The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Morton Dauwen Zabel Papers 1901-1964
© 2006 University of Chicago Library
| Title: | Zabel, Morton Dauwen. Papers |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1901-1964 |
| Size: | 2.5 linear feet (5 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | Morton Dauwen Zabel (1901-1964), author, critic, editor and scholar of nineteenth-century English and European literature. PhD,University of Chicago, 1933. Associate editor, Poetry: A Magazine of Verse (1928-1936), full editor (1936-1937). Professor of English, University of Chicago (1947-1964). The Morton D. Zabel Papers follow closely the professional, scholarly life of Zabel through most of his activities from 1928 on, notably his association with Poetry, his professorship at the University of Chicago and his chairmanship of the Vaughn Moody Lecture Series and Harriet Monroe Poetry Award committees, and include additional miscellaneous correspondence in respect to his travels and colleagues. The papers are divided into four series. |
Series V contains student evaluative material, restricted until 2039. The remainder of the collection is open for research.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Zabel, Morton Dauwen. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Morton Dauwen Zabel was born in Minnesota Lake, Minnesota, on August 10, 1901. He received his A. B. from St. Thomas Military College in 1921, his M.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1922, and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1933. A scholar, critic, and specialist of nineteenth-century English and European literature, Zabel traveled and studied widely during his lifetime. He authored several books; the most notable being Literary Opinion in America, published in 1943.
Zabel served as associate editor of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse from 1928-1936 and full editor 1936-1937. His professional association with the University of Chicago began in 1947 when he was appointed to the English Department and actively continued until his death in 1964.
The Morton D. Zabel Papers follow closely the professional, scholarly life of Zabel through most of his activities from 1928 on, notably his association with Poetry, his professorship at the University of Chicago and his chairmanship of the Vaughn Moody Lecture Series and Harriet Monroe Poetry Award committees, and include additional miscellaneous correspondence in respect to his travels and colleagues. The papers are divided into five series.
Series I: Correspondence and Items from Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, 1928-1937
As associate editor of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse under Harriet Monroe from 1928 to 1936 and as full editor of 1936-37, Zabels abilities as a discriminating critic were allowed full play and resulted in a scintillating correspondence which is here collected as an important and previously unavailable supplement to the files of Poetry. His duties as associate editor were concerned primarily with the compilation of the prose section. Thus, a substantial portion of the collection contains letters to critics, editors and poets concerning book reviews and articles as well as Poetry. Salient in the letters is the quality of the man-as-man behind the man-as-writer-from that of the unsolicited, unpublished, would-be poet who pleads you have to eat, to that of an outstanding writer trying to please an editor with revisions and keep his creativity his own. Items such as galley proofs, typed poems, and drafts of articles are often included.
The collection of letters from Harriet Monroe to Zabel is especially notable. Many were written just before Monroes death in Peru in 1936. They vary in context and tone but add considerable information to an understanding of the founders conception of the mission of the magazine.
The Ezra Pound folder is also of great interest. The 43 letters range from 1930 to 1936 and were sent from Rapallo. They contain comments on the function of criticism, the task of Poetry and the work of contemporary poets.
Unexpected comments such as the following from a letter to Edmund Wilson written by Zabel in 1937 add a touch of serendipity to the collection. Zabel describes the visit of the Tates to Chicago. The two of them had daughter Nance along...and a dog and a young Harvard sprout called Robert Lowell.... a pleasant fellow got up in the best Harvard manner of soiled shoes, unpressed pants, dirty shirt, tousled hair, face slightly broken out, soft voice, and moral earnestness writ large upon his features. Lowell was twenty and unknown at the time.
Series II: Correspondence and Items from William Vaughn Moody Lecture Series
While at the University Zabel served as chairman of the William Vaughn Moody Lecture Series, attracting writers of note and ability to the campus. Prominent in Zabels letters is his conscientiousness over every detail of the arrangements and his solicitude for the comfort and ease of the traveling lecturers.
Series III: Correspondence and Items in Relation to the Harriet Monroe Poetry Award, 1946-1954
As Chairman of the Harriet Monroe Poetry Award Zabel exhibited this same conscientiousness in the selection of committee members and potential winners. This five hundred dollar award, to be given whenever that sum accrued from her five thousand dollar bequest, was founded by Harriet Monroe in conjunction with the University and actually presented approximately every two years beginning in 1941. The agreement establishing the award is included in Box IV, folder 12. Zabel served as chairman from 1946 to 1954 and selected new jury members for each occasion.
Series IV: University of Chicago and Miscellaneous Material
This portion of the collection represents a variety of events, the more important being papers relating to Zabels appointment to the University, his rather lengthy correspondence with Katherine Anne Porter in an effort to bring that writer to the campus as a visiting lecturer, copies of exams and student correspondence, manuscripts of articles and lectures, and European travel notes made immediately after World War II with accounts of meeting T.S. Eliot and George Santayana. Also included, and of interest to bibliographers and students of Zabels thought, is a list prepared by Zabel of his publications for the years 1943 to 1961, with projected book publications for 1962 and 1963 and the names of periodicals in which well over a hundred contributions were published from 1943 to 1963.
Series V: Restricted includes student evaluative material for which access is restricted until 2039.
The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/spcl/select.html
Harriet Monroe. Papers
Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. Records
Series I: Correspondence and Items From Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, 1928-1937 |
| Box 1 Folder 1 | A-general 1932-1937
|
| Box 1 Folder 2 | Aiken, Conrad 1934-1937 |
| Box 1 Folder 3 | B-general 1932-1937
|
| Box 1 Folder 4 | Balloting - items pertaining to selections of prizewinners for the Levinson, Guarantors, Blumenthal, Davis, and Midland Authors awards |
| Box 1 Folder 5 | Beckett, Samuel (Includes typed copy of 4 poems) |
| Box 1 Folder 6 | Belitt, Ben 1936-1946 |
| Box 1 Folder 7 | Bishop, John Peale 1933-1937 |
| Box 1 Folder 8 | Blackmur, Richard PP 1931-1937 |
| Box 1 Folder 9 | Blake, Howard 1934-1937 |
| Box 1 Folder 10 | Bogan, Louise 192?-1937 |
| Box 1 Folder 11 | Bryher, Winifred MacPherson 1934-1937 |
| Box 1 Folder 12 | Bunting, Basil 1932-1937 |
| Box 1 Folder 13 | Burke, Kenneth, 1934-1937 |
| Box 1 Folder 14 | Burnshaw, Stanley 1933-1934 |
| Box 1 Folder 15 | C-general 1933-1937
|
| Box 1 Folder 16 | Calhoun, Lucy |
| Box 1 Folder 17 | Cowley, Malcolm 1932-1936 |
| Box 1 Folder 18 | Crane, Hart 1928-1932 |
| Box 1 Folder 19 | Cunningham, J.V. 1932-1933 |
| Box 1 Folder 20 | D 1931-1937
|
| Box 1 Folder 21 | Dejong, David |
| Box 1 Folder 22 | Deutsch, Babette 1935-1936 |
| Box 1 Folder 23 | Dillon, George 1936-1937 |
| Box 1 Folder 24 | E-general
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| Box 1 Folder 25 | Eberhart, Richard 1936-1937 |
| Box 1 Folder 26 | Eliot, T. S. 1937 |
| Box 1 Folder 27 | England, Robert |
| Box 1 Folder 28 | F-general 1931-1936
|
| Box 1 Folder 29 | Fitts, Dudley |
| Box 1 Folder 30 | FitzGerald, Robert 1931-1939 |
| Box 1 Folder 31 | Flanner, Hildegarde |
| Box 1 Folder 32 | Fletcher, John Gould 1932-1937 |
| Box 1 Folder 33 | Ford, Ford Madox 1937 |
| Box 1 Folder 34 | Frost, Lesley 1934-1936 |
| Box 1 Folder 35 | Frost, Robert 1934-1935 |
| Box 1 Folder 36 | G-general 1934-1937
|
| Box 1 Folder 37 | Gill, Eric 1930) |
| Box 1 Folder 38 | Gregory, Horace 1933-1937 |
| Box 1 Folder 39 | Grigson, Geoffrey |
| Box 2 Folder 1 | H-general 1931-1937
|
| Box 2 Folder 2 | Hayakawa, S.I. |
| Box 2 Folder 3 | Healy, John Vincent |
| Box 2 Folder 4 | Holden, Raymond |
| Box 2 Folder 5 | Hone, Joseph 1933-1937 |
| Box 2 Folder 6 | Hoyt, Helen 1931-1936 |
| Box 2 Folder 7 | Humphries, Rolfe 1931-1937 |
| Box 2 Folder 8 | J-general 1930-1936
|
| Box 2 Folder 9 | K-general 1933-36
|
| Box 2 Folder 10 | Kunitz, Stanley J. 1930-1937 |
| Box 2 Folder 11 | L-general 1932-37
|
| Box 2 Folder 12 | Laing, Gordon J. |
| Box 2 Folder 13 | Lindsay, Vachel 1930) |
| Box 2 Folder 14 | Lovett, Robert Morss 1932-1937 |
| Box 2 Folder 15 | M-general 1931-37
|
| Box 2 Folder 16 | MacLeish, Archibald 1931 |
| Box 2 Folder 17 | MacLeod, Norman 1931-1935 |
| Box 2 Folder 18 | Mangan, Sherry 1931-1936 |
| Box 2 Folder 19 | Millspaugh, C.A. 1932-1937 |
| Box 2 Folder 20 | Monroe, Harriet 1930-1936 |
| Box 2 Folder 21 | Monroe, William S. |
| Box 2 Folder 22 | Moore, Marianne 1931-1936 |
| Box 2 Folder 23 | N-general 1935
|
| Box 2 Folder 24 | North, Jessica 1930-1943 |
| Box 2 Folder 25 | O-general 1933-1937
|
| Box 2 Folder 26 | Olson, Elder James 1936-1937 |
| Box 2 Folder 27 | P-general 1936-1937
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| Box 2 Folder 28 | Pound, Ezra 1926-1936 |
| Box 2 Folder 29 | Q-general 1935-1936
|
| Box 3 Folder 1 | R-general 1930-1937
|
| Box 3 Folder 2 | Robert, Michael 1936-1937 |
| Box 3 Folder 3 | Rosenberg, Harold |
| Box 3 Folder 4 | Rukuyser, Muriel 1934-1937 |
| Box 3 Folder 5 | S-general (1930-37)
|
| Box 3 Folder 6 | Sandburg, Carl 1936-1937 |
| Box 3 Folder 7 | Schappes, Morris U. (includes edited 3 pp article) |
| Box 3 Folder 8 | Seiffert, Marjorie 1930-1937 |
| Box 3 Folder 9 | Stevens, Wallace 1933-1937 |
| Box 3 Folder 10 | Strobel, Marion 1936-1937 |
| Box 3 Folder 11 | T-general (1932-37)
|
| Box 3 Folder 12 | Tate, Allen 1931-1934 |
| Box 3 Folder 13 | Tietjens, Eunice 1934-1937 |
| Box 3 Folder 14 | Udell, Geraldine 1935-1950 |
| Box 3 Folder 15 | W-general (1929-37)
|
| Box 3 Folder 16 | Warren, Robert Penn 1931-1936 |
| Box 3 Folder 17 | Wheelwright, John B. 1932-1937 |
| Box 3 Folder 18 | Wilder, Thornton 1937 |
| Box 3 Folder 19 | Williams, William Carlos 1933-1937 |
| Box 3 Folder 20 | Wilson, Edmund 1935-1937 |
| Box 3 Folder 21 | Wilson, T.C. 1932-1937 |
| Box 3 Folder 22 | Winters, Yvor 1927 |
| Box 3 Folder 23 | Y-general (1933-36)
|
| Box 3 Folder 24 | Yeats, William Butler 1931-1937 |
| Box 3 Folder 25 | Zabel, Morton Dauwen, Poem; “The Dead City”, 1 p, T |
| Box 3 Folder 26 | Zaturensky, Marya 1934-1937 |
| Box 3 Folder 27 | Zukofsky, Louis 1930-1936 |
Series II: Correspondence and Items from William Vaughn Moody Lecture Series |
| Box 4 Folder 1 | A
|
| Box 4 Folder 2 | B-CL
|
| Box 4 Folder 3 | CO-D
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| Box 4 Folder 4 | E-KI
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| Box 4 Folder 5 | KN-MACD
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| Box 4 Folder 6 | MACN-MO
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| Box 4 Folder 7 | MU
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| Box 4 Folder 8 | O-P
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| Box 4 Folder 9 | R-SE
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| Box 4 Folder 10 | SH-T
|
| Box 4 Folder 11 | W
|
Series III: Correspondence and Items in Relation to the Harriet Monroe Poetry Award, 1946-1954 |
| Box 4 Folder 12 | Agreement establishing the Award; 1946 Award correspondence |
| Box 4 Folder 13 | 1948 Award correspondence |
| Box 4 Folder 14 | 1950 Award correspondence |
| Box 4 Folder 15 | 1952 Award correspondence |
| Box 4 Folder 16 | 1954 Award correspondence; Report on Award for 1941-55 |
Series IV: University of Chicago and Miscellaneous Material |
| Box 5 Folder 1 | Correspondence re Zabel’s appointment to University of Chicago faculty, 1934-1958 |
| Box 5 Folder 2 | Correspondence relating to selection of visiting writers |
| Box 5 Folder 3 | Syllabuses, reading lists (alphabetically by course) |
| Box 5 Folder 4 | Examinations for courses (alphabetically by course) |
| Box 5 Folder 5 | Special and Ph.D. examinations (alphabetically by student) |
| Box 5 Folder 6 | Comprehensive examinations for M.A. degrees (arranged chronologically) |
| Box 5 Folder 7 | Miscellaneous reports prepared by Zabel |
| Box 5 Folder 8 | Manuscripts and notes for articles and speeches; Items concerning contemporary American criticism, Joseph Conrad, Graham Greene, Rudyard Kipling, H. G. Wells |
| Box 5 Folder 9 | Manuscripts and notes for articles and speeches; Travel memoranda and notes on Arnold Bennett, John Galsworthy, and others and fragments of three articles |
| Box 5 Folder 10 | Harriet Monroe Modern Poetry Collection, books and manuscripts; Copy of agreement establishing Modern Poetry Library, correspondence concerning requests for use of manuscript collection |
| Box 5 Folder 11 | Miscellaneous letters |
| Box 5 Folder 12 | Diploma for MA, University of Minnesota, 1922 |
| Box 5 Folder 13 | Correspondence relating to appointment of other faculty members, 1947-1963 |
Series V: Restricted, 1949-1959 |
| Box 6 Folder 1-4 | Student recommendations, thesis evaluations, coursework (alphabetically by student); 1949-1959 RESTRICTED |