MARBL

The Writers exhibition, on display in the Schatten Gallery until November, features photographer Nancy Crampton’s pictures of authors,poets, novelists, journalists and other writers. A small selection of MARBL materials, chosen by guest curators from the Emory community,complements each photo. The materials illuminate the connections the writers have with each other and the special collections in MARBL. The guest curators were asked to write an essay explaining how their own research has been influenced by using primary source materials, and we will be featuring them here once a week. The following essay is by Agnieszka Czeblakow about Nelson Algren.

by Kate Stratton, Research Library Fellow, Emory University Archives

The late 1960s and early 1970s were times of uncertainty and unrest for students at Emory University.  Social, political, and racial strife were ever-present and Emory students found themselves confronted with racial and gender inequities, the Vietnam War, the draft, a presidential impeachment, and the assassinations of prominent national leaders. Perhaps to counterbalance these weighty concerns, Emory students of the time crafted raucous and risqué traditions. Publications from the 1960s and 1970s, housed in the Emory University Archives, show students had a particular fondness for panty raids and streaking.

The Writers exhibition, on display in the Schatten Gallery until November, features photographer Nancy Crampton’s pictures of authors,poets, novelists, journalists and other writers. A small selection of MARBL materials, chosen by guest curators from the Emory community,complements each photo. The materials illuminate the connections the writers have with each other and the special collections in MARBL. The guest curators were asked to write an essay explaining how their own research has been influenced by using primary source materials, and we will be featuring them here once a week. The following essay is by Daren Wang about Norman Mailer, George Plimpton, Gloria Steinem, Studs Terkel and Tom Wolfe.

by Sara Logue, Research and Public Services Archivist, MARBL

For those of us who have not studied the Civil War in great detail, it may be surprising to learn that not all slaves were in favor of abolishing slavery. A deeper understanding of the ways of life in the mid-nineteenth century, and what freedom would actually mean for slaves, is needed to see the larger picture of the many viewpoints which existed at that time. Our collections represent a wide range of perspectives in order to fully document history, even ones which aren't in line with today's viewpoints. One interesting pamphlet I came across in MARBL's collections is Harrison Berry's Slavery and Abolitionism, as Viewed by a Georgia Slave. In it, a literate and well-spoken man, who had been a slave his whole life, explains why he feels the abolitionist is the worst enemy of the slave.

by Kelly Erby, Assistant Professor of History, Washburn University; PhD, Emory University

Cedric Dover's copy of a rare first edition of Frank J. Webb's novel The Garies and their Friends is a prized volume in MARBL's collections. Dover, a self-identified "coloured Eurasian," leftist, scholar, and crusader against racial prejudice had deep respect for African American literature. He doubtless would have wanted Webb's 1857 novel as part of his library because the book was only the second published by a black American. But Dover's notes on the book further suggest that he understood The Garies as a distinctive portrayal of interracial life and identity, and was especially interested in it for these reasons, too. For MARBL and its patrons, the book is valuable both for the rarity of the edition and for the glimpse Dover's annotations offer into his larger efforts to use literature to disrupt binary constructions of race and build global solidarity among peoples of color—an effort historians are only beginning to study.

The Writers exhibition, on display in the Schatten Gallery until November, features photographer Nancy Crampton’s pictures of authors,poets, novelists, journalists and other writers. A small selection of MARBL materials, chosen by guest curators from the Emory community,complements each photo. The materials illuminate the connections the writers have with each other and the special collections in MARBL. The guest curators were asked to write an essay explaining how their own research has been influenced by using primary source materials, and we will be featuring them here once a week. The following essay is by Alyssa Stalsberg Canelli about Salman Rushdie.

by Will Love, Graduate Processing Assistant

MARBL is pleased to announce new and updated additions to the collected manuscripts of Theodore Draper (MSS 579).  The collection now includes nineteen boxes of materials used by Draper during research for his book, A Very Thin Line: The Iran-Contra Affairs (1991).  The transcripts of Oliver North's and John Poindexter's federal trials and photocopies of North's private journals comprise the bulk of the material.