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COLLECTION Identifier: MC 374

Papers of Catherine Bly Cox, 1962-1967

Overview

Diaries, letters, biographical information, etc., of Catherine Bly Cox, teacher.

Dates

  • Creation: 1962-1967

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Access Restrictions:

Access. Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Catherine Bly Cox is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library. Materials may not be quoted without written permission from Catherine Bly Cox during her lifetime. Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.

Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.

Extent

.21 linear feet (1/2 file box)

The collection consists of three diaries (1962, 1963, and 1966-1967?), three letters from Catherine Bly Cox to herself, and biographical material by Cox. The diaries reflect the social mores of the Midwest and life in a town dominated by one employer, the Maytag Company. In the first two volumes, Cox records life at school, church attendance, and participation in such activities as hayrides and sleigh rides, but in the main the diaries comment on the various young men to whom Cox was, or would like to have been, attracted. The third volume is partly a diary, but mainly a journal of observations and quotations kept as a school assignment; it includes comments by teachers.

BIOGRAPHY

Catherine Bly Cox was born in March 1949, in Newton, Iowa. Her parents, June Slocum Cox and John Donovan Cox (a Maytag Company executive), lived in Iowa all of their lives except for her father's World War II military service. Cox attended the local high school, graduating in 1967, and the University of Iowa, 1967-1969, majoring in English. She transferred to the College of William and Mary and graduated in 1971. She also earned an M.Phil. at Oxford in 1974 and a Ph.D. in English literature at Yale in 1980. Cox was a visiting lecturer in English at Oberlin College in 1979 and since then has taught at Rutgers University. She married David L. Wessel in 1972; they were divorced in 1979. Cox is now married to Charles A. Murray, a writer, political scientist, and statistician.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession number: 84-M36

The papers of Catherine Bly Cox were given to the Schlesinger Library in March 1984 by Catherine Bly Cox.

Processing Information

Inventory: January 1986

By: Adelaide Kennedy

Title
Cox, Catherine Bly. Papers of Catherine Bly Cox, 1962-1967: A Finding Aid
Author
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Language of description
eng
EAD ID
sch00533

Repository Details

Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository

The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.

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