Yale Collection of American Literature

The Yale Collection of American Literature documents the creative lives, the artistic communities, and the literary achievements of American writers. The collectionis noted for its strength in nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first-century poetry, fiction, and dramatic writings. The archives of writers of diverse backgrounds underscore the collection’s interest in the indigenous and immigrant cultures that shape American literature.

  • Remembering ‘Amnesia’: Digital preservationists reboot classic video game

    September 19, 2024

    A groundbreaking digital work of interactive fiction by the sci-fi novelist Thomas M. Disch, the game anchors “Remembering Amnesia: Rebooting the first computerized novel,” an exhibit on view through March 2 in the Hanke Exhibition Gallery at Sterling Memorial Library. Drawing on materials from Disch’s archive at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the exhibit explores the author’s novel attempt to move video games into the realm of literary fiction. It also describes the efforts of the Yale Library’s Digital Preservation unit to preserve the game, originally stored and played on now-obsolete hardware, and restore it to life.

  • Seeing Dances of the Harlem Renaissance, in Vivid Color (New York Times)

    September 3, 2024

    Along with the researchers Allyson Torrisi and Dahlia Kozlowsky, I dove into the archives of the New York Public Library, Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., among others. After combing through thousands of black-and-white images from the early 20th century, I knew I wanted to depict this story of Black dance — as much about the present as the past — in vivid color.

  • Baldwin Set to Music at Arts & Ideas (The Arts Paper)

    June 18, 2024

    The concert held particular weight in its coincidence with the birthday of writer and civil rights activist James Welden Johnson, for whom Beinecke’s collection of materials related to African American politics and culture is named. The James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection contains an original copy of Johnson’s lyrics for “Lift Every Voice and Sing”—colloquially the Black National Anthem—as well James Baldwin’s letters, among other things. “There are lots of materials related to liberation in this library,” said Beinecke’s Community Engagement Director Michael Morand before the performance. “All are welcome to do research in this place.” (To access materials held in the Beinecke, members of the public should register with the Yale library system.) Morand first encountered Harris at Bill Lowe’s performance at the Beinecke for last year’s Arts & Ideas festival, where Harris played piano. Afterwards, Morand spoke with Harris about his own work and thought that the Baldwin theme related perfectly to Beinecke’s materials on the author as well as the Baldwin centennial. “I had high expectations,” Morand said after the performance. “But this was phenomenal.”

  • Beinecke Jazz Reframes Reality (New Haven Independent)

    June 18, 2024

    As the music swelled to a triumphant peak, Harris encouraged the audience to clap along, which many had already been doing. Then he urged them to their feet, until the entire room was dancing in place. This also meant they were in exactly the right position for a standing ovation, which, as the movement ended, they happily gave. Harris hoped his audience left with a feeling of deep meaning, from both Baldwin and himself. ​“The words of Baldwin that move them, I hope my music moves them in the same way,” he said. If the bright smiles and energetic applause were anything to go by, he had succeeded in his mission.

  • Bringing truth to light

    May 28, 2024

    “Shining Light on Truth: New Haven, Yale, and Slavery” is free and open to the public through August 2024. The New Haven Museum, located at 114 Whitney Avenue in New Haven, is open Wednesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Saturday, noon to 5:00 p.m.

  • Windham-Campbell Prize recognizes eight distinctive writers (Yale Daily News)

    April 8, 2024

    Yale’s Windham-Campbell Prize honored eight writers in four categories this year. The winners of the Windham-Campbell Prize, a prestigious award presented annually to writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama, were formally announced last Tuesday. The prize, which includes monetary compensation of $175,000, intends to support writers in their creative craft. This year’s awards, led by director Michael Kelleher and administered by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, recognized Christina Sharpe, Christopher Chen, Deirdre Madden, Hanif Abdurraqib, Jen Hadfield, Kathryn Scanlan, NourbeSe Philip and Sonya Kelly.

  • Eight writers awarded Yale’s Windham-Campbell Prizes

    April 2, 2024

    The recipients are, in fiction, Deirdre Madden (Ireland) and Kathryn Scanlan (United States); in nonfiction, Christina Sharpe (Canada/United States) and Hanif Abdurraqib (United States); in drama, Christopher Chen (United States) and Sonya Kelly (Ireland); and in poetry, m. nourbeSe Philip (Canada/Trinidad and Tobago) and Jen Hadfield (Canada/United Kingdom).

  • The Rent Was Too High So They Threw a Party (New York Times)

    March 28, 2024

    Minnie Pindar was at home in Harlem on a Saturday in 1929, and she had a party to throw. She and her sister, Lucibelle Pindar, had passed out invitations, printed on cheap, white card stock, promising a good time in their ground floor apartment at 149 West 117th Street. “Refreshments Just It” and “Music Won’t Quit,” the invitation read. Their invitation, one of dozens of similar party invitations tucked into the Langston Hughes papers at Yale’s Beinecke Library, hints at the rich but difficult lives of Black people living in New York at the dawn of the Harlem Renaissance.