Guide to the Feminist Theory Archive collection, 1840-2023
(bulk 1960-2023)
John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148
Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu
Published in
Collection Overview
| Title: |
Feminist Theory Archive collection |
| Date range: |
1840-2023, (bulk 1960-2023) |
| Creator: |
Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women. |
| Extent: |
71 electronic records
|
| Abstract: |
The Feminist Theory Archive collection consists of links to the manuscript collections that are processed and available for research as part of the Feminist Theory Archive. The collection is arranged in one series, alphabetically by the last name of the donor to the Feminist Theory Archive. By clicking on the links included in this finding aid, researchers will be redirected to the corresponding online finding aids for individual collections. |
| Language of materials: |
English |
| Repository: |
John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
|
| Collection number: |
Ms.2017.016 |
Scope & content
Established in 2003 with the papers of the late Naomi Schor, the Feminist Theory Archive documents the work of influential feminist theorists and scholars of difference who have transformed the landscape of higher education through their writing, teaching, institution building, and activism. By establishing academic programs and institutes, organizing innovative conferences and publications, and introducing questions about women and gender to a range of disciplines throughout the humanities and social sciences, these thinkers have transformed and diversified the very meaning of “feminist” research. The Feminist Theory Archive gathers, catalogs, and preserves evidence of this groundbreaking work in order to make it accessible to future scholars and students at the John Hay Library.
The Feminist Theory Archive collection consists of links to the manuscript collections that are processed and avaialble for research as part of the Feminist Theory Archive. The collection is arranged in one series, alphabetically by the last name of the donor to the Feminist Theory Archive. By clicking on the links included in this finding aid, researchers will be redirected to the corresponding online finding aids for individual collections.
To identify potential collections for research that are part of the Feminist Theory Archive or to locate information within individual Feminist Theory Archive collections, researchers are welcomed to contact the Nancy L. Buc '65 LLD'94 hon Pembroke Center Archivist at pembroke_archives@brown.edu.
Access Points
Subject Names
Subject Organizations
Subject Topics
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in one series, alphabetically by the last name of the scholar whose papers contribute to the Feminist Theory Archive.
Biographical/Historical note
Feminist Theory is defined as an extension of feminism, which believes in the equality of the sexes, into a theoretical, sociological, or philosophical discourse. It is a scholarly persuit that aims to understand the nature of gender inequality and covers fields like pyshoanalysis, philosophy, anthropology, biology, literature, education, economics, and many other fields.
The Feminist Theory Archive was established in 2003 by Elizabeth Weed, Director of the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women at Brown University (2000-2010), in order to document the work of influential feminist theorists who had transformed the landscape of higher education through their writing, teaching, institution building, and activism. Scholars such as Brown University Professor Naomi Schor, whose papers served as the seed collection for the archive, were first in their fields to approach their research subjects through the lens of gender. As an example, Schor's academic background was in French Literature but she focused her research on subjects such as female fetishism, deconstruction in literature, the concept of details and ornamentation as effeminate, and universalism in an era of identity politics and difference. Beginning in the 1960s, Schor then taught courses on these subjects and along with other groundbreaking feminist theorists such as Judith Butler and Anne Fausto-Sterling, caused a paradigm shift in the way scholars and students studied all fields of higher education including English, History, Anthropology, and Biology, placing sex and gender at the center of theorectical study.
Upon Naomi Schor's untimely death in 2001, Elizabeth Weed and other leadership from the Pembroke Center realized that evidence of her life and scholarship did not have an appropriate archival home. As a result, Weed and others conceptualized the idea to develop an archive for the papers of feminist theorists at the Pembroke Center and to house the collections and provide access to them through the John Hay special collections library at Brown University.
Since 2003, the collection has grown and now includes the papers of theorists across discplines including feminist theorists and other scholars of difference with specializations in queer theory, Black feminist theory, global feminisms and affect theory related to gender and sexuality studies.
The Feminist Theory Archive is curated by the Nancy L. Buc '65 LLD'94 hon Pembroke Center Archivist who works in close collaboration with the Director of the Pembroke Center, the Pembroke Center Faculty Board, and colleagues from the John Hay Library to select appropriate collections for inclusion. The principles that guide curatorial decision making for the Feminist Theory Archive are that scholars be senior in their fields or on a trajectory towards senior leadership and are groundbreakers -- theorists who have transformed and diversified the very meaning of “feminist” research through their lives and scholarship.
As of 2024, the Feminist Theory Archive continues to grow and places a particular emphasis on Black feminist theory and thinking, as part of the Pembroke Center’s Black Feminist Theory Project.
For more information about the Feminist Theory Archive, please see its
website.
Access & Use
| Access to the collection: |
There are no restrictions on access, except for specifically noted material within individual collections. Feminist Theory Archive collections can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested. |
| Use of the materials: |
All researchers seeking to publish materials from the collections of the John Hay Library are requested to complete a Notice of Intent to Publish, available on the John Hay Library website or by request, prior to reproducing, quoting, or otherwise publishing any portion or extract from this collection. Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them. |
| Preferred citation: |
Feminist Theory Archive collection, MS.2017.016, Box [#], Folder [#], Pembroke Center Archives, John Hay Library, Brown University. |
| Contact information: |
John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148
Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu
|
Administrative Information
| ABOUT THE COLLECTION |
| Acquisition: |
Gift of the Pembroke Center beginning in 2003. |
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| ABOUT THE FINDING AID |
| Author: |
Finding aid prepared by Mary Murphy on behalf of the Pembroke Center for the Teaching and Research on Women and the Brown University Library. |
| Encoding: |
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024 March 13. |
| Descriptive rules: |
Describing Archives: A Content Standard |
| Sponsor: |
Curatorial work and processing provided by the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women on behalf of the Brown University Library. |
Additional Information
Inventory
| othertype MS.2016.014 |
|
Mieke Bal papers re: feminist visual arts and film
|
|
1957-2011 |
| othertype MS.2015.003 |
|
Tani E. Barlow papers re: Asian women's studies, girlhood, marriage, and Chinese feminism
|
|
1941-2017 |
| othertype MS.2010.044 |
|
Sandra Lee Bartky papers re: feminist philosophy; includes debates with Christina Hoff Sommers about gender and feminism
|
|
1965-2004 |
| othertype MS.2010.045 |
|
Seyla Benhabib papers re: women in higher education and the status of women at Harvard University
|
|
1970-2005 |
| othertype MS.2011.027 |
|
Jessica Benjamin papers re: psychoanalysis and themes of domination and submission in human relationships
|
|
1972-2007 |
| othertype MS.2015.009 |
|
Lauren Berlant papers re: queer theory, power, and boundary drawing between public and private spheres.
|
|
1840-2015 |
| othertype MS.2010.041 |
|
Jacqueline Bhabha papers re: transnational feminism, child trafficking, refugees, and migrants
|
|
1987-2006 |
| othertype MS.2010.007 |
|
Karen Brodkin papers re: feminist anthropology relating to gender, race, and Jewish identity
|
|
1960-2010 |
| othertype MS.2022.006 |
|
Hazel V. Carby papers re: race, gender, class, African American Studies, and African Diaspora Studies
|
|
1972-2016 |
| othertype MS.2020.002 |
|
Ellen Chesler papers re: gender and public policy, Margaret Sanger, and birth control activism
|
|
1965-2019 |
| othertype MS.2024.001 |
|
Joan E. DeJean papers re: French literature, the history of women's writing, sexuality, the development of the novel, and material culture in 17th- and 18th-century France
|
|
1974-2022 |
| othertype MS.2016.013 |
|
Ann duCille papers re: African-American literature and Black feminist cultural studies
|
|
1986-2010 |
| othertype MS.2011.022 |
|
Zillah Eisenstein papers re: global and socialist feminism, race and ethnicity studies, and neoliberal criticism
|
|
1972-2011 |
| othertype MS.2017.023 |
|
Silvia Federici papers re: International Feminist Collective and Wages for Housework campaign; capitalism and domestic and reproductive labor; capital punishment; and academic freedom in Africa
|
|
1922-2019 |
| Text MS.2024.004 |
|
Margaret W. Ferguson papers re: Early Modern literature, literacy studies, and feminist and queer theory in English, French, and Italian
|
|
1971-2023 |
| othertype MS.2019.012 |
|
Jane Flax papers re: psychoanalysis, feminist theories and postmodern philosophies
|
|
1990-2015 |
| othertype MS.2018.016 |
|
Inderpal Grewal papers re:South Asian studies, global feminism, transnationality, and identity
|
|
1990-2018 |
| othertype MS.2017.002 |
|
Sandra G. Harding papers re: feminism and science, the philosophy of science, and political correctness
|
|
1971-2016 |
| othertype MS.2016.010 |
|
Jean E. Howard papers re: Shakespeare, desire, and Early Modern rape as portrayed in Modern drama
|
|
1977-2013 |
| othertype MS.2017.025 |
|
Barbara Johnson papers re: literary criticism, deconstruction, psychoanalysis, and queer theory
|
|
1971-2009 |
| othertype MS.2012.027 |
|
Claire Kahane papers re: feminist literary theory, trauma theory, and Holocaust literature
|
|
1960-2010 |
| othertype MS.2017.014 |
|
Peggy Kamuf papers re: literary criticism, deconstruction and Jacques Derida, and feminist theory relating to jealousy, sexual difference, and desire
|
|
1963-2016 |
| othertype MS.2022.007 |
|
Caren Kaplan papers re: transnational feminism, postcolonial theory, and Militarization Studies
|
|
1968-2022 |
| othertype MS.2019.006 |
|
Dorothy Ko papers re: gender, the body, technology and art in early modern China
|
|
1979-2018 |
| othertype MS.2016.011 |
|
Louise Lamphere papers re: feminist anthropology, Navajo culture, women and work, and sex discrimination
|
|
1925-2013 |
| othertype MS.2022.001 |
|
Heather Love papers re: gender and sexuality studies, queer theory, twentieth-century literature and culture, affect studies, sociology and literature, disability studies, film and visual culture, and critical theory
|
|
1977-2021 |
| othertype MS.2019.016 |
|
Catherine Lutz papers re: military, war and society; automobility and inequality; and United States twentieth century history and ethnography
|
|
1973-2016 |
| othertype MS.2020.004 |
|
Sharon Marcus papers re: nineteenth-century British and French culture, gender, and sexuality
|
|
1989-2016 |
| othertype MS.2007.003 |
|
Elaine Marks papers re: French feminism, French literature and Colette, and the Holocaust
|
|
1893-2001 |
| othertype MS.2010.043 |
|
Diane Middlebrook papers re: women writers, Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath, and transgenderism and Billy Tipton
|
|
1946-2008 |
| othertype MS.2015.002 |
|
Nancy K. Miller papers re: French women writers, feminist literary criticism, and women's studies in higher education
|
|
1957-2017 |
| othertype MS.2011.040 |
|
Karen Newman papers re: the representation of gender in early modern cultures and texts, and the visualization of science on fetal politics and abortion
|
|
1971-2009 |
| othertype MS.2020.005 |
|
Felicity Nussbaum papers re: British literature (1660-1800), postcolonial and Anglophone studies, and gender studies
|
|
1969-2020 |
| othertype MS.2016.016 |
|
Carole Pateman papers re: feminist polical theory, women, motherhood, war, and citizenship
|
|
1973-2010 |
| othertype MS.2021.002 |
|
Keisha-Khan Y. Perry papers re: Black women's activism, urban geography, and questions of citizenship, feminist theories, intellectual history and disciplinary formations
|
|
1981-2021 |
| othertype MS.2017.001 |
|
Mary Poovey papers re: feminist literary criticsm, British cultural studies relating to gender, and psychotherapy
|
|
1976-2000 |
| othertype MS.2017.022 |
|
Denise Riley papers re: feminist philosophy, lyric, and literary history in poetry and prose
|
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1970-1992 |
| othertype MS.2006.02 |
|
Naomi Schor papers re: feminist theory, French literature, deconstruction, and women scholars in Ivy League institutions
|
|
1950-2002 |
| othertype MS.2021.005 |
|
Joan Wallach Scott papers re: French history, women's and gender history, and feminist theory
|
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1954-2019 |
| othertype MS.2018.015 |
|
Christina Sharpe papers re: slavery, literature and Black feminist cultural studies
|
|
1989-2018 |
| othertype MS.2020.007 |
|
Elaine Showalter papers re: nineteenth century American and British literature and women as writers
|
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1967-2017 |
| othertype MS.2019.013 |
|
Hortense J. Spillers papers re: psychoanalysis and race, race in literature, and Black literature and criticism
|
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1966-1995 |
| othertype MS.2012.022 |
|
Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg papers re:Italian studies, poststructuralist Marxism, psychoanalytic theory, and women in higher eduation
|
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1919-2016 |
| othertype MS.2008.023 |
|
Louise A. Tilly papers re: women and work, women's history, and the effect of European social movements on women
|
|
1960-1998 |
| othertype MS.2015.010 |
|
Judith R. Walkowitz papers re: British women's history, London nightlife and culture, and Jack the Ripper, gendered violence and sexuality
|
|
1980-2014 |
| othertype MS.2020.006 |
|
Cheryl A. Wall papers re: African American and African diaspora literature, the Harlem Renaissance, and Zora Neale Hurston
|
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1966-2020 |
| othertype MS.2016.009 |
|
Elizabeth Weed papers (subject files only) re: feminist theorists in the academy; includes correspondence with Teresa Brennan, Judith Butler, Rey Chow, Anne Fausto-Sterling, and Kate Millet
|
|
1977-2003 |
| othertype MS.2017.020 |
|
Alison Wylie papers re:feminist archaeology, philosophy, gender equity for women professors, and social justice issues affecting women
|
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1984-2017 |
| othertype MS.2017.017 |
|
Patricia Yaeger papers re: women and gender studies in the American south, trauma, and environmental humanities
|
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