopied for preservation purposes.

Series 2, General Film Notes and Reviews, 1945-2002, documents Williams' research of non-pornography based films. Materials include handwritten notes and collected film reviews arranged alphabetically by film title.

Series 3, Teaching Materials, 1962-2008, documents some of Williams' teaching career and is arranged into 5 subseries according to the general topic of each course: Feminist Theory Courses; Musicals; Pornography Courses; "Provocation of Desire;" and Race Movies. Within each subseries, files are divided into course packets and research. Course packets include correspondence, course descriptions, notes, paper assignments and related questions of inquiry, reading lists, selected readings, and syllabi, and among other materials. Research files include Williams' notes and articles that relate directly to each course and that likely contributed to course development.

Series 4, Conference Materials, 1992-2008, documents Williams' participation at professional conferences, either as an attendee or a speaker. Files are arranged alphabetically by topic and include correspondence, programs, schedules, papers, and other talks presented by Williams.

Series 5, Other Research Materials, 1952-2000, documents Williams' scholarly research likely for publication. Files are arranged alphabetically by topic and include film lists, film reviews, notes, articles, drafts, photographs, and posters, among other items.

Series 6, Restricted Material – First Accession, 1990-2007, contains restricted files pulled from throughout the collection. Files are arranged alphabetically by topic and include name lists, student papers, and course packets that also contain evaluations by students and other student records. Files are closed for 80 years from the date of creation.

Subgroup 2, Second Accession, 1968-2020, is arranged by the processors into six additional series by record type. In subgroup 2, researchers will find a trove of response letters to the publication of Hardcore, teaching materials including syllabi and class lectures, writings by Williams including a set of unpublished talks, and a large batch of research notes about films, directors, and "body genre" topics such as emotion and violence, among many other subjects. Subgroup 2 also contains a small batch of additional restricted materials.

Series, 7, Personal and Biographical, 1968-2019, includes address books, correspondence, education and fellowship files, interviews, photographs, and planners. Note that there is a run of folders labeled, "Invitations/gigs" re: engagements Williams attended or where she presented talks, including at conferences and film festivals. This series of folders maintains Williams' original folder titles as shown in quotation marks. This series is arranged alphabetically by record type.

Series, 8, Teaching,1973-2017, includes syllabi, typed lectures, and annotated readings for various courses taught by Williams. Courses include "American Melodrama," "Cinema and Sex Act," and "Serial Television and the Case of the Wire." This series is arranged alphabetically by course title.

Series 9, Writings and Related, 1987-2020, includes proposals, agreements, correspondence, and reader comments related to various articles, books, and talks authored by Willams. The bulk of the material in this series is related to Williams' book, Hardcore, but other titles include the article, "Skin Flicks," and talk, "Body Genres Reconsidered." This series is arranged alphabetically by project format then by title.

Series 10, Writings by Others, 1970-2020, includes correspondence and printed, typed, and handwritten drafts by other scholars. Scholars of note include Judith Butler, Shoshana Feldman, and Robyn Weigman. The writings may also contain annotations by Williams. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by author's last name then by title of their work.

Series 11, Research Notes and Related, 1974-2018, contains extensive handwritten notes by Williams along with photocopied readings about films, as well as people and general topics. Subjects include "emotion," "melodrama and race, "Roots, and "The Wire." This subseries is arranged alphabetically by topic.

Series 12, Restricted Material – Second Accession, 2012, contains one folder of confidential employment information that is closed for 50 years until January 1, 2074, after which date this series will open without restriction.