Caramelo

ma102 Sandra Cisneros Collection, 1984-2001 Finding aid prepared by Alicia Yang Cao, Daria D'Arienzo. Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Amherst College Archives and Special Collections

Amherst, MA

Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Sarang Gopalakrishnan. 2003-12-03 Finding aid written in English. 2005-09-23 ma102 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Amherst College Archives and Special Collections Sandra Cisneros Collection, 1984-2001 Processed: 2003 May By: Alicia Yang Cao '06, Student Assistant Finding Aid: 2003 May Prepared by: Alicia Yang Cao '06, Student Assistant Edited by: Daria D'Arienzo, Head of Archives and Special Collections Listed by: Alicia Yang Cao '06, Student Assistant Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Collection Overview Cisneros, Sandra Sandra Cisneros Collection 1984-2001 1 archives box (0.5 linear ft.) Amherst College Archives and Special Collections Writer. Collection includes TSS or photocopied TSS of six stories, one unpublished story, an unpublished speech, an interview, a biographical sketch, and a bound volume of part of the novel Caramelo, distributed to friends for comment. English. Biographical Note

Sandra Cisneros was born on December 20, 1954 and raised in Chicago. She was the third child and only daughter in a family of seven children. Cisneros is the daughter of a Mexican father and a Mexican-American mother. She was educated in the Midwest before moving to the Southwest in 1984. Cisneros graduated from the Iowa Writer's Workshop, and has lived in San Antonio for most of the last twenty years. She has worked as a teacher to high school dropouts, a poet-in-the-schools, a college recruiter, an arts administrator, and most recently, as a visiting writer at a number of universities around the country.

Sandra Cisneros is a well-recognized and influential Chicana writer who draws heavily upon her childhood experiences and ethnic heritage. She frequently addresses poverty, cultural suppression, self-identity and gender roles in her fiction and poetry. She has been the subject of many academic studies and theses. Cisneros won the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation, an NEA Grant, a MacArthur "genius" award, among many others. All of Cisneros' prose has been published in Spanish in the United States. Her books have also been translated into ten languages and published internationally.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The collection includes typescripts or photocopied typescripts of six stories that eventually appeared in Woman Hollering Creek (Random House, 1991), one unpublished story, an unpublished speech, an interview, and a biographical sketch. There is also a bound volume of part of Cisneros' latest novel, Caramelo, distributed to friends for comment about eighteen months before publication. According to Brown's listing, almost all differ from the final published form, sometimes substantially.

Cisneros has signed all items in this collection.

Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into five series:

1. Biographical Materials 2. Short Stories 3. Books 4. Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center 5. Miscellaneous Information on Use Terms of Access and Use

There is no restriction on access to the Sandra Cisneros Collection for research use. Particularly fragile items may be restricted for preservation purposes.

Requests for permission to publish material from Sandra Cisneros Collection should be directed to the Archives and Special Collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.

Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

[Identification of item], in Sandra Cisneros Collection [Box #, Folder #], Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library

History of the Collection

Amherst College purchased this collection from P. Scott Brown, Bookseller, in April 2003. Brown acquired the collection through Bryce Milligan, the publisher of Wing Press and a long-time friend and neighbor of Cisneros. Milligan edited the anthologies Daughters of the Fifth Sun: A Collection of Latina Fiction and Poetry and Floricanto, Si: A Collection of Latina Poetry. He is the author of several poetry collections and novels. According to Brown's catalogue, Milligan was an early champion of Cisneros. In an interview in the Texas Journal, Cisneros states: "Nobody paid any attention to The House on Mango Street, except for Bryce, until they came upon the same work by way of Random House." Milligan began exchanging work-in-progress with Cisneros in the mid-1980s. Most of the material in this collection was mailed to Milligan from the University of California-Berkeley where Cisneros spent time as a visiting writer or was given to him after her return to San Antonio.

Processed: 2003 May By: Alicia Yang Cao '06, Student Assistant Finding Aid: 2003 May Prepared by: Alicia Yang Cao '06, Student Assistant Edited by: Daria D'Arienzo, Head of Archives and Special Collections Listed by: Alicia Yang Cao '06, Student Assistant Search Terms Cisneros, Sandra. Mexican American authors--20th century. Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center (San Antonio, Tex.) Additional Information Bibliography

Bad Boys. San Jose: Mango Press, 1980. Poems published in the Chicano Chapbook series edited by Gary Soto and printed by Poet Lorna Dee Cervantes.

Caramelo, or, Puro Cuento: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2002.

Hairs = Pelitos. Ilus. by Terry Ybanez. New York: Knopf, 1994.

The House on Mango Street. Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1984. Winner of the American Book Award.

Loose Woman: Poems. New York: Random House, 1994.

Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories. New York: Random House, 1991.

My Wicked, Wicked Ways. Bloomington: Third Woman Press, 1987. Reprinted in hardcover by Turtle Bay Books (Random House, 1992) and Knopf (1994).

Series 1: BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS

Series 1: BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS contains a biographical note, interviews and her own reflections on her life.

1 1 Biographical note: 3 pages, approximately 1000 words. Computer printer out with faded highlighting. Signed by Cisneros. ca. 1995 1 2 Interview by Bryce Milligan. Published in the Palo Alto Review, Spring 1993. 12 pages, approximately 3500 words. Photocopied computer print out, signed by both Milligan and Cisneros. 1990 1 3 "Growing Up Chicana and Its Consequences." Galley of a joint interview of Cisneros by Bryce Milligan and poet Pat Mora with Cisneros' handwritten corrections. 1994 1 4 "I Can Live Sola and I Love to Work." In La Voz de Esperanza, the newsletter of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. Text of a speech given to the Women's Caucus for the Arts, 1995 National Conference, January 24, San Antonio, Texas. Cisneros reflects on her decision to not marry and the reactions she has gotten from her family and friends. 1995 Mar Series 2: SHORT STORIES

Series 2: SHORT STORIES contains typescripts, photocopied typescripts and published short stories.

1 5 "Barbie-Q," published in Woman Hollering Creek. 3 pages, approximately 750 words. Photocopied typescript, signed by Cisneros. 1989 1 6 "Divine Providence," unpublished. 4 pages, approximately 1000 words. Photocopied typescript, with holograph corrections in seven places, signed by Cisneros. 1988 1 7 "Eleven," published in Woman Hollering Creek. 6 pages, approximately 1500 words. Photocopied computer print out, signed by Cisneros. ca. 1994 1 8 "Eleven," reprinted from Woman Hollering Creek in American Way, the magazine of American Airlines, photocopy. ca. 1991 1 9 "Mericans," published in Woman Hollering Creek. 4 pages, approximately 1500 words. Original ribbon-copy typescript. Signed by Cisneros. 1989 1 10 "My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn," published in Woman Hollering Creek. 4 pages, approximately 1200 words. Photocopied-dot matrix print out with nine minor hand-written corrections. 1988 1 11 "My Tocaya," published in Woman Hollering Creek. 6 pages, approximately 2000 words. Original typescript with seven holograph corrections; signed by Cisneros. 1989 1 12 "One Holy Night" in the Village Voice Literary Supplement, November 1988, photocopy. Republished in Woman Hollering Creek. Signed by Cisneros. 1988 1 13 "The Public Libraries: Quiet as Snow, A Space for Myself to Go, Clean as Paper before the Poems." Unpublished and (according to Cisneros), probably the only copy in existence. 3 pages, approximately 1000 words. Photocopied computer print out, inscribed by Cisneros: "Para el Bryce, thanks for saving it! Sandra" ca. 1995 1 14 "Woman Hollering Creek," published in Woman Hollering Creek. 14 pages, approximately 3000 words. Photocopied computer print out. Signed by Cisneros. before 1988 Series 3: BOOKS

Series 3: BOOKS contains a typescript of the first half of her book Caramelo, a book jacket for the Spanish version of The House on Mango Street, and a photocopy of her first book.

1 15 Bad Boys. Photocopy of Cisneros' scarce first book given to Bryce Milligan by Cisneros as he prepared a review of The House on Mango Street for the San Antonio Express News. 1984 1 16 Caramelo. Approximately 266 pages. Photocopied typescript of the first half (parts one and two, comprising 51 chapters). Signed by Cisneros. early 2001 1 17 Cover of La Casa en Mango Street. n.d. Series 4: GUADALUPE CULTURAL ARTS CENTER

Series 4: GUADALUPE CULTURAL ARTS CENTER contains programs for events Cisneros organized as its director and original poetry written by her students.

1 18 "Emergency Reading / Poemas de urgencia." Flyer for a reading featuring Norma Alarcón, Beatriz Badikian, Ana Castillo, Angela de Hoyos, and Sylvia Pena. 1984 1 19 "Poetry." A collection of student poems published by the Center. Cisneros hand-bounded the books with yarn. 1984 Summer 1 20 "Summer Workshop." Program for a reading of works by the students of the summer workshop held at the Center. Students include Angela de Hoyos, Mary Sue Galindo, Juanita Lawhn and Raúl Nino. 1984 Aug 10 1 21 "The First Texas Small Press Book Fair." Program for the first book fair organized by the Center. Signed by Cisneros and Bryce Milligan, who headed up the project. 1985 Feb 22-24 Series 5: MISCELLANEOUS

Series 5: MISCELLANEOUS contains programs of events that Cisneros attended, and publisher's promotional ephemera.

1 22 "Mi Cena Con Sandra (My Dinner with Sandra)." Program for a benefit dinner held to celebrate "the literary achievements and community work of Sandra Cisneros" with readings hosted by Denise Chavez. [1996] 1 23 "Ofrendas del Alma, del Corazón y de la Mente: Latina-Latino MacArthur Fellows' Reunion." Program for a get-together of 12 of the 15 Latino "genius" grant recipients to protest the fact that so few of the 458 recipients were Latino and to strategize for the future. Cisneros organized the event. 1997 1 24 "The House on Mango Street." Promotional card for a stage production of her book, The House on Mango Street. 1996 1 25 "Woman Hollering Creek II." Mailer for a benefit event for the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center in San Antonio to replace the office equipment stolen in a robbery. Cisneros donated many items for a silent auction including the typewriter used to write Woman Hollering Creek. 1994