Judith Raymo ’53 Gives Sylvia Plath Papers to Smith
News
Published October 12, 2022
Judith Raymo (Class of 1953) and Sylvia Plath met as undergraduate students attending Smith College and several years later, after reading Plath’s posthumous publications, Raymo developed an interest in collecting Plath’s published and unpublished writings. Raymo identified with Plath's struggles in balancing a professional career alongside the expectations associated with marriage and motherhood in the mid-twentieth century. She bought Plath’s unpublished manuscripts as well as books and periodicals that featured Plath’s work. Her carefully curated collection grew considerably over the course of thirty years, and in 2022, she decided to donate it to the Mortimer Rare Book Collection at Smith.
The June 2022 gift of Plath materials to the Mortimer Rare Book Collection includes original manuscripts and letters by Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, as well as rare edition published works by Plath, and dramatic adaptations of her work. From typescripts to broadsides, the Judith Raymo Collection of Sylvia Plath significantly and substantively adds to the wealth of Plath materials held by Smith College. The finding aid and book lists for this gift are available and accessible for use in Special Collections.
Judith Raymo is a published author and editor of books and articles on women in the academic workplace. Her works include, Shattering the Myths: Women in Academe (1999) and Unfinished Agendas: New and Continuing Gender Challenges in Higher Education (2008). She received a doctorate in higher education from New York University and is professor emerita of education at Long Island University.
Raymo’s gift will be celebrated along with Heather Clark’s award-winning biography of Sylvia Plath, Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath with a panel discussion on November 1, 2022, 4:30 - 5:40 p.m. in the Carroll Room, Campus Center, Smith College.