The Irwin Cohen collection contains artwork, clippings, manuscripts, proofs, photographs, and publications by and about Djuna Barnes and her era. A significant portion of the collection focuses on the publication of Creatures in an Alphabet, a book of Barnes's poetry released posthumously. Also included is a wide assortment of serial publications dating from 1915 to 1938. The entire collection spans the period 1896 to 1982, with the bulk of the material falling in two distinct periods: 1911-1923 and 1982, the year in which Creatures in an Alphabet was published.
This collection is open for research.
This series includes Cohen's collection of manuscripts, proofs, and publications written by Barnes, as well as a poem titled "The Wind" written by her mother, Elizabeth Chappell Barnes. The series is divided into three sections: "Manuscripts and Proofs," "Publications," and "'The Wind' by Elizabeth Chappell Barnes." Of particular interest are family and biographical notes and miscellaneous handwritten poetry fragments written by Barnes. Also included are a manuscript, proofs, correspondence, and other materials concerning the publication of her Creatures in an Alphabet, which appeared in 1982. The eighteen copies of published works of Djuna Barnes in the series include poetry, interviews, and short stories. Eleven of these are copies of Barnes's poetry not duplicated in the Papers of Djuna Barnes, also held by the University of Maryland Libraries. The three sections of this series are arranged alphabetically, as are the items within each section.
This series contains clippings from serial publications, page proofs of books that were subsequently published, and various other publications. It is divided into three sections: "About Barnes," "On or By Others," and "Other." Some of the items in this series belonged to Miss Barnes and are annotated in her hand.
The first section includes a 1916 clipping from the New York Sun that comments on Miss Barnes's interview with Adolf Bohm; a copy of the 1972 festschrift published in her honor; page proofs from two Barnes biographies; and a copy of a Provincetown Players playbill that lists her play, "An Irish Triangle," on the program for January 1920.
The second section contains a single leaflet from Leaflets from the Beyond, a series published by Barnes's paternal grandfather, the spiritualist H. A. Budington. Also included is a pamphlet published in memory of M. Eleanor Fitzgerald, whom Miss Barnes knew from the Provincetown Players. This copy, which was apparently owned by Susan Jenkins Brown, contains Brown's handwritten comments on Chouteau Dyer (aide to Erwin Piscator), Carlotta O'Neill (Eugene O'Neill's third wife), Kenneth MacGowan, the Provincetown Players, Miss Barnes, and E. J. Ballantine. This second section of the series also includes page proofs for Peter Klappert's The Idiot Princess of the Last Dynasty, a sequence of dramatic monologues purportedly spoken by Daniel Mahoney, the real-life model for Barnes's character Matthew O'Connor in her novels Ryder and Nightwood. This section also includes two items related to Courtenay Lemon, with whom Miss Barnes lived in Greenwich Village between 1917 and 1919.
The final section in this series, "Other," consists of three items clipped by Miss Barnes from serial publications.
The three sections are arranged alphabetically, as are the items within each section.
The Irwin Cohen collection, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries.
The Irwin Cohen collection, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries. http://hdl.handle.net/1903.1/1508 Accessed January 20, 2025.
Special Collections and University Archives
Special Collections in Performing Arts
International Piano Archives at Maryland