Correspondence, 1930-1985 and undated

This series is comprised of two groupings: Whittemore's correspondence to and from others and correspondence of others. The first grouping consists of letters between Whittemore and family, friends, publishers, associations, government agencies, universities and colleges, and other literary contacts. Within each group, files are arranged alphabetically by correspondent (individual or corporate) and chronologically within each folder. The box inventory also lists additional correspondents as well as added subject entries for each folder. Where postmark dates are legible, existing envelopes have been retained and filed with corresponding letters.

Correspondence of an individual whose surname is unknown is filed alphabetically by first name (for example, the entry, "[?], George," is filed before the entry for "George Mason University"). Correspondence related to the requesting and granting of permission to publish is arranged chronologically and filed under the entry "Permissions." (For example, permission requests and grants for Whittemore's biography of William Carlos Williams can be found under the entry "Permissions: William Carlos Williams: Poet From Jersey.")

Some of the significant correspondents in the first grouping include Katherine Alexander, Scott Elledge, Arthur and Rosemary Mizener, Howard Nemerov, John Pauker, and Allen Tate. Whittemore also regularly corresponded with the staff of the literary magazines with which he was associated, including Furioso and Carleton Miscellany. Whittemore had contact with professors and individuals at various institutions such as Yale University, Carleton College, the University of Maryland, and the Library of Congress. The most extensive of Whittemore's correspondence with publishers includes that with Houghton Mifflin Company, Macmillan Company, and University of Minnesota Press. Correspondence of famous or significant literary figures includes Rosalind Carter, James Dickey, Allen Ginsberg, Archibald MacLeish, Norman Mailer, Eugene J. McCarthy, Marianne Moore, Bill Moyers, and Mike Wallace.

The second grouping, Correspondence of Others, follows the Whittemore correspondence and also is arranged alphabetically by author. This correspondence was not written directly to or by Whittemore and includes a letter from Katherine Alexander to Arthur and Rosemary Mizener, Joan [?] to Helen Whittemore, correspondence from Clay Putman to Arthur Mizener, and several letters from Edward Reed Whittemore, Sr., to Arthur Mizener.