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Register of the Irwin T. and Shirley Holtzman collection, 1899-2010
98074
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Title: Irwin T. and Shirley Holtzman collection
Dates: 1899-2010
Collection number: 98074
Collector:
Holtzman, Irwin T
Additional Collector:
Holtzman, Shirley
Collection Size:
156 manuscript boxes, 8 oversize boxes, 1 cardfile box, 32 cubic foot boxes
(111.4 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Abstract: Printed matter, writings, letters, photographs, and miscellany, relating to the Russian writers Isaak Babel', Boris Pasternak
and Joseph Brodsky. Consists primarily of printed matter by and about Pasternak, Brodsky and Babel'.
Physical location: Hoover Institution Archives
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English,
Russian
Please note that some original Pasternak correspondence and writings in Box 22 are restricted, for which use copies are available
in Box 20.
The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to
copiesof audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives
at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see
or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives
[Identification of item], Irwin T. and Shirley Holtzman Collection, [Box no.], Hoover Institution Archives
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 1998, with subsequent increments received through 2004. Additional increments
are expected. An increment was added in 2011.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog Socrates at
http://library.stanford.edu/webcat . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in Socrates is larger than the number of boxes
listed in this finding aid.
Irwin T. Holtzman is a prominent and enthusiastic bibliophile, who has spent a lifetime collecting books on a wide variety
of subjects. He is especially interested in modern writers and the publication of their works since 1927, the year of his
birth. He has made generous donations of several collections to academic and cultural institutions, both in the United States
and abroad.
Of particular interest are his collections of modern American and American Indian authors, donated to the University of Michigan;
an American literature collection in the Russian State Library; a collection of modern Israeli writers, housed in the Holtzman-Harman
Room at the University of Jerusalem; and the present collection of Boris Pasternak, Leonid Pasternak, Isaac Babel, and Joseph
Brodsky materials in the Hoover Institution Archives.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Irwin T. and Shirley Holtzman Collection consists mainly of material related to the life and work of the Russian authors
Isaac Babel, Joseph Brodsky and Boris Pasternak. It also includes material related to the publication of their writings and
the process of collecting these publications by I. T. Holtzman. The collection includes biographical material about the writers;
their correspondence and writings; material related to conferences and exhibits about their work; photographs; phonotape cassettes
and videotapes; as well as drawings, posters, memorabilia, and clippings. The bulk of the collection was acquired in 1998,
with subsequent increments received through 2002.
The majority of the collection consists of printed copies of writings by the authors, as well as writings about or related
to their work. Of special interest is material illustrating the process of publishing books by these authors, including the
evolution of works through the stages of galley proofs, page proofs, printed wrappers, and sample pages. Also of interest
are books signed or dedicated by the authors, as well as rare, early, and limited editions of their works. In the description,
transliterations are supplied for non-Roman alphabets.
The Isaac Babel materials in the collection are noteworthy for their comprehensiveness. Irwin T. Holtzman has endeavored to
collect all known materials published by or about Babel, including foreign translations. There are art works, video and sound
recordings, conference materials, and marginalia, all related to Babel's life and work. Some of these materials are rare,
and their being grouped as a whole makes them of interest to Babel scholars.
The Babel materials are organized by headings established by Mr. Holtzman, and they illustrate the art of collecting itself,
with the various strands connecting Babel's life and work, as well as links among his contemporaries and interpreters, being
made visible through the criteria used by the collector in selecting and organizing the Babel materials.
The Holtzman collection also contains a number of books by and about Leonid Pasternak, with illustrations of his paintings
and drawings.
Please note that some original Pasternak correspondence and writings are restricted, for which use copies are available in
Box 20.
Arranged into series by author, with additional author series for each additional increment of materials.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Russian literature.
Pasternak, Boris Leonidovich,1890-1960.
Brodsky, Joseph, 1940-
Babel', I.(Isaak), 1894-1941.
Holtzman, Shirley.