USC Autobiographies, 1952-1970

These autobiographies were collected as a class assignment for several undergraduate classes at the University of Southern California from 1952-1970. The purpose of the assignment was to ask the students to reflect on marriage in the context of their life histories. Students were asked to write detailed autobiographies based on an outline which covered specific areas of their lives including their parents' marriages, their own infancy (they often interviewed their parents for this information), childhood and adolescence, up to current dating activities. They were also asked to reflect on their own ideals about marriage and a possible marriage partner, as well as their social class positions and their ambitions for making money. The Murray Archive holds additional analogue materials for this study [307 (77 men, 230 women) dated original autobiographies]. If you would like to access this material, please apply to use the data.

本数据集所收录的自传文献，均为1952年至1970年间，南加州大学（University of Southern California）多门本科课程的课堂作业产出。本次作业的核心要求为：引导学生结合自身人生经历，对婚姻议题展开反思。学生需依据指定大纲撰写详实自传，大纲覆盖人生各关键阶段：父母的婚姻状况、自身婴儿时期（为此学生通常会采访父母以获取相关信息）、童年与青少年时期，直至当下的社交约会经历。此外，学生还需反思自身对婚姻与理想伴侣的期许，以及自身所处的社会阶层定位与赚钱抱负。默里档案（Murray Archive）还留存有本研究的其他实体档案资料：共计307份标注日期的原始自传（其中男性77份，女性230份）。若需获取该馆藏资料，请提交数据使用申请。