Managing Literary Manuscripts: Identification, Arrangement, and Description

Archival control practices for literary collections include practices such as calendaring individual letters chronologically to creating hierarchical series organized by literary genre. This workshop covers the identification of literary manuscripts - from notebook ideas, drafts, galleys, and page proofs to blue lines—and examines options for how these collections should be arranged and described. Hands-on exercises are designed to identify various states of literary manuscripts and to provide ample time for discussion of arrangement options in developing a processing plan. The day's work fosters an appreciation of literary research methods and an understanding of literary manuscripts as evidence of the creative process.