Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Roszak, Theodore, Roszak, Betty, and Roszak, Kathryn
- Abstract:
- Theodore Roszak (1933-2011) was an American author, academic and social critic, and his papers consist largely of his writing and research, as well as material by his wife Betty Roszak.
- Extent:
- 69 Linear Feet 89 containers (88 boxes, one oversize folder) and 561 gigabyte(s) 47 optical discs; 48 3.5" floppy disks
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
[identification of item], Theodore Roszak papers (M2710). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Roszak's papers consist of drafts and notes for his writing, published articles and essays, and related research files including newspaper and magazine clippings, ephemera related to readings, workshops and promotional material. While Roszak is perhaps best known for his non-fiction writing, the collection contains a great deal of his fiction and plays, both published and unpublished. A significant portion of the archive is devoted to the work of Theodore's wife Betty Roszak, including her own poetry, writing and various ephemera. Their daughter Kathryn Roszak also has some material in the collection.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Theodore Roszak (1933-2011) was an American author, academic and social critic who first achieved fame for his 1969 book The Making of a Counter Culture and subsequently wrote prolifically about history, science, technology, literature, belief, society, and the life of the mind.
Roszak was born on November 15, 1933 in Chicago, Illinois, where his father was a carpenter, but the family soon moved to Los Angeles where he attended high school and met his future wife Betty Greenwald. The first in his family to attend college, Roszak took a bachelor's degree at UCLA then completed a doctorate in history at Princeton University in 1958. He taught at Stanford University, the University of British Columbia, and San Francisco State University before joining Cal State Hayward (now called California State University, East Bay) where he taught for 35 years before retiring in 1998. He also taught at Schumacher College in England, and during the 1960s he and Betty lived in London, where he edited the newspaper Peace News.
Roszak published 25 books of both fiction and non-fiction, including the following:
The Dissenting Academy (1968)
Where the Wasteland Ends: Politics and Transcendence in Postindustrial Society (1973)
Pontifex (1974)
Unfinished Animal: The Aquarian Frontier and the Evolution of Consciousness (1975)
Dreamwatcher (1985)
From Satori to Silicon Valley (1986)
The Cult of Information: The Folklore of Computers and the True Art of Thinking (1986, revised edition 1994)
The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein (1996)
The Gendered Atom: Reflections on the Sexual Psychology of Science (1999)
Longevity Revolution: As Boomers Become Elders (2001)
Person / Planet: The Creative Disintegration of Industrial Society (2003)
The Devil and Daniel Silverman (2003)
World Beware! American Triumphalism in an Age of Terror (2006)
The Making of an Elder Culture: Reflections on the Future of America's Most Audacious Generation (2009)
Roszak lived in Berkeley, California with his wife, intellectual partner and occasional co-author Betty. Together they are best known for their book collaboration, Masculine/Feminine: Readings in Sexual Mythology and the Liberation of Women, first published in 1969, as well as their work in pacifist and ecopsychology activities. Roszak coined the term 'ecopsychology' to describe the process of healing the rift between human beings and nature, introducing this concept in the book The Voice of the Earth in 1992.
Theodore Roszak was a Guggenheim Fellow and was twice nominated for the National Books Award. He died at age 77 at his home on July 5, 2011.
- Acquisition information:
- This collection was purchased by Stanford University, Special Collections in 2021.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
- Subjects:
- Authors, American.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use. Audiovisual materials are not available in original format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy. Born-digital material is closed until processed.
- Terms of access:
-
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.
- Preferred citation:
-
[identification of item], Theodore Roszak papers (M2710). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
- Location of this collection:
-
Department of Special Collections, Green Library557 Escondido MallStanford, CA 94305-6004, US
- Contact:
- (650) 725-1022