Alexander (Will) Papers, 1979-2025

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Summary

Title:
Will Alexander papers
Dates:
1979-2025
Abstract:
Materials related to the creative output of writer, artist, and musician Will Alexander, including drafts of artistic works; notebooks containing poetry, prose, and notes; drawings; research materials indicating areas of interest and inspiration; and audio recordings.
Extent:
19.05 Linear Feet (31 boxes)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Will Alexander papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection includes drafts of Will Alexander's artistic works; notebooks containing poetry, prose, and notes; drawings; research materials indicating areas of interest and inspiration; and audio recordings of interviews and Alexander's piano playing. There is also a small amount of personal and professional correspondence.

Biographical / historical:

Writer and artist Will Alexander was born in Los Angeles, California in 1948. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in English and Creative Writing in 1972. Alexander has published several books of poetry including Across the Vapour Gulf (2017), Compression & Purity (2011), The Sri Lankan Loxodrome (2009), Asia & Haiti (1995), and The Stratospheric Canticles (1995). He has taught at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University; the University of California, San Diego; and Hofstra University. His collection Singing In Magnetic Hoofbeat: Essays, Prose, Texts, Interviews, and a Lecture (2013) was awarded an American Book Award; and Refractive Africa: Ballet of the Forgotten was a 2022 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry. Alexander's other honors include a Whiting Fellowship for Poetry, a California Arts Council Fellowship, a PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and the 2016 Jackson Poetry Prize.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from Will Alexander through Granary Books, December 2021 and November 2025.
Processing information:

Processed by Kelly Kress in March 2023. In August 2026, Kress processed the 2025 addition to the collection and updated the finding aid. The additional material is housed in boxes 16-31.

The collection is organized to preserve, whenever possible, Will Alexander's original order. This includes most of his original folder titles, the original order of folders, and the original order of some of the boxes.

Arrangement:

Arranged in four series: 1. Works, projects, and research materials, 1979-2025; 2. Personal correspondence, 2007-2008; 3. Notebooks, 2011-2022; 4. Audio recordings, approximately 2010s

Physical / technical requirements:

NOT AVAILABLE. Audio materials in box 15 and box 31 are not available for paging until reformatted. Please contact Reader Services for more information.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Kelly Kress
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-08-20 14:09:58 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Will Alexander papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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