The collection is arranged in four series:

Series 1: Correspondence                          

Series 2: Writings                                                          

Series 3: Academic Work                                          

Series 4: Video Recordings

Gloria Jean Watkins (aka bell hooks) was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky in 1952.  She received degrees in English Literature from Stanford University (B.A.), the University of Wisconsin-Madison (M.A.) and her PhD from the University of California-Santa Cruz. She chose the lower case pen name bell hooks, based on the names of her mother and grandmother, to emphasize the importance of her writing as opposed to who she is.

A noted intellectual, feminist theorist, cultural critic, author and artist, hooks has written over 40 books. She taught at UC-Santa Cruz, Yale University, Oberlin College and City College of New York. Dr. hooks moved to Berea, Kentucky in 2004 where she serves as the Distinguished Professor in Residence of Appalachian Studies at Berea College. In 2014, she established the bell hooks Institute in Berea.