All areas of American studies, including our country's rich cultural and literary legacy, are reflected in the Library's manuscript
holdings. Numerous collections document women's contributions to American literature and journalism. These include collections
of papers that women generated as well as the papers of their male colleagues, editors, critics, and publishers. Most of these
collections include drafts of literary manuscripts, research notes, transcripts of interviews, and other artifacts of the
trade that illustrate the evolution of literary styles, genres, and themes. In addition, the best collections also contain
rich correspondence files that reveal aspects of the writer's personality and reflect the cultural and political world in
which she lived.