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Authors and Poets collection

 Collection 0025-LIT

Assembled from a number of miscellaneous literary manuscript collections, Authors and Poets is a diffuse collection of correspondence, manuscripts, page and galley proofs, publications, serials, sound recordings, photographs, and ephemera relating to various literary figures. The bulk of the collection consists of materials by and relating to the publishing activities of twentieth-century American authors, such as William Carlos Williams, John Updike, Amiri Baraka, and Richard Aldington and journalists such as H. L. Mencken and Derek Stanford.

Dates

  • Creation: 1880-1989 and undated
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1946-1968

Use and Access to Collection

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Photocopies or digital surrogates may be provided in accordance with Special Collections and University Archives duplication policy.

Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs unless otherwise specified. It is the researcher's responsibility to secure permission to publish materials from the appropriate copyright holder.

Archival materials may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal and/or state right to privacy laws or other regulations. While we make a good faith effort to identify and remove such materials, some may be missed during our processing. If a researcher finds sensitive personal information in a collection, please bring it to the attention of the reading room staff.

Extent

8.75 Linear Feet

24 Items

Language of Materials

English

Scope and Content of Collection

The Authors and Poets Collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, page and galley proofs, publications, serials, sound recordings, photographs, and ephemera relating to various literary figures. The material spans the dates between 1880 and 1989, with the bulk falling between 1946 and 1968.

Arrangement

The collection is divided into seven series.

Series 1
Correspondence
Series 2
Manuscripts and Notes
Series 3
Proofs and Publications
Series 4
Printed Matter
Series 5
Serials
Series 6
Sound Recordings
Series 7
Photographs

Custodial History and Acquisition Information

Many of the items in the collection were purchased from various dealers between 1970 and 1975 with some material purchased in 1963, 1968, and 1976-1977. For many of the items, information on the provenance does not exist. Some manuscript items were located in rare book materials and were subsequently removed for cataloging.

Related Material

The William Carlos Williams papers are among the holdings of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. The Houghton Library, Harvard University, acquired the papers of John Updike in circa 2010.

Processing Information

The Authors and Poets Collection was created by combining of two literary manuscripts collections, Authors and Poets and Literary Manuscripts Miscellaneous. For both of these collections, material had been described at the item level and housed individually by item. When both collections were brought together, series were created based on format. Fragile materials and photographs have been housed in Mylar sleeves. Metal paper clips and staples have been removed. The materials have been placed in acid-free folders and boxes. Oversize materials have been separated and appropriately housed.

Title
Guide to the Authors and Poets collection
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Maureen Cech.
Date
2010-04
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Library Details

Part of the Special Collections and University Archives

Contact:
University of Maryland Libraries
Hornbake Library
4130 Campus Drive
College Park Maryland 20742
301-405-9212