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Robert L. Patten Papers
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Held at: Princeton University Library: University Archives [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: University Archives. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Robert L. Patten is a scholar of nineteenth-century British literature who has published works on George Cruikshank and Charles Dickens. Patten earned an M.A. in 1962 and a Ph.D. in 1965 from the Princeton University Department of English. He later taught at Bryn Mawr College and, in 1969, took a position at Rice University, where he would become Lynette S. Autrey Professor Emeritus in Humanities.
A scholar of nineteenth-century British literature, Robert L. Patten earned an M.A. in 1962 and a Ph.D. in 1965 in the the Department of English at Princeton University. These papers are the files he kept on coursework in the English Department, together with his correspondence with Professor E.D.H. (Dudley) Johnson.
The papers were donated by Robert L. Patten in 2018 (AR.2018.073).
This collection was processed by Phoebe Nobles in June, 2022. Finding aid written by Phoebe Nobles in June, 2022.
Two graduate student papers created by students other than Robert L. Patten were separated from this collection during processing.
- Publisher
- University Archives
- Finding Aid Author
- Phoebe Nobles
- Finding Aid Date
- 2022
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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Collection Inventory
The majority of the correpondence was written by E. D. H. (Dudley) Johnson to Robert L. Patten as Patten completed independent work for his Ph.D. and saught positions in academia, first at Bryn Mawr and later at Rice University. Some letters from Patten to Johnson are interspersed. Sticky notes denote topics Patten identified in the letters as he worked on a eulogy for Johnson in 1996. Topics include work, reading, art collecting, and family.
Physical Description2 folders
The coursework folders contain syllabi, examinations, reading lists, and handouts, as well as Robert L. Patten's course notes and typed papers. One folder contains Patten's comprehensive examinations; another contains questions for qualifying exams. The box also contains folders of material from the following courses: a Spenser seminar with Rosemond Tuve; 18th Century Literature with Louis Landa; Introduction to Graduate Methods with James Thorpe; Old English with Jack Campbell; a seminar on 19th-century drama with Alan Downer; Victorian Poetry and the Victorian Novel with E.D.H. Johnson; a seminar with D.W. Robertson; and a course on Renaissance drama with Gerald Eades Bentley. Other topics include: John Dryden; devotional poets; John Webster; Chaucer; medieval bibliographies; Renaissance criticism, historiography, pastoral, and prose; and Samuel Richardson. A photocopy of the cover letter from Patten describing the material is included in the box.
Physical Description22 folders