Robert Tracy papers, approximately 1950-2015

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Summary

Creators:
Tracy, Robert, 1928-2020
Extent:
24 linear feet (19 cartons, 1 box, 1 oversize folder)
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Robert Tracy papers, BANC MSS 2016/196, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of teaching, research, and other professional materials created by Robert Tracy, faculty member in the English Department at the University of California, Berkeley. Materials consist of drafts of Tracy's articles and books, including materials relating to anthologies; research files on various topics in 19th and 20th century Irish and English literature; conference materials; course materials from courses taught at UC Berkeley as well as courses taught at other institutions.

Also included in the collection are letters and holiday cards received from Irish poet Seamus Heaney and his wife Marie Heaney, as well are three signed poems, January God, A Drink of Water, and The Tollund Man (which is handwritten.

Biographical / historical:

Robert Tracy served on the faculty of the English Department at the University of California, Berkeley from 1960 until his retirement in 1993. Tracy was a prominent scholar of British and Irish literature and one of a group of noted Irish Studies scholars at UC Berkeley that included Thomas Flanagan, Thomas Parkinson, Dan Melia, and Brenan O'Hehir and was one of the founders of the Celtic Studies Program. Tracy also helped to found the Western chapter of the American Conference for Irish Studies.

Tracy's areas of scholarly interest included the work of Anthony Trollope and Charles Dickens. He produced important editions of some of Trollope's works as well as works of Sheridan Le Fanu and Flann O'Brien. Tracy also produced and translation of the Russian Jewish writer Osip Mandelstaum's first collection of poems. Many of Tracy's writings appear in his book The Unappeasable Host: Studies in Irish Identities, published in 1998.

Robert and his wife Rebecca Garrison Tracy be-friended many Irish writers who visited Berkeley over the years, including poet Seamus Heaney, who came to Berkeley to teach in 1970-1971. They remained friends until the end of Heaney's life in 2013.

Acquisition information:
The Robert Tracy papers were purchased from Rebecca Tracy in 2022.
Processing information:

Minimally processed at Level 2 by Bancroft Accessioning and Processing staff in 2023. Collections that receive Level 2 processing processing are provided with a collection-level description and a simple box-level container listing. For this collection, the simple container listing was, for some containers, enhanced by a content note. The arrangement of the collection generally remains as it was at the point of acquisition. An exception was made for the Seamus Heaney correspondence and signed poems, which were segretated in their own box for easier access and discoverability. Some materials in the collection remain in original folders. Other materials have been refoldered with original folder titles copied by Bancroft staff. Titles were created by the archivists only when folder titles were lacking.

Arrangement:

Materials are arranged as they were at the point of acquisition, with the exception of the Seamus Heaney correspondence and signed poems, which were segretated in their own box for easier access and discoverability. No attempt was made to rearrange the collection into clear series. There is no discernable series of correspondence in the collection. The correpondence that exists is scattered throughout the containers.

Rules or conventions:
DACS

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open to researchers.

Terms of access:

Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For additional information about the University of California, Berkeley Library's permissions policy please see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/permissions-policies

Preferred citation:

Robert Tracy papers, BANC MSS 2016/196, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Location of this collection:
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
Contact:
510-642-6481
bancref-library@berkeley.edu
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