Sandra Kitt Papers

The Sandra Kitt papers document Kitt's multidisciplinary careers and endeavors as a romance novelist, librarian, and visual artist. Materials related to Kitt’s career in romance literature comprise the majority of the collection; however, Kitt’s artwork, library materials, and personal journals are also well represented.

The first five series pertain to Kitt's career as a romance novelist. The Literary Writing series consists of proposals, synopses, manuscripts (edited and unedited), and/or galleys for romance novels, short stories published in anthologies, and other writing by Kitt. These written materials are arranged by the published title of the work, although working titles are noted; short stories published in anthologies are arranged by the title of Kitt’s work within the anthology, although the anthology title is also noted. The following four series pertain to other aspects of Kitt’s literary career, including Literary Correspondence, Literary Promotion, Literary Reviews and Press Features, and Literary Website and Author’s Newsletters.

The following two series are also relevant to Kitt's literary career. The Teaching Materials series consists of printed materials, handwritten notes, and other ephemera that Kitt created and/or used when teaching writing as an Adjunct Instructor at the County College of Morris in Dover, New Jersey. The General Literary Career series consists of bibliographies of Kitt's work, printed guidelines for social media promotion for writers, materials pertaining to literary organizations like the Romance Writers of America (RWA) and Kitt's roles therein, materials pertaining to literary awards, and miscellaneous literary resources.

The following two series represent multiple facets of Kitt’s professional and personal life, including but not limited to her literary career. The Scrapbooks series consists of binders of press clippings, event fliers, photographs, and other ephemera; much of this content documents Kitt's literary career, but it also documents Kitt's library career and personal life. The ninth series, Miscellaneous Writing, consists of short essays and articles written by Kitt, including first-person accounts of romance authorship; it also includes published works that are unrelated to the romance field, like letters to the editor.

The Library Career series consists of materials from Kitt's career as a Librarian at the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, New York. This includes correspondence, event ephemera, library-related writing by Kitt, and other materials that are relevant only to her work in librarianship.

The following three series include materials from Kitt’s personal and professional lives that may or may not have relevance to her literary and/or library careers. General Correspondence includes correspondence with friends, colleagues, and associates who are not exclusively associated with Kitt’s literary and library careers; however, some individuals represented in this series may have some relevance to these disciplines. The Personal Papers series includes materials collected by Kitt that were not written by Kitt and do not have immediate relevance to her literary and library careers. The Journals series consists of written diaries or logs pertinent to Kitt’s personal life. Some may discuss Kitt’s professional endeavors, but they are not exclusively dedicated to such information. These journals include dream journals and one journal dedicated to Kitt’s brother in the final stages of his life.

The following seven series consist of photographs, stored either in folders or in sleeves in 3-ring binder boxes; these photographs organized into series that are relevant to Kitt’s literary and library careers as well as her personal life. The Headshots and Professional Portraits series consists of photographs that were used in Kitt’s literary career but may include portraits that were not specifically intended for use in literary promotion. The Literary Photographs series consists of event photographs (such as book signings and RWA events) and photographs of Kitt’s colleagues and friends from the literary community. Other series consist of travel photographs from Kitt’s library career and personal life.

The Realia series consists of three-dimensional objects from Kitt’s literary career and personal life. This includes promotional objects for Kitt’s own literary publications as well as promotional objects from other writers or literary organizations. These materials are stored according to size and weight; fragile materials have been securely wrapped and should be returned to their wrapping by an archivist after they have been viewed.

The multimedia series consists of floppy disks, audio cassettes, and one video cassette with multimedia content related to Kitt’s literary and library careers. Most of the items in this series are floppy disks containing drafts and other documentation of Kitt’s literary writing, although these floppy disks include non-literary files, as well.

The following four series consist of artwork created by Kitt. The Holiday/Greeting Cards and Related Artwork series consists of handmade greeting cards, including holiday cards created for UNICEF and greeting cards created for friends and family; this series also includes handmade holiday ornaments created by Kitt. The Sketchbook series includes Kitt’s personal sketchbooks, including figure drawing, life drawing, and more; these are arranged according to size and weight. The Drawings, Paintings, and Prints series consists of titled and untitled artwork created by Kitt in a variety of media; these materials are also arranged according to size and weight, accounting for chronology when possible.

This series includes proposals, synopses, edited and unedited manuscripts (including handwritten manuscripts and excerpts), galleys, and publisher's proofs for novels, short stories, and other published or unpublished writing by Kitt. This literary writing is limited to prose (usually fiction) and poetry, and therefore excludes nonfiction articles, interviews, letters to the editor, and any other non-literary writing by Kitt. It also excludes literary writing not by Kitt. It includes research items that were used for specific works if such research was collocated with the written material for which it was used as research when it was delivered to the Browne Popular Culture Library. Titles of works are organized alphabetically. All items related to published novels are organized alphabetically by their final published title (previous titles will be noted parenthetically when known) or by their working title if not published. Manuscripts for works that were published in anthologies are organized by the title of Kitt’s work within the anthology and not the title of the anthology itself (the anthology title will be noted parenthetically). Early prose and poetry will be placed first to distinguish them from works created during Kitt’s career as a published author; they are stored in this series because they are literary in nature. Some titles include multiple manuscript drafts, but the order in which the drafts were created was not apparent; the order of such drafts is not always reflective of their chronological production.

This series includes correspondence related to Kitt’s literary career, including the process of publishing her work, Kitt’s roles as an author (such as reviewing or writing blurbs for other authors, involvement in panels or book signings, and so on), and/or correspondence that references Kitt’s literary career in general. It also includes correspondence with authors, publishers, editors, and other colleagues with whom Kitt worked throughout her literary career; such correspondence is not always literary in nature. Finally, this series includes correspondence that concerns Kitt's literary career but that also mentions Kitt’s library career or facets of her personal life. This correspondence includes mailed correspondence and printed emails.

Correspondence is organized by the sender/recipient and then chronologically.

Please note that correspondence can be found in other series. Personal correspondence, like holiday cards from friends and associates, is filed in the General Correspondence series. Correspondence that exclusively concerns Kitt’s library career is filed in the Library Career series.

This series is comprised of items associated with Kitt’s literary publicity, including but not limited to the promotion of specific books. It includes flyers and postcards for specific books, book cover samples, event-related materials, publicity-related press clippings (including printed web material), and author profiles and bibliographies. This series includes several folders or press kits of assorted promotional material that Kitt personally assembled; some pertain to specific published titles, and others involve a range of titles and general promotional material. Items in these author-made press kits have been kept in Kitt's original order.

Items in this series are arranged by subcategory and then by date when known. Within the subseries “Novel Promotion”, items are arranged by published novel title.

This series consists of reviews, discussions, mentions, and/or celebrations of Kitt’s literary work written by other writers. This includes reviews and other media features by critics, other authors, and fans.

Items are arranged alphabetically by the title of Kitt's work on which the review/feature focuses. Items at the end of the series do not focus on a specific published title by Kitt; they may focus on multiple works or discuss Kitt's literary career in general.

This series includes all printed web content and handwritten drafts that pertain to Kitt’s website (sandrakitt.com) and her newsletter, By Word of Mouth. These web items and newsletter items are collocated because By Word of Mouth appears to have been published on Kitt’s website as well as in a physical newsletter form.

Items are arranged by publication type (newsletter and website) and chronologically by type.

This series consists of Kitt’s teaching materials for her role at the County College of Morris and in other teaching roles. This includes materials used for teaching at conferences and workshops.

Items are organized by teaching role and by date when possible.

Note from Sandra Kitt: "I was an Adjunct Instructor at County College of Morris, in Dover, New Jersey for 15 years. This is course materials I created and generated for my class, along with agendas for two weekend conferences I also created for the course, drawing on my professional New York contacts as additional instructors."

This series includes any material related to Kitt’s literary career that is not explicitly related to the previous series, including events, general press clippings/printed web content, and correspondence. Some items concern Kitt’s involvement in romance organizations like RWA (Romance Writers of America).

This series includes binders of miscellaneous materials assembled by Kitt. Each binder includes materials primarily related to her literary career, although some materials pertain to her career in librarianship (and some mention her dual roles). Some binders focus more exclusively on one published work or a group of works published around the same time. These binders include book cover samples, news clippings, reviews, event flyers head shots, and promotional items. It is a good resource for articles that discuss the state of Black romance literature in the 1990s, including but not limited to Kitt’s work. The materials in the binders are kept in Kitt's original order whenever possible.

Scrapbooks are arranged roughly by creation/assembly date.

This series includes writings by Kitt that are not explicitly literary/prose, including magazine/newspaper articles, letters to the editor, memorials/eulogies, reviews of other literary works, and any other miscellaneous works. Many of these writings pertain to Kitt’s literary career (RWA articles, other reflections on her career as an author), but others do not. Writings that are only pertinent to Kitt’s career as a librarian/library associate are stored in the Library Career series, but this could be changed.

Items are organized by type and then by date, when available.

This series consists of material that is only pertinent to Kitt’s career at the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History. This excludes a few materials that mention Kitt’s librarian career as well as her literary career; these materials are kept in other series, usually ones related to Kitt’s literary career (promotion, miscellaneous writings, etc.).

Items are organized by type and then chronologically, when dates are known.

This series consists of materials related to Kitt's work as a graphic designer and visual artist, including correspondence and a resume. Examples of Kitt's graphic design and other artwork can be found in later series.

This series consists of non-work-related, friendly correspondence; many items are holiday/greeting cards. This personal correspondence does not specifically pertain to work or business, although the senders might be business or work associates of Kitt’s. This series does not include greeting cards created by Kitt; such cards can be found in the Visual Arts series.

Items are arranged by sender/recipient and then organized by date when known.

This series consists of writing and other materials that were not created by Kitt and are not immediately pertinent to any other series.

This series consists of general diaries/daily logs written by Kitt, as well as travel journals by Kitt and dream journals by Kitt. Some travel journals pertain to Kitt’s literary career and/or library career. Some artwork is included, but most sketchbooks can be found in the Sketchbook series. All diaries/logs are kept in their original bindings.

Items are arranged by diary/log type and by date.

The Photographs series is comprised of seven subseries of photographs, stored either in folders or in sleeves in 3-ring binder boxes; these photographs organized into series that are relevant to Kitt’s literary and library careers as well as her personal life. The Headshots and Professional Portraits series consists of photographs that were used in Kitt’s literary career but may include portraits that were not specifically intended for use in literary promotion. The Literary Photographs series consists of event photographs (such as book signings and RWA events) and photographs of Kitt’s colleagues and friends from the literary community. Other series consist of travel photographs from Kitt’s library career and personal life.

Photographs can also be found in the Miscellaneous Materials - Oversize series in Box 34.

This series includes snapshots, Polaroids, and other photographs relevant to Kitt's literary career. This includes photographs of Kitt and her colleagues at literary events (including RWA conventions, booksignings, meetings, etc.) and photographs of Kitt's colleagues in the literary industry. Many of these photographs are inscribed with handwritten labels naming the individual(s) in the photograph, the event, and/or the date. Photographs are organized by category and then chronologically, if the dates are known.

This section includes photographs of the following individuals: Elaine Barbieri; Herb Boyd; Barbara Bretton; Anita Richmond Bunkley, Laura Parker Castoro; Suzanne Coleman; Kathryn Falk; Roberta E. Gellis, Heather Graham; E. Lynn Harris; Monica Harris; Lisa Verge Higgins; Donna Hill; Marcia King-Gamble; Jayne Ann Krentz; Dawn Langley; Cora Lewis; Terry MacMillan; Sylvia Mendoza; Judy O'Brian; Alice Orr; Maggie Osborne; Marcus Samuelsson; Valerie Wilson Wesley; David Wind; Jessica Wolf; and Walter Zacharius. This includes individual portraits, photos of the named individual with Kitt, and some group photos.

This section includes group photographs of Kitt's colleagues and friends in the literary industry; most of these include a minimum of two individuals, not including Kitt. Some, but not all, include handwritten inscriptions naming the individuals in the photograph. Some include inscriptions describing the event.

This series consists of photographs that are not specifically related to Kitt's literary or library career but might have some relevance to these facets of her life. It includes photographs of the following individuals: Derrick Bell, Bunny Harry and Nico Muhly, Diane Jacobs, and Faith Ringgold; photographs of unnamed individuals reading Kitt's novels; possible travel photographs.

The Realia series (I and II) consist of three-dimensional objects with unique storage needs. This includes realia created to promote Kitt’s literary career and/or specific titles; realia created to promote other writers' work and/or publishing organizations' work; awards; and other materials from Kitt's personal and/or professional life.

The Realia series (I and II) consist of three-dimensional objects with unique storage needs. This includes realia created to promote Kitt’s literary career and/or specific titles; realia created to promote other writers' work and/or publishing organizations' work; awards; and other materials from Kitt's personal and/or professional life.

The Multimedia series consists of literary writing stored on floppy disks, audio cassettes, and a video cassette.