Erica Jong papers, 1955-2018, bulk 1965-2004
Summary Information
Abstract
At a Glance
- Call No.:
- MS#1438
- Bib ID:
- 6217591 View CLIO record
- Creator(s):
- Jong, Erica
- Repository:
- Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Physical Description:
- 94 linear feet (102 boxes: 84 record storage cartons 16 document boxes 2 oversize boxes)
- Language(s):
- English , German , Japanese , Italian , French .
- Access:
- You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
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This collection has restrictions related to student grades, legal and financial documents. The following material is restricted: Box 2, folder 16; Box 62, folders 12-21; Box 63, folders2; Box 70, folders 11 and 12; Box 71; Box 72, folders 1-14; Box 73, folders, 1, 14-16; Box 74, folders 1-13; Box 87, folder 30; Box 88; Box 89; Box 90, folders 1-8.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
Some unique time-based media items have been reformatted and are available onsite via links in the container list. Commercial materials are not routinely digitized. Email rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Description
Summary
This collection contains the correspondence, writings, files, personal materials, printed and audio/visual material relating to Erica Jong's writing and personal life. Correspondence ranges from 1958 to 2004, and comprises a wide variety of correspondents, including business and literary contacts, friends, fans, and relatives. Among the writings are notes, drafts, correspondence, and publication material pertaining to all of Jong's major published novels and essay and poetry collections, including Fear of Flying, and drafts of several unpublished novels and the scripts for a number of unproduced television series and films. In addition, there is a large quantity of material relating to Jong's book on Henry Miller, The Devil at Large--such material includes correspondence and audio and written interviews. Within the "Personal" series are Jong's early diaries and daybooks, as well as material from Barnard and during her time living in Germany. The series of "Erica Jong Files", organized by Jong, include research, publication, project, and personal files, which contain primarily legal and business correspondence pertaining to Jong's work, finances, and various business projects. Among the printed materials are books and journals collected by Jong, as well as newspaper and magazine clippings about Jong. Finally, the Audio/Visual material includes recordings of a number of Jong's readings and appearances on television and radio.
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Series 1: Correspondence, 1958-2004
This series is arranged chronologically and alphabetically. The chronological correspondence includes both personal and business correspondence and is organized by decade from the early 1970s through 2011. The alphabetically arranged material retains Jong's original ordering by person, and includes brief correspondence with a number of figures from the literary, political, and film industries. The folder titles in this section reproduce Jong's own titles. A cache of letters from Jong's time as a student at Barnard and Columbia, correspondence from her time living in Germany with her then husband, Allan Jong, and fan mail are also in this series.
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Series II: Writings, 1937-2011
Encompassing Jong's entire writing career, this series consists of typescripts, computer printouts, notepads, and proofs and includes drafts of poetry, novels, non-fiction monographs, essays, articles, screenplays, plays, and related peripheral materials such as promotional documents and audio tapes. As a whole, this series reflects the evolution and consistencies of her writing practice--first drafts often written longhand on yellow legal-sized notepads, and subsequent typed or computer drafts.
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Series III: Personal, 1955-1990
Early Erica Jong material, including class notebooks, essays, and theses from high school and Barnard College; diaries; and some writings and correspondence are located in this series. Also here are some financial files and other documents of a personal nature.
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Series IV: Erica Jong Files--as organized by Jong, 1970-2008
This series is composed of a trove of files labeled and organized by Jong. Included here are documents and correspondence related to organizations in which Jong was involved; book reviews, clippings, drafts, essays and articles by and about Jong; requests and invitations to speak; material regarding foreign publishers; various fiction and non-fiction pieces and loose notes; and photographs. Jong's original arrangement of the material has been maintained throughout this series.
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Series V: Printed Material, 1963-2011
Gathered in this series are books, clippings, magazines, journals, and other published materials related to Jong and her work, or reflecting Jong's professional and/or personal interests.
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Series VI: Audio/Visual Materials, 1962-2000
The materials in this series consist primarily of audio cassette tapes and VHS tapes, along with some photographs, reel-to-reel tapes and other media. The cassette tapes include poetry readings, interviews, and audio transcripts of Jong's published works, while the VHS tapes tend to feature Jong's multiple television appearances, as well as some personal recordings.
Four audio cassette tapes of Jong interviewing Henry Miller have been transferred to Audio CDs for preservation and access.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in 7 series.
- Series 1: Correspondence, 1958-2004
- Series II: Writings, 1937-2011
- Subseries II. 1: Poetry, 1966-1998
- Subseries II. 2: Fiction, 1973-2011
- Subseries II.3: Non-Fiction, 1937-1999
- Subseries II.4: Scripts and Screenplays, 1976-1995
- Subseries II.5: Writings By Others, 1982-2002
- Series III: Personal, 1955-1990
- Series IV: Erica Jong Files--as organized by Jong, 1970-2008
- Subseries IV.1: Personal / Business Files, 1974-2008
- Subseries IV.2: Project Files, 1970-1993
- Subseries IV.3: Business Files, 1974-1995
- Subseries IV. 4: Publication Files, 1970-1993
- Series V: Printed Material, 1963-2011
- Series VI: Audio/Visual Materials, 1962-2000
- Series VII: Archived Web Site, 2011-present
Using the Collection
Restrictions on Access
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection has restrictions related to student grades, legal and financial documents. The following material is restricted: Box 2, folder 16; Box 62, folders 12-21; Box 63, folders2; Box 70, folders 11 and 12; Box 71; Box 72, folders 1-14; Box 73, folders, 1, 14-16; Box 74, folders 1-13; Box 87, folder 30; Box 88; Box 89; Box 90, folders 1-8.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
Some unique time-based media items have been reformatted and are available onsite via links in the container list. Commercial materials are not routinely digitized. Email rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Erica Jong Papers; Box and Folder (if known); Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Accrual
No additional material expected
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Source of acquisition--Erica Jong. Method of acquisition--Purchase; Date of acquisition--2007.
About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Sponsor Information
The processing of this collection was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Processing Information
Papers accessioned PL 6/13/2007.
Papers processed Jean-Christophe Cloutier (Columbia University, GSAS 2013) and Aaron Winslow (Columbia University, GSAS 2014) 2010-2010.
Finding aid written Jean-Christophe Cloutier (Columbia University, GSAS 2013) and Aaron Winslow (Columbia University, GSAS 2014) 05/--/2011.
Revision Description
2011-09-03 xml document instance created by Carrie Hintz
2018-04-03 XML document instance updated by Catherine C. Ricciardi. Addition of Series VII.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
2019-07-24 Link to remediated audio added. kws
Biographical Note
Author Erica Mann Jong was born on March 26th, 1942, in New York City and was raised on Manhattan's Upper-Westside. Her father, Seymour Mann, founded Seymour Mann Imports, a giftware and home accents store; her mother, Eda Mirsky Mann, a painter, designed many of the dolls in the Connoisseur Doll Collection sold through her husband's business. Jong, a middle child, has two sisters Susanna Mann Daou and Claudia Mann Oberweger. Jong attended the High School of Music and Art, then located on the campus of City University in Hamilton Heights, from which she graduated in 1959. The family, by all accounts, led a comfortable life.
While taking her degree at Barnard College (BA 1963) and her Masters in 18th Century English Literature at Columbia University (1965), Jong published two volumes of poetry--Fruits & Vegetables and Half-Lives. Jong entered the international literary scene with her best-selling first novel, Fear of Flying (1973), a semi-autobiographical first-person narrative depicting a woman's search for identity and fulfillment. The book, an immediate sensation, has since sold over 18 million copies and has been translated into multiple languages. The novel's protagonist, Isadora Wing, went on to star in many of Jong's subsequent novels, including How to Save Your Own Life, Parachutes & Kisses, and Any Woman's Blues. Thus far, as her official websites states, Jong has published "20 books, including eight novels, six volumes of poetry, six books of non-fiction and numerous articles" in major magazines and newspapers. Also known for her association with American writer Henry Miller, Jong wrote The Devil at Large (1993) in honor of their friendship and shared literary aesthetic.
Jong is a teacher as well as a writer and has taught courses or conducted workshops at City University of New York, the Overseas Division of the University of Maryland in Germany, Barnard College, Bennington College, Breadloaf Writers Conference, Ben Gurion University in Israel and the Salzburg Seminar in Vienna. Among her awards are the United Nations Award for Excellence in Literature, Poetry Magazine's Bess Hokin Award and France's Deauville Award for Literary Excellence.
In 1996 Jong endowed the Erica Mann Jong '63 Writing Fellows Fund at Barnard College.
Jong has been married four times: her first, and briefest marriage, was to Michael Werthman, whom she married while she was still an undergraduate; Jong and psychiatrist Allan Jong were married in 1966; in 1977 she married author Jonathan Fast with whom she had her one, and only child, also an author, Molly Miranda Fast-Jong; in 1989 Jong married attorney Kenneth David Burrows, a graduate of Brown University and Fordham University Law School, to whom she is still married.
Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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