Sandra Cisneros Collection, 1984-2001
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Amherst College Archives and Special Collections
Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Sarang Gopalakrishnan. 2003-12-03
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Sandra Cisneros Collection
Creation of Sandra Cisneros Collection
Time of Creation of Sandra Cisneros Collection
Cisneros, Sandra
Biographical History for: Sandra Cisneros Collection
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or photocopied typescripts of six stories that eventually appeared in Woman Hollering Creek (Random House, 1991), one unpublished story, an unpublished speech, an interview, and a biographical sketch.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.
Mexican American authors--20th century.
lcsh
Cisneros, Sandra.
lcnaf
Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center (San Antonio, Tex.)
series
Series 1: BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS
Series 1: BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS contains a biographical note, interviews and her own reflections on her life.
Biographical note: 3 pages, approximately 1000 words. Computer printer out with faded highlighting. Signed by Cisneros. ca. 1995
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
"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
"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.
"Barbie-Q," published in Woman Hollering Creek. 3 pages, approximately 750 words. Photocopied typescript, signed by Cisneros. 1989
"Divine Providence," unpublished. 4 pages, approximately 1000 words. Photocopied typescript, with holograph corrections in seven places, signed by Cisneros. 1988
"Eleven," published in Woman Hollering Creek. 6 pages, approximately 1500 words. Photocopied computer print out, signed by Cisneros. ca. 1994
"Eleven," reprinted from Woman Hollering Creek in American Way, the magazine of American Airlines, photocopy. ca. 1991
"Mericans," published in Woman Hollering Creek. 4 pages, approximately 1500 words. Original ribbon-copy typescript. Signed by Cisneros. 1989
"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
"My Tocaya," published in Woman Hollering Creek. 6 pages, approximately 2000 words. Original typescript with seven holograph corrections; signed by Cisneros. 1989
"One Holy Night" in the Village Voice Literary Supplement, November 1988, photocopy. Republished in Woman Hollering Creek. Signed by Cisneros. 1988
"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
"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.
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
Caramelo. Approximately 266 pages. Photocopied typescript of the first half (parts one and two, comprising 51 chapters). Signed by Cisneros. early 2001
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.
"Emergency Reading / Poemas de urgencia." Flyer for a reading featuring Norma Alarcón, Beatriz Badikian, Ana Castillo, Angela de Hoyos, and Sylvia Pena. 1984
"Poetry." A collection of student poems published by the Center. Cisneros hand-bounded the books with yarn. 1984 Summer
"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
"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.
"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]
"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
"The House on Mango Street." Promotional card for a stage production of her book, The House on Mango Street. 1996
"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