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Marcus (Morton) Poetry Archive
MS.198
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Contributing Institution:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Title: Morton Marcus Poetry archive
Creator:
Marcus, Morton
source:
Marcus, Morton
Identifier/Call Number: MS.198
Physical Description:
45 Linear Feet
39 document boxes; 1 oversize flat; 1 oversize folder
Date (inclusive): 1936-2009
Abstract: This collection includes biographical
material, correspondence, manuscripts, notebooks, teaching materials, poetry and film
criticism.
Physical Location: Stored in Special Collections &
Archives: Advance notice is required for access to the papers.
Language of Material:
English .
Collection is available for research.
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by
the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to publish or to reproduce the
material, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
Morton Marcus Poetry archive. MS 198. Special Collections and Archives, University Library,
University of California, Santa Cruz.
Gift of Donna Mekis and Morton Marcus, 2009-2010
Morton Marcus (September 10, 1936-October 28, 2009), poet, fillm critic, lecturer.
Morton Marcus was the l999 Santa Cruz County Artist of The Year and received the Gail Rich
Award in 2007 for his cultural contributions to Santa Cruz County. He published ten volumes
of poetry and one novel, including
The Santa Cruz Mountain Poems,
Pages From A Scrapbook of Immigrants, and
When People Could
Fly
.
Morton had more than 450 poems published in literary journals, and his work has been
selected to appear in over 85 anthologies in the United States, Europe and Australia. In
2002 he published his eighth and ninth books of poetry:
Moments Without Names: New
& Selected Prose Poems
(White Pine Press) and
Shouting Down The
Silence: Verse Poems 1988-2001
(Creative Arts Books). In 2007, he published a new
volume of prose poems,
Pursuing The Dream Bone.
His last book,
Striking Through The Masks: A Literary Memoir (Capitola Book
Company) tells the story of Marcus' growth from embattled youth to uneasy adulthood,
conjuring up the last half of the twentieth century and the opening decade of the new
millennium, while recounting his own struggle to find self-awareness and wisdom.
Morton's trilogy of interviews on the craft of poetry appeared in the March/April 2001
issue of
The Bloomsbury Review, the 2002 issue of
Red
Wheelbarrow
and in the 25th anniversary issue of
Caesura
(2004).
Morton read his poetry and conducted poetry workshops in dozens of universities throughout
the country, among them Columbia University, Notre Dame, The University of Oregon, and
several University of California campuses. He was also poet-in-residence at several State
University of New York campuses, The University of Arkansas' Graduate Writing Program, and
Providence College.
Morton taught English and Film at Cabrillo College for thirty years, until his retirement
in l998. His sixteen-part television history of film,
Movie Milestones, has
been shown on many cable television stations, and was for years the main visual source of
film history at the AFTRS, the Australian national film school. He was a longtime co-host of
KUSP radio's The Poetry Show and co-host of the film review television show Cinema Scene
shown in the San Francisco Bay Area. He also lead a film discussion group at Santa Cruz's
Nickelodeon theater on the first and third Saturday of every month. He curated film series
at various museums and took part in several panels on literature and film at the John
Steinbeck Center.
From www.mortonmarcus.com/bio.html
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection includes biographical materials, correspondence, manuscripts, notebooks,
teaching materials, poetry and film criticism
Arranged in seven series
Series 1: Biographical material
Series 2: Correspondence
Series 3: Writings
Series 4: Printed appearences
Series 5: Teaching materials
Series 6: Publicity, marketing
Series 7: Artwork & Realia
Audio recordings have been converted to CD and cataloged separately. Poetry books and
journals have been cataloged separately. Poetry Broadsides have been cataloged
separately.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
American poetry -- 21st century
Film criticism
Authors, American -- California -- Santa Cruz County
American poetry -- 20th century
Marcus, Morton