Search

Notes used for lectures at Columbia University and other institutions are held in Subseries 3. These lecture notes are arranged by topic and cover subjects such as Russian and American Literature, Jane Austen, Rudyard Kiping, William Wordsworth and Keats. There are also a large number of notes Trilling used for his Comparative Literature Course. In addition, there are three card files holding topical notes on authors and literary works that Trilling often wrote about.

Subseries 3 holds materials related to Anderson's contributions on American literary figures to encyclopedias, as well as documentation of his role as general editor and contributing author of the encyclopediaHistory of American Literature Series. However, the bulk of this subseries is devoted to Anderson's writings and preparations for lectures and addresses given at various academic conferences and events. Of special interest is the valedictory address that Anderson gave at the 1937 commencement ceremony, and the materials related to the lecture Anderson delivered in 1981 for the University Lecture Series at Columbia, a semi-annual event that honors the academic achievements of an exemplary faculty member.

During the 1960s, Anderson was awarded two Fulbright grants to act as a visiting professor in both Sussex, England and Toulouse, France. This subseries chronicles his experiences living and working in those cities, and includes correspondence between Anderson and his colleagues, teaching materials, course descriptions, lecture notes, and information about each university. It also provides information documenting his invitations to lecture on topics related to American literature and culture in other European cities and countries, while living in abroad. Items related to Anderson's time as a resident scholar in Bellagio, Italy, and his participation in a guest lecture program in Barcelona, Spain can also be found here.

Subseries 1 is devoted to manuscripts of Anderson's books and longer essays published in a variety of journals. Materials documenting the writing and publication process of all three of his major works,The American Henry James,The Imperial Self,andMaking Americans: An Essay on Individualism and Money, are found here. Also present are texts of Anderson's key essays, both in draft and final form, including materials concerning the writing and publication of "Why R.P. Blackmur Found James'sGolden BowlInhumane," his last published work. The subject matter of these works focus mainly on American literature and its relationship to American and European culture and history, with particular attention to the life and work of 19th century American authors, Henry James, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Walt Whitman.