Contents


Collection Overview

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Organization of the Collection

Search Terms

Series 1: BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS

Series 2: SHORT STORIES

Series 3: BOOKS

Series 4: GUADALUPE CULTURAL ARTS CENTER

Series 5: MISCELLANEOUS

Sandra Cisneros Collection, 1984-2001

Finding aid prepared by Alicia Yang Cao, Daria D'Arienzo.

Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

© 2003

Collection Overview

Creator: Cisneros, Sandra
Title: Sandra Cisneros Collection
Dates: 1984-2001
Abstract: 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 Collection includes TSS or photocopied TSS of six stories, one unpublished story, an unpublished speech, an interview, a biographical sketch, and a bound volume of part of the novel Caramelo, distributed to friends for comment.
Extent: 1 archives box(0.5 linear ft.)
Language: 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.

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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or photocopied typescripts of six stories that eventually appeared in Woman Hollering Creek (Random House, 1991), one unpublished story, an unpublished speech, an interview, and a biographical sketch.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.

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Search Terms

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Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into five series:

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Series 1: BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS

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


Box

Folder

1 1
Biographical note: 3 pages, approximately 1000 words. Computer printer out with faded highlighting. Signed by Cisneros. ca. 1995

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

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

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.


Box

Folder

1 5
"Barbie-Q," published in Woman Hollering Creek. 3 pages, approximately 750 words. Photocopied typescript, signed by Cisneros. 1989

6
"Divine Providence," unpublished. 4 pages, approximately 1000 words. Photocopied typescript, with holograph corrections in seven places, signed by Cisneros. 1988

7
"Eleven," published in Woman Hollering Creek. 6 pages, approximately 1500 words. Photocopied computer print out, signed by Cisneros. ca. 1994

8
"Eleven," reprinted from Woman Hollering Creek in American Way, the magazine of American Airlines, photocopy. ca. 1991

9
"Mericans," published in Woman Hollering Creek. 4 pages, approximately 1500 words. Original ribbon-copy typescript. Signed by Cisneros. 1989

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

11
"My Tocaya," published in Woman Hollering Creek. 6 pages, approximately 2000 words. Original typescript with seven holograph corrections; signed by Cisneros. 1989

12
"One Holy Night" in the Village Voice Literary Supplement, November 1988, photocopy. Republished in Woman Hollering Creek. Signed by Cisneros. 1988

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

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.


Box

Folder

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

16
Caramelo. Approximately 266 pages. Photocopied typescript of the first half (parts one and two, comprising 51 chapters). Signed by Cisneros. early 2001

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.


Box

Folder

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

19
"Poetry." A collection of student poems published by the Center. Cisneros hand-bounded the books with yarn. 1984 Summer

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

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.


Box

Folder

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]

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

24
"The House on Mango Street." Promotional card for a stage production of her book, The House on Mango Street. 1996

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