The originals of Jacques Derrida’s seminar materials are physically kept at three separate repositories—UC Irvine Libraries, Institut Mémoires de l’édition contemporaine (IMEC), and Princeton University Library.

Of the 106 seminars contained within this online archive, two seminars are also physically held by Princeton University Library, arriving as part of its acquisition of the Library of Jacques Derrida in 2015. These seminar materials sometimes include multiple printed copies of the same seminar notes, of which only one has been digitized. Each of these seminars has an added entry in their record giving “Princeton University. Library. Special Collections” as the repository.

Researchers may also wish to consult the wider Library of Jacques Derrida. This collection encompasses over 18,000 monographs, serial issues, offprints, unpublished drafts, and other papers that supported Derrida’s scholarly activity and related to the wider interests of the Derrida family. Numerous items reflect Derrida’s practice of underlining and annotating passages, adding marginal notes, and bookmarking and dog-earring pages. Books and offprints that were gifted to Derrida include authors’ presentation inscriptions, inscribed cards, and authors’ addresses torn from mailing envelopes. Others have related materials laid between the pages: offprints and photocopied excerpts of texts by the same author, press clippings relating to the author or subject of the work, and correspondence between Derrida and the publishers and authors, sometimes including event invitations, photographs, and postcards.

Ninety-six seminars were digitized from materials in the Critical Theory Archive at UC Irvine Libraries. These represent Derrida’s teaching activities from the late 1950s up to the early 1990s. In some cases where UC Irvine had multiple printed copies of the same seminar notes, only one copy was digitized, prioritizing the most complete copy with the most significant annotations and corrections. Each of these seminars have an added entry in their record giving “UCI Libraries. Department of Special Collections and Archives” as the repository.

Researchers interested in physically consulting the originals of the seminar materials may view the finding aid for further information about the materials held: Derrida (Jacques) papers. Teaching and seminars Series 2. 1959-1995

The wider Derrida (Jacques) papers collection also contains materials from Derrida’s student work, his publications, and his conference participation. Other series in the collection comprise audio-visual recordings, photographs, press clippings, and research materials collected by Derrida. Reformatted and digitized materials from the collection are available through a password-protected virtual platform.

A further eight seminars were digitized from materials held at the Institut Mémoires de l’édition contemporaine, dating from the mid-1990s until the end of Derrida’s teaching career in 2003 and also from earlier teaching activities not deposited at UC Irvine. Each of these seminars have an added entry in their record giving “Institut Mémoires de l’édition contemporaine” as the repository.

In addition to these original copies of Derrida’s later seminars, IMEC also holds photocopies of the majority of the seminar materials held at UC Irvine. The full listing can be found here: Derrida, Jacques (1930-2004). Activité philosophique. Œuvre. Cours et séminaires

IMEC also maintains series on Derrida’s works—including essays, journal articles, conference publications, contributions to other published works, speeches, and interviews—his research materials, his professorial records and student evaluations, his personal and professional correspondence, and his personal records, as well as photographs, press on his scholarly activities and publications, and audio-visual recordings.