The following information on recent archival processing work at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library was written by Mary Caldera, Associate Director for Archival Description.
Beinecke staff have made available several collections and additions to existing collections, including:
New collections
19th Century French Bookstore Poster collection (GEN MSS 2148)
The 19th Century French Bookstore Poster collection consists primarily of posters and lithographs produced between 1829 and 1896. There is one woodblock used for printing posters. The posters were largely produced by the publisher or editor, and editors are noted at the item level scope and content note. Posters do not contain information on which bookstore may have displayed them. (150 posters, 369.37 linear feet)
Archibald John Wilson papers (GEN MSS 2147)
This collection contains correspondence, printed material, photographs, and other papers by or relating to Archibald John Wilson documenting his work as a gay Army veteran and activist. (0.50 linear feet)
Bessie Emanuel papers (JWJ MSS 389)
This collection contains a mix of correspondence and ephemera from Bessie Emanuel’s early life. The bulk of the materials relate to Emanuel’s elementary and higher education at White Plains High School and Hampton Institute. (0.67 linear feet)
David Stanley and Ann Handforth McLellan papers (GEN MSS 2143)
The David Stanley and Ann Handforth McLellan Papers contains correspondence, writings, personal papers, photographs, negatives, slides, and audiovisual material that document the career and family life of political scientist David McLellan and his spouse Ann Handforth McLellan. The correspondence documents the early years of the McLellans’ marriage as well as their lives abroad including when David served in the US Army during World War II and when he worked for the United States Central Intelligence Agency in the French Alps. These papers also document the McLellans’ family life and many travels as well as David McLellan’s career as a professor of political science at University of California Riverside and Miami University. (6.50 linear feet)
Ed and Barbara Emberley papers (GEN MSS 2144)
This collection contains artwork, woodcut and other art prints, correspondence, publicity material, printing woodblocks, photographic prints, sound recordings, born-digital material and other papers created by or related to the work of noted children’s book illustrator Ed Emberley and author Barbara Emberley. Of note is production art for the Emberley’s children’s books in Series I, including Drummer Hoff, for which Ed Emberley was awarded the Caldecott Medal. (75.51 linear feet.)
Edward V. Knight papers (MS 2131)
This collection contains the correspondence, photographs, and personal papers of Edward Vinton Knight, Yale 1931. Of note is Knight’s correspondence to his family dating from 1931-1933 when he worked in Changsha, China teaching English at the Yali Union Middle School, a boys’ preparatory school, with the Yale-in-China Association (now the Yale-China Association). There is correspondence from Association administrators to Knight’s family regarding his travels and his bout with typhoid. Administrators also communicated about Japan’s hostile activities during the invasion of Manchuria in the early 1930s and later during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Correspondence also includes a description of Knight’s travels on the Trans-Siberian Railroad to Europe. (2.80 linear feet)
Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Committee Records (MS 2138)
The Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Committee Records primarily document the history of urban planning and zoning of the New Haven region from 1946 to 1964. The collection contains correspondence, memos, meeting minutes, survey results, planning documents, and budget sheets, along with other documentation from the Chamber’s various committees. Records include information regarding New Haven mayors William C. Celentano and Richard C. Lee as well as leading transportation expert Kent T. Healy and their involvement in urban zoning. (0.42 linear feet)
Ingrid Lothigius-Walder collection of the Harlem Jazz Festival (JWJ MSS 390)
The Ingrid Lothigius-Walder collection of the Harlem Jazz Festival contains black and white photographs, contact sheets, and negatives related to the 1981 Harlem Jazz Festival. Additional printed material includes flyers relating to the photographer and other productions. (4.67 linear feet)
J. L. Ferrell papers (WA MSS S-4556)
The J. L. Ferrell papers provide an intimate look at African American life in the South during the later years of the Great Depression into the beginning of World War II. The collection is primarily comprised of correspondence to J. L. (Joe Louis) Ferrell (1915-1986) from his future wife Hazel E. Pinkard (1913-1994), family members, and friends. The collection also contains materials related to Ferrell’s employment as a driver including vehicle operator licenses, employment identification cards, and receipts for vehicle-related expenses. Ferrell’s earning statements, layoff notices, and gasoline ration applications detail the economic reality of the 1930s and 1940s. Various papers relating to Ferrell’s military service are also included. Hazel Pinkard Ferrell’s letters primarily illustrate her academic and social life while attending Tillotson College, a historic Black college located in Austin, Texas. (0.63 linear feet)
James Balog Extreme Ice Survey photograph collection (WA MSS S-4558)
The James Balog Extreme Ice Survey photograph collection contains photographic prints related to the work of American photojournalist James Balog. Balog’s work follows the long-term impact of climate change on glacier ice. (21.50 linear feet)
Julian Joel Obermann papers (MS 330)
The papers consist of correspondence, draft manuscripts, teaching and committee files documenting the research, writing, editing, and teaching of Julian Joel Obermann, professor of Semitic languages at Yale University and editor of the Yale Judaica Series. (12.17 linear feet)
Laura McPhee and Virginia Beahan papers (WA MSS S-4557)
The Laura McPhee and Virginia Beahan papers consist of photographic material and professional papers documenting the professional collaborations of Laura McPhee and Virginia Beahan in the realm of contemporary landscape photography with a focus on the late 1980s through the early 2000s. (linear feet 79.67)
Peter Schjeldahl papers (YCAL MSS 1625)
This collection contains correspondence, writings, photographs, personal papers, printed material, audiotapes, computer media, and other papers by or relating to the life and work of Peter Schjeldahl. (10.92 linear feet)
Rackstraw Downes papers (GEN MSS 2142)
The collection contains correspondence, writings, notebooks, articles, essays, reviews, and talks, printed material, interviews, and exhibition catalogues, and other materials related to Rackstraw Downes life and work. (11.67 linear feet)
Ruth Wetmore Newcomb papers (GEN MSS 2145)
This collection contains correspondence with related transcription, accounts and inventories, photographs, and printed material related to Ruth Wetmore Newcomb’s life including her 1914 tour of Europe, the Mediterranean, and North Africa before the outbreak of World War I. (2.55 linear feet)
Sidney A. Olson papers (GEN MSS 2146)
The Sidney A. Olson papers contain writings, notes, logs, correspondence, photographic prints, newspaper clippings, and other papers by, or related to, the work of journalist Sidney A. Olson. (6.42 linear feet)
Additions to existing collections
African American television script collection (additions) (JWJ MSS 90)
The addition consists of scripts from A Different World, Roots, and What’s Happening?. (5.62 linear feet)
André Bertrand and André Schneider papers (additions) (GEN MSS 2055)
The addition consists of three letters from Daniel Joubert from Guy Debord (0.25 linear feet)
Arthur Frederick and Mary Clabaugh Wright papers (addition) (MS 876)
The addition consists of correspondence, 1947-1971 (0.25 linear feet)
James Harvey Linsley family papers (MS 1424)
The addition consists of a letter to James Harvey Linsley from Benjamin Silliman Jr. regarding concerning animal specimens being sent to John James Audubon, 1893 December 4 (1 item)
Carl and Shelley Smith Mydans papers (addition) (YCAL MSS 754)
The addition includes published and unpublished writings, correspondence, photographs, research, publications, lectures, speeches, press material, ephemera, and audiovisual material related to the work and lives of Carl and Shelley Smith Mydans. (25.79 linear feet)
David Benjamin Mixner papers (addition) (MS 1862)
The addition consists of correspondence, emails, notes, pamphlets, playbills, and other papers, by or related to David Mixner. (2.42 linear feet; The papers are closed until January 1, 2031)
Elizabeth Willis DeHuff collection of American Indian art (addition) (WA MSS S-150)
The addition consists of Elizabeth Willis DeHuff letter to Kellah Walker Murray, 1963 (1 item)
Francis John Anscombe papers (addition) (MS 1609)
The addition contains lecture notes, audiovisual materials, and other related papers created by, or related to, Francis John Anscombe. (1.08 linear feet)
H. Page Cross papers (MS 776)
The addition consists of renderings, sketches, and architectural, structural, and shop drawings for the 1969 project, The Garages, Newport, Rhode Island. (5.00 linear feet)
Havelock Ellis Papers (addition) (MS 195)
The bulk of this addition are letters from Havelock Ellis to his biographer, Houston Peterson, who began working on an essay on Ellis in 1923 that turned into his dissertation at Columbia University. This essay was the foundation of Ellis’ biography published in 1928. At the time, Ellis was known in the medical field for Sexual Inversion, the first volume of what later became his seven-volume work, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, in which he defined his ideas of sexual and gender non-conformity. Ellis was equally known for his writings in literary criticism and feminism of the early 20th century. The rest of the addition is comprised of Ellis’ writings from an early age on the literature he exposed himself to and critiqued, as well as his publications in magazines and journals, especially relating to women’s reproductive rights and early eugenics. (1.04 linear feet)
James Hatch papers (addition) (MS 2127)
The addition consists of Hatch’s Yale undergraduate senior thesis, copy, 2024 April 5 (0.25 linear feet)
Jonathan Barnett papers (addition) (MS 1733)
The addition consists of videos from two virtual courses taught by Jonathan Barnett. The first is from 2014 and is titled “Designing Cities.” Barnett co-taught this course with Gary Hack and Stephan Al. The course, originally accessible through Coursera, consists of ten sessions focusing on the challenges facing architects and city planners with climate change and other societal factors. The second course is from 2017 titled “Ecodesign for Cities and Suburbs.” Co-taught with Larry Beasley, this six-week course was originally accessible through the University of British Columbia and focuses on ecodesign principles and the ways cities and suburbs can adapt to withstand climate change. (1.77 Gigabytes)
Katherine Dunham collection (addition) (JWJ MSS 247)
The additions consist of photographs, programs, and promotional material related to Dunham’s performances in Carib Song and Tropical Revue in the 1940s. (2.00 linear feet)
Max Lerner papers (addition) (MS 322)
The addition contains Lerner’s writings and professional papers. Writings including lecture notes, newspaper columns, and material related to an unfinished anthology called The Soul of America, a collaboration between Lerner and Robert Schmuhl. Lerner’s professional papers include material from his time teaching at Notre Dame, notes planning out his writing activities, and nine audiocassette tapes containing interviews conducted by Robert Schmuhl with Lerner and others for magazine profiles about Lerner. (1.42 linear feet)
Miscellaneous manuscripts collection (MS 352)
The addition consists of Matthew C. Perry letter to Samuel R. House and Stephen Mattoon (1 item)
Overbrook Press Records (addition) (GEN MSS 961)
The addition consists of watercolor illustrations by Jean Hugo, for the colophon and chapters 1-23 of Inland Voyage by Robert Louis Stevenson, undated (1.17 linear feet)
Richard Slotkin papers (addition) (WA MSS S-2716)
The addition consists of a notebook covering the years 2005-2019, along with and thumb drive related to Slotkin’s book A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Struggle for America. (0.75 linear feet)
Robert O. Anthony collection of Walter Lippmann (addition) (MS 766)
The addition contains materials relating to Walter Lippmann and the Robert O. Anthony Collection of Walter Lippmann. (3.00 linear feet)
Simon Cutts constructed archive (addition) (OSB MSS 206)
The addition contains correspondence, clippings, catalogues, photographs, memorabilia and ephemera related to Cutts life and works. (addition). (9.00 linear feet)
Silliman family papers (addition) (MS 450)
The addition consists of a journal that documents Sarah and Benjamin Silliman’s travels in the Midwest, 1855. (0.21 linear feet)
Walter Chauncey Camp papers (addition) (MS 125)
The addition consists of a scrapbook of press materials, correspondence, and other papers related to Walter Camp. (0.25 linear feet)