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Ridland (John) papers
UArch FacP 51
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Title: John Ridland papers
Identifier/Call Number: UArch FacP 51
Language of Material:
English,
Hungarian,
English, Middle (1100-1500).
Contributing Institution:
UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
Physical Description:
67.22 Linear Feet
(51 cartons, 2 document boxes, 3 flat oversize boxes, 93 audiocassettes, 4 audiotape reels, 33 CDs, 18 videocassettes, and
1 film reel)
Creator:
Ridland, John
Date (inclusive): 1880-2017
Date (bulk): bulk 1960-2017
Abstract: Papers of University of California, Santa Barbara Professor Emeritus of English, critic, translator, and poet John Ridland
(1933-2020). Materials include correspondence, manuscripts, teaching files, subject files, publications, and diaries.
Physical Location: A portion of the collection is located at the Southern Regional Library Facility (SRLF).
The collection is open for research. A portion of the collection is stored offsite. Advance notice is required for retrieval.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. 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 as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
[Identification of Item], John Ridland papers, UArch FacP 51. Department of Special Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library,
University of California, Santa Barbara.
Gift of John and Muriel Ridland, 2014; 2016; 2017.
Papers of UCSB Professor Emeritus of English, critic, translator and poet John Ridland (1933-2020). The bulk of the papers
date from approximately 1964 to 2014, though they include schoolwork, personal correspondence, and poetry written by Ridland
from the 1940s and 1950s, during his elementary, high school, and college years, as well as graduate work at the Claremont
Graduate School, where he received his Ph.D. in 1964. The bulk of the materials are the result of Ridland's career as poetry
and English professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he taught for more than 40 years.
Included among these materials are original verse manuscripts by Ridland, notes from his poetry readings, copies of literary
and journals containing his published poems, correspondence with other writers (including manuscripts with corrections) editorial
correspondence, manuscripts of his translations of poems from Middle English and Hungarian, and files related to teaching
and coursework (especially files related to creative writing and to the poet Robert Frost). Translation files include manuscripts
and notes to Ridland's translations of
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Hungarian epic poem
János Vitéz by Sándor Petőfi, and the poems of Miklós Radnóti, Sándor Márai, and Dezső Kosztolányi.
Materials by other writers include original correspondence, but also other items, such as clippings and notes, especially
related to poets F.R. Bresgal, Walter Clark, Barry Spacks (1931-2014), and Alan Stephens (1925-2009).
In addition, the papers contain subject files, personal and family files, and audiovisual materials. The subject files range
over fairly wide array of topics, from poets, to political issues of the day, to academic issues related to UCSB. Audiovisual
materials include audiotape reels, audiocassettes, videocassettes and film and comprise, in addition to family recordings,
lectures, and interviews, a number of readings by poet Edward Loomis (1924-2010) as well as many readings by Ridland himself,
especially readings of his translation of János Vitéz.
Family and biographical files includes letters written in 1907 by Ridland's maternal great uncle, Scottish physician and Edinburgh
University Faculty of Medicine dean Sir Alexander Russell Simpson (1835-1916) to his wife, Margaret Simpson, and letters
of Scottish evangelist, lecturer and writer Henry Drummond (1851-1897) to Margaret Simpson, these dating to the 1880s.
In addition, the series includes the diary, transcribed by John Ridland, of his father, John Galbraith Ridland. The diary
was written en route to India in 1906. John Galbraith Ridland worked at the Bank of Bombay, soon to be the Imperial Bank of
India, throughout the 1920s and 1930s.
Also in the family and biographical file are materials related to Ridland's years at Swarthmore College, including copies
of
The Dodo, Swarthmore's literary journal, containing early poetry by Ridland, personal correspondence between Ridland and his father
John Galbraith Ridland and his mother Margaret Baird Ridland from the 1940s and early 1950s, and personal correspondence with
college roomate and lifelong friend William Russell Farrell from the 1950s to approximately 2017.
The collection has been divided into the following series:
Series 1. Books Manuscripts,
Series 2. Translations Mansucripts,
Series 3. Poems Manuscripts,
Series 4. Drafts and Early Writings,
Series 5. Robert Frost,
Series 6. Correspondence,
Series 7. Other Poets and Writers,
Series 8. Teaching Files,
Series 9. Subject Files
Series 10. Readings, Conferences, and Workshops,
Series 11. UCSB Department of English,
Series 12. Miscellaneous,
Series 13. Publications,
Series 14. Family and Biographical Files,
Series 15. Audiovisual,
Series 16. 2016-2017 Addition.
These series (and any further subdivisions) follow Ridland's original filing system, which has been maintained.
Broadsides and chapbooks by Ridland have been separated for cataloging and may be accessed through the UC Santa Barbara Library
online catalog.
John Ridland Collection (SBHC Mss 47). Material relating to Santa Barbara area poets and presses, including ephemera and other
items laid in printed works.
Beash Roma illustrations to Sándor Petőfi's
John the Valiant (Mss 347). 43 illustrations depicting the story of János Vitéz ("John the Valiant") drawn in Pécs by special needs high school
students, many from the Beash Roma community, under the instruction of art teacher Ildikó Fodor in the 1980s.
Related Material at Yale University
Little Square Review Archive (YCAL Mss 711), Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
English teachers -- California -- Santa Barbara
Audiocassettes
Audiovisual materials
Clippings (information artifacts)
Conferences
Correspondence
Diaries
Interviews
Lectures
Manuscripts (documents)
Poems
Publications (documents)
Tape reels
Videocassettes
Workshops (seminars)
Ridland, John -- Archives
Bresgal, F.R. -- Poetry
Clark, Walter, 1931-2008 -- Poetry
Frost, Robert, 1874-1963 -- Poetry
Kosztolányi, Dezső, 1885-1936 -- Poetry
Loomis, Edward, 1924-2010 -- Poetry
Márai, Sándor, 1900-1989 -- Poetry
Petőfi, Sándor, 1823-1849 -- Poetry
Radnóti, Miklós, 1909-1944 -- Poetry
Spacks, Barry -- Poetry
Stephens, Alan, 1925-2009 -- Poetry
Drummond, Henry, 1851-1897 -- Correspondence
Simpson, A.R. (Alexander Russell), 1835-1916 -- Correspondence