INVENTORY OF THE CLAUDE FREDERICKS JOURNAL AND LETTERS, circa 1916-1988
Finding aid prepared by Neil Hathaway.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Claude Fredericks journal and letters
Date (inclusive): circa 1916-1988
Number: 900230C
Creator/Collector:
Fredericks, Claude
Physical Description:
29.5 linear feet
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California, 90049-1688
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: Personal journal (1932-1988) and correspondence (1944-1988) of the American dramatist, poet, printer and teacher, containing
some 50,000 pages of journal and some 20,000 pages of carbon copies of letters by Fredericks. This portion of Frederick's
archive is restricted, and includes personal letters from James Merrill (1950-1988).
Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
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Language: Collection material is in
English
Biographical/Historical Note
Claude Fredericks was an American dramatist, poet, printer and teacher. He has kept a journal since 1932; by 1988 it comprised,
in its various forms, more than 50,000 pages. He founded the Banyan Press in 1946 and issued works by major literary figures.
The Banyan Press imprints (see The Banyan Press archive 900230A), his correspondence and journal document his close friendships
with major literary figures of the 1940s and 1950s (see also Claude Fredericks's papers 900230C). Fredericks died on January
11, 2013.
Administrative Information
Access
RESTRICTED ACCESS: Until January 11, 2028, this collection is available to researchers only with the written permission of
the Yoshitsune Foundation, with the exception of published material in Box 27, which is open for use by qualified researchers.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Claude Fredericks journal and letters, circa 1916-1988, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 900230C.
Acquisition Information
Acquired in 1990.
Processing History
Neil Hathaway processed the collection.
Related Material
Claude Fredericks papers, circa 1850-1988, bulk 1941-1988, Accession no. 900230B.
The Banyan Press archive, 1946-1986, Accession no. 900230A.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection comprises Fredericks's more personal writings and incoming correspondence, all of his outgoing correspondence
(1944-1988), and personal ephemera (1916-1988).
Fredericks kept a journal beginning in 1932; by 1988 it contained, in its various forms (manuscript pages, notebooks, and
typescripts), ca. 50,000 pages. Additional items date from 1916 to 1988 and include ephemera, letters ranging from juvenilia
to intimate correspondence (including letters from James Merrill, 1950-1988 in box 26), Harvard class notes, and address books.
Also included are published sections of Fredericks's journal (1932-1941).
Arrangement note
Arranged in 3 series:
Series I. Journal, 1932-1988;
Series II. Letters sent, 1944-1988;
Series III. Journal Addenda, 1916-1988.
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Names
Fredericks, Claude
Merrill, James, 1926-1995
Subjects - Titles
The Journal of Claude Fredericks, Volume One: 1932-1941
Genres and Forms of Material
Correspondence
Diaries--20th century
Ephemera--20th century
Juvenilia--20th century
Contributors
Merrill, James, 1926-1995
Stinehour Press
Container List
Series I.
Journal,
1932-1988
Physical Description:
6.25 linear feet
Scope and Content Note
This series contains Fredericks's most intimate papers, his nearly life-long work-his journal-plus his outgoing correspondence.
Also in this series are the many personal letters written to Fredericks from James Merrill, 1952-1988. The journals in boxes
1-2A, although published, are fragile and may be consulted only with written permission from Claude Fredericks. The rest of
this collection is sealed, except for the published volumes in Box 27.
In a letter to Henry Wenning Fredericks described his journal: "… It must run to thirty or forty million words, fifty or sixty
thousand pages mostly typed and single spaced. It begins when I am eight and from the time I am fourteen runs almost without
interruption until now more than sixty years later."
A short section of the Journal was published in the festschrift for James Merrill's sixtieth birthday in 1986.
In 2003
The Journal of Claude Fredericks Volume One, Part One (1932-1939) and Part Two (1940-1941) were published by Xlibris, and in 2005
Selected Poems. Published copies may be found in the Getty Research Library and in the archive. Also in the archive is a limited edition
of the prospectus from The Stinehour Press, printed in 15 copies in 1997 when it was thought that the Press would publish
Fredericks's journals.
Numbers in parentheses are file numbers used by Fredericks.
Box 1
1932-1937
Physical Description:
five bound volumes (1)
Box 1
1938
Physical Description:
five envelopes, one bound volume (2)
Box 1
1939
Physical Description:
one envelope, one loose-leaf notebook (3)
Box 1
1940
Physical Description:
three loose-leaf notebooks (4)
Box 2
1941a
Physical Description:
one loose-leaf notebook, one bound volume (5)
Box 2
1941b
Physical Description:
five bound volumes (6)
Box 3
1942a
Physical Description:
one bound volume (7)
Scope and Content Note
Labeled 1942 III.
Box 4
1942b
Physical Description:
one bound volume (8)
Box 4
1942c
Physical Description:
one bound volume (9)
Box 4
1942d
Physical Description:
one bound volume (10)
Box 4
1942e
Physical Description:
two bound volumes (11)
Box 4
1942f
Physical Description:
two bound volumes (12)
Box 4
1942g
Physical Description:
foolscap typescript (13)
Box 4
1943a
Physical Description:
foolscap typescript (14)
Box 5
1943b
Physical Description:
foolscap typescript (15)
Box 5
1943c
Physical Description:
typescript (16)
Box 5
1944
Physical Description:
typescript, two bound volumes (17)
Box 6
1945
Physical Description:
typescript (18)
Box 6
1946a
Physical Description:
typescript (19)
Box 6
1946b
Physical Description:
typescript (20)
Box 6
1947
Physical Description:
typescript (21)
Box 6
1948
Physical Description:
one bound volume, typescript (22)
Box 7
1949
Physical Description:
one bound volume, typescript (23)
Box 7
1950
Physical Description:
one bound volume, typescript (24)
Box 7
1951
Physical Description:
typescript (25)
Box 7
1952
Physical Description:
typescript (26)
Box 7
1953
Physical Description:
typescript (27)
Box 7
1954
Physical Description:
typescript (28)
Box 7
1955
Physical Description:
typescript (29)
Box 7
1956
Physical Description:
typescript (30)
Box 7
1957
Physical Description:
typescript, two bound volumes (31)
Box 8
1958-1961
Scope and Content Note
Volumes 32-72 are typescripts, ca. 500 singlespaced pages each. (32)
Series II.
Letters sent,
1944-1988
Physical Description:
2.0 linear feet
Scope and Content Note
This series contains copies, with only a few originals, of every letter written by Claude Fredericks between 1944 and 1988,
except those incorporated into the Journal or in the Journal Addenda. Letters before 1944 are either in the Journal or the
Journal Addenda. In all there are between 15,000 to 20,000 letters.
Series III.
Journal Addenda,
1916-1988
Physical Description:
2.9 linear feet
Scope and Content Note
This series comprises juvenilia, Fredericks's class notes from Harvard, correspondence of a particularly personal nature,
and ephemera of various kinds, including address books, menus, garden plans, and guest books. These materials complement the
Journals in Series I. Included in this series are the personal letters from James Merrill, 1950-1988, which are sealed. Published
sections of Fredericks's Journal (1932-1941) are included in this series.
Box 26
James Merrill letters to Claude Fredericks,
1950-1988
Scope and Content Note
These personal letters were pulled from the Letters to Claude Fredericks series of the Claude Fredericks papers 900230B and
are to be returned to the chronological series of Letters to Claude Fredericks in 900230B only when the restrictions on these
letters are removed. SEALED.
Box 27
Published Journals, poems
Scope and Content Note
A prospectus,
The Journal of Claude Fredericks, 1997. One of the 15 copies produced by The Stinehour Press, 1997.
The Journal of Claude Fredericks
Volume One, Part One: Springfield (1932-1939) and Volume One, Part Two: Springfield (1940-1941) Xlibris, 2003. One copy each,
hardcover and paperback
Claude Fredericks,
Selected Poems, Xlibris, 2005
One copy each, hardcover and paperback. With publication announcements.
