The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Modern Poetry Collection of Miscellaneous Manuscripts 1920-1964
© 2007 University of Chicago Library
| Title: | Modern Poetry Collection of Miscellaneous Manuscripts |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1920-1964 |
| Size: | .25 linear feet (1 box) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | The Modern Poetry Collection of Miscellaneous Manuscripts consists of miscellaneous contemporary poetry manuscripts collected by Judith Bond while she was Curator of the Harriet Monroe Library of Modern Poetry. Most of the manuscripts were contributed by the poets at Bond’s request, and several of them show the work either in rough draft or in successive stages of completion. Also appearing in the collection is a fair amount of correspondence, most of it exchanges between Judith Bond and the various poets whose work appears within. The collection itself spans the period of 1920 through 1964, with some of the material remaining undated. |
No restrictions
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Modern Poetry Collection of Miscellaneous Manuscripts, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
A 1923 graduate of the University of Chicago, Judith Bond was offered and accepted the Curatorship of the Harriet Monroe Library of Modern Poetry in 1937, a library whose collection included a valuable assortment of first editions, proof-sheets, and letters from major poets. In her work at the Library, Bond, through careful selection and a marked enthusiasm, increased the size of the collection from an initial 2,000 volumes to over 7,000. Additionally, Judith Bond established a series of lectures and readings of poetry by contemporary poets that were widely attended by students, faculty, and the general public. It was during her tenure as the head of the Harriet Monroe Library of Modern Poetry that Bond solicited and obtained the correspondence and manuscripts that would become the basis for this collection.
The library’s namesake, Harriet Monroe, was the founder and editor of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. The journal, which began publication in 1912, was one that Monroe hoped would create an audience for modern poetry, as well as introduce readers to new writers and ideas. Poetry raised the visibility and status of poetry, as well as published and promoted the careers of a galaxy of poets who came to define twentieth century modernism, from T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and Marianne Moore to Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Robert Frost, and Langston Hughes, among many others
The Modern Poetry Collection of Miscellaneous Manuscripts consists of miscellaneous contemporary poetry manuscripts collected by Judith Bond while she was Curator of the Harriet Monroe Library of Modern Poetry. Most of the manuscripts were contributed by the poets at Bond’s request, and several of them show the work either in rough draft or in successive stages of completion. Also appearing in the collection is a fair amount of correspondence, most of it exchanges between Judith Bond and the various poets whose work appears within. Additionally included, in Folder 5, is a photograph of poet Bliss Carman and Mitchell Vennerlly. The collection itself spans the period from 1920 through 1964, with some of the material remaining undated. The Modern Poetry Collection of Miscellaneous Manuscripts is organized, at the folder level, alphabetically by the poet’s (or correspondent’s) last name. Within each folder, a listing of correspondence appears first, followed by the title and date (if known) of included poems.
| Box 1 Folder 1 | Auden, W.H. (1960-1964):
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| Box 1 Folder 2 | Binyon, Lawrence (1934 and undated):
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| Box 1 Folder 3 | Bode, Carl (1959-1960 and undated):
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| Box 1 Folder 4 | Bodenheim, Maxwell (1954 and undated):
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| Box 1 Folder 5 | Carman, Bliss (1920-1921 and undated):
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| Box 1 Folder 6 | Carruth, Hayden (1948-1949 and undated):
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| Box 1 Folder 7 | Ciardi, John (1947 and undated):
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| Box 1 Folder 8 | Eberhart, Richard (1940 and undated):
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| Box 1 Folder 9 | Monroe, Harriet (undated):
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| Box 1 Folder 10 | Moses, W.R. (1941 and undated):
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| Box 1 Folder 11 | Spencer, Theodore (1945 and undated):
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| Box 1 Folder 12 | Tinkham, Charles B. (undated):
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| Box 1 Folder 13 | Young, Marguerite (1934 and undated):
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| Box 1 Folder 14 | Lewis, Janet (Winters) (1937 and undated):
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| Box 1 Folder 15 | Bond, Judith (1964):
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| Box 1 Folder 16 | Church, Richard (1934-1958 and undated):
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