Joann Cohn Cazden Collection, 1945-1965,, bulk (bulk 1945-1948)

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Summary

Creators:
Cazden, Joann Cohn and Snyder, Gary
Abstract:
The Joann Cohn Cazden Collection contains letters from Gary Snyder (1930-) to the then Joann Cohn (b. ca. 1930-), Snyder's poems and journal entries, and a small number of photographs and clippings. The collection spans the years 1945 to 1965, but the bulk of it dates 1945 to 1948 from a time when Cohn and Snyder were teenagers in Portland, Oregon. Much of the material has to do with the outdoors, camping, hiking, mountain climbing, love, poetry, and music. After doing her undergraduate work at Stanford University and receiving her MLS from the University of California at Berkeley, Cohn married Robert E. Cazden and lived for many years in Lexington, Kentucky. Gary Snyder, the influential poet, essayist, environmentalist, and lecturer, has written more than twenty books of poetry and prose including his forty-year work Mountains and Rivers Without End (1996) and Turtle Island for which he won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
Extent:
0.40 linear feet, 1 document case
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

The Joann Cohn Cazden Collection is divided into five series: 1. Works by Gary Snyder, 2. Letters from Gary Snyder, 3. Clippings featuring Gary Snyder, 4. Photographs, and 5. Other. The collection's contents span the years 1945 to 1965 with the bulk dating 1945 to 1948. Included in this collection are examples of Snyder's early poetry, letters that he wrote to Joann Cohn when they were both teenagers, journal entries that record a week he spent hiking at Spirit Lake-Mt. Rainier in July 1947, and a small number of photographs and clippings that show images of a young Snyder. Much of the material has to do with the outdoors, camping, hiking, mountain climbing, love, poetry, and music. In the 1948 letter, Snyder describes his life at Reed College. The collection does not include letters or works written by Joann Cohn Cazden.

Snyder sent letters, poems, and other items to Cohn; and she collected these materials and pasted the poems into a scrapbook in 1947. Although small in size, the Joann Cohn Cazden Collection gains importance since Snyder himself saved few of his early works and other personal papers.

Biographical / historical:
Biographical Narrative

Joann Louise Cohn (b. ca. 1930-) attended high school in Portland, Oregon during the mid to late 1940s. Cohn and Gary Snyder (1930-) became friends in 1946 when they were both teenagers. They sent each other letters and poems when one or the other left Portland for vacation, summer camp, or later college. Cohn graduated from Stanford in 1952. She received a Masters degree in Library Science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1955. Cohn married Robert E. Cazden, and the couple and their children lived for many years in Lexington, Kentucky. Robert Cazden was a professor of Library Science at the University of Kentucky.

In 1942, Gary Snyder and his family moved to Portland, Oregon from a small farm near Seattle, Washington. During his high school years, Snyder held a number of part-time jobs including working at a camp on Spirit Lake in Washington and as a copy boy for the Portland Oregonian. He was also an avid mountain climber and hiker. In 1947, Snyder graduated from Lincoln High School and enrolled at Reed College. He graduated from Reed with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Anthropology in 1951. Gary Snyder, influential poet, essayist, translator, Zen Buddhist, environmentalist, lecturer, and teacher, has written more than twenty books of poetry and prose including his forty-year work Mountains and Rivers Without End (1996) and Turtle Island for which he won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Acquisition information:
In 1976, Joann Cohn Cazden donated this collection to the Library.
Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Special Collections Department.

Access and use

Location of this collection:
University of California, Davis, Special Collections, UC Davis Library
100 NW Quad
Davis, CA 95616-5292, US
Contact:
(530) 752-1621
speccoll@ucdavis.edu
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