Patricia Traxler Papers
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
Copyright 2023
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Business Number: 858-534-2533
Fax Number: 858-534-5950
spcoll@ucsd.edu
Descriptive Summary
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Patricia Traxler Papers
Creator:
Traxler, Patricia
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0825
Physical Description:
4.25 Linear feet
(11 archives boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1972-2020
Abstract: Papers of American poet, writer, and educator Patricia Traxler. Traxler has taught many creative writing courses and projects,
served as poet-in-residence in Salina, Kansas and other locations, and received numerous awards for her fiction and poetry.
The collection includes correspondence, writings, photographs, and ephemera of both Traxler and United States poet laureate
Robert Pinsky.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
Papers of American poet, writer, and educator Patricia Traxler. Traxler has taught many creative writing courses and projects,
served as poet-in-residence in Salina, Kansas and other locations, and received numerous awards for her fiction and poetry.
The collection includes correspondence, writings, photographs, and ephemera of both Traxler and United States poet laureate
Robert Pinsky.
Arranged in three series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL FILE AND CORRESPONDENCE, 2) WRITINGS, and 3) ROBERT PINSKY MATERIALS.
Biography
Patricia Traxler was born in San Diego and educated at the University of California. She began writing at an early age, influenced
by her grandmother, Irish poet Nora Dunne. In 1980, she moved to Salina, Kansas, where she was named poet-in-residence by
the Salina Arts and Humanities Commission. Traxler has been the Bunting Poetry fellow at Radcliffe College in 1990 and 1991,
Hugo Poet at the University of Montana in 1996, and Thurber Poet at Ohio State University in 1997. She has taught creative
writing and poetry at Kansas Wesleyan University and other universities, and developed writing programs and projects for children
and adults. Her published books of poetry include
Blood Calendar (1975),
The Glass Woman (1983),
Forbidden Words (1994), and
Naming the Fires (2016), which was awarded the 2019 Hefner Heitz Kansas Book Award in Poetry. Traxler has also written two novels,
Blood (2001) and
In the Skin (2020), and edited a history of Salina, Kansas,
In Our Time: An Anthology of Personal History, 1910-1975 (1988). She is the recipient of numerous awards, including
Ploughshares' Cohen Award in 1990, Radcliffe's Presidential Discretionary Award in 1991, and
Nimrod's Pablo Neruda Award for Poetry in 1998.
Preferred Citation
Patricia Traxler Papers. MSS 825. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
Acquisition Information
Acquired 2020
Publication Rights
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Restrictions
Robert Pinsky correspondence is restricted through December 2025.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Traxler, Patricia -- Archives
Pinsky, Robert
BIOGRAPHICAL FILE AND CORRESPONDENCE
Scope and Content of Series
Series 1) BIOGRAPHICAL FILE AND CORRESPONDENCE: Biographical information about Patricia Traxler and her correspondence with
poets, writers, publishers, and editors. Correspondents include Victor Contorski, Patricia Goedicke, Robert Hershon, Ted Kooser,
Margo Livesey, Adrienne Rich, and Roderick Townley.
Box 1, Folder 1
Biographical information
1990-2002
Box 1, Folder 2
AGNI (Melnyczuk, Askold)
1990-2002
Box 1, Folder 6
Brock-Broido, Lucie
1991-1995
Box 1, Folder 10
Contorski, Victor
1984-1998
Box 1, Folder 11
Davison, Peter
(The Atlantic Monthly)
1992
General note
Regarding Traxler's poem "High Wire."
Box 1, Folder 14
Goedicke, Patricia
1988-2004
Box 1, Folder 15
Goldbarth, Albert
1988-2019
Box 1, Folder 16
Hacker, Marilyn
1988-1993
Box 1, Folder 18
Heffernan, Michael
1985-1986
General note
Includes photograph of Michael Heffernan, 1985.
Box 1, Folder 20-23
Hershon, Robert (Hanging Loose Press)
1972-2014
Box 2, Folder 1-2
Hershon, Robert (Hanging Loose Press)
2015-2018
Box 2, Folder 3
Holden, Jonathan
1984-1989
Box 2, Folder 10
Lifshin, Lyn
(Tangled Vines)
1976-1992
Box 2, Folder 11-12
Livesey, Margot
1998-2019
Box 3, Folder 3
Maristed, Kai (von Bismarck, Karen)
2002-2018
Box 3, Folder 4
Martinez, Max Carlos
2019-2020
Box 3, Folder 6
McCarriston, Linda
1991-1995
General note
Includes photograph of Linda McCarriston, 1991.
Box 3, Folder 8
Mirriam-Goldberg, Caryn
2011-2014
Box 3, Folder 9
Moramarco, Fred
(Poetry International)
1996
Box 3, Folder 11
Murray, William Cotter (Bill)
1995
Box 3, Folder 12
Peirce, Kathleen
1993-1994
Box 3, Folder 13
Piepenbrink, Gary
1989-1999
Box 3, Folder 14
Ploughshares (Lee, Don)
1989-2000
Box 3, Folder 18
Santos, Sherod (Rod)
1993-1999
General note
Includes photographs of Robert Hershon, Lori Brack, Jodie Blankenburg, Sherod Santos, and Kathleen Peirce, ca. 1994.
Box 3, Folder 20
Schwartz, Lloyd
1991-2001
Box 3, Folder 21
Shelley Memorial Award, Poetry Society of America
1991
Box 3, Folder 22
Shirley, Aleida
(The American Voice)
1991-1992
Box 3, Folder 24
Stafford, William
1983-1993
General note
Includes photograph of Patricia Traxler, 1986.
Box 3, Folder 25
Stern, Gerald (Jerry)
1990-1996
Box 3, Folder 27
Thon, Melanie Rae
1991-2019
Box 3, Folder 28-29
Townley, Roderick and Wyatt
1996-2018
General note
Includes photographs of the Townleys.
Box 3, Folder 30
Trowbridge, William
(The Laurel Review)
1990-1995
Box 3, Folder 32
Wakoski, Diane
1985
General note
Includes photograph of Diane Wakoski, 1985.
Box 3, Folder 33
Waniek, Marilyn Nelson
1992
General note
Includes photograph of Marilyn Nelson Waniek, ca. 1992.
Box 3, Folder 34
Miscellaneous correspondence
WRITINGS
Scope and Content of Series
Series 2) WRITINGS: Manuscripts, drafts, ephemera, and reviews for writings by Patricia Traxler. Prose materials include a
manuscript and reviews of Traxler's 2001 novel
Blood, drafts for personal narratives, and a review. Poetry includes drafts of poems, reviews and ephemera for Traxler's published
works, and the manuscript for
Forbidden Words (2016). The series also includes ephemera and correspondence for poetry readings by Patricia Traxler, particularly the 1998
Favorite Poem Project reading in Salina, Kansas, which was organized by Traxler.
Box 4, Folder 1
The Unremembered Dream
1997
Box 4, Folder 2-6
Blood (2000) - Manuscript, correspondence and reviews
2001-2003
Box 4, Folder 7
The Missing World (Margot Livesey, 2006) - Review
Box 4, Folder 8
Secrets We Keep From Ourselves
2018
Box 4, Folder 10
Blood Calendar (1975) - Review
Box 4, Folder 11
The Glass Woman (1983) - Review
1984
Box 4, Folder 12
Forbidden Words (1994) - Excerpts and ephemera
1995
Box 4, Folder 13
Naming the Fires (2016) - Manuscript
2015
Box 4, Folder 15
Third Annual New Poetry Series, San Diego State University
1975 October 14
Box 4, Folder 16
Favorite Poem Project reading, Salina, Kansas
1998 October 29
General note
The event was organized by Patricia Traxler.
ROBERT PINSKY MATERIALS
Scope and Content of Series
Series 3) ROBERT PINSKY MATERIALS: Materials regarding poet and writer Robert Pinsky which were collected by Patricia Traxler.
Pinsky was U.S. Poet Laureate from 1997 to 2000. Arranged in two subseries: A) CORRESPONDENCE AND MISCELLANEOUS, and B) WRITINGS.
A) CORRESPONDENCE AND MISCELLANEOUS: Correspondence between Patricia Traxler and Robert Pinsky in which they discuss and critique
their writing drafts. The correspondence has been restricted until 2025. The subseries also includes photographs of Pinsky,
sketches by him, and ephemera regarding his talks and poetry readings.
B) WRITINGS: Drafts, manuscripts, correspondence, cover art, and reviews for Pinsky's published and unpublished writings,
many of which were annotated by Traxler. Includes essays, interviews, personal narratives, fiction, drama, poetry, and translations
of Dante and Czeslaw Milosz. Pinsky numbered and dated many of his drafts.
Correspondence and Miscellaneous
Box 10, Folder 1-7
Correspondence
1986-2007
Conditions Governing Access note
Restricted through December 2025.
Box 11, Folder 1-5
Correspondence
2008-2018
Conditions Governing Access note
Restricted through December 2025.
Box 4, Folder 19
Photographs of Robert Pinsky
1989-1996
Box 4, Folder 20
Ephemera - Talks and readings
1986-2009
Box 4, Folder 21
An Interview with Robert Pinsky by P. Michael Campbell
(Berkeley Poetry Review 17)
1984 fall
Box 4, Folder 22
The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams, Vol. I, 1909-1939 (A. Walton Litz and Christopher MacGowan, editors, 1987) - Review
Box 4, Folder 23
The Death of Methuselah and Other Stories (Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1988) - Review
Box 5, Folder 1-2
Poetry and the World: Selected Prose 1977-1987 (1988) - Drafts, review, and cover layout
1988
Box 5, Folder 3
Some Passages of Isaiah
1988
Box 5, Folder 4
A False Mustache, A Frozen Swan: The Holocaust from a Distance
1988 December
Box 5, Folder 5
Bitter Flame: A Life of Sylvia Plath (Anne Stevenson, 1989) - Review
Box 5, Folder 6
The Poet in the
Faubourg "Jewish"
1989
Box 5, Folder 7
Casey and McGraw (Joseph Durso, 1989) - Review
Box 5, Folder 8
The Language Net. Review of
Poems of Paul Celan (Michael Hamburger, translator, 1972)
1989 July 31
Box 5, Folder 9
Skies of the City: A Poetry Reading
1989 summer
Box 5, Folder 10
The Hand
1989 November 21
Box 5, Folder 11
Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball (Warren Goldstein, 1989) - Review
1990 February 13
Box 5, Folder 12
Robert Lowell
1990 November 24
Box 5, Folder 13
Introduction to "A Poetry Supplement,"
Tikkun vol. 6, no. 4
1991
Box 5, Folder 14
News From a Foreign Country Came (Alberto Manguel, 1991) - Review
1991 April
Box 5, Folder 15
Compost interview with Robert Pinsky
1991 December 11
Box 5, Folder 16
The Dark American Bar
1991 December 18
Box 5, Folder 17
Czeslaw Milosz essays
1991-2001
Box 5, Folder 18
Poetry Chronicle
1992 January 8
Box 5, Folder 19
Review of
Canvas by Adam Zagajewski (Renata Gorczynski, translator, 1990)
1992 November 12
Box 5, Folder 20
The Amateur
1992 November 28
Box 5, Folder 21
Essay on 16th century poetry
1993
Box 5, Folder 23
O Holy Cow! The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto (Tom Peyer and Hart Seely, editors, 1993) - Review
1993 March 16
Box 5, Folder 24
On "Sailing to Byzantium"
1993 March 16
Box 5, Folder 25
Old Poetry and New Poetry
1993 April 25
Box 5, Folder 26
Gerry Mulligan
1993 June 2
Box 5, Folder 27
Woman Alone at Bar
1993 September 12
Box 5, Folder 28
The Collected Stories (Grace Paley, 1994) - Review
1994 March 28
Box 5, Folder 29
Getting it By Heart
1994 June 30
Box 5, Folder 30
Donne's Valediction
1994 September 12
Box 5, Folder 31
Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway (Clifford Stoll, 1995) - Review
1995 February 12
Box 5, Folder 32
The Muse in the Machine
1995 February 23
Box 5, Folder 33
Prose in the Poetry of William Carlos Williams
1995 March 24
Box 5, Folder 34
If You Could Write One Great Poem, What Would You Want It To Be About?
1995 April 10
Box 5, Folder 35
The Meaning of American Poetry at the Present Time
1995 May 15
Box 5, Folder 36
The Saving Vulgarity of Poetry
1996 December 27
Box 5, Folder 37
Diary, Days One - Five
1996 December 30 - 1997 January 3
Box 5, Folder 38
An Alphabet of My Dead
1997 February 24
Box 5, Folder 39
Letter to the editor regarding the American Poetry event at the White House on April 22, 1998
1998
Box 6, Folder 1-2
The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide (1998) - Drafts
1997-1998
Box 6, Folder 3
The Simpsons - Essays
1998 and undated
General note
Includes "My Favorite Show: Robert Pinsky on
The Simpsons" and "Sitcome Verité: Welcome Back, Simpsons."
Box 6, Folder 4
"Western wind, when will thou blow"
1998 March 19
Box 6, Folder 5
Swamp Dreams. Review of
The Meadowlands: Wilderness Adventures at the Edge of a City (Robert Sullivan, 1998)
1998 April 19
Box 6, Folder 7
Poetry and American Memory
1998 October 5
Box 6, Folder 8
Robert Pinsky interviewed by
The Washington Post - Transcript
2002 September 9
Box 6, Folder 9
Cape Cod (Henry David Thoreau, 1865)
2003 November 20
Box 6, Folder 10
On My Poem "Louie Louie"
2004 November 6
Box 6, Folder 11
Myths of the Workroom
2005
Box 6, Folder 12
The Year of Magical Thinking (Joan Didion, 2005) - Review
Box 6, Folder 13-16
The Life of David (2006) - Manuscripts
2004-2006
Box 6, Folder 17
Speaking the Unspeakable. Review of
While They Slept: An Inquiry into the Murder of a Family (Kathryn Harrison, 2008)
2008 June 8
Box 6, Folder 18
Introduction to
English Renaissance Poetry: A Collection of Shorter Poems (John Williams, 1963)
2016
Box 6, Folder 19
Democracy and the Cultural Ideal
2018 September 10
Box 6, Folder 20
American Culture and the Voice of Poetry
Box 6, Folder 21
Essay on peace and poetry
Box 6, Folder 22
No Picnic
General note
On "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg.
Box 6, Folder 23
Miscellaneous prose
1988-1994
Box 6, Folder 24
Mr Mintser
1982 September 1
Box 6, Folder 25
Boxers (Abe)
1988 November
Box 7, Folder 1
Jesus and Isolt
1989 summer
Box 7, Folder 2-4
The Lion Biter Stories
1989-1990
Box 7, Folder 5
The Robot Pageant: An Opera
2010
Box 7, Folder 9
What Why When How Who
1986
Box 7, Folder 16
The Rhyme of Reb Nachman
1989
Box 7, Folder 18
Shiva and Parvati Hiding in the Rain
1989
Box 7, Folder 21
Isaac Leybush Peretz
1990
Box 7, Folder 22-23
The Want Bone (1990) - Manuscripts and cover art
1990
Box 7, Folder 26
The Figured Wheel (1993) - Cover art and reviews
1993-1996
Box 7, Folder 28
Impossible to Tell
1994 July 18
Box 8, Folder 1
The Ice Storm
1995 September 13
Box 8, Folder 2
Poems - Manuscript
1998 July 11
Box 8, Folder 3-4
Jersey Rain (2000) - Manuscript
1999-2000
General note
Originally titled
Machine.
Box 8, Folder 6
Coat
2001 July 17
General note
About Italian writer Natalia Ginzburg.
Box 8, Folder 9
First Things to Hand - Drafts
2005
Box 8, Folder 10
Poem of Disconnected Parts
2005
Box 8, Folder 11
Gulf Music (2007) - Draft
Box 8, Folder 13
Selected Poems (2011) - Draft
Box 8, Folder 14
At the Foundling Hospital (2016) - Drafts and cover art
Box 8, Folder 19
A Phonebook Cover Hermes of the Nineteen-Forties
Box 8, Folder 20
Miscellaneous poems
1989-2004
Box 8, Folder 21-22
The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation (1995) - Drafts
1992-1993
Box 9, Folder 1-3
The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation (1995) - Manuscript, drafts, correspondence, and reviews
1992-1995
Box 9, Folder 4
From
The World (Fourteen poems from
The World: A Naive Poem by Czeslaw Milosz, 1943) - Draft
