Repository:

Kent State University Libraries. Special Collections and Archives.

Title:

Sanford Marovitz May 4 papers

Inclusive Date(s):

1970-2000

Bulk Date(s):

1970-1971

Author:

Finding aid prepared by Rennie Greenfield, November 2015

Creation:

Finding aid encoded by Rennie Greenfield using the OhioLINK EAD Application in 2015

Description Rules:

Finding aid prepared using DACS 2nd edition

Origination:

Marovitz, Sanford E.

Extent:

.33 cubic feet (1 document case)

Physical Location:

11th floor (May 4 Collection, Box 213)

Finding Aid Identifier:

OhKeUSC0167

Abstract:

This collection contains the personal papers of Sanford Marovitz collected primarily during the first year after the Kent State shootings. The materials mostly center around the events of May 4, 1970 and provide an inside look at the events from a faculty and administrative perspective.

Language(s):

The records are in English.

Biography of Sanford Marovitz

Sanford Marovitz was born on May 10, 1933 in Chicago, Illinois. Marovitz served four years in the U. S. Air Force (1953-1957) and then earned a B.A. from Lake Forest College in 1960, an M.A. in June 1961, and a Ph.D. completed in October 1967 and awarded June 1968 from Duke University. He taught at Temple University and the University of Athens in Greece under the Fulbright Program. He began his career at Kent State University in 1967 as an assistant professor. He was a professor of English and chairman of Graduate Studies at Kent State University. American literature is his major field of study, within which he holds particular interests in Jewish-American fiction, Western writing, and the literature of the American Renaissance. He taught at Shimane University in Matsue, Japan as a visiting professor (1976-1977). Professor Marovitz has published widely in professional journals and collected volumes of criticism. He was co-editor of Artful Thunder (1975), a festschrift in honor of Howard P. Vincent. He collaborated with Clarence Gohdes on the fifth edition of A Bibliographical Guide to the Study of the Literature of the U.S.A. (1984). Other publications include Abraham Cahan (Twayne's United States Authors Series, 1996) and Melville "Among the Nations": Proceedings of an International Conference, Volos, Greece, July 2-6, 1997 (2001). He was also the associate editor of Studies in American Jewish Literature. Marovitz received the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, 1960-1961; Fulbright Teaching Grant to Greece, 1965-66; renewed, 1966-67 and also the Academic Quarter Research Awards at Kent State University in 1971, 1974 and 1977. He has been listed in Who's Who in the Midwest and Who's Who in the World. He retired from Kent State University in 1996. Marovitz passed away on July 9, 2023.

Scope and Content

This collection contains papers compiled primarily in the first year after the Kent State shootings of May 4, 1970. It details faculty, administrative, and student reactions as well as personal narratives, position papers, and statements given in the weeks just after May 4. There are several documents dealing with the Kent State Medical Fund including the founding papers of that organization. There are also clippings, posters, brochures, and correspondence-all from 1970 and 1971.

Statement of Arrangement

This collection has been arranged into the following five series:

• Series 1: Responses to the Kent State Shootings
• Series 2: Records of Faculty Organizations
• Series 3: Publications
• Series 4: Correspondence
• Series 5: Artifacts

Related Material

Further information concerning Sanford Marovitz can be found in the Sanford Marovitz papers.

Restrictions on Access

Some information included in this collection is restricted due to the presence of information protected by privacy laws. This information has been redacted where present on documents in the collection. Un-redacted originals, in all cases, have been retained by Special Collections and Archives.

Preferred Citation

Sanford Marovitz May 4 papers. May 4 Collection. Kent State University Libraries. Special Collections and Archives.

Acquisition Information

Sanford Marovitz donated his May 4 papers to Special Collections and Archives in 2014.

Subject Headings

The following subjects are found in this collection:

Subjects:

• Kent State Shootings, Kent, Ohio, 1970
• Kent State University--History
• Kent (Ohio)--History
• Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Protest movements
• Students for a Democratic Society (U.S.)
• Ohio. Municipal Court (Portage County). Special Grand Jury

Persons:

• White, Robert I., 1908-
• Marovitz, Sanford E.

Functions:

• Universities and colleges--Administration

Occupations:

• University administrators
• College Administrators
• College teachers

Material Types:

• Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.)
• Correspondence

Detailed Description of the Collection