Academic and collected materials comprise the papers of American literature scholar John H. Randall III.

Course notes, syllabi, and essays cover a selection of American and British literature courses taken and taught by Randall at the University of California, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, Wellesley College, and Boston College. These papers focus on Randall’s specialty of 1920s and 1930s American literature and his efforts to include more Black American literature in his curricula. Also included are posters and correspondence from his Fulbright lectureship in Belgium in 1963 and a small number of items made by Randall and his classmates in primary and secondary school. Randall collected topical notes and works by his colleagues along the same themes as his academic work. Correspondence primarily concerns his job searching, and he is very candid about his struggles to have his skills reflected well in his recommendation letters and not overshadowed by personal issues.

Randall’s writings focus on early twentieth century American literature, particularly the life and work of Willa Cather, about whom he wrote his PhD dissertation and his only full-length monograph, The Landscape and the Looking Glass (1973).