Writings, 1945-1984 and undated

This series is comprised of two groupings, the writings by others that Whittemore collected and his own work. All materials are arranged alphabetically first by subheading, then by title or brief descriptors. Subheadings include "By Others," "Journals," "Nonfiction," "Notes and Fragments," "Poetry," "Reviews," "Scripts," and "Short Stories."

"By Others," contains the works that Whittemore collected. Some of the highlights include the manuscript and final typescript of Harry C. Dudley's 1978 book, Glorified Fishing, (which Whittemore edited; see also, "Nonfiction--memoirs, Harry C. Dudley" for related correspondence and drafts); Scott Elledge's touching recollections of Whittemore in "Whittemore as Editor"; a eulogy for Whittemore's father (Edward Reed Whittemore, Sr.); David Hall's thesis on Whittemore; Eugene J. McCarthy's 1969 "Phi Beta Kappa Oration," three of Howard Nemerov's manuscripts; and several manuscripts by John Pauker.

"Journals" includes notebooks written by Whittemore during the years 1951-1952, 1976-1977, 1981, and 1983[?].

"Nonfiction," contains Whittemore's commentary, essays, lectures, manuscripts, and notes. About one-third of these files contain manuscripts, drafts, endnotes, indexes, and galleys all pertaining to Whittemore's research on and biography of William Carlos Williams. Other writings include drafts, galleys, and manuscripts to such titles as From Zero to Absolute and Six Literary Lives: The Shared Impiety of Adams, London, Sinclair, Williams, Dos Passos, and Tate. The remaining series of lectures and other nonfiction titles cover such topics as poetry, teaching, writing, and a commencement speech.

"Notes and Fragments" includes three folders, each containing lists of titles of poems and books, fragments of hand-written and typed manuscripts, and notes relating to the literary magazine, Furioso.

"Poetry" contains of over sixty individual poems, several fragments of poems, two notebooks, and the manuscripts, final typescripts, galleys, research notes, and some related correspondence for at least seven of Whittemore's published and unpublished books of poetry. The seven books include Collected Poems (unpublished manuscript); The Feel of Rock; Fifty Poems Fifty; a hand-notated copy of Heroes and Heroines; The Mother's Breast and the Father's House; Poems, New and Selected; and Return, Alpheus: A Poem for the Literary Elders of Phi Beta Kappa.

"Reviews" consist of Whittemore's reviews of works by Ralph Ellison, Maurice English, Sigmund Freud, William B. Ober, and James W. Silver.

"Scripts" include two folders: fragments of a dialog between a director, teacher, students, soldier, scholar, and wife and a preliminary outline for a musical about a murder-mystery.

"Short Stories" include fifteen short stories by Whittemore, ranging in length from three pages to just under one hundred pages.