Envisioning a Special Collection

The special collection I envision to house “The Opposite of Loneliness” would be a collection of authors who died young (before the age of 30). One potential name is “Before Their Time: Celebrating the Work of Great Authors who Died Young.” As I have worked with Marina Keegan’s writing, I have appreciated the unique voice of a young author. Marina was graduating college when she wrote her essay; her main points were drawn from her experiences in just 22 years of life. Unlike an older author looking back on youth with perhaps a sense of nostalgia or reminiscence, Marina’s writing exudes the energy of youth as she lived it. I think such a collection would be appreciated at Harvard or another college library, because college students can find the lives and works of these young authors interesting and inspiring as they simultaneously produce their own work. I envision the work of Marina Keegan placed alongside that of Sylvia Plath, John Keats, Emily Bronte, Anne Bronte, and others.

I want to engage different media in my collection. I envision a space that includes manuscripts (including letters, drafts, notes, etc.) from these authors, photos and images from their lives displayed in real print and on screens, and perhaps a webpage-type screen/digital poster that aesthetically displays the mission/vision of the collection, links to biographies of the authors and descriptions of the materials, and other relevant information. To engage visitors, I would love to initiate a contest in which students can submit creative work as part of the display – “Celebrating Young Writers” at Harvard. Then, the focus broadens to not just writers of the past who died young, but current writers at Harvard who actively contribute to literary/artistic creation.