New School MFA Creative Writing Program Writing for Children Forum recordings
Abstract
The collection consists of a little over one decade of sound recordings documenting guest speakers of The New School's MFA in Creative Writing Program's Writing for Children's Forum.
Dates
- 1998-2011
- Majority of material found within 1999-2010
Creator
- New School (New York, N.Y.) (Host institution, Organization)
- New School (New York, N.Y.). Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program (Sponsor, Organization)
Extent
.8 Cubic Feet
68 1/4 inch Audio Cassette
12 Audio CD
Language of Materials
English
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of audio cassette and optical disc (CD) recordings documenting the Writing for Children Forum. Most semesters are typically represented by 3-4 events, one of which is the "Getting Published" panel. Beginning in 2008, more thematic events were added explaining how the children's book publishing industry works.
The collection does not contain recordings of the Writing for Children Forum from the earliest years of the MFA in Creative Writing Program; the collection begins with one recording from the Fall 1998 semester. New School Archives staff do not know if the Writing for Children Forum events from 1996-1998 were recorded and subsequently lost or were never recorded.
Although the MFA in Creative Writing Program continued to host the Writing for Children Forum into the 2020s, the absence of recordings beyond 2011 is likely indicative of a change in audio recording technologies and formats, as consumers shifted from storing sound and video on removal media, such as tapes and discs, to cloud-based storage or the Internet.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research use. Access to audio cassettes may be available in The New School Archives reading room, depending upon the condition of the cassettes once they are evaluated by Archives staff. Researchers desiring remote access and willing to pay a digitization fee may do so upon consultation with The New School Archives. Please contact archivist@newschool.edu for appointment or for further information.
Conditions Governing Use
To publish material from this collection, permission must be obtained in writing from the New School Archives and Special Collections. Please contact: archivist@newschool.edu.
Historical note
The New School established a Master's in Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing in 1996, after six decades of offering non-credit writing workshops. The Graduate Writing Program, as it was called in literature produced by The New School, is situated in the Schools of Public Engagement, formerly known as the Adult Division, the "founding" division of the New School for Social Research as it was conceived in 1919. As of 2025, the program offers four concentrations: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and writing for children.
The “Forum on Writing for Children,” or “Writing for Children and Young Adults Forum,” is one of the four literary forum special event series held by The New School Creative Writing MFA program, alongside the Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Poetry forums. Forum events are held several times a semester, and typically feature a single writer, or two writers, presenting a reading, participating in a moderated discussion, and then answering questions from the audience. The Children’s Writing Forum was first held in 1996, alongside the creation of the Creative Writing program.
Sources:
George Calderado (1996). Fall 1996 Special Programs at The New School [press release]. New School Office of Communications, George Calderaro Records. The New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS030103_000075>
The New School (1997). New School Bulletin 1997 Fall Vol. 55 No. 1 [catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. The New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1997fa>
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The staff of The New School Archives and Special Collections initially assembled this collection from a larger set of legacy recordings transferred from The New School's Raymond Fogelman Library following the establishment of The New School Archives, circa 2012. These recordings spanned 1998-2003. Staff added recordings up to 2011 with the accession of recordings directly from the Creative Writing Program in 2024.
Processing Information
New School Archives staff based all description in this finding aid on course catalog text and audio cassette or optical disc container inscriptions. Staff did not listen to the tapes or discs to verify content.
- Audiocassettes (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Authors (Occupation) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Children's literature -- Authorship (Subject) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Compact discs (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Creative writing -- Study and teaching (Subject) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Sound recordings (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Title
- Guide to the New School Creative MFA Writing Program Writing for Children Forum recordings
- Status
- In Process
- Author
- Jason Adamo and Jenny Swadosh
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin