Lillian Herlands Hornstein Papers
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Abstract
The Hornstein collection documents the work of a prominent Chaucerian and English scholar whose entire career developed at New York University. The collection contains Hornstein's research material on Chaucer's literature, including correspondence, bibliographical indexes, manuscripts, papers and articles.
Historical/Biographical Note
Lillian Herlands Hornstein was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1909 and entered Washington Square College in 1925. She received her B.S. summa cum laude(1929), M.A. (1930) and her PhD. "with distinction" (1940) from New York University. Prof. Margaret Schlauch was her inspiration and favorite professor in the Medieval English Literature field. The topic of Prof. Hornstein's PhD thesis was a study of the sources of The King of Tars. She started as a graduate assistant in 1930 and became full professor in 1959. She retired as Professor Emerita of English in May, 1974. She received the "Great Teacher" award granted by the Alumni federation, in 1970, the W.S.C. Alumni Achievement award in 1973, and the NYU Presidential Citation, 1974. She was married to George D. Hornstein, Professor of Law at NYU.
Dr. Hornstein was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and of the consultative Board of the Modern Humanities Research Association, and was Chairman of Middle English at the Modern Language Association (1953-54, 1964-65, 1970). She was the President of the Academy of Literary Studies(1975-76), the Medieval Club of N.Y. (1963), the New York Council College Teachers of English (1950-51)and the Society for the Libraries of NYU She was also very involved in numerous NYU associations and committees.
Her publications show her wide interests in the field of literature. She compiled a Reader's Companion to World Literature(1956). She also participated in the Manual of Writings in Middle English (1968). She published her studies of the King of Tars in various literary journals. One of its versions, published in the PMLA, was voted one of the three best articles on literary criticism from the first 75 years of that journal. After she retired from NYU, she researched thoroughly Chaucer's Man of Law's Tale for the Chaucer Variorum.
Her contributions to society and academia are well accounted for in the Dictionary of American Scholars, Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in World Jewry, Who's Who of Women in Education and the Dictionary of International Biography.
Arrangement
Ia. Research on Chaucer's Man of Law's Tale for the Chaucer Variorum Ib. Bibliographical Index Ic. Chaucer's Manuscripts II. NYU Class-Related Material III. Linguistics IV. Miscellaneous Research Material V. Personal Papers and Articles
Material is arranged either alphabetically or chronologically. Researchers should consult series descriptions for individual series arrangement.
The files are grouped into the following series:
Missing Title
- Ia, Research on Chaucer's Man of Law's Tale for the Chaucer Variorum
- Ib, Bibliographical Index
- Ic, Chaucer's Manuscripts
- II, NYU Class-Related Material
- III, Linguistics
- IV, Miscellaneous Research Material
- V, Personal Papers and Articles
Scope and Content Note
The Hornstein collection documents the work of a prominent Chaucerian and English scholar whose entire career developed at New York University. The collection contains Hornstein's research material on Chaucer's literature, including correspondence, bibliographical indexes, manuscripts, papers and articles.
Another important part of the collection documents Hornstein's teaching. The areas relate to classes taught at NYU and Linguistics and contain syllabi, notes, PhD exam lists, and corrected student papers. The classes she taught are ordered by number, and they vary from old and medieval english literatures and languages, to history of the English Language, to contemporary english literature. There are also some syllabi from colleagues. Of note in this section is the portion extensively dedicated to her professor and mentor Margaret Schlauch, also an NYU English scholar and Chaucerian. The second section of the material pertains to the study of language and linguistics beyond the limits of her teaching needs.
A large section of the collection (about 10 boxes) relates both to her academic research and personal interests. For example there are files on Authographs, Iconography, the Female Serpent, Israel, Folklore and Folktales, Medieval drama and Music, 15c Arthurian Saga, Zodiac, Bocaccio, Freud, Jung, Jack Kerouac and Dieting. It would be useful to look into these files, to double check for extra or missing material in the other sections. It is in a rather chaotic order and everything seems to have been saved. Finally, the last box of the collection contains Hornstein's personal notebooks, speeches, papers and published articles.
The Hornstein papers offers rich and extensive materials for Chaucerians, english medievalists and linguists. This collection would also be very useful for anyone interested in the history of NYU English Department.
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Access Restrictions
Institutional records of New York University are closed for a period of 20 years from the date of their creation (the date on which each document was written). Board of Trustees records are similarly closed for 35 years from the date of creation. The opening date for files spanning several years will be 20 years from the most recent date. Access will be given to material already 20 years old contained within a collection that is not yet open when such material can be isolated from the rest of the collection.
Materials related to personnel, faculty grievances, job searches and all files with information that falls under the University's Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) policy are permanently restricted.
Please contact the University Archivists with specific questions regarding restrictions.
Use Restrictions
Some materials may be restricted. Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the:
New York University Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 998-2641
Fax: (212) 995-4225
E-mail: university-archives@nyu.edu
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form: Identification of item, date (if known); Lillian Herlands Hornstein Papers; MC 140; box number; folder number; New York University Archives, New York University Libraries.
Location of Materials
Provenance
This collection came to the University Archives from the estate of Lillian Herlands Hornstein.