Joan Castagnone journals, 1968-1999

Collection context

Creator:
Castagnone, Joan
Abstract:
Personal journals of writer Joan Castagnone.
Extent:
1.25 Linear Feet (3 document boxes)
Language:
English .
Scope and content:

This collection contains personal and creative journals written by Joan Castagnone throughout her adulthood. Topics include her emotional and romantic life, her career and jobs, her studies, her life in New York City, and her own poetry, fiction, and other writing.

Box 1 contains journals from 1968-1980, covering topics including poetry and short fiction written by Castagnone, the dissolution of her first marriage, and notes from her graduate studies in English and the Bennington Writer's Workshop.

Box 2 contains journals from 1980-1992, covering Castagnone's work as a producer, the dissolution of her second marriage and discussion of an open marriage, her self-doubts, a trip to Europe, her move to New York City (during which time she subletted an apartment from Grace Paley), workplace discrimination and resumes, watching tennis and plays, romantic and sexual relationships in the wake of her second marriage, and therapy.

Box 3 contains journals from 1993-1999, covering Castagnone's emotional life and depression, the dissolution of a relationship, therapy, menopause, spirituality, and her job.

Biographical / historical:

Joan Castagnone, born October 1947 in the Bronx, NY, is an American writer and editor. She received her BA from Rutgers University in 1970 and her MA in English and Creative Writing from the University of North Dakota. After a childhood in New Jersey, Castagnone lived in North Dakota for over a decade before moving back to New York City, where she has lived for over 40 years.

Castagnone has published poetry and short fiction in various literary magazines, including Kansas Quarterly, North Dakota Quarterly, and The Louisville Review. She has had plays produced by small companies, including a 2017 New Perspectives off-off-Broadway production of "Occupy Bronxville" and a 2019/2022 New Perspectives professional reading of "Leda's Children." She is the recipient of a National Council on the Arts Fellowship (1982) and was the founder and editor of Bloodroot, a literary magazine dedicated to the publication of women writers and artists, from 1976-1981. In addition to working as a writer, Castagnone has worked as a teacher, an editor, and in corporate communications. She lives in Manhattan.

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection has no restrictions.

Terms of access:

Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Barnard Archives and Special Collections. Copyright to the journals is retained by Joan Castagnone. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Reproductions can be made for research purposes.

Preferred citation:

Joan Castagnone journals, 1968-1999; Box and Folder; Barnard Archives and Special Collections, Barnard Library, Barnard College.

Location of this collection:
Milstein Center for Teaching and Learning 423
Barnard College
3009 Broadway
New York, NY 10027, USA
Before you visit:
Please contact archives@barnard.edu with research requests or to schedule a visit; see our website for more information.
Contact:
archives@barnard.edu