Use Restrictions

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collections Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).

Access Restrictions

Collection open to research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.

Preferred Citation

[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Ralph Cohen Papers, 1940s-2013, SC 0203, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Ralph Cohen in 2010 as part of a larger gift to JMU Libraries.

Processing Information

Much of the papers in the collection were inserted in Cohen's study library of books and offprint articles. The papers, comprising correspondence, ephemera, and photographs, were removed from the texts. The printed materials were then either retained and cataloged bibliographically or discarded depending on current collecting scope.

Appraisal

Widely available article reprints and offprints that were sent to Cohen by the authors were weeded. Cohen's UVa Lawn Society paperweight was not retained. Indecipherable computer printouts were not retained. A final manuscript copy of Cohen's The Unfolding of "The Seasons" was discarded. A second annotated/marked-up/draft copy was retained.

Biographical / Historical

Dr. Ralph Cohen (1917-2016), inaugural Provost Distinguished Professor at James Madison University, joined the university faculty in 2010. Dr. Cohen established the Cohen Center of Technical Humanism at JMU, building on the foundation of the graduate program in Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication. Prior to his service at JMU, Dr. Cohen was William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English at the University of Virginia (UVa) beginning in 1968. Between 1952 and 1967, he taught Philosophy and English at the University of California, Los Angeles. He authored six books, over 140 articles, and founded New Literary History: A Journal of Theory and Interpretation at UVa in 1969. This journal remains the preeminent journal of its kind in the world. Dr. Cohen built a robust study library over the course of his life, donating all of these books to JMU upon his death in 2016. His wife, Libby Okun Cohen, who had a long career as a librarian, preceded him in death in 2013.

Scope and Contents

Correspondence, writings, notes, photographs, and ephemera of Ralph Cohen, the bulk of which was separated from printed materials in Cohen's study library. The correspondence primarily concerns books and articles that were sent to the Cohens and were for Ralph Cohen's review and consideration. A sub-folder of 1943 correspondence comprises letters and postcards written in either Hebrew or Yiddish to Libby Cohen from her mother. Some inserts are seemingly unrelated to the text they were filed in (invitations, postcards, photographs, ephemera, etc.) and may have only served as book marks.

The lectures and writings are largely papers written by Cohen that were presented by him in a public forum some of which are identified (Midwest Modern Language Association meeting, Indiana University Patten Foundation Lecture Series). Topics include George Barnwell, the subject of George Lilo's play The London Merchant , and genre theory. A draft copy of Cohen's The Unfolding of "The Seasons": A Study of James Thomson's Poem is heavily edited and annotated. In "Once Upon a Time," Libby Cohen recollects spending four summers at the Medem Sanatorium in Warsaw, Poland. The same folder includes a response titled "Echoes..." written by the Cohens' daughter Ruth Cohen Traister Morris.

A scrapbook comprises photographs and marketing material documenting programs and lectures held at the University of Virginia and sponsored by UVa's Commonwealth Center for Literary and Cultural Change.

Related Material

RG-24/54/1.151, Ralph Cohen papers and New Literary History records, Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Academic writing
• American literature -- History and criticism
• Articles
• Cohen, Ralph, 1917-2016
• Cohen, Ralph, 1917-2016 -- Correspondence
• Cohen, Ralph, 1917-2016 -- Written works
• English language
• Letters (correspondence)
• Medem-sanaṭorye (Miedzeszyn, Warsaw, Poland)
• Midwest Modern Language Association
• Photographs
• Printed Ephemera
• Scrapbooks
• University of Virginia -- History -- Marketing