Collection context
Summary
- Abstract:
- Professor Emeritus Robert M. Emerson has worked for the Department of Sociology at UCLA for 45 years as a leader who was instrumental in building ethnomethodology as a field of inquiry. The collection consists of field notes, subject interview transcripts, academic papers, correspondence, grant proposals, reports and audiovisual recordings of his research projects concerning juvenile court and delinquency labeling, "The Pro Se Litigant: Self-Representation in Consequential Civil Cases," and "Resisting Imposed Relationships" which is also referred to as the Domestic Violence Project (DVP).
- Extent:
- 4.4 linear feet (5 document boxes, 2 half size document boxes and 2 record cartons.)
- Language:
- Materials are in English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Robert M. Emerson papers (Collection 2211). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection consists of field notes, subject interview transcripts, academic papers, correspondence, grant proposals, reports and audiovisual recordings of his research projects concerning juvenile court and delinquency labeling, "The Pro Se Litigant: Self-Representation in Consequential Civil Cases," and "Resisting Imposed Relationships" which is also referred to as the Domestic Violence Project (DVP).
- Biographical / historical:
-
Robert M. Emerson is UCLA Department of Sociology Professor Emeritus. Emerson graduated magna cum laude from Harvard's History Department in 1962 and received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Brandeis University in 1964 and 1968. His dissertation is entitled The Juvenile Court: Labeling and Institutional Careers. Emerson began his career at UCLA in 1969 as Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, served as Vice Chair and Director of Graduate Studies from 1989-1992, and as Department Chair from 1995-1999. At the conclusion of his chairmanship, he worked as Faculty Director for UCLA's Center for Experiential Education and Service Learning (CEESL) from 2000-2001. Building on the foundational work of UCLA Sociology Professor Harold Garfinkel, Emerson was instrumental in the Department's development of ethnomethodology as a field of inquiry. Emerson is a committed ethnographer and prolific writer who authored numerous publications with fellow ethnomethodologist, UCLA Sociology Professor Melvin Pollner. Emerson's professional activities include work for the Editorial and Publications Committee of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, committee work for the American Sociological Association and editorial service for the following publications: Californian Sociologist, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Qualitative Sociology, Social Problems,Symbolic Interaction, Urban Life and Ethnography. Emerson describes his research as using qualitative field methods to examine both the indigenous dynamics of troubles, as in domestic violence situations, stalking and neighbor disputes, and formal, institutional responses to these troubles, particularly by the criminal justice and mental health systems.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Robert Emerson, 2008.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by Kelly Besser with assistance from Kamarin Takahara, 2014.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Problematic Content and Description in UCLA's library collections and archives.
- Arrangement:
-
This collection has been arranged in the following series:
- Series 1: Juvenile court research files.
- Series 2: Pro se litigant research files.
- Subseries 2.1: Domestic violence research files.
- Series 3: Audio visual materials.
- Physical / technical requirements:
-
COLLECTION CONTAINS AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: Audiovisual materials in this collection will require assessment and possible digitization for safe access. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Physical location:
- Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
PORTIONS OF THIS COLLECTION ARE RESTRICTED: Sensitive patient information (or PHI) and/or information and data covered under the Common Rule requires an approved Institutional Review Board (IRB) research protocol.
Portions of this collection are closed until 75 years after the listed dates: Box 2 folder 1 (1966), Box 3-4 (1966), Box 5 folders 4-5, 7, 11(1988), Box 6 folders 3-11(1988) and Box 8 folders 5-51 (1989).
- Terms of access:
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Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Robert M. Emerson papers (Collection 2211). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
- Location of this collection:
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A1713 Charles E. Young Research LibraryBox 951575Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
- Contact:
- (310) 825-4988