Research Files, 1968-2016

Scope and content:

The Research Files subseries includes materials Wynter used for reference in her writings, teaching, and other activities.

Included are photocopies of published works, especially books, in whole or in part and sometimes annotated; original serial publications, especially newspapers, in whole or in part and sometimes annotated; photocopies of archival material, especially from Spain; excerpts of published works, usually photocopied, taped to loose paper, sometimes annotated; teaching materials such as syllabi, from Wynter's courses as well as from others; unpublished materials, such as dissertations and drafts, sent to Wynter from others, sometimes with Wynter's annotations; and other materials.

Wynter subscribed to many publications that appear frequently, including The New York Times, Scientific American, The San Francisco Gazette, The New York Times Book Review, The London Review of Books, The Atlantic, Harper's Bazaar, Newsweek, The New Yorker, Discover magazine, The Great Courses catalogs, New York Magazine, Time magazine, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Smithsonian magazine, and many others. Widely available U.S. publications such as The New York Times or Scientific American present in whole, without markings or identification of particular sections of interest, were discarded.

Topics included in this subseries reflect Wynter's wide-ranging interests and reading habits, and reflect topics she included in her writings and teaching. Especially well-represented topics include Black Studies; Black and African peoples and culture; Bartolomé de las Casas; Christopher Columbus; Spanish Golden Age theatre; perceptions of race in the United States; Charles Darwin, evolution, and changes in understanding of evolution; the brain, neuroscience, and cognition; economics, especially Marxism and critiques of modern economics; literary criticism; language, as rhetoric, brain function, and cultural impact; West Indian literature and culture, especially in relation to colonialism; and many others. Materials on these topics include primary sources (often photocopied), scholarly publications, and popular publications.

People well represented in this series, as writers and subjects, include Aimé Césaire, Martin Heidegger, Frantz Fanon, Jacques Derrida, Elsa Goveia, Charles Darwin, C.L.R. James, Demetrius Eudell, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Lope de Vega, Karl Marx, Walter Rodney, Ralph Ellison, Marcus Garvey, Elena Feder, Joyce King, and many others.

The majority of this subseries consists of mixed formats and topics within files. Some files relate or apparently relate to a specific work or course, but many others were not or were not clearly related to a specific work at the time of processing. Wynter titled some folders as "Thinking through materials" or similar, which are likely related to multiple works or courses. Folders titled during processing typically list multiple topics included, but almost all folders include additional topics not listed.

This subseries is arranged both chronologically and alphabetically, where files related to specific works or courses are listed chronologically, files with provided titles are arranged alphabetically, and files compiled during processing are also arranged alphabetically.

Processing information:

When first received by Rubenstein Library, materials were not grouped into clear series, and significant portions were unfoldered. Wynter's original folders were often unmarked, and contents were often not clearly identified as one work, course, or topic. The vast majority of files in the collection include research materials, so files in this subseries were typically identified by the lack of handwritten or typescript drafts, or of significant amounts of teaching materials such as lecture notes. Research materials are also present throughout all other series.

Many materials in this subseries are photocopies of published works, and some published works were photocopied multiple times and included across many files in different contexts. Unmarked photocopies of entire books may have had only the title and publication pages retained, and the rest were discarded; similarly, some photocopies of books included a sticky note indicating which pages Wynter wanted copied, and the title page and sticky notes were retained while the rest were discarded. Widely available publications, such as the New York Times, present in whole, without markings or identification of particular sections of interest, were discarded.

Unfoldered materials, folders without titles, and folders containing very few materials were often combined and given titles during processing. Files combining multiple folders or unfoldered materials are described as such. Folders titled during processing list multiple topics included, but almost all folders include additional topics not listed.

Contents

Using These Materials