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Eshleman Family Papers
MSS 0177
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Eshleman Family Papers
Creator:
Eshelman family
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0177
Physical Description:
2.2 Linear feet
(5 archives boxes, 1 flat box)
Date (inclusive): 1890 - 1985
Abstract: Documents, covering the period 1890-1985, of the family of Clayton Eshleman, writer, editor and translator. Includes correspondence
between Clayton and his parents and between Clayton and his first wife Barbara; an extensive collection of family photographs;
the family's school, church and financial records; and scrapbooks from Clayton's childhood.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection documents the family background and early years of Clayton Eshleman, American post-war writer, editor, and
translator. The documents also shed light on the transition from the 1950s to the 1960s, a period in which Clayton Eshleman,
like many young Americans at the time, rejected the values and lifestyles of the previous generation, crossed former boundaries,
and, in doing so, helped to create a new American culture. This break would be essential to Eshleman's development as an artist,
and exploring the rupture would be a constant theme part of his later work as a translator of international poets and editor
of the influential journal SULFUR.
The Eshleman Family Papers document to some degree Clayton Eshleman's development as a writer. Several facets of the process
are reflected in the collection. The young Clayton Eshleman, seen in the SCRAPBOOKS (1940-57) compiled by his mother, is a
boy scout, newspaper carrier, church member, and football and track star. College papers, included in the series FAMILY RECORDS
- SCHOOL, show his developing interest in poetry. PHOTOGRAPHS and CORRESPONDENCE of the decade following his graduation from
college show his marriage to home-state university sweetheart Barbara Novak and an expressed belief in "commitment" to family
as well as to work. The collection contains one portrait of his second wife Caryl and another of his son Matthew as an adolescent,
but the papers in effect end with the dissolution of his first marriage and his abandonment of the values of his childhood.
Clayton's essay in CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS (included in the series FAMILY RECORDS - BIOGRAPHICAL) provides a written narrative
to these documents and reveals the importance that Clayton gave to his early years.
The Eshleman Family Papers are divided into seven series: 1) FAMILY RECORDS, 2) DIARIES AND NOTEBOOKS, 3) DRAWINGS, 4) SCRAPBOOKS,
5) PHOTOGRAPHS, 6) CORRESPONDENCE, and 7) EPHEMERA.
Clayton Eshleman, reknowned poet, translator, and editor, was born June 1, 1935, in Indianapolis, Indiana, the only child
of Gladys and Ira Eshleman. His childhood was spent in Indianapolis,and he attended the University of Indiana. After graduating
from the university, he travelled to Mexico, Central and South America, and Japan.
During his early years, Eshleman was a musician, boy scout, and football star. He first majored in Music at Indiana University
but eventually changed his program to Philosophy, earning a degree in that field in 1958. In 1961 he received a Master of
Arts for Teachers from Indiana University, married Barbara Novak, and had his first book of poetry, MEXICO AND NORTH, published.
Eshleman spent the next three years in Japan, teaching and studying. In 1965 the Eshlemans moved to Lima, Peru, where their
son Matthew was born in 1966. That same year, the family moved to New York City, and soon after, Eshleman separated from his
wife and child.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Eshleman Family Papers, MSS 177. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
Acquired 1994.
Three original scrapbooks are restricted because of their fragile condition. Researchers may use the photocopy scrapbooks
provided in FB-004 as substitutes.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photographic prints -- 20th century
Diaries -- 20th century
Photographic prints -- 19th century
American poetry -- 20th century
Portrait photographs -- 20th century
Eshelman family -- Archives
Eshleman, Clayton -- Archives
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