Marovitz, Stamford, 1973 - 1998

The Harrison Hayford papers fill seventy-two boxes, spanning the years 1916 to 2002. The bulk of the papers consist of correspondence files, Northwestern University teaching files, research notes and drafts, Northwestern University student files, papers and speeches, publications, and projects--including, most significantly, the Herman Melville Editing Project files.

Hayford's correspondence documents the wide variety of interests he held as well as his lifelong engagement with American literature. The teaching and student files reveal much about Hayford's approach to teaching various American literature topics and show that his teaching career was marked by an active interest in his students and in the teaching profession. A significant portion of Hayford's papers consists of the project files that document his work on the Melville Editing Project, other editing projects, and his involvement with the Center for Editions of American Authors (CEAA). These files illuminate the complex nature of these editorial projects, from their initial funding and staffing as well as the many years it took to complete them. They also show the respect Hayford and his colleagues had for appropriate editing standards, and the devotion and commitment that such a project required of its participants.

Biographical materials range from Hayford's birth certificate (1916) to obituaries, with the bulk dating from the 1930s to the 1980s. Early materials include a yearbook poem (1933), short stories from the 1930s, and Hayford's reading journals for the years 1935, 1936, and 1938. One folder documents Hayford's military service from 1943 to 1944. Hayford's career at Northwestern University is documented in biographical data forms, vitae and vitae supplements. Newspaper clippings date between 1933 and 1999. There are also two folders containing material relating to Hayford's wife, Josephine Hayford, including general correspondence and correspondence regarding an entry she wrote for Encyclopedia Britannica. Various tributes and testimonials to Hayford include a memorial written by his daughter, Deborah Weiss.

Hayford's education is documented in files spanning the years 1934 to 1945 and include his high school and university diplomas, undergraduate papers, and notes Hayford took while taking courses toward his doctoral degree. There is also an early draft of Hayford's Yale University dissertation on the relationship between Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Hayford's correspondence files include both incoming letters and carbons of outgoing letters. The personal correspondence files, dating between 1924 and 1997, consist mainly of correspondence with family members and friends. Also included is correspondence relating to Hayford's Northwestern University faculty appointments and salaries, teaching position offers that Hayford received from other universities, and several of the many visiting professor positions and fellowships he received.

Northwestern University correspondence files span the years 1942-1990 and include official University correspondence and English department correspondence. Two files contain correspondence regarding English department planning for American Literature courses--one file dating from 1959-1963 and the other nearly twenty years later, 1981-1982. One file includes correspondence regarding a self-review the English Department undertook in 1986.

The subject correspondence files span the dates 1934-1999 and consist of correspondence with colleagues, former students and organizations. Hayford had long and extensive correspondence with many scholars and colleagues throughout the country and around the world regarding his own scholarly work and projects, their scholarly work and projects, and academic issues in general. He also corresponded with many former students who went on to hold academic positions, writing letters of support and expressing interest in their continuing scholarly work. Also included is correspondence regarding Hayford's bookselling business, with one folder titled "Booksellers" and other files titled by the organization or company that Hayford dealt with. One file contains correspondence and records of Hayford's work in support of George McGovern's campaign for the presidency in 1972-73. Three folders contain correspondence relating to various projects and committees that Hayford worked on in support of the Newberry Library. Six folders contain correspondence between Hayford and Northwestern colleague Walter B. Scott, including letters, parodies, humorous sketches and miscellaneous materials, many of which are signed under various pseudonyms that they adopted (see also Hayford's correspondence with George Cohen and Richard Ellmann).

Hayford's teaching career at Northwestern University is documented in teaching files spanning the years 1937-1988.

Teaching files from the University of Maine (1972) and the Sorbonne (1975-79), where Hayford held visiting professorships, include correspondence, teaching notes and course records.

The research notes and drafts files span the dates 1941-1986.

The papers and speeches files span the dates 1950-1993.

The publications files span the dates 1937-1996 and are divided into general publications files, publications relating to Herman Melville, and reviews written by Hayford. The general publications files include originals and reprints of articles on various subjects, correspondence regarding articles and books (published and unpublished), and drafts of articles and books. The Herman Melville publications files include correspondence and drafts relating to articles and books (published and unpublished) that Hayford wrote about Herman Melville. The reviews by Hayford files includes drafts and correspondence relating to several book reviews (published and unpublished) written by Hayford.

The projects files span the dates 1905-1996 and document four major projects: Herman Melville Editing Project, Ralph Waldo Emerson Journals Project, Film Projects and Center for Editions of American Authors. The Melville Editing Project Files are further divided into correspondence, working files, project records and notes. Included in the Melville Editing Project files are letters from Hayford to fellow editors and publishers; working files from each year that he was involved in an editing project; budgets, grant applications and reports from the project; and notes on several of the volumes that he edited.

The Emerson Journals Project files are divided into working files and project records. The working files contain both correspondence and project notes; the project records include grant applications and budgets for the project.

The Film Projects files contain correspondence, contracts and scripts. They include some organizational records of Viewfinder Films, the company that employed Hayford for these projects.

The Center for Editions of American Authors (CEAA) files include correspondence, minutes, budgets and grant proposals for the Center. Hayford served on the Executive Committee of the Center for several years. They also include the early publications through which the Center established its rules and procedures for editing projects under its banner.

Addition, Box 73:

The addition to the Harrison Hayford Papers, housed in Box 73, consists of two items related to Leon Forrest, author, Northwestern professor and friend of Harrison and Jo Hayford. One signed and dedicated reprint of Forrest's story "Sugar Groove" (published in the literary journal Callaloo) was added to Box 8, folder 9 (Leon Forrest Subject File). The other item, a signed copy of Forrest's Divine Days (Chicago: Another Chicago Press, 1992), with Harrison Hayford's name and the date "March, 1993" written on the first page, is very heavily annotated. It is not clear who did the annotation; a letter in the Leon Forrest correspondence file contains a 1995 letter from author John Cawelti (University of Kentucky) asking Hayford to contribute an essay to a book about Forrest, but the book as eventually published in 1997 does not include a contribution from Hayford. The annotations may include some by Forrest and some by Hayford.