Writing, 1963 - 2021, bulk: Undated

Series — Multiple Containers

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This series contains the majority of Cohen’s papers and reflect a prolific and creative writing life, including copious notes, manuscript drafts, and revisions that trace the outlines of his creative process. This series also includes print publications of Cohen’s work, including his award-winning collection, Before Stonewall.

Cohen wrote across genres and, as a true working writer, he often adapted his work into different formats and genres—novels into plays, short stories into musicals, etc. This leads to some interesting and occasionally labyrinthian connections between certain works across subseries and series. For example, Cohen adapted his novel, $250,000, into a play, Cakes with the Wine and several short stories and plays share titles and creative DNA (ex. “Cream of Mushroom Soup”), but without dates, it’s not always clear if a story was adapted into a play or vice-versa. In some instances, a single title refers to different works (ex: the variations of Danger in the Room). Further blurring the lines between works, some of the stories Cohen published as short fiction, he later adapted to use in his unpublished memoir, Stories for My Grandson.

Where connections, discrepancies, and/or adaptations are clear, the archivist noted them in the item description.

A major highlight of the Writing series is how these materials reveal some of Cohen’s experiences as a gay man decades before the Stonewall riots and the gay liberation movement. Through his stories and in his memoir (Stories for my Grandson), Cohen shares a very personal journey, from coming of age during the Lavender Scare and the pain of being forced to keep his identity hidden to protect his family, to coming out to his children, having his name on the cover of gay literary magazines and anthologies, and publishing an award-winning collection of stories about gay men of his generation (Before Stonewall).

Other highlights of this series include records illustrating several important stages in the publication process of Cohen's novel, $250,000 (Novels and Novellas), as well as the extensive materials of The Complaint Department Closes at Five subseries (Plays and Musicals), which illuminate the lifecycle of a creative work, from early notes through final drafts.

Dates

1963 - 2021
Majority of material found in Undated

Conditions Governing Access

Reproductions may be provided to users to support research and scholarship. However, collection use is subject to all copyright laws. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron. Edward M. Cohen living trust retains copyright. Please email qc.archives@qc.cuny.edu for more information.

Extent

From the Collection: 11.8 Linear Feet (23 boxes: 19 Hollinger, 1 half Hollinger, 2 half cartons, 1 flat box; and 1 book tote )

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Arrangement

Instances: Most of the drafts and notes in this collection were undated and were not arranged in any perceptible order. Furthermore, many works had multiple undated drafts with the same or similar titles. So, to differentiate individual drafts, without implying an original order, the archivist assigned alphabetical instances (Instance A, Instance B etc.) where necessary.

Subseries categorizing: For the fiction drafts, the archivist deferred to the author’s labeling on the manuscripts for subseries selection, for example, if a manuscript was labeled “a novel” it was included in Novels and Novellas, even if the word count does not meet the current publishing standard word count for a novel.

Titles: When single works appeared under more than one title in the collection, the archivist used the title that was used at publication, or that was used most often in the drafts.

Processing Information

To prevent damage to larger manuscripts (ex: novels, longer scripts), the archivist split them into smaller segments to be housed in multiple folders, grouping them together and labeling them accordingly. Many thanks to Benjamin Rubin at the University of Pittsburgh Special Collections and Archives for his advice regarding this approach.