- unitid
-
{"value"=>"22934", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Berg Coll MSS Kazin archive", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b20155879", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1938-2001", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1938/2001"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Alfred Kazin papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"194 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"48.25 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library. Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature.</span><div class=\"address\"> <span class=\"addressline\">Stephen A. Schwarzman Building</span> <span class=\"addressline\">Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788</span></div>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Alfred Kazin (1915-1998) was an American literary and cultural critic, essayist, and historian. The Alfred Kazin papers comprise manuscript and typescript drafts and publication-related materials of Kazin's books, essays, book reviews, lectures, and poetry; as well as research files, journals, correspondence, photographs, audio and video recordings, computer disks; awards, and personal items."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>Alfred Kazin papers, Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Kazin, Alfred, 1915-1998", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Alfred Kazin (1915-1998) was an American literary critic, essayist and historian. He was one of the most influential of the prominent New York intellectuals in the second half of the twentieth century, and belonged to the school of writers and thinkers associated with the <span class=\"title\">Partisan Review</span>.</p> <p>Kazin was born June 5, 1915, in Brooklyn, New York, to Russian Jewish immigrants Charles Kazin and Gita Fagelman. He attended City College of New York and received an MA from Columbia University in 1938.</p> <p>Kazin began his career as a book reviewer for <span class=\"title\">The New Republic</span>, where he became a literary editor (1942-1943) and contributing editor (1943-1945). Over his lifetime, he contributed to many influential, New York-based magazines and journals, including <span class=\"title\">The Nation</span>, <span class=\"title\">Partisan Review</span>, <span class=\"title\">The Masses</span>, <span class=\"title\">Modernist Quarterly</span>, and <span class=\"title\">The New York Times</span>.</p> <p>In 1942, Kazin wrote <span class=\"title\">On Native Grounds</span>, his seminal study of American prose literature written between the years 1890-1940. Optimistic about the future of American literature, <span class=\"title\">On Native Grounds</span> attempted to demonstrate that the literature of the period was a product of the times, and a reaction against modernism. The book was recognized as a major contribution to American literary criticism.</p> <p>Kazin also won acclaim for his three memoirs, <span class=\"title\">A Walker in the City</span> (1951), <span class=\"title\">Starting Out in the Thirties</span> (1965), and <span class=\"title\">New York Jew</span> (1978), all of which were finalists for the National Book Award. Other notable works by Kazin include <span class=\"title\">The Inmost Leaf</span> (1955), <span class=\"title\">Contemporaries</span> (1960), <span class=\"title\">An American Procession</span> (1984), <span class=\"title\">A Writer's America</span> (1988), <span class=\"title\">Our New York</span> (1990), and <span class=\"title\">God and the American Writer</span> (1997). Philip Roth called Kazin \"America's best reader of American literature in this century.\"</p> <p>Kazin taught in the English department at SUNY Stony Brook from 1963 to 1973, Hunter College from 1973 to 1978, and the CUNY Graduate Center from 1979 to 1985. He also lectured at Harvard, Smith, Notre Dame, and many other academic institutions.</p> <p>Kazin was married four times: to Natasha Dohn, Caroline Bookman, Ann Birstein, and Judith Dunford. He had two children, Michael and Cathrael. Kazin died on June 5, 1998, in New York.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Alfred Kazin papers, dating from 1938 to 2001, document Kazin's career as an author and critic.</p> <p>The collection includes typescripts of published and unpublished writings by Kazin, including books, essays, poetry, biographical sketches, and lectures; extensive notes and research files; personal and literary correspondence; photographs; audio and video recordings; computer disks; awards; and personal ephemera. The archive also includes a selection of memorials and tributes to Kazin written by family and friends.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Alfred Kazin papers are arranged in seventeen series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/brg/22934#c1827660'>Series I: Works by Alfred Kazin</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1938-1999</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>32.96 linear feet (132 boxes)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains typescript and holograph drafts, notes, and page proofs documenting Kazin's writings in all forms, including books, essays, lectures, interviews, and poetry. Kazin's books <span class=\"title\">An American Procession</span>, <span class=\"title\">God and the American Writer</span> and <span class=\"title\">A Lifetime Burning in Every Moment</span> are especially well-represented, though in total there is material relating to nine of his published works.</p> <p>Additionally, there are more than 75 of Kazin's journals from the years 1938 to 1998, as well as his datebooks and address books. There are also an extensive set of notebooks and research files on a variety of American literary figures and topics, including Herman Melville, the Civil War, Harriet Beecher Stowe, slavery, and African-American literature.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/brg/22934#c1828218'>Series II: Correspondence</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1946-2001</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>5.25 linear feet (21 boxes)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series includes personal and professional correspondence between Kazin, friends, family, and associates. There is incoming correspondence from over 60 persons, including writers, critics, cultural notables, intimate friends, and family members; fan mail; and outgoing correspondence from Kazin to over 250 recipients.</p> <p>Correspondents include Kazin's wife, Judith Dunford, as well as many friends in writing, publishing, and academia, including Louis Auchincloss, Paul Bowles, Anatole Broyard, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Malcolm Cowley, Francine du Plessix Gray, Louise Erdich, Richard Ford, Robert Giroux, Shirley Hazzard, Edward Hoagland, Stanley Kunitz, Gordon Lish, Norman Mailer, Bernard Malamund, James Merrill, Cynthia Ozick, Philip Roth, Arthur M. Schlesinger, William Styron, Truman Capote and John Updike.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/brg/22934#c1828719'>Series III: Photographs</a></div>\n<div class='series-extent'>0.92 linear feet (4 boxes)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Includes candid photographs of Kazin with family and friends, professional headshots, and a photo album from Kazin's memorial service with photographs by Jill Krementz.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/brg/22934#c1828726'>Series IV: Personal Documents</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1944-1996</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>0.25 linear feet (1 box)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Includes biographical material, résumés, marriage and divorce papers, passports, and other personal miscellany.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/brg/22934#c1828734'>Series V: Awards and Honors</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1965-1996</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>0.67 linear feet (3 boxes)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Includes honorary degrees and other printed certificates and awards.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/brg/22934#c1828741'>Series VI: Financial Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1977-1998</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1.0 linear feet (4 boxes)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Includes bank and credit card statements, income tax materials, and real estate documents.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/brg/22934#c1828759'>Series VII: Medical Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1991-1998</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>0.5 linear feet (2 boxes)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Includes Medicare and other health insurance statements and explanation of benefits.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/brg/22934#c1828765'>Series VIII: Printed Materials by Alfred Kazin</a></div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1.96 linear feet (8 boxes)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Includes published essays, articles, book reviews, page proofs, and letters to the editor.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/brg/22934#c1828793'>Series IX: Ephemera</a></div>\n<div class='series-extent'>0.25 linear feet (1 box)</div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/brg/22934#c1828795'>Series X: Audio Cassettes</a></div>\n<div class='series-extent'>0.5 linear feet (2 boxes)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Contains audio recordings of lectures by Kazin, <span class=\"title\">A Walker in the City</span> book on tape, and some miscellaneous radio and music recordings.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/brg/22934#c1828829'>Series XI: Video Cassettes</a></div>\n<div class='series-extent'>0.25 linear feet (1 box)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Contains video recordings of lectures by Kazin as well as an episode of <span class=\"title\">Arena</span> on Phillip Roth.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/brg/22934#c1828839'>Series XII: Computer Disks</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1990s</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>0.5 linear feet (2 boxes)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Contains 5\" and 3\" floppy disks, labeled as drafts of various works by Kazin.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/brg/22934#c1828848'>Series XIII: Obituaries</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1998</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>0.25 linear feet (1 box)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Obituaries of Kazin published in magazines including <span class=\"title\">The American Scholar</span>, <span class=\"title\">The New Yorker</span>, <span class=\"title\">Time</span>, and others.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/brg/22934#c1828857'>Series XIV: Memorials</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1998</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>0.25 linear feet (1 box)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Memorials of Kazin by Sandee Brawarsky, Morris Dickstein, Sean Wilentz, and others.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/brg/22934#c1828860'>Series XV: Work by Others</a></div>\n<div class='series-extent'>2.71 linear feet (11 boxes)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Includes articles about Kazin by Richard Cook and others and reviews of his books, as well as essays and articles by other writers, including a complete typescript of <span class=\"title\">Sabbath's Theater</span> by Phillip Roth and a copy of <span class=\"title\">The Crucible</span> screenplay given to Kazin by Arthur Miller.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/brg/22934#c1828902'>Series XVI: Realia</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1973-1998</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1.08 linear feet (4 boxes)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Includes medals, awards, and plaques, as well as miscellaneous personal items including Kazin's wallet and eyeglasses.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/brg/22934#c1828908'>Series XVII: Miscellaneous Oversize</a></div>\n<div class='series-extent'>0.25 linear feet (1 box)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Includes original dust jackets of <span class=\"title\">Writing was Everything</span> and <span class=\"title\">A Walker in the City</span>, as well as a large map of Wellfleet and Cape Cod.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Purchased from Judith Dunford in 2002, with additional donations in 2004, 2009, and 2021.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Declan Kiely and Joan Sherman.</p>"}
- relatedmaterial
-
{"value"=>"<p>Alfred Kazin collection of papers, BergColl MSS Kazin, The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library.</p> <p>Photographs of Alfred Kazin and family from the Alfred Kazin papers, 1938-1999, Berg Coll m.b. Kazin ZP8 P46, Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library.</p>"}
- sponsor
-
{"value"=>"The processing of the Alfred Kazin papers was made possible, in part, through the\n generous assistance of the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation."}
- revisiondesc
-
{"value"=>"Additions in boxes 192-194 processed and finding aid revised by Allison Hughes", "date"=>"2025"}
- date_start
-
1938
- keydate
-
1938
- date_end
-
2001
- date_inclusive_start
-
1938
- date_inclusive_end
-
2001
- extent_statement
-
48.25 linear feet (194 boxes)