ENGL 279 - American Literature in the Archives

Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)

This course approaches the study of early and nineteenth-century American literature by engaging students in hands-on archival investigation, analysis of historical objects, and current debates in archival theory. The course consists of six meetings in Vassar’s Archives and Special Collections Library, where we examine literary and cultural artifacts in a range of media and genres, from first-edition volumes by authors like Phillis Wheatley and Herman Melville to colonial maps of the Americas and nineteenth-century women’s magazines. We consider how interacting with such artifacts in person expands the questions that we ask about literary history, particularly concerning the diverse and often overlooked ways that literary texts were created, circulated, and used. Our readings include literary texts represented in Vassar’s archival holdings along with recent criticism exploring the ethics of archival “recovery” work and methods for addressing archival power structures and erasures. Blevin Shelnutt.

First six-week course.

One 2-hour period.

Course Format: INT