Irvin Stock papers

The Irvin Stock Papers, spanning the dates 1882 to 2004, comprise 4.3 linear feet of manuscripts, books, letters, newspaper and magazine articles, advertisements, and teaching materials documenting the life and work of the American literary scholar Irvin Stock.

The collection is divided into three series, corresponding to the major areas and periods of Stock’s work and life. Series one and two contain material related to Stock’s education and teaching, respectively. Series three is entitled "letters" and contains copies of letters that Stock used for research as well as original correspondence with notable literary figures. Series four contains material relating to Stock’s research and writing, including published works and unpublished manuscripts.

Series one contains materials related to Stock’s education. Newspaper articles on Stock’s achievements as a student, journals from his time conducting research in England and France, correspondence with Columbia Teachers College and the Fulbright program are included in series one.

Series two contains syllabi for fiction and drama courses, student evaluations of Stock’s teaching, and newspaper articles highlighting Stock’s teaching and research at Rollins College and the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Series three contains an extensive collection of Stock’s correspondence. Part of this series is organized by individual correspondent and includes letters to Stock from the novelist James T. Farrell between 1946 and 1951. The content of Farrell’s letters is wide-ranging and topics include the process of writing fiction, the presence of Marxist ideology in literature, snobbery and individualism in American culture, and Farrell’s own work. Stock’s correspondence also includes letters from Lionel Trilling, Joseph Heller, Thornton Wilder, Robert Pinsky, and the actor Anthony Perkins. Also included in the series are several decades of correspondence with various academics.

Series four contains materials related to Stock’s research and writing. The first four sub-headings are dedicated to specific writers on whom Stock conducted significant research. The files include writings by Stock, writings by the author, newspaper and scholarly articles on the writer and his/her work. The largest collection of research and materials is on William Hale White, who was also known by his pseudonym of Mark Rutherford. The other writers on whom Stock focused are Saul Bellow, Mary McCarthy, and Thomas Mann. The series also contains other smaller compilations of research and writings related to other authors, including Joseph Heller, Phillip Roth, and Lionel Trilling. Also in this series are miscellaneous writings on various literary topics, published articles and books, and unpublished manuscripts of novels and plays.