New School MFA Creative Writing Program Non-Fiction Forum recordings
Abstract
The collection consists of one decade of sound recordings documenting guest speakers of The New School's MFA in Creative Writing Program's Non-Fiction Forum. Speakers include major Anglophone non-fiction writers, including art and music critics, historians, memoirists, and journalists.
Dates
- 1999-2010
- Majority of material found within 1999-2009
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
.7 Cubic Feet
55 1/4 inch Audio Cassette
1 Audio CD
Language of Materials
English
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of audio cassette recordings and one optical disc (CD) documenting the Non-Fiction Forum. The collection does not contain recordings of the Non-Fiction Forum from the earliest years of the MFA in Creative Writing Program; the collection begins with the Spring 1999 semester. New School Archives staff do not know if the Non-Fiction Forum events from 1996-1998 were recorded and subsequently lost or were never recorded. The greatest number of recordings are situated in 2006 and 2007.
Although the MFA in Creative Writing Program continued to host the Non-Fiction Forum into the 2020s, the absence of recordings beyond 2010 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.
Guest speakers include major Anglophone non-fiction writers, including art and music critics, historians, memoirists, and journalists.
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 “Non-Fiction Forum,” or “Nonfiction Forum,” is one of the four literary forum special event series held by The New School Creative Writing MFA program, alongside the Fiction, Poetry, and Writing for Children and Young Adults forums, which represent the four tracks of specialization offered to students in the program. Forum events are held several times each 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 Non-Fiction Forum was first held in 1996, alongside the creation of the MFA 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. https://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. https://digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1997fa
Arrangement
Arranged in chronological order.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The staff of The New School Archives and Special Collections initially assembled this collection from a larger set of legacy audio recordings transferred from The New School's Raymond Fogelman Library following the establishment of The New School Archives, circa 2012, and from Pam Tillis, director of public programs for The New School for Public Engagement, also in 2012. Later recordings in the collection, roughly those from 2006 to 2010, were transferred 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 audiocassette container inscriptions. Staff did not listen to the tapes to verify content.
- Audiocassettes (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Authors (Occupation) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Creative nonfiction (Subject) Subject Source: Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms
- 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 MFA Creative Writing Program Non-Fiction Forum recordings
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Jason Adamo and Jenny Swadosh
- Date
- May 10, 2025
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin