MLA Records

MLA Records is the largest records group in the archives. It holds loose paper records generated by the activities of the Modern Language Association (MLA), 1896–present. Records primarily include correspondence, memoranda, and similar documents related to administration of the association. Some personal correspondence between executive directors, presidents, staff, and members is included. Early association history is missing from the collection. This is likely due to the association’s lack of an official headquarters until 1928. The collection includes preserved texts documenting the production of the MLA International Bibliography; correspondence between the MLA and groups internal and external to the association (i.e., the Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession and the American Dialect Society); minutes and ballots documenting actions taken by the Delegate Assembly and the Executive Council; statements capturing the changes in the administration of the association; expense forms chronicling the association’s financial activity; memoranda and correspondence documenting the general activities that fall outside of a specific office or service; written processes behind print production; early annual convention programs; correspondence to and from the offices of programs and outreach, including the Association of Departments of English (ADE) and the Association of Departments of Foreign Language (ADFL); and memoranda capturing book publication processes by the Center for Scholarly Editions.