Content Description
This collection contains papers concerning the work, life, and family of author Merrill Joan Gerber. Extensive manuscript and typescript drafts, proofs, notes, research, correspondence, and other related papers document Gerber's short stories, poetry, and novels, including Stop Here, My Friend: Stories (Houghton Mifflin, 1965), An Antique Man: A Novel (Houghton Mifflin, 1967), Now Molly Knows (Arbor House, 1971), Please Don't Kiss Me Now (Dial Press, 1981), The Kingdom of Brooklyn (Longstreet Press, 1992), Glimmering Girls (University of Wisconsin Press, Terrace Books, 2005), and The Hysterectomy Waltz (Dzanc Books, 2013), among many others. Literary correspondence, publishers correspondence, calendars, conference papers, teaching materials, book publicity materials, grant applications, books reviews, audiovisual materials, computer media, and other professional papers document Gerber's professional life as a both a writer and an educator. Significant literary correspondents include Cyrilly Abels, Norma Klein, Andrew Lytle, Sandra Earl Mintz, Cynthia Ozick, Lynne Sharon Schwarz, Wallace Stegner, Mary Ann Taylor-Hall, Arturo Vivante, and Charlotte Zoë Walker. Family correspondence, writings of family members, scrapbooks, diaries, notebooks, photographs, yearbooks, and other personal papers document Gerber's family life and history. Printed materials include magazines, journals, and other serials containing contributions by Gerber.
Dates
- 1895 - 2017
- Majority of material found within 1923 - 2017
Creator
- Gerber, Merrill Joan (Author)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Boxes 101, 102, 151 (audiovisual materials): Restricted fragile material. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Box 152 (computer media): Restricted fragile material. Access copies of digital files may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Boxes 101, 102, 151 (audiovisual materials): Restricted fragile material. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Box 152 (computer media): Restricted fragile material. Access copies of digital files may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Conditions Governing Use
The Merrill Joan Gerber Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Ken Lopez Bookseller on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 2017.
Arrangement
Organized into four series: I. Writings, 1945-2016. II. Professional correspondence and papers, 1932-2017. III. Personal and family papers, 1895-2016. IV. Printed material, 1956-2017.
After receipt the writings, professional correspondence and papers, and personal and family papers were roughly sorted into series by box, but within individual boxes papers were generally kept in the order in which they were received. As a result, some materials in Series I, II, and III remain intermixed.
After receipt the writings, professional correspondence and papers, and personal and family papers were roughly sorted into series by box, but within individual boxes papers were generally kept in the order in which they were received. As a result, some materials in Series I, II, and III remain intermixed.
Extent
145.58 Linear Feet (152 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Merrill Joan Gerber
Merril Joan Gerber is an American novelist and short story writer. She was born in 1938 in Brooklyn, New York, to William and Jessie Gerber. She has published over thirty books of fiction, young adult fiction, and memoir, including Stop Here, My Friend: Stories (Houghton Mifflin, 1965), An Antique Man: A Novel (Houghton Mifflin, 1967), Now Molly Knows (Arbor House, 1971), Please Don't Kiss Me Now (Dial Press, 1981), The Kingdom of Brooklyn (Longstreet Press, 1992), and Glimmering Girls (University of Wisconsin Press, Terrace Books, 2005). Gerber's writing has been recognized with a Wallace Stegner Fiction Fellowship, the Harold Ribalow Prize, and the Pushcart Editors' Book Award. She married Joseph Spiro in 1960, with whom she has three daughters.
Processing Information
Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections as they are acquired, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.
This collection received a basic level of processing, including rehousing and minimal organization.
Information included in the Description of Papers note and Collection Contents section is drawn from information supplied with the collection and from an initial survey of the contents. Folder titles appearing in the contents list below are often based on those provided by the creator or previous custodian. Titles have not been verified against the contents of the folders in all cases. Otherwise, folder titles are supplied by staff during initial processing.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection or revisions in arrangement and description.
This collection received a basic level of processing, including rehousing and minimal organization.
Information included in the Description of Papers note and Collection Contents section is drawn from information supplied with the collection and from an initial survey of the contents. Folder titles appearing in the contents list below are often based on those provided by the creator or previous custodian. Titles have not been verified against the contents of the folders in all cases. Otherwise, folder titles are supplied by staff during initial processing.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection or revisions in arrangement and description.
- Abels, Cyrilly
- American literature -- 20th century
- American literature -- 21st century
- Audiovisual materials
- Authors -- United States -- 20th Century
- Authors -- United States -- 21st century
- Authors, American -- 20th century -- Archives
- Authors, American -- 21st century -- Archives
- Born digital
- Gerber, Merrill Joan
- Klein, Norma, 1938-1989
- Lytle, Andrew Nelson, 1902-1995
- Mintz, Sandra Earl
- Ozick, Cynthia
- Schwarz, Lynne Sharon
- Stegner, Wallace, 1909-1993
- Taylor-Hall, Mary Ann
- Vivante, Arturo
- Walker, Charlotte Zoë
- Women authors, American -- 20th century
- Women authors, American -- 21st century
- Young adult fiction, American
Creator
- Gerber, Merrill Joan (Author)
- Title
- Guide to the Merrill Joan Gerber Papers
- Author
- by Greyson Gates, Michael Rush, and Leigh Golden
- Date
- April 2021
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.