Scope and arrangement
The Joe Wood papers, spanning the years 1986-1998, comprise Wood's research and writing materials, primarily for his planned book Blood in the Water: A Black Family in America. 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.
The articles and essays contain electronic versions of a selection of Wood's journalistic and creative non-fiction work.
The Blood in the Water 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 Blood in the Water, as well as electronic records containing more research and drafts.
The business materials contain electronic documents including an address book, financial documents, and resumes and CVs.
The correspondence includes electronic records of both professional and personal emails.
The film production work comprises electronic records representing Wood's role as on the unfinished documentary EXCEPTIONS: African-Americans at Yale about the experiences of Black students at Yale University, and his work as an associate producer for the James Baldwin PBS documentary The Price of the Ticket. Records include correspondence, budget sheets, grants, contact lists, and more.
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.
The TURN Magazine proposals contain electronic correspondence and proposals that Wood collaborated on regarding a prospective magazine.
Arrangement
The transcript and research notebooks are arranged in their number order. Folders of loose notes and partial manuscript drafts of Blood in the Water are arranged chronologically. All other materials are arranged alphabetically by section.