Jump to Content

> Home > UC San Diego > Special Collections and Archives
Collection Guide
∞ https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf0n39n7h3/
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Burns (Gerald) Manuscripts and Other Documents
MSS 0221  
No online items No online items       Request items ↗
Collection location Contact UC San Diego::Special Collections and Archives
View entire collection guide What's This?
Search this collection
Entire Collection Guide
Online Items
 
 
Table of contents What's This?

 

PAPERS

Scope and Content of Series

Series 1) PAPERS. Arranged in two subseries: A) Correspondence, and B) Writings.
A) Correspondence: Contains a letter from Scott Bowdan to Leland Hickman along with Bowdan's submission to Boxcar, "Quest/Questions." Also included are two letters from Burns to Hickman.
B) Writings: Includes works of poetry; prose (literary essays, criticism, and a galley version of his Toward a Phenomenology of Written Art); art, travel writing, and journals; and one review. The poetry files contain an untitled collection of Burns' poetry in two successive drafts, and a galley copy of Robert Trammell's Epics for which Burns did the typesetting "as a Christmas present to Bob." The journals section contains a long travel narrative, "Painting Statues Books" with the author's sketches of relevant "objets d'art" following the text; and one full-sized sketch of Ezra Pound's head from the travel sketches. Finally, Burns' "My Leatherette Reminder", something of a critical/scholarly diary, is included.
 

Correspondence

Box 1, Folder 1

Bowdan, Scott - Letter to Leland Hickman and submission, "Quest/Question" to Boxcar 1982

Box 1, Folder 2

Burns, Gerald - 2 letters to Leland Hickman 1982, 1985

General note

Includes photograph used for initial cover of Prose.
 

Writings

 

Poetry

Box 1, Folder 3

Trammel, Robert - Epics, galleys 1982

General note

Introductory note and type setting by Burns.
Box 1, Folder 4

Untitled collection of Burns' poems 1984-1985

General note

Two drafts exist for most of the poems. Included are "Homer and Image," "Thought and Extension," "Emerged for Immersed," "Fame in Retrospect," "Written Under German," "Imagining a World," "Concocting the Other," "Named After Days," "Orthodox in Appearance," "Waiting as Dispersion," "Good as Questionable," "Even Chisels Gold," and others.
 

Prose/Literary Essays

Box 1, Folder 5

Duration is Destination--Verse in the Eighties - Reprint from Southwest Review 1980

General note

Essay/review of Selected Poems by Donald Justice, The Venetian Nespers by Anthony Hecht, and Greenwich Mean Time by Adrien Stoutenburg.
Box 1, Folder 6

Magnificence of His Rebuttals - Reprint from Southwest Review 1979

General note

Essay/review of The American Quest for a Supreme Fiction: Whitman's Legacy in the Personal Epic by James Miller, Jr., and John Ashbery: An Introduction to the Poetry by David Shapiro.
Box 1, Folder 7-8

Prose galleys 1981-1982

Box 1, Folder 9

Straddling the Brink - Reprint from Southwest Review with author's handwritten notes 1978

General note

Essay/article on Words for Dr. Y by Anne Sexton, Hearts of the Tattooed by Jim Hubert, and Refractions by Paul Shuttleworth.
Box 1, Folder 10

Toward a Phenomenology of Written Art - Paste-ups 1979

 

Art, Travel Writings, Journals

Box 1, Folder 11

Bound typescript journal with varied commentary 1982

Box 1, Folder 12

Paintings Statues Books, a travel journal with sketches - Typescript with photocopies of drawings 1985

Box 1, Folder 13

Gaudier Brzeska--Hieratic Head of Ezra Pound - Full size photocopy of drawing contained in Paintings Sculpture Books 1985

Box 1, Folder 14

Review of A Book of Spells - Julie Siegel, "Tangible Magic From A Poet Who Cares," tear sheet from Southwest Review 1980

 

MATERIALS FROM BARBARA JORDAN

Scope and Content of Series

Series 2) MATERIALS FROM BARBARA JORDAN: Papers from the personal collection of Barbara Jordan, a friend of Burns and his wife, Clio Dunn, and a fellow poet. Arranged in three subseries: A) Correspondence, B) Writings, and C) Miscellaneous.
A) Correspondence: Burns and Jordan carried on a decade-long correspondence, and letters from Burns to Jordan (often mailed with artwork and voluminous poetry drafts, copies, and typescripts) are included here, arranged chronologically by year. At the beginning of most folders is an inventory by Jordan of the file's contents, though Jordan wrote these inventories before the collection came to the Library and there are some discrepancies in her description. Overall, however, these are highly useful guides to the rich content of each folder of letters and the enclosed writings and drawings. There are also a small number of letters to and from Burns and Jordan to other correspondents. Arranged alphabetically by the name of the author.
B) Writings: Many drafts and copies of Burns's work were bundled with letters to Jordan and remain with the letters in subseries 2A, however, Jordan also had a pile of Burns's writings that was not explicitly linked to correspondence. This material has been sorted roughly by genre and year.
C) Miscellaneous: Ephemera, Burns's artwork, teaching materials, and works by others.
 

Correspondence

 

Letters by Gerald Burns

Box 2, Folder 1

Burns, Gerald to Jonathan Brannen 1995

Box 2, Folder 2

Burns, Gerald to Ed Foster ( Talisman ed.) 1988-1991, 1995

Box 2, Folder 3

Burns, Gerald to Michael Franco 1988-1989

Box 2, Folder 4-12

Burns, Gerald to Barbara Jordan and Ed Batchelder 1987-1995

Box 2, Folder 13

Burns, Gerald to Barbara Jordan 1996-1997

Box 2, Folder 14

Burns, Gerald to Spencer Selby (with reply) 1994

 

Letters by Others

Box 2, Folder 15

Dunn, Clio to Barbara Jordan and Ed Batchelder 1989-1991

Box 2, Folder 16

Falleder, Arnold to Barbara Jordan 1998

Box 2, Folder 17

Jordan, Barbara to George Minkoff 2013

General note

Jordan describes the context and history of the correspondence between her and Gerald Burns in the collection.
Box 2, Folder 18

Jordan, Barbara to Gerald Burns and Clio Dunn 1989-1996

Box 2, Folder 19

Lehman, David to Gerald Burns 1991

Box 2, Folder 20

Southern Illinois University Press to Gerald Burns 1989

Box 2, Folder 21

Sullivan, Gary to Gerald Burns 1995

 

Writings

Box 2, Folder 22-23

Shorter Poems compilation - Typescript drafts 1989, 1991

Box 2, Folder 24-32

Poetry 1985, 1987-1995

Box 2, Folder 33

Poetry undated

Box 2, Folder 34

Prose writings

General note

Includes essays "San Antonio art," "What's left for the liberal arts," and others.
 

Miscellaneous

Box 2, Folder 35

Ephemera undated

General note

Reading notes, business cards, and list of experimental/poetry art magazines.
Box 2, Folder 36

Drawings by Gerald Burns

Box 2, Folder 37

Drawings by Gerald Burns - On envelopes

Box 2, Folder 38

Final exams for English/writing courses taught by Burns ca. 1991

Box 2, Folder 39

Journalism - Course agendas 1990

Box 2, Folder 40

Works by others - James Haining, Monica Raymond, Kevin Killian undated

General note

The Raymond poem is a response to Burns's "Reply to a poem by Arnold Falleder called 'Ice cream is for the summer and kugel is for all year long.'"
Collection Contents
PAPERS
Correspondence
Writings
MATERIALS FROM BARBARA JORDAN
Correspondence
Writings
Miscellaneous
Home | Contributing Institutions | Collection Guides | Browse Map | About OAC | FAQs | Contact Us | Privacy Statement | Terms of Use | Accessibility
The Online Archive of California is a service of the UC Libraries, powered by the California Digital Library.