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Finding Aid for the Edgar Bowers papers, 1868-2003 (bulk 1920-2000)
565
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Title: Edgar Bowers papers,
Date (inclusive): 1868-2003
Date (bulk): (bulk 1920-2000)
Collection number: 565
Creator: Bowers, Edgar
Extent:
18 boxes (9 linear ft.)
1 shoebox (0.5 linear ft.)
1 oversize box
Abstract: The Edgar Bowers papers consist of the poet's original correspondence, manuscripts, personal papers, photographs, recordings,
and publications that document Bowers' family life, personal history, and development as a poet and scholar.
Language: Finding aid is written in English
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library,
Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of
the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC
Regents do not hold the copyright.
- Gift of the Edgar Bowers estate, 2002.
- Gift of Joshua Odell, 2002.
[Identification of item], Edgar Bowers Papers (Collection 565). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, UCLA.
The collection was originally processed by by Marisol Ramos-Lum in 2002. In preparation for the Department's 2003 Bowers conference
and exhibit, Kevin Durkin and Octavio Olvera completed additional processing in the correspondence and manuscripts series.
Reprocessed by Royce Diekmann in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Laurel McPhee,
Summer 2005.
Expanded Biographical Narrative
Edgar Bowers was born in Rome, Georgia in 1924. He began writing poetry at a young age, and had published poems in newspapers
by the time he was 13 years old. He entered the University of North Carolina (UNC) in 1942, but his studies were interrupted
by World War II. As part of his training, he entered the Army Specialized Training program (ASTP) at Princeton University,
where he met a number of sophisticated young men who furthered his commitment to the arts. He served in Bavaria with the counterintelligence
corps of the Army's 101st Airborne Division, and was stationed at Berchtesgaden as part of the "de-Nazification" program of
the U.S. occupation force.
After his discharge in 1946, he completed his undergraduate studies at UNC, and moved to Stanford in 1947 to pursue his master's
degree and doctorate. Under the guidance of poet and critic Yvor Winters, he wrote his dissertation on the poetry of T. Sturge
Moore, and further developed his poetic sensibilities. He taught at Duke University, Harpur College, and from 1958 until his
retirement in 1991 at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he specialized in English Renaissance and modern
poetry. He died in San Francisco in 2000.
Bowers earned several distinctions, including two Guggenheim fellowships (1959 and 1969), and the Bollingen Prize for Poetry
(1989). Bowers carefully controlled his literary output, developing a reputation as a true "poet's poet." He published five
collections of poetry in his lifetime:
The Form of Loss (1956),
The Astronomers (1965),
Living Together (1973),
For Louis Pasteur (1989), and
Collected Poems (1997).
The collection consists of Edgar Bowers' original correspondence, manuscripts, personal papers, photographs, recordings, and
publications that document Bowers' family life, personal history, and development as a poet and scholar. Of particular interest
are letters written during the period between World War II and his graduate studies at Stanford in the 1950s, including letters
from Yvor Winters, Robert Lowell, and many other peers and colleagues. The manuscript series includes a significant collection
of Bowers' poems, often in variant forms, including unpublished and uncollected works. Other series include manuscripts by
other poets edited by Bowers, video and audio recordings of Bowers' readings, journal and little magazine publications, and
an extensive assortment of correspondence and documents concerning the Anderson and Bowers families.
Arranged in the following series:
- Correspondence, 1886-2001 (Boxes 1-4).
- Manuscripts, ca. 1900-2000 (Boxes 5-11), subseries A-C as follows:
- Manuscripts by Edgar Bowers, 1937-2000 (Boxes 5-6).
- Notebooks and course materials, ca. 1970-1999 (Boxes 6-8).
- Manuscripts by other authors, ca. 1900-1999 (Boxes 9-11).
- Miscellaneous, 1868-1999 (Boxes 11-12, 19 and Oversize Box 20).
- Photographs, ca. 1900-1999 (Box 13 and Oversize Box 20).
- Cassettes and compact discs, 1966-2000 (Box 14).
- Publications and printed materials, 1921-2003 (Boxes 15-18 and Oversize Box 20).
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Bowers, Edgar--Archives.
Poets, American--Archives.
Poetry, Modern--20th century--Archival resources.