San Francisco State College Poetry Center Records, 1953-1961

Summary

Title:

San Francisco State College Poetry Center Records,

Dates:

1953-1961

Creators:

San Francisco State College. Poetry Center

Abstract:

Primarily correspondence of Ruth Witt-Diamant, director, with poets participating in readings at the Center, together with program notes, publicity material, and biographical information submitted by the poets; papers regarding the history, organization and financing of the Center; appeals for support; lists of poets who read at the Center; reference file of poets' names; form letters for bookings, etc.

Extent:

Number of containers: 9 boxes and 1 oversize folder

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], San Francisco State College Poetry Center records, BANC MSS 78/161 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Background

Biographical / historical:

The Poetry Center was established at San Francisco State College in 1954, largely as the result of the persistent effort of faculty member Ruth Witt-Diamant. Its purpose was to integrate poetry with the cultural life of the city by bringing poets of national and international reputation to the west coast to read and discuss their work, and by presenting, also, well-known local poets and poets whose work was new and unpublished. The program began with a reading by Theodore Roethke on February 24, and the Center gained increasing support from both the academic community and the public at large. The list of poets appearing over the years is impressive, including W. H. Auden, Richard Eberhart, Langston Hughes, Stanley Kunitz, Stephen Spender, Marianne Moore, William Carlos Williams and Robert Lowell.

Mrs. Witt-Diamant served as director of the Center from its inception until her retirement in 1961, when James Schevill took over her duties. Robert Duncan, closely associated with the Center from the beginning, was assistant director, 1956-57.

Physical location:

For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Related resources

Other descriptive data:

These records, purchased from Mrs. Witt-Diamant in 1978 with funds made available from the Chancellor's Opportunity Fund and by the Friends of The Bancroft Library, relate to the period of her directorship. Some additions were purchased April 1980 from Ida G. Hodes. They are described in the Key to Arrangement below.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:

Processed by The Bancroft Library staff

Date Prepared:

© 1997

Date Encoded:

Machine-readable finding aid derived from paper by means of scanning and OCR; OCR file edited for typographical errors before encoding; finding aid encoded by James Lake. Date of source: ca. 1978.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], San Francisco State College Poetry Center records, BANC MSS 78/161 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Location of this collection:

UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library

Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, US

Contact:

510-642-6481

bancref-library@berkeley.edu

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