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Randall W. Ackley Papers
MSS 0841
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Randall W. Ackley Papers
Creator:
Ackley, Randall
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0841
Physical Description:
.4 Linear feet
(1 archives box)
Date (inclusive): 1970-2001
Abstract: A very small selection of the papers of Randall Ackley, poet, scholar, professor of English at the University of Alaska-Juneau
and Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan. Ackley collected materials from key figures in Chicano and Indigenous poetry movements,
including Ricardo Sánchez, Simon Ortiz, and others.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Randall Ackley Papers contain a small selection of personal letters to Ackley from poets Ricardo Sánchez, Norman MacLeod,
Howard McCord and others; draft copies of written work by Ackley including poems and articles; as well as draft copies of
written work by a few key figures in American poetry, including Ricardo Sánchez, a seminal figure in Chicano poetry movement,
Simon Ortiz, the celebrated indigenous poet and writer of Acoma Pueblo heritage, and typescript poems by Charles Bukowski.
Randall William Ackley was born on August 9, 1931. He graduated magna cum laude with an A. B. in English from the University
of Minnesota in 1962, and earned his Doctoral degree in American Studies & Creative Writing from Union Graduate School in
Cincinnati, Ohio in 1974. His dissertation was titled "Southwest Native American Tellers, Singers, & Writers."
Ackley taught at several universities throughout the 1960s and 70s, primarily making his academic home at the University of
Alaska from 1977-1985 working in a variety of roles including Director of Arts & Sciences, Acting Dean of the Division of
Humanities, Director of Planning, and Associate Professor of English. He continued at Yarmouk University in Jordan, first
as a visiting Senior Fulbright Scholar from 1983-1985, then as a Visiting Associate Professor of English.
Ackley was also the statewide director of an original program for the rehabilitation of prison inmates through the study of
humanities, under the auspices of the University of Alaska.
In addition to teaching and academic work, Ackley wrote poetry and many articles on the subject of Native American and Chicano
culture and poetry. He was also the editor of Quetzal: A Journal of Native America from 1970-1973, and was the editor of Poetry
of Aztlan: A Southwest Renaissance, an anthology project with roots in the Southwest Poets' Conference in December, 1969.
Contributors included several prominent southwest poets including: Judson Crews, Norman MacLeod, Howard McCord, Simon Ortiz,
Ricardo Sánchez, among others.
Randall W. Ackley Papers. MSS 841. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
Acquired 2022
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
American poetry -- Mexican American authors
Ackley, Randall -- Correspondence
McCord, Howard, 1932- -- Correspondence
Macleod, Norman, 1906-1985 -- Correspondence
Sánchez, Ricardo, 1941-1995 -- Correspondence
Ortiz, Simon J., 1941- -- Poetry
Bukowski, Charles -- Poetry