Judith Wilson papers, 1966-2010

Found here is Wilson's correspondence with colleagues, scholars, artists, arts organizations, and universities. A small amount of personal correspondence with friends is also included. Of note is extensive correspondence with artists Houston Conwill, Judy Chicago, Ana Mendieta, Howardena Pindell, Adrian Piper, and Raymond Saunders; as well as art historians Kellie Jones, Theresa Leininger-Miller, Lucy Lippard, Eunice Lipton, Kymberly Pinder, Richard Powell, and Moira Roth.

Correspondence is arranged alphabetically. Additional files of student correspondence and letters of recommendations are arranged at the end of the series.

Wilson's notebooks include notes from interviews with artists and collectors, studio visits, exhibitions, conferences, and other activities. They also document project ideas and research sources. Researchers should note that notebooks regarding research on Bob Thompson are included in Series 6.

Notebooks are arranged in rough chronological order.

Found here are Judith Wilson's files regarding her writing projects, including magazine and journal articles, book projects, exhibition catalog essays, and guest editorships. Some files contain documentation for writings that were never published. Documents may include project correspondence, draft writings, planning documents and agreements, research material, and publications. Not all files contain drafts or final published versions of the writings. Writing projects of note include articles on Alma Thomas, Henry Ossawa Tanner, and Adrian Piper, as well as catalog essays on Hale Woodruff, Alison Saar, and Sargent Johnson. Interviews conducted for writing projects are included in Series 8: Interviews.

Folders are grouped by type of project and further arranged in rough chronological order.

Found here is Wilson's documentation on her participation in conferences, lectures, and symposia. Files may include correspondence, planning and travel documents, panelist biographies, programs and event publications, drafts of Wilson's lectures, and slide lists. Several files also include sound cassette recordings of events, as well as digital records containing planning documents and draft lectures.

Folders are arranged in rough chronological order.

Professional records document Wilson's participation in juries, advisory committees, editorial boards, and exhibitions, as well as a few teaching records and other records of professional meetings. Also found are letters to the editor and reader's reports for various articles, book projects, and manuscripts. Files may include correspondence, notes, meeting minutes and agendas, publications, and draft writings by others.

Judith Wilson's research material regarding artist Bob Thompson includes research correspondence, extensive research notebooks, index to the notebook, slide lists, and general research material. The general research files include photographs and digital photographs of artwork by Thompson, catalogs and announcements for exhibitions of his work, press clippings and a few handwritten lists. Wilson conducted most of this research for her dissertation, "Garden of Music: The Search for Creative Community in the Art and Life of Bob Thompson (1937-1966)." A copy of the dissertation is also included here. "Bob Thompson Happening!", a documentary by Dorothy Beskind, is available on one videocassette and in digital format.

A small amount of printed material includes books, magazines, and other publications containing writings by Wilson or other mentions of her work. Also found are several issues of Black Studies Correspondence and a few exhibition announcements.

Interviews are recorded on 97 sound cassette tapes and two electronic records. Included are interviews Wilson conducted with artists, their associates, and collectors for various writing projects. Researchers should note that additional documentation on these writing projects as well as any existing interview notes can be found in Series 2: Notebooks and Series 3: Writing Projects. Also found is one interview of Wilson for StoryCorps.

Interviews for which specific projects have been identified are grouped by project in chronological order. Other interviews are arranged alphabetically by interviewee.

Found here are six electronic records including video art by artists Ulysses Jenkins, Barbara McCullough, and Maren Hassinger. Also found is A Brush with Success, a 30-minute documentary film about artist Ed Clark, directed by Charles Martin.