mc00218 Guide to the Lawrence Sheldon Rudner Papers, 1967 - 1998 Processed by: Caroline Weaver; machine-readable finding aid created by: Stephanie A. Horowitz North Carolina State University Libraries' Special Collections Department
Campus Box 7111 Raleigh, NC 27695-7111
2004 Machine-readable finding aid derived from typescript by rekeying. Date of source: February, 1996 Finding aid written in English 2005Converted to EAD 2002 Guide to the Lawrence Sheldon Rudner Papers, 1967 - 1998 MC 218 North Carolina State University Libraries' Special Collections Department Caroline Weaver February, 1996 Stephanie A. Horowitz January, 2005 Stephanie A. Horowitz Descriptive Summary North Carolina State University. Libraries. Special Collections Dept. Rudner, Lawrence Sheldon, 1947-1995 The Lawrence Sheldon Rudner Papers, 1967 - 1998 MC 218 11 5.5 The Lawrence Sheldon Rudner Papers, dating from 1967 to 1998, contain records relating to the research, teaching, and writings of Lawrence Rudner, a professor in the North Carolina State University English Department. The Papers also contain a small number of records describing Rudner's personal life. The Papers include manuscripts, correspondence, notes, newspaper articles, publications, and photographs. off-site For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Special Collections Research Center Reference Staff. Information for Users Restrictions to Access

This collection is open for research; access requires at least 24 hours advance notice.

The Lawrence Sheldon Rudner Papers were a gift of Lauren Rudner, February 9, 1995; John Kessel, 1998; Lars Osberg, November 8, 2002; and Ruth B. Hutchinson, May 6, 2003.

 Acquisitions Information

The Lawrence Sheldon Rudner Papers were a gift of Lauren Rudner, February 9, 1995; John Kessel, 1998; Lars Osberg, November 8, 2002; and Ruth B. Hutchinson, May 6, 2003.

 Preferred Citation

[Identification of Item], Lawrence Sheldon Rudner Papers, Special Collections Department, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina.

 Copyright Notice

North Carolina State University does not own copyright to this collection. Individuals obtaining materials from the NCSU Libraries' Special Collections Department are responsible for using the works in conformance with United States copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials.

 Biographical Note

Lawrence Sheldon Rudner was born in Detroit, Michigan, on January 7, 1947. He attended Mumford High School in Detroit. During the 1960s, Rudner studied at the London School of Economics, receiving a diploma in philosophy in 1967. He also attended Michigan State University, receiving a bachelor's degree in history and social science in 1968; a master's degree in history in 1971; a master's degree in communications and journalism in 1972; and a doctorate in English and American Studies in 1977. During the Vietnam War, Rudner was a member of the anti-war organization Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

From 1975-1976, Rudner taught English courses at Western Michigan University and from 1976-1978, at Lakeland College in Wisconsin. Rudner began teaching in the English department at North Carolina State University as an assistant professor in 1978. He became an associate professor in 1985 and a full professor in 1992. Rudner taught courses at North Carolina State in journalism, American literature, world literature, and occasionally creative writing. The focus of his academic career, however, was the Holocaust, about which he researched, taught, and wrote. He created a course in the English department at North Carolina State entitled "Literature of the Holocaust" (later, "The Holocaust in Literature"), which continued to be taught after his death. In 1988, Rudner published his first novel, The Magic We Do Here, which won the 1988 Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction. According to Rudner, this novel was an attempt to fight the passing of memory about the Holocaust. Rudner also published several short stories and non-fiction articles relating to the Holocaust. His second and final novel, Memory's Tailor, was published posthumously in 1998 after being edited by colleague John Kessel and editor Susan Ketchin.

During the 1980s, Rudner spent many of his summers in Poland and Czechoslovakia as an American Studies Fellowship lecturer. He was awarded a Senior Fulbright Fellowship for 1986-1987 and spent that time at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland teaching courses on American literature and a seminar on Isaac Bashevis Singer. Also during the 1980s, Rudner and colleague Sandy Kessler taught a humanities course entitled "Survival and Growth Under Adverse Conditions" to long-term inmates of Raleigh's Central Prison.

In 1969, Rudner married his wife Lauren, with whom he had two children, Joshua and Elizabeth. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1994, stopped teaching after the spring semester of that year, and died on May 5, 1995 at the age of 48.

 Scope and Content Note

The Lawrence Sheldon Rudner Papers mainly comprise documentation of Rudner's career as a writer and as a professor at North Carolina State University. It includes manuscripts of his novels, short stories, speeches, and non-fiction articles; reviews of his books; research files on the Holocaust and other topics; information on courses Rudner taught at North Carolina State and elsewhere; applications for grants; and correspondence. A small portion of the collection - comprising photographs, newspaper articles, correspondence, and biographical information - documents Rudner's personal life.

 Organization of the Collection

The Lawrence Sheldon Rudner Papers are organized into three series: Writings, Research and Teaching, Professional Correspondence, and Personal Files.

 Online Catalog Headings American literature--Jewish authors Fiction--20th century Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Fiction Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature Judaism in literature Literature--Study and teaching Literature, Modern North Carolina State University North Carolina State University. Dept. of English Poland Rudner, Lawrence Sheldon (1947-1995) Detailed Description of the Collection MC 218 Series 01 Writings, 1971-1998 4.25 archival boxes2 linear feet

This series contains Lawrence Rudner's professional writings, including his manuscripts for novels, short stories, poems, book reviews and non-fiction articles, as well as his notes for speeches, conferences, and programs. The series also contains copies of Memory's Tailor, edited by John Kessel and Susan Ketchin after Rudner's death, in various stages of publication. For both of Rudner's novels, there are both completed drafts and separate individual sections for which the chronological order could not be determined. Therefore, individual sections are placed sequentially with the completed draft following. Book reviews and publication information for Rudner's published novels are included in this series with the publication to which they refer. Correspondence relating to Rudner's writings is also included in this series. Non-fiction articles on Robert Capa and Edward R. Murrow that contain extensive research are included in the Research subseries of the Research and Teaching series.

 Novels The Magic We Do Here 11 Notes, [no date] 12 Short Story, Yakov, from The Magic We Do Here (originally titled The Photographer), [no date] Draft Copy 13 Chapter 2, [no date] 14 Chapter 3, [no date] 15 Chapter 4, [no date] 16 Chapter 5, [no date] 17 Chapter 11, [no date] 18 Chapter 14, [no date] 19 Miscellaneous Pages, [no date] Complete Manuscript 110 Prologue, [no date] 111 Chapter 1, [no date] 112 Chapters 2-13, [no date] 113 Chapters 14-21, [no date] 114 Chapters 22-25, [no date] 115 Contract, 1986-1987 116 Promotional Materials, 1988, [no date] 117 Book Reviews, 1988, [no date] Memory's Tailor 218 Chapter 1, [no date] 21 Part 2, Chapters 1-9, [no date] Complete Manuscript, with Notations 22 Part 1, [no date] 23 Part 2, Chapters 1-7, [no date] 24 Part 2, Chapters 8-End, [no date] Complete Manuscript 25 Title Page and Part 1, [no date] 26 Part 2, Chapters 1-8, [no date] 27 Part 2, Chapters 9-End, [no date] Complete Manuscript, with edits by John Kessel and Susan Ketchin 31 Part 1, Chapters 1-9, [no date] 32 Part 1, Chapter 10 and Part 2, Chapters 1-5, [no date] 33 Part 2, Chapters 6-12, [no date] 34 Manuscript, Final Edited Copy, Part 1 and Part 2, Chapters 1-3, February 2, 1998 35 Manuscript, Final Edited Copy, Part 2, Chapters 4-Afterword, February 2, 1998 36 Proof Copy, April 2, 1998 37 Uncorrected Proof, 1998 41 Publisher's Sample, 1998 42 Published Copy, 1998 43 Publication Catalog, University Press of Mississippi, 1998 44 Book Review, Publisher's Weekly, August 17, 1998 45 North Carolina State University Library Book Reading and Exhibition, 1998 Short Stories 46 The Book of Dreams, [no date] 47 Broth. Light, [no date] 48 The First Poem of David Adelmov, 1981-1983, [no date] 49 The Great Bocci Ball Tournament of 1967, [no date] 410 An Incident at the Border: Spring 1904, 1983, [no date] 411 Papa's Dream, 1982-1983, [no date] 412 Sabbath Break, 1980, [no date] 413 Supper Time at the Light of God Mission, November 1971 414 The Woman Who Loved Kresge's [first three pages; author uncertain], January 10, 1976 415 List of Submissions, [no date] 416 Story Ideas, 1983, [no date] Non-Fiction 417 Articles and Publications, 1983, [no date] 418 Book Reviews, 1981, [no date] 51 Film Reviews, 1979-1980, [no date] Speeches and Lectures 52 Jews in Hitler's Mental World, [no date] 53 The Literature of the Holocaust, [no date] 54 Popular Culture Meeting Presentation, 1978 55 Witness and Survival, [no date] 56 Writing Stimulus to Creativity, Panel at Meredith College, September 24, 1982 57 Miscellaneous, 1982-1991, [no date] 58 Poems, 1975, 1977, [no date] 59 Journal Entries, 1984 MC 218 Series 02 Research and Teaching, 1976-1994 6.5 archival boxes3.25 linear feet

The Research and Teaching series includes material related to Rudner's academic work. It is divided into two subseries, Research and Teaching. The Research subseries contains Rudner's grant applications and his reference files for subjects he researched. It also contains a small amount of material relating to trips that Rudner took to Poland and Russia in order to do research. Correspondence from these trips is included in this series. [Note: a syllabus for a Holocaust seminar in London is included in the Trips subseries though it is uncertain whether Rudner participated in the seminar.] The Teaching subseries includes information regarding courses taught by Rudner at North Carolina State, in Poland, and at Central Prison. The Teaching subseries is arranged, within each institution, alphabetically by department name. Within departments, files are arranged numerically. Unidentified courses are placed at the end of the subseries or at the end of the institution's sub-subseries if the institution could be determined.

 Research Reference Files 510 American Jews 511 Anderman, Janusz 512 Anti-Semitism [File 1 of 2] 513 Anti-Semitism [File 2 of 2] 514 Anti-Semitism in Poland 515 Anti-Semitism Literature 516 Bosnia/Sarajevo 517 Capa, Robert, Article and Research 518 The Deer Hunter 519 Farina, Richard 520 Film 521 Frank, Anne 522 Fritz, Stephen 523 Gordimer, Nadine [File 1 of 2] 524 Gordimer, Nadine [File 1 of 2] 525 Gould, Stephen 526 Graham, Melissa 527 Grossman, M. 528 Grynzspan, H. 529 Hallie, Philip Holocaust 530 American Jews 61 Articles [File 1 of 4] 62 Articles [File 2 of 4] 63 Articles [File 3 of 4] 64 Articles [File 4 of 4] 65 Audio-visual Materials [File 1 of 2] 66 Audio-visual Materials [File 2 of 2] 67 Auschwitz 68 Bibliography 69 Books [File 1 of 2] 610 Books [File 2 of 2] 611 Camp Liberation 612 Chronology 613 Conferences and Talks 614 Fiction 61 Final Solution 72 Oral Histories 73 Poetry 74 Photography 75 Poland 76 Poster Exhibit 77 Publications 78 Revisionism 79 Survivors 710 Teaching [File 1 of 3] 711 Teaching [File 2 of 3] 712 Teaching [File 3 of 3] 713 Television Series 714 Trials 715 Writing 716 Human Rights 717 Jewish Culture 718 Jutra, Claude 719 Kiefer, Anselm 720 Kielce 721 Kijowski, Andrzej 722 Kishinev 723 Klarsfeld, Beate 724 Kosinski, Jerzy 725 Kubrick, Stanley 726 Kundera, Milan 727 Langer Speech 728 Levi, Primo 729 Macbeth 81 Márquez, Gabriel Garcia 82 Maus 83 Mengele, Josef 84 Milosz 85 Murrow, Edward R., Article drafts and research [File 1 of 2] 86 Murrow, Edward R., Article drafts and research [File 2 of 2] 87 Nazi Propaganda 88 Neo-Nazis 89 Osbourne, John 810 Ozick, Cynthia 811 Palestinians 812 Podhoretz, Norman 813 Poland 814 Renoir, Jean 815 Rushdie, Salman 816 Singer, Isaac Bashevis 817 Smith, W. Eugene 818 Steinbeck, John 819 von Sternberg, Josef 820 Styron, William 821 Television History 822 Torture Victims 823 Welles, Orson 824 Whitman, Walt 91 Wiesel, Elie 92 Wiesenthal, Simon 93 Zygielbojm, Zygmunt Grant Applications 94 Mellon Fellowship, 1980 95 National Endowment for the Arts, 1984-1990 96 National Endowment for the Humanities, 1982-1983 97 North Carolina Arts Council, 1988 98 United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 1985 Trips 99 The Mark of the Beast, Winternational 1981 Syllabus, 1981 910 Brochures and Pamphlets, [no date], [File 1 of 2] 911 Brochures and Pamphlets, [no date], [File 2 of 2] Teaching North Carolina State University English 912 208, Studies in Fiction, 1983-1984, 1991, [no date] 913 215, Principles of News and Article Writing, 1983-1985, [no date] 914 223, Contemporary World Literature I, 1992, [no date] 915 246, Literature of the Holocaust, 1994, [no date] 916 265, Survey of American Literature I, Summer 1982 917 266, Survey of American Literature II/American Literature II, 1979-1994, [no date] 918 298, The Literature of Journalism, 1979, [no date] 298H, Literature of the Holocaust 919 1982, [no date] [File 1 of 5] 920 1982-1992, [no date] [File 2 of 5] 921 [no date] [File 3 of 5] 101 1990, [no date] [File 4 of 5] 102 Course Packet, 1990, [File 5 of 5] 103 315, Advanced News and Article Writing, Fall 1980, Spring 1991 104 323A, Creative Writing: Fiction, [no date] 105 346, Literature of the Western World, Fall 1988, [no date] 106 347, Unknown Course [contains Holocaust teaching guides], [no date] 107 375, Film as a Literary Medium, 1979-1988 108 399, Contemporary Literature II, 1989, 1993, [no date] 109 Department Programs, Spring 1985, [no date] Humanities and Social Sciences, General 1010 292, Aspects of the Human Condition, 1981-1985, [no date] 1011 300, International Studies: Contemporary Eastern Europe, 1981-1983, [no date] 1012 398S, Literature of the Holocaust, 1992, [no date] 1013 Master of Arts in Liberal Studies 601, The Holocaust Experience, 1990-1992, [no date] 1014 University 295, The Holocaust, 1984-1985, [no date] 1015 World War I in Literature, with Tom Lisk, 1977 1016 Western Michigan University, English 210, Film Interpretation, Winter 1976 Lakeland College 1017 General Studies 125, The Nazi Holocaust: The Price of Survival, 1978, [no date] [File 1 of 2] 1018 General Studies 125, The Nazi Holocaust: The Price of Survival, 1978, [no date] [File 2 of 2] 111 Journalism 212, Feature Writing, Fall 1977, [no date] 112 Journalism 300, The New Journalism, Spring 1978 113 Meredith College, Basic Journalism, Fall 1985 Poland 114 [no date] [File 1 of 3] 115 [no date] [File 2 of 3] 116 [no date] [File 3 of 3] 117 Central Prison, 1982-1983, [no date] [File 1 of 2] 118 Central Prison, 1982-1983, [no date] [File 2 of 2] Unidentified Courses 119 Charles Dickens Seminar, 1981, [no date] 1110 Film History, [no date] 1111 Holocaust, [no date] 1112 Journalism, [no date] [File 1 of 2] 1113 Journalism, [no date] [File 2 of 2] 1114 New Journalism, [no date] MC 218 Series 03 Professional Correspondence, 1974-1994 .25 archival boxes.125 linear feet

The Professional Correspondence series, a very small portion of the collection, contains Rudner's correspondence from his academic career, including course development, letters of recommendation, publication proposals, and research. It is divided into three files: Publications, Holocaust Courses, and General. Each file is organized chronologically with dateless correspondence at the end of the file.

 1115 Publications, 1983-1993, [no date] 1116 Holocaust Courses, 1977-1994, [no date] 1117 General, 1974-1991, [no date] MC 218 Series 04 Personal Files, 1967-1989 .25 archival boxes.125 linear feet

This series contains a small amount of material relating to Rudner's personal life. It includes several curricula vitae, photographs of Rudner and other subjects, newspaper articles about Rudner, and personal correspondence.

 1118 Articles about Rudner, 1981-1988, [no date] 1119 Correspondence, to Ruth Hutchinson, 1985-1989 1120 Correspondence, to Lars Osberg, 1967-1978 [File 1 of 2] 1121 Correspondence, to Lars Osberg, [no date] [File 2 of 2] 1122 Curricula Vitae, [no date] Photographs 1123 Mason, Bobbie Ann, [no date] 1124 Rudner, Lawrence Sheldon, [no date] 1125 Singer, Isaac Bashevis, [no date] 1126 Unknown Subjects, [no date]