Ransom Center Magazine

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

Meet the Staff: Digital Collections Librarian Liz Gushee

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Meet the Staff is a Q&A series on Cultural Compass that highlights the work, experience, and lives of staff at the Harry Ransom Center. Liz Gushee has been the digital collections librarian at the Ransom Center since January 2011. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from Earlham College and a Master of Library and Information Science from Catholic University of America. Gushee is responsible for launching and managing the platform for the Ransom Center’s digital collections, which includes more than 43,000 items and continues to grow as newly digitized materials are added on a regular basis.

  [Read more…] about Meet the Staff: Digital Collections Librarian Liz Gushee

Julia Alvarez to receive National Medal of the Arts

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Novelist, poet, and essayist Julia Alvarez will receive a 2013 National Medal of the Arts today “for her extraordinary storytelling.” The award will be presented by President Obama. The White House notes in the citation, “In poetry and in prose, Ms. Alvarez explores themes of identity, family, and cultural divides. She illustrates the complexity of navigating two worlds and reveals the human capacity for strength in the face of oppression.”

Alvarez’s archive resides at the Ransom Center and is currently being processed. Alvarez was born in New York City but raised in the Dominican Republic until she was 10. In 1960 her family was forced to flee the Dominican Republic when it was discovered that her father was involved in a plot to overthrow dictator Rafael Trujillo.

Much of Alvarez’s work is considered semi-autobiographical, drawing on her experiences as an immigrant and her bicultural identity. Alvarez’s unique experiences have shaped and infused her writing—from such award-winning novels as How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and In the Time of the Butterflies to her poetry.

Alvarez’s extensive archive consists of manuscripts, correspondence, journals, and professional files. The manuscripts span her writing career and include fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays, and unpublished works, often in multiple drafts.

Image: Julia Alvarez speaks with students during a visit to the Ransom Center in March 2014. Photo by Pete Smith.

Novelist, poet, and essayist Julia Alvarez’s archive acquired

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Sketch of "The Tavárez-Mirabal 'Residence'" from Julia Alvarez's novel "In the Time of the Butterflies."
Sketch of "The Tavárez-Mirabal 'Residence'" from Julia Alvarez's novel "In the Time of the Butterflies."

The Harry Ransom Center has acquired the archive of acclaimed novelist, poet, and essayist Julia Alvarez (b. 1950).

Alvarez’s extensive archive consists of manuscripts, correspondence, journals, and professional files. The manuscripts span her writing career and include fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays, and unpublished works, often in multiple drafts. Alvarez regularly sent drafts of her work to friends and colleagues, and these copies usually bear handwritten comments from the reader alongside Alvarez’s revisions.

Alvarez’s correspondence includes poems and letters from fellow writers such as Sandra Cisneros, Edwidge Danticat, Dana Gioia, and Marilyn Hacker.

Alvarez was born in New York City but raised in the Dominican Republic until she was 10. In 1960 her family was forced to flee the Dominican Republic when it was discovered that her father was involved in a plot to overthrow dictator Rafael Trujillo.

Much of Alvarez’s work is considered semi-autobiographical, drawing on her experiences as an immigrant and her bicultural identity. Alvarez’s unique experiences have shaped and infused her writing—from such award-winning novels as How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and In the Time of the Butterflies to her poetry.

Alvarez’s archive will complement the university’s internationally respected resources in Latin American studies, providing a unique and enriching resource not only for literary study, but also for the study of Latin American history and government and other prominent social and cultural issues of our time.

The Alvarez materials will be accessible once processed and cataloged.

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