David Matlin Papers
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
Copyright 2021
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
spcoll@ucsd.edu
Descriptive Summary
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: David Matlin Papers
Creator:
Matlin, David
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0820
Physical Description:
9 Linear feet
(15 archives boxes, 1 records carton, 1 card file box, 1 flat box)
Date (inclusive): 1960-2018
Abstract: Papers of David Matlin, an American poet, writer, publisher and professor of English literature. Matlin taught poetry, creative
writing, and English literature at universities, workshops, and prison education programs. The collection includes correspondence;
drafts of Matlin's published and unpublished poetry and prose; collaborative projects with artist Gail Schneider; sound recordings;
and publication materials for Diamond T Press.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
Papers of David Matlin, an American poet, writer, publisher and professor of English literature. Matlin taught poetry, creative
writing, and English literature at universities, workshops, and prison education programs. The collection includes correspondence;
drafts of Matlin's published and unpublished poetry and prose; collaborative projects with artist Gail Schneider; sound recordings;
and publication materials for Diamond T Press.
The collection is arranged in seven series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) WRITINGS BY MATLIN, 4) COLLABORATIONS WITH
GAIL SCHNEIDER, 5) DIAMOND T PRESS, 6) TEACHING, and 7) SOUND RECORDINGS.
Biography
David Matlin was born October 5, 1944 in Upland, California, and graduated high school in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1962. He
began writing poetry in the early 1960s, attending colleges, working various jobs, and becoming an activist in the anti-war
and civil rights movements. In 1968, he began teaching poetry for the Watts Writer's Workshop, and continued as a lecturer
in English literature and poetry at schools and colleges in California and New York. Matlin received a graduate fellowship
in poetry at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1972, where he studied with Robert Creeley, John Clarke, Angus
Fletcher, and Diane Christian. He was awarded a master of arts in 1974, and a Ph.D. with distinction in English literature
in 1981.
Matlin taught poetry and literature at New York colleges and universities from 1978 to 1983, and published his first book
of poetry,
Fontana's Mirror in 1982. As publisher and editor of Diamond T Press, Matlin published poetry broadsides from 1977 to 1981, many of them illustrated
by his wife, artist Gail Schneider. Schneider and Matlin also collaborated on an artists' book in 1988, a poetry exhibit at
PS1 (Project Studio 1) in 1989, and on
Dressed in Protective Fashion in 1990. From 1986 to 1989, Matlin was appointed curator of poetry and literature for PS1 and the Clocktower, where he coordinated
literary events with visual arts exhibitions.
Starting in 1985, Matlin taught classes ranging from remedial reading to graduate seminars in literature at the State University
of New York New Paltz Prison Education Program. A number of his students received graduate degrees and awards for their published
writings. With nearly ten years teaching experience in prison education, Matlin published
Vernooykill Creek: The Crisis of Prisons in America in 1997; it was republished in 2005 as
Prisons: Inside the New America from Vernooykill Creek to Abu Ghraib.
The Prison Education Program lost funding in 1994, and Matlin returned to teaching literature at universities and workshops.
In 1997, he became associate professor at San Diego State University for the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. Matlin's
published works include
China Beach (1989),
It Might Do Well with Strawberries (2009),
A HalfMan Dreaming (2012), and
Up Fish Creek Road and Other Stories (2013). His first novel
How the Night is Divided (1993) was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle award. Matlin is currently professor emeritus at San Diego State
University.
Preferred Citation
David Matlin Papers. MSS 820. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Acquisition Information
Acquired 2019
Publication Rights
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Restrictions
Original sound recordings are restricted. Listening copies may be available for researchers.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Matlin, David -- Archives
BIOGRAPHICAL
Scope and Content of Series
Series 1) BIOGRAPHICAL. Arranged in two subseries: A) Biographical Information and B) Writings on Matlin.
A) Biographical Information: Autobiographies, resumes, and personal statements by Matlin; award certificates from prison education
programs where Matlin taught; and lists of his publications.
B) Writings on Matlin: Interview transcripts, correspondence, and drafts of interviews and articles on Matlin, reviews of
his work, and drafts of poetry dedicated to Matlin.
Box 1, Folder 1
Biographies and personal statements by Matlin
1992-2009
Box 1, Folder 2
Certificates
1991-1993
General note
Award certificates from prison education programs where Matlin taught. Includes photograph of David Matlin.
Box 1, Folder 3
Resumes, CV, and publications
1975-2008
Box 1, Folder 4
Reviews and interviews of David Matlin
1975-2009
Box 1, Folder 5
Wilson, Dwight.
Rhapsodia: Variations on the Name David or The Idea of Poetry - To honor a poet by that name (who writes in the morning)
1985
General note
Manuscript and calligraphy for a book dedicated to Matlin.
Box 1, Folder 6
Kelly, Robert. Poem for David Matlin
1988 June
Box 1, Folder 7
Teaching Literature in Prison. David Matlin interviewed by Judy Kravis for
Teaching Literature: Writers and Teachers Talking (Cork University Press, 1995) - Transcript and correspondence
1994 August 3
Box 1, Folder 8
Luvaas, William. Introduction of David Matlin, Mt. San Jacinto College - Draft and correspondence
2004 April 11
Box 1, Folder 9
A Reinvention of Hatred: Author David Matlin on the "Unimaginable Toxicity" of the Prison Industry. David Matlin interviewed
by Low Rowan for
Real Change - Transcript and correspondence
2004 December 16
Box 1, Folder 10
David Matlin interview questions for Saudah Mirza, North Atlantic Books
2005
Box 1, Folder 12
David Matlin interviewed by Reiko Nitta for
Eigo Seinen (The Rising Generation) - Transcript and correspondence
2007 December 19
Box 1, Folder 13
Lazzara, Grace. Profile, "David Matlin, Ph.D. '81" - Draft
2008
CORRESPONDENCE
Scope and Content of Series
Series 2) CORRESPONDENCE: Correspondence with Matlin by poets, writers, artists, and publishers. Prominent correspondents
include Helen Adam, Robert Coover, Robert Creeley, Clayton Eshleman, Reginald Gay, Larry McCaffery, Alice Notley, and Lou
Rowan. Arranged alphabetically by correspondent.
Box 1, Folder 15
Adam, Helen
1975-1984
General note
Includes photographs of Helen Adam and David Matlin, 1979.
Box 1, Folder 16
Artforum
1984
General note
Correspondence related to Matlin's responsibilities as curator of poetry and literature at PS1 (Project Studio 1) and the
Clocktower.
Box 1, Folder 18
Blount, William (Plount, Michael)
1986-2010
General note
Includes photographs of Matlin and Blount.
Box 1, Folder 22
Creeley, Robert
1973-2005
Box 1, Folder 25
Ducornet, Rikki and Jonathan Cohen
2000-2003
General note
Includes photographs of David Matlin, 2000.
Box 1, Folder 27
Eshleman, Clayton and Caryl
(Sulfur)
1985-2004
Box 1, Folder 29
Federman, Raymond
1993-1996
Box 2, Folder 1-3
Gay, Reginald (Boss Books)
1974-1996
Box 2, Folder 4
Gourfain, Peter
1984-1990
Oversize FB-459, Folder 06
Photograph of Reuben Kadish
ca. 1960
Box 2, Folder 12
Lansing, Gerrit
1996-2006
Box 2, Folder 17
McCaffery, Larry
1989-1998
General note
Includes photograph of David Matlin and Larry McCaffery.
Box 2, Folder 18
Metcalf, Paul and family
1994-2005
Box 2, Folder 20
Notley, Alice
1985-1992
General note
Includes poem by Alice Notley and Edmund Berrigan, ca. 1985.
Box 2, Folder 21
O'Rourke, William
2001-2007
Box 2, Folder 26
Schneider, Gail and Clay Matlin
Box 2, Folder 28
Spanidou, Irini
1983-1986
Box 2, Folder 30
Strautmanis, Edvins
1982-1995
Box 2, Folder 34
Letters from prisoners
1986-2004
WRITINGS BY MATLIN
Scope and Content of Series
Series 3) WRITINGS BY MATLIN: Drafts, notebooks, correspondence, reviews, artwork, and ephemera for Matlin's published and
unpublished writings. The subseries are arranged chronologically, with undated materials arranged alphabetically at the end.
Arranged in eight subseries: A) Notebooks, B) Talks, C) Poems, D) Short Fiction and Drama, E) Essays, F) Reviews by Matlin,
G) Interviews and Biographies by Matlin, and H) Books.
A) Notebooks: Matlin's early notebooks contain drafts of his writings and correspondence, notes on literature, and personal
notes. Starting in 1991, the notebooks contain dated journal entries with commentary on current events.
B) Talks: Ephemera, correspondence, drafts and photographs for Matlin's poetry readings and for his talks on literature and
the prison industry.
C) Poems: Drafts and notes for Matlin's published and unpublished poetry from the 1960s to the 1990s.
D) Short Fiction and Drama: Drafts and correspondence for Matlin's short stories and plays from 1970 to 2006. Some of the
stories were later published in
Up Fish Creek Road (2013). Includes drafts for "Tom Green," a screenplay for an unproduced film based on
How the Night is Divided (1993).
E) Essays: Drafts, notes and correspondence for Matlin's published and unpublished essays on literature, artists, the prison
industry, and the 2003 wildfires in San Diego.
F) Reviews by Matlin: Drafts, notes and correspondence for Matlin's reviews of literature, poetry, art exhibitions, and nonfiction.
G) Interviews and Biographies by Matlin: Drafts, interview transcripts, notes, and correspondence for biographies and interviews
by Matlin of artists, poets, and publisher Reginald Gay.
H) Books: Drafts, notes, correspondence, ephemera, excerpts, artwork and reviews for Matlin's books of fiction, nonfiction,
and poetry, including his 1981 Ph.D. thesis on William Blake for the State University of New York, Buffalo.
Box 4, Folder 1-2
Notes and fragments
1970s
Box 4, Folder 3
Notebook - Poetry drafts, notes and collages
1977-1979
General note
Includes photograph of David Matlin and postcards from Robert Creeley.
Box 5, Folder 2
Notes and reading for
China Beach and other writings
1980s
Box 5, Folder 3-5
Notebooks and notes
1988-1997
Box 6, Folder 3-6
Notebooks and notes
2003-2018
Box 7, Folder 1
Talks and readings - Correspondence and ephemera
1978-2014
General note
Includes photographs of David Matlin.
Box 7, Folder 2
Is There a Black Mountain Poetry? An Open Forum. The Black Mountain Poets: The Emergence of an American School of Poetics.
Edith C. Blum Art Institute, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
1987 June 28
Box 7, Folder 3
The Night Divided: Film and Text. Unspeakable Practices II, Festival of Vanguard Narrative, Brown University, Providence,
Rhode Island
1993 February 24-27
Box 7, Folder 4
Poetry as Performance: A Symposium. 9th Annual OutLoud Festival, Catskill Reading Society, Rudolph Farm, Claryville, New York
1993 July 2-3
Box 7, Folder 5
Paula Cooper Gallery, with Ted Castle
1993 November 9
Box 7, Folder 6
The Ear Inn, New York City
1994 July 16
Box 7, Folder 7
Women, Multiculturalism and the Avant-Garde: Where the Action Is. New York State Writers Institute, State University of New
York, University at Albany Uptown Campus
1995 April 21-22
Box 7, Folder 8
New Writing Series, UC San Diego
1997 October 29
Box 7, Folder 9
"Vocabularies and Imaginations" and
Vernooykill Creek. First Annual Boston Alternative Poetry Conference, The Blacksmith House, Cambridge, Massachusetts
1998 July 18
Box 7, Folder 10
Growth of the Prison System. California Studies Association Twelfth Annual Conference, San Diego
2000 February 10-12
Box 7, Folder 11
Bumbershoot 2000 Literary Arts Program, Seattle
2000 September 1-4
Box 7, Folder 12
Contemporary Fiction Writers: Readings and Discussion. Modernist Crossings, American Literature Association Symposium, Cancun
2000 December 6-10
Box 7, Folder 13
Memory and Voice. Festival of the Arts, CSU Sacramento
2001 March 23-31
General note
Includes photographs of David Matlin.
Box 7, Folder 14
Introducing Clayton Eshleman. First Annual Translation Studies Forum, San Diego State University - Draft and ephemera
2002 February 14
Box 7, Folder 15
&Now: A Festival of Writing as a Contemporary/Conceptual Art, University of Notre Dame
2004 April 5-6
Box 7, Folder 16
Fanny Howe introduction
ca. 2006
Box 7, Folder 17
Prisons and Democracy - Socialist and Marxist Studies luncheon series. Poetry reading for University of Maine New Writing
Series. University of Maine, Orono
2007 October 18
General note
Includes review of Matlin's reading by Adam Davis.
Box 7, Folder 25
Rose Grower (Juice Hive)
1980s
Box 7, Folder 26
Poems and notes
1990-1995
Box 8, Folder 1
The Funeral (The Grandfather)
1970
Box 8, Folder 2
Dream of a Mind Ruptured Prince and Mouth Play - Review, correspondence and ephemera
1992-1993
Box 8, Folder 8
Making First Nights We Know the Truth
Box 9, Folder 3
Poems by John Haines:
The Stone Harp
1971
Box 9, Folder 5
Masque of Queenes
ca. 1975
Box 9, Folder 7
IV
1985
General note
On Neanderthal flower burials, William Blake, and Robert Duncan.
Box 9, Folder 8
"Where are the heroes who are women"
1987 January 19
Box 9, Folder 10
Summer of '98. In
Teaching After the End: Apocalypse, Environment, and the Educational Imagination in the 21st Century (Derek Owens and Daniel Collins, editors)
1998-2003
Box 9, Folder 11
Introduction to
A Paleontologists' Notebook (Susan Smith Nash, 1995) - Review
2003
Box 9, Folder 12
Safety Evaporated
2003 November 2
General note
On the Cedar, Paradise, and Otay fires in San Diego County in 2003.
Box 9, Folder 13
Prison Scandal is an American Tradition
2004
Box 9, Folder 14
Review of
He Saw Her Burning (Joan Jonas, 1983)
1983-1986
Box 9, Folder 15
Open Land at Bard. Review of
An Open Land: Photographs of the Midwest, 1852-1982 at the Edith C. Blum Art Institute
1984 August 16
Box 9, Folder 16
Review of
The Maximal Implications of the Minimal Line at the Edith C. Blum Art Institute
1985 April 15
Box 9, Folder 17
Review of
Ground Work: Before the War (Robert Duncan, 1984)
1985 June 21
Box 9, Folder 18
Review of
The Collected Poems of Robert Creeley (Robert Creeley, 1982)
1985 October 19
Box 9, Folder 19
Review of
Reverberation Machines: The Later Plays and Essays (Richard Foreman, 1985)
1986 February 14
Box 9, Folder 20
Review of
Unbalancing Acts: Foundations for a Theater (Richard Foreman, 1992)
1992 July 21
Box 9, Folder 21
Review of
New and Selected Poems, 1961-1996 (Rochelle Owens, 1997)
1996-1999
Box 9, Folder 22
Review of
Poems for the Millennium (University of California Press)
1996-2009
Box 9, Folder 23
Review of
William Langland's Piers Plowman, The C Version: A Verse Translation (George Economou, 1996)
1997
Box 9, Folder 24
Nixon Redux. Review of
The Public Burning (Robert Coover, 1977)
1997-1999
Box 9, Folder 25
Review of
Fear: A Novel (Irini Spanidou, 1998)
1998
Box 9, Folder 26
Echoes of Dionysus. Review of
More Than Meat Joy: Performance Works and Selected Writings (Carolee Schneemann, 1997)
1998
Box 9, Folder 27
Review of
True (Rae Armantrout, 1998)
1998
Box 9, Folder 28
Review of
Apart from Freud: Notes for a Rational Analysis (Jonathan Cohen, 2001)
2001
Box 9, Folder 29
Review of
Deep in Our Hearts: Nine White Women in the Freedom Movement (University of Georgia Press, 2002)
2001
Box 9, Folder 30
The State of the Craft: Democracy, the Environment, and the Future of Imagination. Review of
A New Theory of American Poetry (Angus Fletcher, 2004)
2004-2005
Box 9, Folder 31
Review of
Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis (Christian Parenti, 2008)
2008
Interviews and Biographies by Matlin
Box 10, Folder 3
Leon Botstein interviewed by David Matlin
1984 February 10
Box 10, Folder 4
Edvins Strautmanis
1984-1986
Box 10, Folder 5
Susan Dallas-Swann
1985-1987
Box 10, Folder 6
Ed Sanders: An Interview and Portrait
1986 August 8
Box 10, Folder 9
Angus Fletcher
2008
General note
Contribution to
Annals of Scholarship special issue on Angus Fletcher.
Box 10, Folder 12
Sally Mazzerella interviewed by David Matlin
Box 10, Folder 13-17
Kideta: A Study of William Blake's "Jerusalem" (1981)
1980-1981
General note
Matlin's Ph.D. thesis for the State University of New York, Buffalo in 1981.
Box 11, Folder 1-5
Kideta: A Study of William Blake's "Jerusalem" (1981), continued
1980-1981
Box 11, Folder 6-10
Fontana's Mirror (1982)
1977-1983
General note
Originally titled
Waiting Song.
Box 12, Folder 1-4
China Beach (1989)
1988-1993
Box 12, Folder 5-11
Dressed in Protective Fashion (1990)
1988-1990
Box 13, Folder 1-4
How the Night is Divided (1993)
1988-2005
Box 13, Folder 5-10
Vernooykill Creek: The Crisis of Prisons in America (1997)
1995-2011
General note
Vernooykill Creek was republished in 2005 as
Prisons: Inside the New America. Includes Matlin's collection of prison industry protest ephemera, circa 1998.
Box 14, Folder 1-5
It Might Do Well With Strawberries (2009)
2005-2009
Box 15, Folder 1-19
A HalfMan Dreaming (2012)
1998-2012
General note
Includes proof for the chapbook
A HalfMan Dreamer (1999).
Box 14, Folder 6-12
Up Fish Creek Road (2013) - Notes, drafts, manuscripts and artwork
2013
General note
Includes the short stories "Doomed to be Rich," "Moths Will Suck First," "A Mud Loosened Tree," and "Rooster and Leroy."
Box 16, Folder 1-2
Up Fish Creek Road (2013) - Manuscripts
2013
Box 16, Folder 3
Untitled poetry collection
COLLABORATIONS WITH GAIL SCHNEIDER
Scope and Content of Series
Series 4) COLLABORATIONS WITH GAIL SCHNEIDER: Artwork, drafts, layouts, notes and a review for collaborative projects by David
Matlin and Gail Schneider, including an artists' book and a poetry exhibit for PS1 (Project Studio 1) in 1989.
Box 16, Folder 4
Drawing by Gail Schneider; Writing by David Matlin (1988) - Notes and review
1988-1992
Oversize FB-459, Folder 01
David Matlin and Gail Schneider. PS1 (Project Studio 1) poetry exhibit
1989
Box 16, Folder 5
Dry Bark - BossCard 5 by David Matlin and Gail Schneider
1991
Box 16, Folder 6
David Matlin and Gail Schneider collaborations
DIAMOND T PRESS
Scope and Content of Series
Series 5) DIAMOND T PRESS: Artwork, drafts, layouts, printing plates, notes, and correspondence for poetry broadsides by Gail
Schneider, David Matlin and other poets which were published by Diamond T Press.
Box 16, Folder 7
Diamond T Press - Correspondence, notes, and artwork
1975-1977
Oversize FB-459, Folder 02
Laurel Delp and Gail Schneider. Frantic flashing tennis shoes
1975
Oversize FB-459, Folder 02
David Matlin and Gail Schneider. So that there was a time when knocking on
1977
Oversize FB-459, Folder 02
Lajos Elkan and Gail Schneider. Who I will be
1979
Oversize FB-459, Folder 03
David Matlin and Gail Schneider. Coyote
1981
Oversize FB-459, Folder 04
John Clarke and Gail Schneider. Hotspur
Oversize FB-459, Folder 04
David Matlin and Gail Schneider. Butterfly
Oversize FB-459, Folder 05
David Matlin and Gail Schneider. "Dear Clay," "Eat the Sticks," and "Gentle Agreement"
Oversize FB-459, Folder 06
David Matlin. Night is the Eve of Day
Oversize FB-459, Folder 06
David Matlin and Gail Schneider. "Night and leaf," and "Room's One"
TEACHING
Scope and Contents
Series 6) TEACHING: Correspondence and ephemera for classes and workshops in creative writing and literature taught by Matlin
from 1993 to 2001.
Box 16, Folder 8
Course syllabi and writing workshop ephemera
1993-1996
Box 16, Folder 9
University of Oklahoma - Correspondence and ephemera
1994-1995
Box 16, Folder 10
California College of Arts and Crafts - Correspondence and ephemera
1999-2001
SOUND RECORDINGS
Scope and Content of Series
Series 7) SOUND RECORDINGS: Audiocassette recordings of Matlin reading from his poetry and nonfiction; interviews of Matlin;
interviews by Matlin of writers and poets; and poetry readings and lectures by other writers.
Box 17, Folder 1
Leon Botstein interviewed by David Matlin on education (44 minutes)
1984 February 10
Box 17, Folder 2
Philip Whalen poetry reading, introduction by David Matlin (56 minutes)
1984 March 17
Box 17, Folder 3
Philip Whalen interviewed by David Matlin (55 minutes)
1984 March 18
Box 17, Folder 4-6
Ed Sanders interviewed by David Matlin (145 minutes)
1986 June 13
Box 17, Folder 7
Raymond Federman reading
Art de Fakt, 1993 and Samuel Beckett's
Worstward Ho! for German radio, 1995 (90 minutes)
1993-1995
Box 17, Folder 8-9
Charles Stein lecture on "Poetry and Conscience" at New Paltz (120 minutes)
1995 October 18
Box 17, Folder 10
David Matlin interviewed by Dan Erwin about
Vernooykill Creek for
These Days on KPBS (45 minutes)
1998 March 16
Box 17, Folder 11
David Matlin reading from
Vernooykill Creek at the UC Los Angeles Center for African-American Studies (Side B, 30 minutes)
1998 April 16
Box 17, Folder 12
Cross-over Art. Lecture by Jerome Rothenberg, introduction by David Matlin (90 minutes)
2000 November 1
Box 17, Folder 13
David Matlin poetry reading (52 minutes)
Box 17, Folder 14
Duncan McNaughton poetry reading (60 minutes)
Box 17, Folder 15
Lorine Niedecker reading poems at her home in Blackhawk, Wisconsin, by Cid Corman
Box 17, Folder 16-17
Mark Weiss lecture on the history of Western modern art, with introduction by David Matlin (144 minutes)