Guide to the Clara Grossman Pierre Reeves Papers
RG 9.10.1

Summary Information

Repository

Sarah Lawrence College Archives

Creator

Reeves, Clara Grossman, 1939-2011

Title

Clara Grossman Reeves Papers

ID

RG 9.10.1

Date [inclusive]

undated, 1950-2011

Extent

1.0 linear feet 1 record carton

Language

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

Sarah Lawrence College Archives 5/17/2012

Conditions Governing Access note

This collection is open to researchers without restriction.

Immediate Source of Acquisition note

Donated by her husband, David Reeves, in 2011. Accession 2011-036.

Processing Information note

Processed Spring 2012 by Catherine Jean Newton MA ‘13.

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Biographical Note

Clara Grossman was born on December 29, 1939 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Emma May MacIntyre Grossman and Dr. Louis I. Grossman. Mr. Grossman was a professor of endodontics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. Clara had one brother, Richard Grossman.

Clara attended Germantown Friends High School in Philadelphia, where she developed a commitment to education that she would maintain throughout her life. In high school, she excelled as a student and developed a life-long interest in writing and reading poetry. After graduating high school, Clara travelled Europe with a group of young women and cultivated her knowledge of the French language. In fall of 1957, she entered Sarah Lawrence College, where she would study Provencal Literature and Language with Professor Judy C. Lewent. At Sarah Lawrence, she studied International Law under Professor Adda Bozeman, who would become one of Clara’s closest friends. While at Sarah Lawrence, Clara produced exceptional work, as is evidenced in her evaluations. After graduating Sarah Lawrence, Clara won the distinguished Marshall Scholarship to study law at Lady Margaret Hall at Oxford University and was also admitted to Middle Temple. She was, however, unable to study in England due to deterioration of mental and physical health, for which she was hospitalized for a short period. After recovering, she interned in the International Legal Division of the United Nations and then attended Columbia University, where she earned a master’s degree in public law and government. Clara went on to work at the World Law Fund (now the World Policy Institute), a non-profit organization in New York. She then became a freelance writer, publishing well over a hundred magazine and newspaper articles. She also published Looking Good: The Liberation of Fashion in 1976 and Clotheswise: Successfully Dressing for Your Lifestyle, which she co-authored with Alice Meyer in 1982. She continued to write throughout her life, publishing three historical novels: Troubadour, The Troubadour’s Tale, and The Troubadour’s Legacy. All of these novels were released in Europe. In addition to writing, Clara worked as a Professor of Non-Fiction Writing at New York University from 1987 to 2005. She then moved from Manhattan to Princeton, New Jersey.

Clara married André J.M. Pierre in 1969, however her marriage ended in divorce. In 1988, she married David Kenny Reeves, who worked as director of development at the Hastings Center in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. The Hastings Center researches medical ethics. One other very significant person in her life was her friend, Adda Bozeman, whom she met at Sarah Lawrence and corresponded with until Bozeman’s death in 1994. Clara died at the age of 71 on April 25, 2011 in Princeton.

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Scope and Content Note

The Clara Grossman Collection contains Clara Grossman Pierre Reeves’ correspondence, academic essays, notes and research materials, memorabilia from Sarah Lawrence College, and personal journals. The Correspondence Series includes a folder of correspondence between Clara and Harold Taylor, president of Sarah Lawrence College from 1945-1959. When he became president, he was the youngest person in the country to head a college. Most of the correspondence in the collection is between Clara and Adda Bozeman, a professor of History and International Relations at Sarah Lawrence (1947-1977).

Her journals comprise the bulk of the collection and span from her childhood to early adulthood. The earliest journal in the collection was meticulously kept when she was 11 years old. Within her journals, she notes and describes important historical moments, such as the race riots in the US and Europe in the 1950’s, John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the launching of Sputnik and the Cold War. She also details her personal struggle with depression and her experience with psychoanalysis. Especially evident in the Journals Series and in the Education and Research Series is her lifelong love of learning and her personal dedication to her academic work.

Included in the Education and Research Series, her Writing Notebook from the 1950’s contains primarily high school coursework. It has been removed from its original binder and the contents have been left in their original order. Her law reference book can also be found in the Education and Research Series. Clara developed her interest in pursuing a degree in Law as a senior at Sarah Lawrence while working with Adda Bozeman. Further evidence of her uncanny commitment to documenting her life and work, the Education and Research Series also includes a comprehensive log of every book she read from 1961 to 2002. Clara’s personal relationship with Adda Bozeman is well documented in her journals and in the Adda Bozeman Series of this collection.

The Collection is arranged into four series: Series I. Correspondence Series II. Education and Research Series III. Biographical Series IV. Adda Bozeman

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Related Materials

See also

For more information and documentation on Adda Bozeman, see the Adda Bozeman Papers at the Sarah Lawrence College Archives.

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Controlled Access Headings

Genre(s)

• Clippings (information artifacts)
• Correspondence

Personal Name(s)

• Bozeman, Adda B., (Adda Bruemmer), 1908-

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Collection Inventory