Scope and Contents
The collection consists of material created and collected by Charles Adams in the course of his research and teaching activities as a scholar of Frank Waters and a professor of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Material includes correspondence; transcripts and sound recordings of interviews with Waters; sound recordings of various seminars, lectures, and talks about Waters; typescripts of writings by and about Waters; photocopies, reprints, and excerpts of published works by Waters; clippings and other printed material; teaching files; files relating to the Frank Waters Society; photographs; and other material. The collection documents Adams's academic career, which focused largely on Waters, and his role as a leading organizer of the scholarly and popular communities interested in Waters, particularly as founder of the Frank Waters Society and editor of Studies in Frank Waters. The collection also sheds light on the nature and organization of the community of interest that sprang up around Waters's work, and provides a great deal of information about Waters in the taped and transcribed interviews conducted by Adams and others.
Dates
- 1946 - 2005
- Majority of material found within ( 1970-2005)
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Boxes 30-33, 41 (audiovisual material): Restricted fragile. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Box 35 (electronic documents): Restricted fragile material. Reference copies available. Consult Access Services for further information.
Conditions Governing Use
The Charles L. Adams Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Joan and Rebecca Adams, 2008.
Gift of Stephen and Rebecca Adams, 2012.
Arrangement
The collection is organized into seven series: I. Correspondence, 1970-2000. II. Transcripts of Interviews with Frank Waters, 1970-1990. III. Writings, Research, and Other Material, 1946-2002. IV. Frank Waters Society, 1975-2002. V. General and Teaching Files, 1960-2000. VI. Audiovisual Material, circa 1970-2000. VII. December 2012 Acquisition, 1971-2005.
Extent
35.97 Linear Feet (41 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Abstract
The collection consists of material created and collected by Charles Adams in the course of his research and teaching activities as a scholar of Frank Waters and a professor of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Material includes correspondence; transcripts and sound recordings of interviews with Waters; sound recordings of various seminars, lectures, and talks about Waters; typescripts of writings by and about Waters; photocopies, reprints, and excerpts of published works by Waters; clippings and other printed material; teaching files; files relating to the Frank Waters Society; photographs; and other material. The collection documents Adams's academic career, which focused largely on Waters, and his role as a leading organizer of the scholarly and popular communities interested in Waters, particularly as founder of the Frank Waters Society and editor of Studies in Frank Waters. The collection also sheds light on the nature and organization of the community of interest that sprang up around Waters's work, and provides a great deal of information about Waters in the taped and transcribed interviews conducted by Adams and others.
Charles L. Adams (1929-2008)
Charles L. Adams was born in Joliet, Illinois, May 11, 1929. He earned his B.A. from Michigan State, his M.A. from the University of Illinois, and his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. He was a professor of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas from 1960 to 1999.
Adams's specialty was modern literature, but he was particularly interested in the writings of Frank Waters, the southwestern novelist, essayist, biographer and non-fiction writer. Adams taught a two-semester series of courses on Waters and was a founder of the Frank Waters Society and editor of its annual journal. He edited Frank Waters: A Retrospective Anthology (Swallow Press/Ohio University Press, 1985) and, with Waters, co-edited W.Y. Evans-Wentz's Cuchama and Sacred Mountains (Swallow Press/Ohio University Press, 1981). He also published numerous articles on Waters and other literary topics in an assortment of journals. Adams was quoted as saying: "I find it very exciting to be able to work with a living author." Waters spoke in his classes and at UNLV's commencement, and Adams participated in numerous conferences and panels on, about, and with Waters.
This biographical note was excerpted from Adams's obituary posted on the Frank Waters Foundation website.
Custodial History
The collection was packed and shipped from Charles L. Adams's office at University of Nevada, Las Vegas by his daughter, Rebecca Adams.
Separated Materials
Certain books and publications from the Charles L. Adams Papers have been accessioned and cataloged separately, with their provenance traced. These items can be found by searching the Uncataloged Acquisitions Database and Orbis (Yale's Online Catalog).
Processing Information
Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, and competing priorities. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections as they are acquired, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.
This collection received a medium level of processing, which included rehousing all material into acid-free folders and boxes, and organizing material into series according to the creator's different professional activities. A good portion of the material comprising the Writings, Research and Other Material series consisted of loose papers in boxes; when foldering this material, library staff assigned general folder headings based on the contents of the folder. The material comprising the General and Teaching Files series represents files that were created and labeled by the creator, and seem to have been maintained more or less as a group, perhaps in the drawers of a desk or file cabinet, although there was no apparent order to how the files were organized. When refoldering this material, library staff left the grouping of material within files intact, transcribed the file titles, and minimally organized the files so that they are in rough chronological order.
- Adams, Charles L.
- American literature -- Southwest, New -- 20th Century
- Audiocassettes
- Audiovisual materials
- Authors, American -- 20th Century
- Frank Waters Society
- Indians in literature
- Photographs
- Sound recordings
- Southwest, New -- In literature
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas
- Video recordings
- Videocassettes
- Waters, Barbara, 1929-2015
- Waters, Frank, 1902-1995
- West (U.S.) -- In literature
- Western stories
- Title
- Guide to the Charles L. Adams Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- by Leigh Golden, Jennifer Meehan, and Emma Gronbeck
- Date
- 2009, revised September 2022
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.