Lucy R. Lippard papers, 1930s-2010, bulk 1960-1990

The series documents Lippard's writing activities, primarily from the 1960s to the 1990s, and provides insight into the content and process of her writing for books, columns, essays, and lectures.

Lippard's most renowned writings from this period, including her seminal text on conceptual art, Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object (1973), her monograph on Eva Hesse (1976), Get the Message?: A Decade Of Art For Social Change (1984), and Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America (1990), are represented here. The series also includes Lippard's early "New York Letter" manuscripts written for Art International, and circa 100 additional essays written for publications such as Artforum, Art Voices and Hudson Review, including "The Pink Glass Swan" and "Trojan Horses: Activist Art and Power" (1984), as well as essays written for exhibitions on artists such as Rudy Burckhardt, Sol LeWitt, Ree Morton, and James Rosenquist. Also found are records documenting Lippard's role as co-editor for the Alliance for Cultural Democracy handbook How to '92: Model Actions for a Post-Columbian World.

Correspondence found in this series primarily relates to contracts and other aspects of the publication process, but there is also some correspondence with, and related to, artists including two folders of correspondence from Philip Evergood written to Lippard as she was writing The Graphic Work of Philip Evergood (1966), a detailed letter from Ethelyn Haig concerning recollections of Eva Hesse, photocopies of Hesse's correspondence and interviews, and some photocopies of correspondence from Ad Reinhardt.

The series also includes transcripts, notes and related material, including some audio recordings, of 5 interviews of Lippard and 6 interviews conducted by Lippard. These have been arranged as part of this series because they are annotated and edited by Lippard. They include recordings of interviews of Donald Judd and Robert Mangold in 1965 and 1968, transcripts of Lippard's interviews of Sol LeWitt and Tony Smith, and transcripts of interviews of Lippard conducted by Scott Marsden, and Ursula Meyer. Also found is the transcript of an interview regarding Lippard's 1998 book The Lure of the Local.

From 1970 to 1976 Lippard's speaking engagements at art schools were confined to answering written questions submitted by audiences; this series includes an extensive selection of these "questions addressed to Lippard in art schools." There are files on symposia and conferences which include notes and texts for Lippard's contributions and transcripts and notes of panel discussions edited by Lippard for publication.

Additional writings for exhibition catalogs can be found in Series 5.

Records are arranged by format in which the writings were produced i.e. books, columns, conferences and symposia, interviews, lectures and speeches, and other writings, and are arranged alphabetically by title thereafter.