Modern Language Association of America, American Literature Section Papers, 1922-1999

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Descriptive Summary

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Administrative Information

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Historical Note

The American Literature Group was formed in 1921, after the Modern Language Association (MLA) reluctantly acknowledged a growing scholarly interest in the writing of the United States. At the time such literature was studied primarily in secondary schools, and most colleges and universities had no courses on the topic. Those that did, usually offered only a single survey course. The idea that American literature could stand on its own as a discipline was viewed with skepticism, it being understood at the time as a branch of the literature of England - a branch almost wholly lacking the greatness of its parent.

The members of the new group felt that in order to prove their subject reputable, they must bring it into line with the model of disciplines that had come into being in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. This model was based on the empiricism of the sciences, which had been modified in English as philology, author biography, textual history, and in its furthest speculative reach, influence study. Interpretive criticism was viewed as insufficiently scholarly, the domain of the "amateurs" who had dominated writing about American literature up to this point. Similarly, some in the Group thought that it should organize a way to better train secondary school teachers in the area, but this was rejected as insufficiently academic.

The Group met each December at the annual meeting of the Modern Language Association. Many of the early papers presented under the auspices of the Group dealt with the problem of how to build a proper discipline. Work was immediately begun on bibliographies and on lists of manuscript resources and dissertations written (or needed). In 1926, as an aid to research, the field was divided into three areas: the Puritan tradition, Romanticism in American literature, and the frontier spirit. In 1928, the Group's approach was documented by the essays in The Reinterpretation of American Literature (edited by Norman Forester), which added a fourth area, realism. Efforts to establish a quarterly journal that dealt exclusively with American literature began in 1924. Duke University eventually won a small bidding war for it, and the first issue of American Literature was dated March, 1929. In 1928 a full scheme of officers and procedures was put into place with the first version of the articles of organization. This document would be periodically revised over the following decades. One project that never got off the ground was a history of American literature. Almost from its inception, the Group was dissatisfied with the existing one - The Cambridge History of American Literature (1918) - because it was written prior to the discovery of much information, gave no relative weight to different figures and genres, and had no overarching vision of the area. A committee headed by Robert Speller worked toward a plan for a new history during the thirties, but conflicting positions concerning readiness and approach caused the plan to be abandoned by 1941. (Speller proceeded with the project outside of the Group, his work resulting in The Literary History of the United States (1948).)

After World War II, with American literature firmly in place as an academic area, the Group became less central to the discipline's development. The rise of American studies in the early 1950s prompted discussion and dispute concerning the difference between cultural-historical work, and more traditional emphases on literary excellence and the humanistic approach to literature (particularly in the classroom). Insurgent movements occasionally have arisen as the Group was felt to be behind the critical times. In 1968 younger members staged a protest at the annual meeting, agitating for a direct denouncement of the Vietnam War and more explicit politics in general (particularly regarding the college students whom the professors were serving). Meanwhile the Group (which became a full-fledged MLA Section in 1966) has periodically had to fight for particular kinds of recognition and privilege within its parent organization.

A full list of the Group's/Section's Chairs and Secretaries (later Executive Coordinators) is appended to this inventory and may be used as a cross-reference with the container lists to interpret the collection's coverage of various periods and figures. A fuller listing of officers from 1921-1948 is provided in Kermit Vanderbilt's book (cited below) on pages 545-548.

For more information on the American Literature Group/Section, see the following books, parts of which were written using the American Literature Section Papers:

Kermit Vanderbilt, American Literature and the Academy(Philadelphia: U. Penn. Press, 1986)

David R. Shumway, Creating American Civilization: A Genealogy of American Literature as an Academic Discipline(Minneapolis: U. Minn. Press, 1994).

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Collection Overview

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Subject Headings

• American Literature (Durham, N.C.).
• Modern Language Association of America. American Literature Group.
• Pound, Louise, 1872-1958.
• Duke University. Duke University Press.
• Women periodical editors.
• Periodical editors.
• American Literature--History and criticism.
• United States--Study and teaching.

	List of Series in Collection
		MLA (Modern Language Association) programs, 1924-1969
		1927-1934
		ALG (American Literature Group) survey of members, 1925
		American Literature: Journal, 1928-1933
		Articles of Organization, pre 1932-1947
		Correspondence (Edward Bradley, Jay B. Hubbell, Robert Spiller), 1928-1939
		List of masters essays on American Literature, 1925
		Papers delivered at annual MLA convention, 1921-1941
		Recommendations for the Doctorate in American Literature, 1926
		Survey: Subdivision of the field of American Literature, 1927
		1935-1942
		Annual meeting papers listed, 1937-1945
		Committee on a Cooperative Literary History, 1940
		Committee on Materials of American Literary History, 1941-1942
		Correspondence (Alexander Cowie, Jay B. Hubbell, Henry Pochmann), 1939-1946
		Dissertations in American Literature (1930-1940),1940
		Organization of ALG, 1942-1945
		The Present State of Scholarship in American Literary History, report, 1942
		1943-1948
		American Literature: Journal, 1945-1963
		Correspondence in Re-Anthology of American Literature (Henry Pochmann Mss.), 1943-1944
		Correspondence (Allan Halline, Willard Thorp), 1946-1949
		Curricula in American Civilization and American Literature in the College Curriculum(Willard Thorp Mss.), 1947-1951
		The Teaching of American Literature:
		1949-1953
		Best 20 American Works Survey, ca. 1949
		Committee on Library Manuscript Holdings (Ernest Marchand Mss.), 1951-1952
		Committee on Trends in Research in American Literature (Arlin Turner Mss.), 1951-1953
		Correspondence (Jay B. Hubbell, Henry Pochmann, Robert Spiller, Arlin Turner), 1949-1957
		Trends in Research in American Literature, 1940-1950: Report, 1951
		1954-1959
		American Studies Association and Society for American Studies (Robert Spiller Mss.): Chronologies to 1954
		Committee on Library Manuscript Holdings (Ernest Marchand Mss.), 1953-1961
		Correspondence (Robert Falk, Alexander Kern), 1954-1960
		Nominating Committee (Richard Adams), 1956-1957
		1960-1965
		Change from "Group" to "Section" of MLA (Henry Pochmann Mss.), 1962-1963
		Correspondence (Alexander Kern, Robert Spiller, James Woodress), 1961-1965
		Nominating Committee, 1962-1965
		1966-1967
		Correspondence (Paul Carter, Arlin Turner, J. Herber, R.H. Pearce, Henry Pochmann, Robert Spiller, James Woodress), 1965-1981
		Foerster Prize Committee (Henry Pochmann Mss.), 1966
		Papers delivered at the ALS meeting (Henry Pochmann Mss.), 1966
		Re: Reinterpretation of American Literature (1928): Correspondence and Essay (Robert Falk, Robert Spiller Mss.), 1928-1966
		Those Early Days Essay (Robert Spiller Mss.), 1966
		1968-1969
		American Literature Section:
		American Literature: Journal, 1967-1969
		Correspondence (Paul Carter, Henry Pochmann), 1968
		Eight American Authors Revision, 1968-1970
		Foerster Prize Committee (John Gerber Mss.), 1969
		Manuscript Holdings Committee, 1968-1969
		Proposed seminar on "Afro-American Bibliography," 1969
		Re: Politics at 1968 MLA business meeting, 1969
		20th Century American Literature Seminar, 1968-1969
		1970
		American Literature Section (ALS):
		American Literature abstracts, 1969-1970
		Correspondence, 1969-1972 (Paul Carter, Harrison Hayford, High Holman, Robert Edson Lee)
		Foerster Prize (to Nathalia Wright), 1970
		Program Planning: Correspondence, 1970
		1971-1972
		Correspondence, 1971-1972 (Robert Edson Lee, Michael Millgate, William Mulder)
		Duke Press, 1970-1973
		Financial Records:
		Financial Records:
		1973-1974
		Ballots and membership forms, 1974-1976
		Correspondence:
		Membership materials, 1973
		NEH Bicentennial Grant, 1974
		1975-1979
		ALS/MLA relations, 1975
		Correspondence:
		Duke Press, 1974-1981
		Nominating Committee (William Mulder Mss.), 1975-1976
		Paper abstracts, 1977
		Use of the ALS mailing list, 1976-1977
		1980-1985
		ALS/MLA relations, 1981-1982
		Correspondence:
		Duke Press (Donald Yannella Mss.), 1982
		1986-1993
		Correspondence (Benjamin Franklin Fisher, Elaine Hedges, J.A. Leo Lemay), 1986-1990
		Addition (2000-0041), 1994-1999
		Addition (2008-0267), 1974-1987

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Detailed Description of Collection

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• Descriptive Summary
• Administrative Information
• Historical Note
• Collection Overview
• Subject Headings
• Detailed Description of Collection