Grant Proposal to Establish American Linguistic Historical Archives

Papers consist of O'Cain's correspondence, notes, lectures and other writings, articles, printed material, photographs, clippings, linguistic maps, and sound recordings. Papers relate primarily to Raymond O'Cain and his research in linguistics.

Correspondence consists mainly of letters, postcards, and telegrams to O'Cain from other scholars. Correspondents include Raven I. McDavid, Jr., Karl J. Weintraub, A.J. Van Windekens, and S. Greenbaum.

O'Cain's writings include numerous notes, lectures, drafts and reprints of scholarly articles, bibliographies, and a dissertation (1972) entitled "A Social Dialect Survey of Charleston, South Carolina." Many of the notes pertain to various South Carolina informants who were the subjects of O'Cain's research on language and dialects.

Printed materials include issues of various scholarly journals and linguistic maps (oversized, many for the "Linguistic Atlas"). The collection also contains photocopies of articles on linguistics by various authors.

Materials relating to O'Cain's colleague Raven I. McDavid, Jr. include McDavid's notes, articles, and drafts and reprints of articles, printed materials, and biographical information.

Sound recordings are of O'Cain's interviews with informants and a conversation between O'Cain and other scholars at the University of Chicago.