- unitid
-
{"value"=>"188357", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc MG 1020", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b23784753", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"circa 1986-1998", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1986/1998", "certainty"=>"approximate"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Joe Wood papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"5 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"1.87 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"460 computer files", "unit"=>"computer_files"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"28.0 megabytes", "unit"=>"megabytes"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Joe Wood (1964- ) was a New York City-based writer and editor. Before his disappearance while hiking in Mount Rainier National Park on July 8, 1999, he had been conducting genealogical research for a book titled <span class=\"title\">Blood in the Water: A Black Family in America</span>, which was never published. These materials consist of notebooks, loose notes, and manuscripts. The collection also includes drafts of Wood's other writing, including articles, essays, and short fiction manuscripts. Also represented are documents related to his film production work, editorial work, correspondence, and business."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Wood, Joe, 1964-", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Joe Wood (1964- ) was a New York City-based writer and editor.</p> <p>Joseph Lee Wood Jr. was born September 17, 1964 to parents Joe Wood Sr. and Elizabeth Moore Wood. He grew up in the Bronx, NY. He attended Riverdale Country School and graduated in 1986 from Yale University with a bachelor's degree in English. Wood's first job after college was as a desk assistant at CBS' <span class=\"title\">60 Minutes</span>. He went on to become a writer. Wood edited the book <span class=\"title\">Malcolm X: In Our Own Image</span> and wrote essays and reviews in other books and journals. As a journalist, he published articles in <span class=\"title\">Esquire</span>, <span class=\"title\">Dissent</span>, <span class=\"title\">The Nation</span>, <span class=\"title\">The New York Times Magazine</span>, <span class=\"title\">The Village Voice</span>, <span class=\"title\">Rolling Stone</span>, <span class=\"title\">Social Text</span>, <span class=\"title\">Vibe</span>, and <span class=\"title\">Voice Literary Supplement</span>. He was a columnist and Senior Features Editor at <span class=\"title\">The Village Voice</span>. Wood was also an editor of nonfiction and fiction books at The New Press at a time when there were few Black editors at major New York publishing houses. He was an associate producer for the James Baldwin PBS documentary <span class=\"title\">The Price of the Ticket</span>. Wood received Fellowships in Non-Fiction Writing at New York Foundation for the Arts and Bronx Council for the Arts.</p> <p>Wood went missing on July 8, 1999 after going for a hike to birdwatch in Mount Rainier National Park. He was 34 years old. He had been attending Unity '99, a journalism conference in Seattle for writers of color. Somini Sengupta (fellow journalist, former partner, and a close friend) called to report him missing. The National Park Service conducted a search but suspended it after five days. Wood's friends, including Sengupta and fellow <span class=\"title\">Village Voice</span> editor Andy Hsiao, also searched for him. His literary agent, Faith Childs, hired a private investigator to aid in the search. Wood is presumed to have died but the circumstances of his disappearance remain unclear.</p> <p>Before his disappearance, Wood had been conducting genealogical research for a book titled <span class=\"title\">Blood in the Water: A Black Family in America</span>. The project investigated Wood's genealogy and how his family's conceptions of their family history delineated familial memory. In particular, he was examining his family's roots in South Carolina and his ancestors' relationship to their former enslavers. In his writing he also interrogated the myths and conceptions around the Black family in America.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Joe Wood papers, spanning the years 1986-1998, comprise Wood's research and writing materials, primarily for his planned book <span class=\"title\">Blood in the Water: A Black Family in America</span>. The collection also includes drafts of Wood's other writing, including articles, essays, and short fiction manuscripts. Also represented are documents related to his film production work, editorial work, correspondence, and business.</p> <p>The articles and essays contain electronic versions of a selection of Wood's journalistic and creative non-fiction work.</p> <p>The <span class=\"title\">Blood in the Water</span> research materials and manuscript drafts files consist of notebooks, loose notes, and manuscripts. Wood's application to be a Schomburg Center Scholar-in-Residence is also included. There are two sets of notebooks, one containing transcripts of interviews that Wood conducted with family members, the other containing Wood's extensive genealogical research notes. The research notebooks contain snippets of writing that Wood may have been planning to use towards the book. There is also a standalone notebook containing notes and graded tests from a hereditary biology course that Wood took in 1996. There are occasional loose papers at the beginning or end of the notebooks and sticky notes on some pages. Split adjacent files have been used for notebooks that have loose papers at the beginning or end. When sticky notes are at risk of falling off of the pages, archival quality photocopies have been made of the pages and interleaved in the notebooks. Wood also organized loose notes into folders, which largely cover his maternal family genealogical research. These folders also contain related flyers, pamphlets, and funeral programs. Additionally, there are a number of partial manuscript drafts for <span class=\"title\">Blood in the Water</span>, as well as electronic records containing more research and drafts.</p> <p>The business materials contain electronic documents including an address book, financial documents, and resumes and CVs.</p> <p>The correspondence includes electronic records of both professional and personal emails.</p> <p>The film production work comprises electronic records representing Wood's role as on the unfinished documentary <span class=\"title\">EXCEPTIONS: African-Americans at Yale</span> about the experiences of Black students at Yale University, and his work as an associate producer for the James Baldwin PBS documentary <span class=\"title\">The Price of the Ticket</span>. Records include correspondence, budget sheets, grants, contact lists, and more.</p> <p>The short fiction manuscript draft files include full and fragmented manuscript drafts of short stories. Some have handwritten revisions. There are a number of electronic versions of stories that are not represented in the physical files of the collection.</p> <p>The <span class=\"title\">TURN</span> Magazine proposals contain electronic correspondence and proposals that Wood collaborated on regarding a prospective magazine.</p>"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>The transcript and research notebooks are arranged in their number order. Folders of loose notes and partial manuscript drafts of <span class=\"title\">Blood in the Water</span> are arranged chronologically. All other materials are arranged alphabetically by section.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Donated by Somini Sengupta in 2021.</p>"}
- separatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>See the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division for the audio cassette tapes.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by <span class=\"name\">Sarah Barlow-Ochshorn</span> in <span class=\"date\">2025</span>.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Electronic records are currently unavailable.</p>"}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Electronic records processed by Sarah Barlow-Ochshorn.", "date"=>"05-15-2026"}
- date_start
-
1986
- keydate
-
1986
- date_end
-
1998
- date_inclusive_start
-
1986
- date_inclusive_end
-
1998
- extent_statement
-
1.87 linear feet (5 boxes). 28.0 megabytes (460 computer files)
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"[Item], Joe Wood papers, Sc MG 1020, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library"}