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Untermeyer mss. III, 1917-1977

Summary Information

Repository
Lilly Library (Indiana University, Bloomington)
Lilly Library
Indiana University
1200 E. Seventh St.
Bloomington, IN 47405-5500
Phone: 812-855-2452
Fax: 812-855-3143
Email: liblilly@indiana.edu

Creator
Untermeyer, Louis, 1885-1977.

Title
Untermeyer mss. III, 1917-1977

Collection No.
LMC 2242

Extent
654 items

Language
Materials are in English.

Abstract
The Untermeyer mss. III, 1917-1977, are the papers of Louis Untermeyer, 1885-1977, author, poet, and anthologist.

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Biographical Note

Louis Untermeyer, 1885-1977, was an author, poet, and anthologist born in New York City. Untermeyer wrote several volumes of poetry, and also compiled several anthologies, including "Modern American Poetry and Modern British Poetry" (1969). He served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1961 to 1963.

Arrangement

The collection is organized into the following series: I. Biographical; II. Correspondence; III. Writings; IV. Printed.

Scope and Content Note

The Untermeyer mss. III, 1917-1977, are the papers of Louis Untermeyer, 1885-1977, author, poet, and anthologist. The early part of the correspondence consists of two letters, for 1917 and 1928; the bulk of the letters begins in 1945 and extends through 1977. They refer to the All India Writers' Conference and other conferences, the blacklisting of writers, the celebration of Untermeyer's 80th and 85th birthdays, the presentation of the letters of Robert Frost to Untermeyer to the Library of Congress in 1963, the protest of the writers against the Vietnamese Conflict, and the publication of several books.

The writings, which include collected materials concerning the blacklisting of writers, conference materials, interviews, lectures and speeches, poems and prose, projects, and scripts for Voice of America, range from 1924 to 1977. Some of these are: The Best Humor Annual, Burning Bush, Bygones, The Changing Voices of America (lectures at Kyoto, Japan), Haiku, How to Hate Poetry in One Easy Lesson, How to Kill a Poem (lecture at Suffield Conference), How to Misunderstand Poetry without Really Trying, Marionettes, On the Birth of a Child, On the Eve of New Wars, Music Tour on the Renaissance (diary), The Poets Speak (for Voice of America), Response to The People's Almanac poll on Utopia, Said I to Myself..., These Bones, and This is Christmas. A bibliographical folder notes titles by year of publication, 1919-1955 and copies sold to June 30, 1959.

Thirteen photographs are filed with the letters and writings, 1961-1965.

Printed materials include biographical clippings, 1917-1978; scrapbooks of poems, 1907-1922 and 1924-1963; prose, 1932-1976; reviews or promotional clippings for Untermeyer's writings, 1917-1965; and clippings reporting his 80th birthday celebration, 1965.

Note on Indexing Term - "Radio": "The Poets Speak: Radio Scripts for Voice of America" written by Untermeyer is present in the collection.

Note on Indexing Term - "Labor unions and socialism": Includes collected materials concerning the blacklisting of writers.

Note on Indexing Term - "Travel": Of interest is a 1973 diary of a music tour on the "Renaissance" (Paquet Line).

Related Material

Untermeyer mss., Untermeyer mss. II, Untermeyer mss. IV; also located at the Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information
Acquired 1978, 1983
Usage Restrictions
Prior arrangements are not necessary before coming to the Library, however, patrons from out of town are encouraged to communicate with the Library in advance of their visits to ascertain availability of materials.

Photocopying permitted only with permission of the Curator of Manuscripts, Lilly Library.

Preferred Citation
Untermeyer mss. III, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

Series: Box 1 I. Biographical

Biographical material. Printed

(1 folder)


Series: Box 1 II. Correspondence

List of correspondents:
  • View All (112)
  • Conrad Potter Aiken
  • Mary (Hoover) Aiken
  • Abe Ajay
  • Signe Anderson
  • Anthony Edward
  • Jonathan Bartlett
  • Roy Prentice Basler
  • Enid (Nordeen) Beagle
  • Peter Soyer Beagle
  • Ralph A. Beebe
  • Ann (Keay) Beneduce
  • Shauna Bernacchi
  • Doris Elsa (Fleishman) Bernays
  • Edward L. Bernays
  • Francis Biddle
  • Wallace Brockway
  • Gladys (Rice) Brooks
  • Donald Brown
  • Lyman Bryson
  • Stanley Burnshaw
  • John Mack Carter
  • Richard P. Cecil
  • Cyril Clemens
  • Ralph Frederick Colin
  • George Collins
  • Saxe Commins
  • George Colman de Kay
  • Babette Deutsch
  • Anne Ophelia (Todd) Dowden
  • Pierre Dussert
  • Paul Erik Edlund
  • Alfred Conway Edwards
  • Nathan R. Einhorn
  • Mel Evans
  • Charles E. Feinberg
  • Nan Findlow
  • Barthold Fles
  • Louis Alexander Freedman
  • Greer Garson
  • Elinor (Steiner) Gimbel
  • Mark Goodson
  • Molly Harrington
  • John Hohenberg
  • Frank Orville Holmes
  • Richard Huett
  • Lyndon Baines Johnson
  • Anne (Bernays) Kaplan
  • Justin Kaplan
  • Elizabeth (Edwards) Hamer Kegan
  • Gilbert Kerr
  • Alfred Kreymborg
  • Krishna R. Kripalani
  • Robert Hunt Land
  • Elizabeth Mott Lee
  • William Colston Leigh
  • Leo Lerman
  • Albert Rice Leventhal
  • Eva (Garson) Levy
  • Newman Levy
  • Nicolas Vachel Lindsay
  • Jack Long
  • Anna D. McNeil
  • Marianne (Roney) Mantell
  • David Chambers Mearns
  • Francis Trevelyan Miller
  • Lawrence Quincy Mumford
  • Robert Nathan
  • George M. Nicholson
  • Laurel Overman
  • Allen (Talmey) Plaut
  • Richard Laurance Plaut
  • Tom Prideaux
  • David Anton Randall
  • Samson Raphaelson
  • Joseph H. Ream
  • James Malcolm Reid
  • John Turner Reid
  • William W. Rossiter
  • Frances Clarke Sayers
  • Gladys Schmitt
  • Alice Schryver
  • Elliott W. Schryver
  • Peter Schwed
  • Harlow Shapley
  • Donald Taylor Shea
  • Ralph E. Shikes
  • Arthur Shimkin
  • Henry Williams Simon
  • D. Fred Slota
  • William Jay Smith
  • Sophia Sorkin
  • Howard Marget Spiro
  • Lawrence Edmund Spivak
  • Yoshihiro Taguchi
  • Frank Stacy Tavenner
  • Bryna (Ivens) Untermeyer
  • Louis Untermeyer
  • Martin E. Untermeyer
  • Enrique Uribe White
  • Pamela Veley
  • Eugenio C. Villicana
  • James O'Shea Wade
  • Louise (Hetzel) Waller
  • George William Walsh
  • Harriett (Sherwood) Weaver
  • John Downing Weaver
  • Ann L. Weingarden
  • Rosalind Wells
  • Mary Charlotte Hayes (Ward) Wilbur
  • Richard Wilbur
  • Jennings Wood
  • Lydia Zelaya.

Correspondence, 1917-1977 

(19 folders)


Photographs

1961, Nov. 14  (enclosed with K.R. Kripalani to Untermeyer, Dec. 4, 1961) 

1961, Nov.  (enclosed with Donald Taylor Shea to Untermeyer, Dec. 24, 1961) 

1961, Nov.  (3 - enclosed with John Turner Reid to Untermeyer, Dec. 24, 1961) 

1965, Oct. 1  (accompanied by diploma, dated 1903) 

1965, Oct. 3.  (80th birthday observance)

n.d.  (enclosed with Cyril Clemens to Untermeyer, Apr. 18, 1962) 

Series: Box 1 III. Writings

(numbers in brackets refer to original delivery inventory number)


These Bones. undated.  Accompanied by clippings mounted and in folder, 1934-1950. Bound volume, with "Record" on spine.

Box 2 Bibliographical material, 1919-1959. 

1924, Jan.-1927, July. Burning Bush. bound. [#56]

1924, Feb. Folk-Songs. bound. [#58]

1927, Aug.-1932, July 4. Poems written since July, 1927. bound. [#57]

1946, July 9. CBS. Woman's Club. Interview with Louis Untermeyer. [#64]

1947. The New American Arts. [#64]

1949, Mar. 26-1951, Apr. 5. Speeches and statements related to the Hollywood Ten, the Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace, the Town Hall Meeting of June 19, 1950, and the House Un-American Activities Committee. [#27, #28, #29]

1949, Mar. 26. The other night I tried to put down some notes... T.D. 1p.

1949, Mar. 27. Text Resolution on Cultural Freedom adopted by Plenary Session. Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace Sunday, March 27, Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Mimeo copy. 2pp.

1949, Mar. 27. Text of Resolution Presented at Plenary Session...(not identical with the above). Mimeo copy. 2pp.

1950, June 19. Town Hall meeting. T.D. with extensive notes in the hand of Untermeyer. 12pp.

1950, Aug. 8. This, as far as I know, is the first time that American writers have been sent to jail... T.D. 1p.

1951, Mar. 4. It seems that a number of people have begun writing to the sponsors of "What's My Line…" T.D. (first draft) with corrections in Untermeyer's hand. 4pp.

1951, Mar. It seems that a number of people... (another draft of the above). T.D.S. 6pp.

1951, Apr. 5. To the Members of the House Un-American Activities Committee: T.(carbon)D.S. 2pp.

1951, Apr. 5. To the Members of the House Un-American Activities Committee: T.(carbon) D. 3pp.

1951, Apr. I am deeply distressed that any group of my fellow Americans should question my loyalty... [basically the same statement as that of Apr. 5, 1951]. T.D.S. 4pp.

undated. I am deeply distressed that any group of my fellow Americans should question my loyalty... T. (carbon)D. 1p.

undated. I am told that letters have been received questioning my devotion to my country... T. (carbon)D. 1p.

(2 copies)


1951-1952. The Best Humor Annual. [#47] With notes by Charles Angof folders

1951-1952. The Best humor Annual. Fillers. [#47]

1952-1962. Reports to the Pulitzer Prize Committee for Poetry. [#31]

1955. Orpheus with His Lute. [#62]

1958, May 12. For a Novel by Edwin Gilbert. [#59]

1958. Bryson, Lyman. Man's Knowledge [#55]

1958. Bryson, Lyman. Man's Knowledge Chapter 26: Louis Untermeyer, Modern American Writing. [#51]

1961, Apr. Newell, Professor. Introduction for Louis Untermeyer at California State College, PA. [#55]

1961, Oct. 22. CBS. Washington Conversation. Interview with Louis Untermeyer. [#55]

1961, Oct.-Dec. All India Writers' Conference. [#63]

(2 folders)


1961-1963. One Hundred American Poems of the Twentieth Century. [#55]

1963, July. Haiku: Thunder At Hosokawa. Ryoan-Ji Garden. [#68]

1963, July. It may seem irrelevant for a poet to be inflicted on economists... [at Kyoto, Japan]. [#9]

1963. The Changing Voices of America. [#12]

1963. Letters from Robert Frost to Louis Untermeyer. [#34]

1963. Letters from Robert Frost to Louis Untermeyer. Reviews (printed) [#65]

1964, Mar. 23. Robert Frost, A Backward Look. [#64]

1964, Aug. For Another Birth. [#59]

1964. Aesops Fables, Retold. [#45]

1964. Labyrinth of Love. [#13]

1965, May 11. Toward an American Poetry [Lecture at Indiana University]. [#16]

1965. Bygones, The Recollections of Louis Untermeyer. [#32]

1965. Bygones... Galleys. [#31]

1965. Bygones... Notes. [#32]

1965. Bygones: Reviews (printed). [#65]

1966, Feb. 20. Read-In for Peace in Vietnam: On the Birth of a Child. On the Eve of New Wars. [#64]

1966. Apr. 26. From the Psalms. An Introduction. [#42]

1966. Alfred Kreymborg: 1883-1966. [#42]

1966. Eve. [#42]

1967. One, Two, Buckle my Shoe. [#44]

Box 3 1967-1968. The Firebringer and Other Great Stories. [#38]

1968, Feb. 5-16. Prominent People Program at University of California, Berkeley. Includes Untermeyer's schedules and poems by Jean Brownson, John Hoffman, Robin Magowan, Rosalie Moore, Rosemary Thompson, Elizabeth Tsuji. [#55]

1968. A Foreword to Vachel Lindsay's "lost" poems for Children [by Pierre Dussert] [#15]

1968-1969. Men and Women: The Poetry of Love. [#52]

1970, Apr. 15. I am going to start what I hope will be a discussion... [Remarks at International Poetry Festival, Washington, D.C.]. [#64]

1970, June 22-29. Suffield Reader Writer Conference: How to Kill poem. [#35]

1970. A Foreword for The Language of Flowers. [#14]

1970-1971. Portraits in Poetry. [#26]

1971. The Law of Order: The Promise of Poetry. [#7]

1971. Story Poem Record Project. [#55]

1972, July. Portrait of a Girl. [#10]

1973, Jan. 4-17. Music Tour on the Renaissance [Diary]. Bound. [#33]

1974, Aug. 22. Extraudenary. [#41]

1974-1975. Said I to Myself, Said I... [#36]

1974-1975. Said I to Myself, Said I... Material edited out by Bryna Untermeyer. [#36]

1977. Galaxy of Verse [#40]

(3 folders)


1977. It will merely raise his dander... [In the hand of Bryna Untermeyer]. [#7]

undated. Levy, Norman. Nighttime in the Adirondacks. [#1]

undated. About Anthologies. [#64]

undated. At Last. [#59]

undated. Carnal Clerkhews. [#24]

undated. The Chart. [#67]

undated. The City has most of the advantages... [#18]

undated. Conrad Aiken. [#19]

undated. The Contradiction of Modern Poetry. [#55]

undated. Contrasted Greatness: Two Lives [Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson]. [#64]

undated. Do American Speak English. [#64]

undated. E.A.R.: A Remembrance. [#42]

undated. The Essential Whitman. [#53]

undated. Folk-Songs. [#58]

undated. A Foreword. [#42]

undated. A Foreword [to Howard Fast, Time of the Riddle] [#55]

undated. The Glory of the Commonplace: Walt Whitman. [#42]

undated. The Golden Book of Fun and Nonsense: collected material. [#55]

undated. Golden Treasury of Animal Stories and Poems. [#55]

undated. Hercules... His Twelve Labors. [#21]

undated. Home. [#61]

undated. Homo Sapiens. [#6]

undated. How to Hate Poetry... [#64]

undated. How to Misunderstand Poetry. [#64]

undated. I regret to tell you... [Remarks at Texas Tech, Lubbock]. [#64]

undated. Jane. [#11]

undated. A Kind of Credo. [#5]

undated. The Light Fantastic. [#55]

undated. The Lighter Side of Poetry. [#64]

undated. Linus Pauling. [#64]

undated. [Lives of the Poets]. Sketch for a Preface. [#55]

undated. The Lost Continent. [#39]

undated. LU's Commentary and Poems to Read. [#65]

undated. Makers of the Modern World. [#64]

undated. Marionettes (To the memory of Edward MacDowell). [#3]

undated. Meaning and Magic. [#23]

undated. Misalliance. [#42]

undated. My First Book of Poems. [#48]

undated. Nativity. [#71]

undated. New Frontiers in American Culture. [#64]

undated. Notes for talks on Theodore Roethke and e e cummings. [#64]

undated. Now that I am in my nineties... [#8]

undated. Odyssey Projects. [#54]

1. Foreign Research by Secret Agent 685A093. T.(carbon)D. 1p. 28cm. Signed L.U.

2. Lift Up Your Heart. T.(carbon)D. 6pp. 28cm.

3. Man's Best Friends. T.(carbon)D. 6pp. 28cm. Corrections

4. Thinking of You. T.(carbon)D. 6pp. 28cm.

5. This is Christmas. T.(carbon)D. 10pp. 28cm. Many corrections

6. Your Lucky Stars. T.(carbon)D. 9pp. 28cm.

7. Words of Wisdom or A Little Book of Wisdom. Compiled by Bryna and Louis Untermeyer. T.(carbon)D. 19pp. 28cm.

undated. One Hundred Treasured Poems. [#22]

undated. Open the Door. [#49]

undated. The Painters Discover America. [#64]

undated. Poetry and Reality. [#64]

undated. The Poets Speak: Radio scripts for Voice of America. [#37]

undated. Prayer. [#69]

undated. The Productive Life. [#64]

undated. The Proper Study... Review of R.D. Altick, Lives and Letters. [#42]

undated. Publishers are again taking a chance...on poetry. [#64]

undated. The Pursuit of Poetry. [#64 and 55]

undated. The Road Taken... Review of Lawrance Thompson, Robert Frost. [#71]

undated. Robert Browning... [#42]

undated. Shelley... [#59]

undated. Sorrento. [#55]

undated. Der Struwwelpeter. [#46]

undated. Sturdy. [#55]

undated. Sunday Sonnet. [#59]

undated. This American Language. [#64]

undated. This is your day. [#50]

undated. Tramp, Peddler, and Poet. Review of R. J. Stansifer, W.H. Davies… [#42]

undated. The Uncertainties of Taste. [#64]

undated. Walt Whitman and American Words. [#55]

undated. What America Reads - And Why. [#55]

undated. What Can We Expect of Our Culture. [#64]

undated. What Makes Modern Poetry Modern. [3 drafts]. [#55]

undated. What Robert Frost has to Tell Us. [#20]

undated. Whitman and other Mavericks. [#64]

Photographs

1961, Nov. 21  (with Dec. 1961  Newsletter of the Indo-American Society in All India Writers' Conference II, Oct.-Dec. 1961) 

1963, July-Aug.  (with Untermeyer, The Changing Voices of America, 1963) 

n.d.  (3 - with Untermeyer, Bygones - Notes, 1965) 

Series: Box 3 IV. Printed

The Britannica Library of Great American Writings. Promotional, undated. 

Including Horace. Review, 1919 

Lives of the Poets. Promotional, 1959 

Long Feud. Reviews, 1962 

Makers of the Modern World. Promotional, undated. 

Miscellaneous clippings, 1949-1967 

Modern American and British Poetry. Reviews, 1962 

Moses. Reviews, 1928-1930 

New Era in American Poetry. Reviews, 1919 

Paths of Poetry. Review, 1967 

Poems (in Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, Apr. 1970) 

Poems of Heinrich Heine. Reviews, 1917 

These Times. Reviews, 1917 

These Times and Poems of Heinrich Heine. Reviews, 1917 

A Treasury of Great Poems, English and American. Promotional, 1942 

A Treasury of Laughter. Promotional, undated. 

A Treasury of Ribaldry. Reviews, 1956-1957 

Scrapbook of Poems, 1924-1963. Bound

Oversize 1 1965, Oct. 1. Watercolor in honor of Untermeyer's 80th birthday. Signed [Justin?]

1965, Oct. 2. Gilbert, Edwin. A lyric to Louis

1965, Oct. 9. Barkham, John. Among Books and Authors. Mimeo Copy

1965. Bauman, Morely and Irma. Panel of ten cat stamps from Poland

1965. Nasatir, Iain. When I'm eight...

1965. [Untermeyer?], Karen, Alice and Martin. Drawing of birds in honor of Untermeyer's 80th birthday

1965, Sept. 28-Oct. 11. Clippings reporting Untermeyer's 80th birthday celebrations

1965, Oct. 17. Promotional for Bygones by Louis Untermeyer

Prose clippings, 1932-1976. 

Oversize 2 Scrapbook of Poems, 1907-1922. Disbound. Lacks pages 1 and 2.

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