David W. McAleavey papers

This collection consist of administrative files, correspondence, newsletters, manuscripts, videotape cassettes, and audiotape cassettes. The material is dated from 1976-93. This collection focuses primarily on writers who lived in the Metropolitan area during this period. The "Carousel" publications trace the development of the Writer's Center community for almost 18 years. The materials related to the publication of the Jenny McKean Moore Workshop anthology, "Evidence of Community," record many of the activities of the free community workshops, which were supported by a fund left in trust after the death of the GW student playwright to make college level creative writing courses available to writers in the Washington area who would not otherwise be able to attend them.

The collection includes videotaped recordings of two literary events in which McAleavey was involved. The first is the Larry Neal Writer's Conference, an annual meeting named for Larry Neal (1937-1981), a major figure in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960's. McAleavey served on the steering committee of the conference held on May 10, 1985, which was themed "Writers: A Sense of Place." This conference included local and national writers, including prominent Native American writer Louise Erdrich. The second event recorded on videotape was the "Washington and Washington Writing" conference held at George Washington April 18-19, 1986. McAleavey edited an issue of the G.W. Washington Studies series, Washington and Washington Writing, that anthologizes the papers presented by numerous members of the Washington literary community at this conference. Also in the collection are audiotape recordings of a writing workshop, which include Washington D.C. writers Ann Darr, Jonetta Barras, Gregory Orfalea, and Dan Johnson.

This collection is part of the Washington Writers Archives at Gelman Special Collections, which includes original manuscripts and records from writers's organizations in the Washington D.C. area.