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James F. Coakley Papers

 Collection
Identifier: 20/78

  • Staff Only
  • No requestable containers

Scope and Contents

The James F. Coakley Papers, spanning the years from 1960 through 1993, comprise three boxes and are arranged in seven sub-series: biographical materials, education, scripts, publications, research, correspondence, and scrapbooks.

Biographical materials include news releases and clippings, a conference program, curricula vitae, and some correspondence.  News releases are for Coakley's theatre productions at Northwestern University in the 1970s, as are the clippings. A program from the 1979 meeting of the Midwest Slavic Conference, at which Coakley presented a paper, is also included. Curricula vitae are from 1987 and 1993, and include courses taught by Coakley, as well as his paper presentations, theatre productions, publications, and various lectures. Correspondence consists of two general letters from Moody Prior, a professor in the Humanities and English at Northwestern.

Coakley's education is represented by class notebooks kept while he was a doctoral student in theatre at Northwestern.  These are from selected classes, 1960-1962.  Class titles and numbers are listed on the notebooks, as are the instructors. Also included are scripts, consisting of one working script from Coakley's role in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" at Northwestern in 1963, and several undated monologues.

Publications by Coakley range from 1963 to 1987 and include articles and book reviews appearing in a variety of titles. Many are photocopies or off-prints from scholarly journals, but there are also a number of articles by Coakley appearing in Chicago Today during the mid-1970s.  For these articles Coakley functioned primarily as a reviewer for classical music performances and art openings. There are also a few articles by colleagues of Coakley (such as Moody Prior) that were sent to him with brief notes attached.

After joining the faculty at Northwestern, Coakley applied to the National Endowment for the Humanities' Younger Humanist Fellowship for funding to conduct research on Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. Copies of his applications are included.

Dates

  • 1961-1993
  • Other: Date acquired: 01/08/2009

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on use of the materials in the department for research; all patrons must comply with federal copyright regulations.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is stored at a remote campus location and requires two business days advance notice for retrieval. Please contact the McCormick Library at specialcollections@northwestern.edu or 847-491-3635 for more information or to schedule an appointment to view the collection.

Extent

3.00 Boxes

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

James F. Coakley joined Northwestern University's theatre faculty as Assistant Professor of Theatre in 1971.  The James F. Coakley Papers, spanning the years from 1960 through 1993, comprise three boxes and are arranged in seven sub-series: biographical materials, education, scripts, publications, research, correspondence, and scrapbooks.

Arrangement

The papers are arranged in seven sub-series: biographical materials, education (arranged by date), scripts (arranged by date), publications, research, correspondence, and scrapbooks (arranged by date).

Source of Acquisition

Mary Poole

Method of Acquisition

Received as a donation from Mary Poole (#09-195)

Separated Materials

One photograph ("Long Day's Journey Into Night, 1963 production) and five boxes of production slides of (1971-1985) transferred to University Theatre Production Photographs (20/48).  Slides are of University Theatre productions during the school year as well as during the summer.  Most of the productions directed or produced by him between 1971 and 1985 include slides.

Title
Guide to the James F. Coakley Papers
Author
Benn P. Joseph
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
und

Library Details

Part of the Northwestern University Archives Repository

Contact:
Deering Library, Level 3
1970 Campus Dr.
Evanston IL 60208-2300 US
847-491-3635