Course

Literary Manuscripts

L 165

This course provides a foundation of knowledge about literary archives, drawing on the extensive resources of the Harry Ransom Center and focusing primarily on modern literary manuscripts and archives.

  • Instructor(s)
    Megan Barnard, Stephen Enniss
  • Location
    Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin
  • Date
    7–12 June 2026
  • Length
    30 hours
  • Fee
    $1,495
  • Course ID
    L-165
  • Application Deadline
    Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until course fills. Read more about the application process.
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Course Description

The course will address a broad range of subjects, providing a historical perspective on the literary manuscript and turning to the status and uses of literary archives today. The course will explore how literary archives are shaped and stewarded, collection development, the market for literary archives, how to make literary archives available and relevant to diverse audiences, and ethical considerations. Students will have the opportunity to study materials from the Ransom Center’s literary archives throughout the week.The course will feature a combination of discussions, guest speakers, case studies, activities, and hands-on opportunities to engage with Ransom Center collections. 

Faculty

Headshot of Stephen Enniss

Stephen Enniss

Stephen Enniss  is the Betty Brumbalow Director of the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Over his tenure, he has acquired scores of archives of some …

Headshot of a dark-haired woman with a black shirt

Megan Barnard

Megan Barnard is Associate Director for Administration and Curatorial Affairs at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. In her role, she manages the acquisition of …

Advance Reading List

Required Reading/Viewing

  • “ACRL Code of Ethics for Special Collections Librarians,” June 19, 2020. Available online.
  • Basbanes, Nicholas. “Instant Ivy,” in A Gentle Madness, Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books. (New York: Henry Holt, 1995), pp. 312–354.
  • Cusk, Rachel. “The Weather of Domestic Life,” Ransom Center Magazine, Spring 2019, pp. 4–5. Available online.
  • Douglas, Jennifer. “Archives as Texts and the Stories they Tell,” in Cultural Heritage and the Literary Archive: Objects, Institutions, and Practices Between the Analogue and the Digital, ed. by Tim Sommer. (New York: Routledge, 2025), pp. 168–187.
  • Ishiguro, Kazuo. “How I Write,” 2014. Kazuo Ishiguro Papers 1.0, Harry Ransom Center.
  • Larkin, Philip. “Operation Manuscript,” in Poetry in the Making: Catalogue of an Exhibition of Poetry Manuscripts in the British Museum, by Jenny Lewis. (London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1967), pp. 14–21.
  • “Ethical Stewardship: Where does a collection belong? Who decides?” Ethical Challenges in Cultural Stewardship: The Thirteenth Biennial Flair Symposium, Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin, April 4–6, 2016. Available online, 1 hour and 33 minutes.
  • Winterkorn, Joan. “Collecting and Preserving Contemporary and Historic Archives,” Sandars Lectures 2025: What Will Survive of Us, Cambridge University Library, November 11, 2025. Available online, 1 hour and 1 minute.

Supplemental Reading/Viewing

  • Balint, Benjamin. Kafka’s Last Trial: The Case of a Literary Legacy. New York: Norton, 2018.
  • Enniss, Stephen. “‘Casting and Gathering’: Libraries, Archives, and the Modern Writer,” in The Meaning of the Library: A Cultural History, ed. by Alice Crawford. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015), pp. 223–235.
  • Gekoski, Rick. Guarded by Dragons: Encounters with Rare Books and Rare People.  London: Constable, 2021.
  • Gekoski, Rick. Lost, Stolen or Shredded.  London: Profile Books, 2013.
  • Gioia, Dana. “The Hand of the Poet: The Magical Value of Manuscripts,” The Hudson Review, vol. 49, no. 1 (Spring 1996), pp. 9–29.
  • Hamilton, Ian. Keepers of the Flame: Literary Estates and the Rise of Biography. London: Faber and Faber, 1992.
  • Reid, B. L. The Man from New York: John Quinn and His Friends. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968.
  • Sommer, Tim. Cultural Heritage and the Literary Archive: Objects, Institutions, and Practices Between the Analogue and the Digital. (New York: Routledge, 2025).
  • Winterkorn, Joan. “A Jigsaw with No Edge Piece,” Sandars Lectures 2025: What Will Survive of Us, Cambridge University Library, November 12, 2025. Available online, 58 minutes.

Just for Fun: The Literary Manuscript in Fiction

  • Alvarez, Julia. The Cemetery of Untold Stories, 2024
  • Byatt, A. S. Possession, 1991.
  • Friel, Brien. Give Me Your Answer, Do, 1997.
  • James, Henry. The Aspern Papers, 1888.
  • McEwan, Ian. What We Can Know, 2025.
  • Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Purloined Letter,” 1844.
  • Stoppard, Tom. Indian Ink, 1995.

Course History

  • 2026–

    Stephen Enniss & Megan Barnard co-teach this course.