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INVENTORY OF THE JOANN COHN CAZDEN COLLECTION, 1945-1965, (bulk 1945-1948)
D-228
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Table of contents
Title: Joann Cohn Cazden Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1945-1965,
Date (bulk): (bulk 1945-1948)
Collection number: D-228
Collector:
Cazden, Joann Cohn
Creator:
Snyder, Gary
Extent:
0.40 linear feet, 1 document case
Repository:
University of California, Davis. General Library. Dept. of Special Collections.
100 North West Quad
Davis, California, 95616-5292
Abstract: The Joann Cohn Cazden Collection contains letters from Gary Snyder (1930-) to the then Joann Cohn (b. ca. 1930-), Snyder's
poems and journal entries, and a small number of photographs and clippings. The collection spans the years 1945 to 1965, but
the bulk of it dates 1945 to 1948 from a time when Cohn and Snyder were teenagers in Portland, Oregon. Much of the material
has to do with the outdoors, camping, hiking, mountain climbing, love, poetry, and music. After doing her undergraduate work
at Stanford University and receiving her MLS from the University of California at Berkeley, Cohn married Robert E. Cazden
and lived for many years in Lexington, Kentucky. Gary Snyder, the influential poet, essayist, environmentalist, and lecturer,
has written more than twenty books of poetry and prose including his forty-year work
Mountains and Rivers Without End (1996) and
Turtle Island for which he won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
Physical location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Special Collections Department.
Language:
English.
Collection is open for research under regular Reading Room rules and copyright restrictions.
Copyright is protected by the copyright law, chapter 17, of the U.S. Code. All requests for permission to publish or quote
from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the Department of Special Collections, University of California, Library, Davis as the owner of the physical items and
is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
[Identification of item], Joann Cohn Cazden Collection, D-228, Department of Special Collections, University of California
Library, Davis, California.
In 1976, Joann Cohn Cazden donated this collection to the Library.
Special Collections staff member, Melissa Tyler processed this collection and created its finding aid.
Joann Louise Cohn (b. ca. 1930-) attended high school in Portland, Oregon during the mid to late 1940s. Cohn and Gary Snyder
(1930-) became friends in 1946 when they were both teenagers. They sent each other letters and poems when one or the other
left Portland for vacation, summer camp, or later college. Cohn graduated from Stanford in 1952. She received a Masters degree
in Library Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1955. Cohn married Robert E. Cazden, and the couple and
their children lived for many years in Lexington, Kentucky. Robert Cazden was a professor of Library Science at the University
of Kentucky.
In 1942, Gary Snyder and his family moved to Portland, Oregon from a small farm near Seattle, Washington. During his high
school years, Snyder held a number of part-time jobs including working at a camp on Spirit Lake in Washington and as a copy
boy for the Portland
Oregonian. He was also an avid mountain climber and hiker. In 1947, Snyder graduated from Lincoln High School and enrolled at Reed
College. He graduated from Reed with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Anthropology in 1951. Gary Snyder, influential
poet, essayist, translator, Zen Buddhist, environmentalist, lecturer, and teacher, has written more than twenty books of poetry
and prose including his forty-year work
Mountains and Rivers Without End (1996) and
Turtle Island for which he won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Joann Cohn Cazden Collection is divided into five series: 1. Works by Gary Snyder, 2. Letters from Gary Snyder, 3. Clippings
featuring Gary Snyder, 4. Photographs, and 5. Other. The collection's contents span the years 1945 to 1965 with the bulk dating
1945 to 1948. Included in this collection are examples of Snyder's early poetry, letters that he wrote to Joann Cohn when
they were both teenagers, journal entries that record a week he spent hiking at Spirit Lake-Mt. Rainier in July 1947, and
a small number of photographs and clippings that show images of a young Snyder. Much of the material has to do with the
outdoors, camping, hiking, mountain climbing, love, poetry, and music. In the 1948 letter, Snyder describes his life at Reed
College. The collection does not include letters or works written by Joann Cohn Cazden.
Snyder sent letters, poems, and other items to Cohn; and she collected these materials and pasted the poems into a scrapbook
in 1947. Although small in size, the Joann Cohn Cazden Collection gains importance since Snyder himself saved few of his early
works and other personal papers.
D-050, The Gary Snyder Papers
The following terms have been used to index the Joann Cohn Cazden Collection in the Library's online public access catalog.
Snyder, Gary, 1930-
Cazden, Joann Cohn
Poets,
American--20th century
American
poetry--20th century
Authors,
American--20th century
American
literature--20th century
Mountaineering--Northwest, Pacific
Hiking--Northwest, Pacific
Camps--Northwest, Pacific