The Ellison Center at Bard is inheritor of the rights to the Ralph Ellison archive, formally called the Ralph Ellison Papers, at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. In an effort to foster broader and more equitable access to this rich and vital repository of material culture, the Center is undertaking the ambitious Ellison Archive Digitization Project. As the photographs, correspondence, writings, and other fragments are digitized, the digital archive is being made available to researchers, other institutions, and to the public.
A photograph of Ellison's home office. Courtesy of the Ellison archive
About the Project
Most of Ralph Ellison’s materials are held at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. A central goal of the Ellison Center is to digitize this extensive collection, which serves a dual purpose: First, to provide a grounding context for other Center activities, encouraging a confrontation with the materiality of Ellison’s legacy; second, to host these material cultural resources on Bard servers for the benefit of faculty, students, staff, and the general public, for research and teaching purposes. Student scholars will have the opportunity to take part in summer projects to travel to DC and assist in digitizing the archive. The Center will cover costs of travel, lodging, and a modest stipend to undertake this work.
Fanny Ellison. Photo courtesy the Ellison archive
Fanny Ellison and the archive
Fanny Ellison—born Fanny Mae McConnell—helped support her husband Ralph throughout the writing of his 1952 novel, Invisible Man, and throughout the later years of his life, as an editor, confidant, and creative and life partner. Following his death in 1994, Fanny oversaw the care taking and publication of Ralph Ellison's writings, correspondences, and other archival materials. Ralph had expressed to Fanny his wish that his book and other materials be entered into the Library of Congress for posterity, which she did. The Ralph Ellison archival project is picking up that work to fulfill Ellison's wish. The ongoing digitization of Ellison's extensive archival materials is supported by a robust regranting effort.
The Ellison Center and the Ellison archive represent Bard’s effort to honor the inheritance of our elders and ancestors through the materials they leave behind, regarding them as a repository of wisdom that shapes how we pursue meaning and purpose in our own lives.
Archive Gallery
Course description for 19th & 20th Century American History in the American Novel at Bard
Letter appointing Ralph Ellison to the Bard Division of Literature in 1958
Note to Ellison from Bard Registrar
Artifacts
Ellison Home Artifacts
Ellison Home Artifacts