Lionel Trilling Seminars records, 1932-2001, bulk Bulk Dates: 1976-1998

Summary Information

Abstract

Manuscripts, recordings and administrative files related to the Lionel Trilling Seminars which were established as a memorial to Professor Lionel Trilling in 1976.

At a Glance

Call No.:
MS#1257
Bib ID:
6915518 View CLIO record
Creator(s):
Heyman Center for the Humanities
Repository:
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Physical Description:
6.67 linear feet (4 document boxes and 4 record cartons)
Language(s):
English .
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 is located on-site.

The RBML cannot provide access to original time-based media material which has not been first been reformatted for preservation. Researchers are welcome to examine archival time-based media items and decide whether they wish to place an order for Audio/Video reformatting. If copyright and/or condition restrictions apply, it may not be possible to digitize a requested item. Please note that A/V reformatting is handled by an outside vendor and typically takes 6-8 weeks.

Description

Summary

Manuscripts and recordings of lectures on the subjects of literature, art, politics, psychoanalysis, philosophy, linguistics and education presented at the Lionel Trilling Seminars, 1976-2001. The speakers have included major scholars such as historians Jacques Barzun, Edmund S. Morgan, and C. Vann Woodward; literary critics Frank Kermode and Richard Ellman; and philosophers Arthur C. Danto and Sir Isaiah Berlin. The collection also contains administrative files which include correspondence with participants, event arrangements, programs, text of lectures, meeting minutes and guest lists.

  • Series I: Lecture Transcripts, 1976-1999

    This series consists of the texts of lectures delivered by various scholars as part of the Lionel Trilling Seminars. The speakers have included major scholars such as historians Jacques Barzun, Edmund S. Morgan, and C. Vann Woodward; literary critics Frank Kermode and Richard Ellman; and philosophers Arthur C. Danto and Sir Isaiah Berlin. In some cases only the title page of a lecture is in a listed folder with a note that the manuscript was to be delivered at a later date. The manuscripts are arranged chronologically and, where noted, discussants for particular lectures are listed. This series consists of the initial accession of lecture manuscripts which is why there will be some duplication of lecture manuscripts in Series II: Administrative Files.

  • Series II: Administrative Files, 1932-1998

    This series consists of files maintained by the office staff responsible for arranging the annual Lionel Trilling Seminars. Materials consist of correspondence with speakers and participants, mailing lists, guest lists, meeting minutes, event programs, transcripts of lectures, event flyers, comments by discussants on specific lectures, correspondence concerning event arrangements, newspaper clippings, seating charts and curriculum vitae of participants. The material dated prior to 1976 consists exclusively of compiled lists of classes and students taught by Lionel Trilling during his academic career at Columbia University. The files in this series are mostly arranged chronologically. Some manuscripts listed in Series I can also be found in this series.

  • Series III: Recordings, 1979-2001

    This series consists of 112 audio cassettes and 1 VHS tape of Lionel Trilling Seminars dating from 1979 to 2001. Many of these recordings have a corresponding manuscript text in the files, but in some cases there is only a recording of a lecture and no paper transcript. Where there are duplicate copies of recordings, it is noted.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in three series.

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 is located on-site.

The RBML cannot provide access to original time-based media material which has not been first been reformatted for preservation. Researchers are welcome to examine archival time-based media items and decide whether they wish to place an order for Audio/Video reformatting. If copyright and/or condition restrictions apply, it may not be possible to digitize a requested item. Please note that A/V reformatting is handled by an outside vendor and typically takes 6-8 weeks.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

No photocopying of the lecture manuscripts is permitted. No duplication of the audiocassettes without permission.

Single photocopies of materials, other than the lecture transcripts, 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); Lionel Trilling Seminars Records; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Accruals

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--Provost's Office, Columbia University. Method of acquisition--Transfer; Date of acquisition--07/03/1989. Accession number--M-89-07-03. Manuscripts and audio cassettes transferred to RBML by Heyman Center for the Humanities in 1999. Additional transfer of administrative files and audio cassettes from the Heyman Center for the Humanities in August 2016 (accession number 2016.2017.M042)

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Processing Information

This collection was originally processed by RBML staff in the 1990s and the 2016 addition was processed by Andrew Benally (GS 2021) and Jocelyn Wilk in January 2019. Finding aid written by Jocelyn Wilk in February 2019.

Revision Description

2019-02-15 File created.

2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.

Biographical / Historical

The Lionel Trilling Seminars are a series of seminars delivered each academic year on areas of study ranging from literature and society, art and politics, psychoanalysis and culture, to education. Each seminar features a prominent scholar in a given field delivering a talk and two respondents. The seminars were established in 1976 in memory of Professor Lionel Trilling (1905-1975), one of Columbia's most celebrated faculty members, author and critic, to encourage intellectual speculation by bringing together major speakers and an "enlightened general audience" in order to stimulate discussion from within as well as without the speaker's own discipline. Lectures are on areas of study in which Trilling was active. Originally the series consisted of three seminars a year, but has since been reduced to two, one each semester. The seminars have been sponsored at various times by Columbia College, the Heyman Center, and supported by gifts from Prof. William Theodore de Bary and his wife, Daniel and Joanna Rose, and William H. and Weslie R. Janeway.

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.

All links open new windows.

Genre/Form
Audiocassettes CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Name
Barzun, Jacques, 1907-2012 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Danto, Arthur C., 1924-2013 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Morgan, Edmund S (Edmund Sears), 1916-2013 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Trilling, Diana CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Trilling, Lionel, 1905-1975 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Woodward, C. Vann (Comer Vann), 1908-1999 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Yerushalmi, Yosef Hayim, 1932-2009 CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Subject
Art CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Education CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Literature CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Philosophy CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Politics and government CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID
Seminars CLIO Catalog ArchiveGRID