archives.nypl.org -- Judith Mara Gutman papers (original) (raw)

The Judith Mara Gutman papers document the career and personal life of the social historian and author. The date span of the papers is 1949-1999. They include personal and professional correspondence, typescript drafts of published and unpublished articles and books, research files from her biography of Lewis Hine and her 1982 publication and exhibition of 19th century Indian photography, Through Indian Eyes. Also included are lecture and course notes, her files regarding the estate of her husband Herbert George Gutman, and audio recordings of her lectures and panel appearances. Some personal photographs are mixed in with correspondence.

The materials relate mostly to Gutman's career as an independent scholar and author. There is correspondence from colleagues, editors, and publishers of her books, and contacts at various research institutions and museums. However, there are also letters from her husband and daughters.

The Judith Mara Gutman papers are arranged in five series:

• 1945-1999
  Judith Mara Gutman's correspondence includes incoming and outgoing letters, memos, and notes documenting the author's personal life and professional activity. The bulk of the correspondence falls between 1966, with the publication of her first book, The Colonial Venture, and 1985, shortly after the publication of Through Indian Eyes. The files are arranged in separate alphabetical and chronological sections, reflecting Gutman's own organization of the collection. The alphabetical correspondence includes mostly routine correspondence to and from artists, academics, publishers and research institutions associated with Gutman's work and travel. Chronological correspondence includes material of a more personal nature, including notes from friends and family, and continues to 1999.
  Much of the alphabetical correspondence relates to Gutman's appearances at academic conferences. She attended the European Association of American Studies in Rome 1984, an American Studies seminar at Helsinki University, 1977 and presented papers including "The Name of the Game is Perception" at the 1976 Organization of American Historians, and "Black Style and the Black Self-Image" at 1977 meeting of the American Studies Association. Other symposiums documented in the correspondence include Photojournalism Forum at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, the National Humanities Institute at University of Chicago, 1977.
  The earliest material in the chronological correspondence includes letters to and from the Moskowitz family (1945-1949). Subjects of correspondence from 1961 include Gutman's efforts to publish her writings, and letters from the 1970s document her research and travel in England, Paris and around India. The correspondence from the 1990s includes many informal notes, card and invitations.
  Notable correspondents in the collection include Irving Kristol, of Basic Books; philanthropist Tom Kessinger; photographers, Ansel Adams, Bob Heineken, Ashvin Mehta, Kenneth Poli, and Gary Winograd; historians Merle Curti, Edwin Rozenc, Richard Slotkin, and Kathryn Kish Sklar; and critics Ward Morehouse, Greil Marcus, Beaumont Newhall, and Alden Whitman. Additional correspondence, including letters from John Kenneth Galbraith and Clifford Geertz regarding Gutman's book and photography exhibition, Through Indian Eyes, may be found under that title in Series II. Writings.
• 1949-1994
  This series includes research materials for and drafts of Gutman's full length works and unpublished manuscripts. Gutman's essays and writings include her college thesis on Thucydides, master's thesis on juvenile literature, and children's stories composed in conjunction with her studies in educational psychology. There are also numerous essays on American history and photography, articles for academic journals and the popular press, and typescripts of the full-length works, Buying, Is America Used Up? and The Making of American Society.
  The files from Gutman's biography of Lewis Hine include editorial correspondence with publishers, manuscripts drafts and outlines, press and publicity information, and research materials. The research materials include photocopies of Hine's correspondence and writings assembled by Gutman from the Library of Congress and the archives of the George Eastman House.
  This series also includes the correspondence and research connected with the exhibit and publication of Through Indian Eyes. For this work she undertook extensive research in libraries and archives in India, Great Britain and France between 1978 and 1982. Photographs from the exhibit are not present.
• 1973-1995
• 1981-1997
  The files in this series, contain materials relating to his life, work, and memory of Herbert George Gutman. The book contract files include correspondence and agreements between publishers and the estate of H. G. Gutman that document the recurring interest in reprinting his work. The correspondence includes evaluations of his papers, and messages from the American Social History Project at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York of which Gutman was a founder and leading member. There are also files concerning the Herbert G. Gutman Memorial Lecture at which historians such as Eric J. Hobsbawm, Edward P. Thompson, Eric Foner, and Joan W. Scott delivered lectures. The files include ephemera and correspondence, but not the lectures themselves.