Skip to main content Skip to main navigation

Carole Hyatt papers

Call Number

MS 3105

Date

1947-2006 (bulk, 1980s-1990s), inclusive

Creator

Hyatt, Carole

Extent

19 Linear feet in 19 boxes + 1.09 terabytes of digitized audiotapes

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

The Carole Hyatt papers include transcripts, notes, audiotapes, working files, and publicity material related to the author and career consultant Carole Hyatt's publications, workshops, and other initiatives. These especially relate to her trilogy of books exploring the relationship of individuals to a changing workplace: "When Smart People Fail" (1987), "Shifting Gears" (1990), and "Lifetime Employability" (1995), as well as to the ramifications of women's expanding role in the workplace. The collection holds about 670 audiotapes, principally of Hyatt's interviews with individuals and focus groups, which underlie much of her published work. About 450 of these have been digitized for access.

Biographical / Historical

Author, entrepreneur, and career consultant Carole Hyatt (née Schwartz) was born in 1935 in New York City. Her early life was directed toward the theatre, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Theatre and Education from Syracuse University in 1956 and her Master of Arts degree in Children's Theater and Creative Dramatics from the University of Denver in 1959. In the early 1960s, with a focus on children's programming, Hyatt worked as a producer in theatre and, at CBS, in television. In 1966 she married Gordon Hyatt, whom she met at CBS. The Hyatts have one child, daughter Ariel.

In 1966, Hyatt co-founded, with social analyst June Esserman, the research firm Hyatt/Esserman Research Associates, later know as Child Research Service. Along with analyst Daniel Yankelovich, Hyatt and Esserman provided research services to corporations and other organizations on women, youth and family interaction issues, supporting the creation of products, services and marketing strategies by their clients. This work led to the publication of Hyatt's first books, "The Woman's Selling Game: How to Sell Yourself — and Anything Else" (1979) and "Women and Work: Honest Answers to Real Questions" (1980).

In 1982, Esserman died of a heart attack. With the loss of her partner, Hyatt sold the firm in 1983 to McCollum Spielman, though remaining on the Board of Directors until 1986. While constrained by a non-compete agreement until 1986, Hyatt began work on a new book, which would be published as "When Smart People Fail: Rebuilding Yourself for Success" (1987). She interviewed 176 people for the book from various fields, both the well-known and the not well known, to explore the career setbacks of individuals and how they recovered from them. Through the 1980s and into the mid-1990s, Hyatt continued conducting interviews with men and women concerning their relationship with the workplace and with one another as society shifted to a broader acceptance of women in the professional workforce. Interviews about surviving corporate downsizing and other corporate upheavals, changing careers and finding an identity outside of the corporate setting, and finding fulfillment in retirement, among other topics, led to Hyatt's next books: "Shifting Gears: How to Master Career Change and Find the Work That's Right for You" (1992) and "Lifetime Employability: How to Become Indispensable" (1995).

Hyatt took the lessons documented in her books and used them to create workshops that she ran for organizations. These workshops were aimed at both individuals, often women, empowering them to take charge of their careers and lives, and at teams of people, unlocking the creative energies of organizations, a process referred to as "ideation." Her appeal spread internationally, perhaps especially to Asia, notably Japan, where she had a close partnership with Sakayori Noriko in the translation and publication of her work. In addition to workshops, Hyatt was a frequent speaker at conferences, such as those of the National Association for Executive Women (NAFE).

Continuing to find new partnerships and vehicles for building out her essential messages, among other initiatives, Hyatt created the Leadership Forum in the late 1990s for improving career strategies and leadership qualities for women and, in 2013, Mission: Getting to Next as a career transition program for women.

(The above note was based on various on-line sources, including Wikipedia, as well as on documents in the collection.)

Arrangement

The collection is organized in four series:

Series I. Press, Publicity and Fan Letters, 1947-2006.

Series II. Research and Working Files, 1976-2005.

Series III. Audiotapes, 1975-2003, undated.

Series IV. Videotapes, circa 1980-2004, undated.

Scope and Contents

The collection includes transcripts, notes, audiotapes, working files, reference material, videotapes, and publicity material related to Carole Hyatt's publications and workshops. These especially relate to her trilogy of books exploring the relationship of individuals to a changing workplace: "When Smart People Fail" (1987), "Shifting Gears" (1990), and "Lifetime Employability" (1995). Also prominent in the working files are various concepts she researched for potential publication, such as the impact of women's increased earnings power on personal relationships and the attributes of successful couples. The range of Hyatt's activities are represented here, from books to workshops to corporate consulting to television programming possibilities. There is rich material on Hyatt's Japan initiatives of the 1980-1990s.

Hyatt's research files for her books of the 1980s and 1990s comprise a substantial portion of the collection. These include Hyatt's notes taken during her interviews and transcriptions of many of those interviews. The collection holds about 670 audiotapes, the bulk of which are of Hyatt interviews or recordings of her on radio interviews, making presentations, and the like. About 450 of these tapes have been digitized and can be listened to on-site at New-York Historical Society.

Conditions Governing Access

Open to qualified researchers. The audio and videocassette tapes in the collection are restricted; see specifics at the series level below.

Conditions Governing Use

Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to 20 exposures of stable, unbound material per day. Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions

Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. Note especially that the audiotapes and videocassettes in the collection are protected by copyright, which N-YHS does not hold. Copies may not be made of these without permission of the copyright owner. Contact manuscripts@nyhistory.org for further information.

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as the Carole Hyatt Papers, MS 3105, New-York Historical Society.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Carole Hyatt, 2016.

Collection processed by

Larry Weimer

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:48:33 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: English

Processing Information

Approximately 450 of the audiotapes in the collection were digitized in November 2016 by The Media Preserve for the New-York Historical Society. The paper portion of the collection was processed, and the overall collection described in a finding aid, in 2019-20 by archivist Larry Weimer.

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024