Mary-Jo Arn papers, 1967-2023 (bulk: 1980-2023).

Format:

Other

Author/Creator:

Arn, Mary-Jo, creator.

Language:

English

English, Middle (1100-1500)

French

Multiple languages

Subjects (All):

Charles, d'Orléans, 1394-1465.

Charles.

Medievalists.

Research grants.

English poetry.

English language--Middle English, 1100-1500.

English language.

Genre:

drafts (documents)

research (documents)

correspondence

Penn Provenance:

Gift of Estate of Mary-Jo Arn, 2025.

Physical Description:

10 boxes (9.4 linear feet)

Arrangement:

Organized into 10 series: I. Autobiographical material; II. Correspondence; III. Transcription of British Library MS Hawley 682. Fortunes Stabilnes...; IV. Writings; V. Coursework and teaching; VI. Grants; VII. Publisher files; VIII. Research files; IX. Books; and X. CDs.

Place of Publication:

1967-2023

Language Note:

The bulk of the collection is in English, with some correspondence in French. The poetry of Charles d'Orléans is in Middle English and French, and it appears throughout the collection.

Biography/History:

Mary-Jo Arn (1942-2024) was a professor, scholar, and author specializing in the English lyric and narrative poetry of Charles d'Orléans. Arn was born on March 28, 1942 in Youngstown, Ohio, received a BA in English from Westminster College in 1968, an MA in English and Medieval Certificate in 1973 and a PhD in in Middle English Language and Literature in 1975, both from the State University of New York at Binghamton. Arn was an assistant professor at the University of Groningen (1976-1987), a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania (1988-1991), an Adjunct Professor at Rutgers University (1990-1991), and an Assistant then Associate Professor at Bloomsburg University (1991-1999). She was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University (1998-2000) and worked for the Medieval Academy of America (2000-2012) as Book Review Manager / Associate Editor for Reviews / Editor of "Medieval academy news". After leaving the Medieval Academy, Arn continued to work as an independent scholar until her death on December 14, 2024. In addition to many articles and conference papers, she authored Fortunes stabilnes: Charles of Orleans's English book of love (1995), The poet's notebook: The personal manuscript of Charles d'Orléans (2008), Poetry of Charles d'Orléans: A critical edition of BnF MS. f. fr. 25458. Charles d'Orléans's personal manuscript (2010), Charles d'Orleans's English aesthetic: The form, poetics, and style of "Fortunes stabilnes" (2020), and edited Charles d'Orleans in England, 1415-1440 (2000). Arn also developed a website on Charles d'Orléans (http://karolus.net).

Summary:

The Mary-Jo Arn papers consist of scholarly materials, mostly research files related to Charles d'Orléans, dating from 1967 to 2023, with the bulk from 1980 to 2023. Most of the papers document Arn's work on editions of Charles d'Orléans's poetry and other books, articles, papers, and research about Charles d'Orléans and his social and literary environment. The papers are arranged in ten series. Correspondence is mostly on subjects related to Arn's research, writing, and teaching, although many letters include personal updates, as well. Arn used several methods for filing correspondence, which have been retained as much as possible: some letters were filed chronologically, some by correspondent, and some by subject (cards and letters from students, for example.) Scattered correspondence was also filed with research files. Arn's handwritten transcription of British Library Hawley MS 682 for Fortunes stabilnes fills three folders. The series of Arn's writings includes her own copy of Fortunes stabilnes , articles, drafts, reviews she wrote of others' work, and reviews of her own work. Her writings also contain an archived copy of her website Mary-Jo Arn at http://karolus.net, which focused mainly on Charles d'Orléans, but also contained a list of her books offered for sale and earlier material that Arn had written for students and teachers such as "Essay writing guidelines", "Literary course notes and teaching materials," and "My Middle Ages (or, why I chose to spend so much time in an earlier world)". A small series of mixed coursework and teaching materials includes an undated notebook, materials from a PhD seminar at Binghamton, and materials for a seminar she taught. There are two grant folders documenting Neil Ker grants that supported her research. A series of publisher materials includes a memorandum of understanding, correspondence, and image reproduction and publishing permissions. The bulk of the collection consists of research files organized by subject. One subseries contains general information on a wide range of topics associated with Charles d'Orléans and his context, another subseries documents research related to the background and use of the Stourton psalter, and the last subseries documents research on the iconography of Venus and her owl in Charles d'Orléans's Fortunes stabilnes . The research files contain lightly annotated photocopied articles, handwritten notes, library catalog and web site printouts, a small amount of correspondence, photocopied medieval manuscripts, and a few images and other documents. The collection also contains several books about Charles d'Orléans which have been maintained with Arn's notes and other documents interleaved in them. Finally, there is a series of four CDs with digital images used in the publication of her books. Arn frequently printed material on the back of discarded documents, so the collection includes some incidental material from the Medieval Academy of America and other aspects of Arn's life. Photocopied articles have been left as Arn filed them, often folded over to show a page of interest.

OCLC:

1569240758