Skip to main content

Eileen Myles papers

 Collection
Call Number: YCAL MSS 1466

Scope and Contents

The collection contains writings, correspondence, notebooks and journals, personal and professional papers, printed material, computer and audiovisual media, and other papers by or relating to the writer, poet, and performance artist Eileen Myles. Writings consist of notes and drafts of Myles's books, poetry, plays, performance art, articles, essays, and other works. Correspondence includes exchanges with other writers, poets, editors, and artists in the United States and abroad, particularly the second generation of the New York School of poets. Correspondents include Dodie Bellamy, Charles Bernstein, Ted Berrigan, Tom Carey, C. A. Conrad, Dennis Cooper, Robert Creeley, Tory Dent, Tim Dlugos, Nicole Eisenman, Cliff Fyman, Barbara Guest, Nathan Kernan, Kevin Killian, Ali Liebegott, Bernadette Mayer, Barbara McKay, Thurston Moore, Elinor Nauen, Alice Notley, Kevin Opstedal, Kay Rosen, Thomas Savage, Leslie Scalapino, James Schuyler, Mark So, Joey Soloway, Juliana Spahr, Michelle Tea, David Trinidad, Paul Violi, Anne Waldman, Joe Westmoreland, and Bill Zavatsky. Personal and professional papers consist of photographs, teaching files, presidential campaign files, and subject files. Hanging files contain a mix of correspondence, writings, notebooks, personal papers, and other materials. Also present in the collection are poetry and prose by other authors such as Stanya Kahn and Akilah Oliver.

Dates

  • 1958-2017

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Box 61 (student records): Restricted until 2082. For further information consult the appropriate curator.

Box 105-108 (electronic media): Restricted fragile material. Reference copies of electronic files may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.

Box 109-117 (audiovisual material): Restricted fragile material. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.

Conditions Governing Use

The Eileen Myles Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased from Glen Horowitz Bookseller, Inc. on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 2018.

Arrangement

Organized into seven series: I. Writings, 1974–2017. II. Correspondence, 1962–2017. III. Notebooks and Journals, 1960–2015. IV. Personal and Professional Papers, 1958–2017. V. Hanging Files, 1977–2017. VI. Printed Material, 1976–2016. VII. Computer and Audiovisual Media, 1979–2005.

Extent

108.1 Linear Feet (117 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.myles

Additional Description

Abstract

The collection contains writings, correspondence, notebooks and journals, personal and professional papers, printed material, computer and audiovisual media, and other papers by or relating to the writer, poet, and performance artist Eileen Myles.

Eileen Myles (1949-)

Eileen Myles is an American writer, educator, and performance artist who has published over twenty books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, including the autobiographical novel Chelsea Girls (1994). They were born on December 9, 1949 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Boston in 1971 with a B.A. in English. After moving to New York City in 1974, they studied in workshops at St. Mark’s Poetry Project with Ted Berrigan, Alice Notley, and Paul Violi. They later served as the organization’s artistic director from 1984 to 1986.

Myles is the author of books of poetry such as I Must Be Living Twice: New and Selected Poems 1974-2014 (2015) and Evolution (2018), the novel Cool for You (2000), and Afterglow (a dog memoir) (2017). Their poetry, essays, and articles have been featured in numerous anthologies and publications such as Harper’s Magazine, The New Yorker, and The Village Voice. They additionally have appeared in film and television, and created performance pieces including The Collection of Silence for the Dia Center for the Arts in New York in 2010. Myles has taught writing and literature at Columbia University, New York University, University of California, San Diego, Bard College, and other institutions. Their awards include the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, the Poetry Society of America Shelly Award, and four Lambda Book Awards. Myles has also received fellowships and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the MacDowell Colony, and Creative Capital.

Myles lives in New York City and Marfa, Texas. They use they/them pronouns.

Separated Materials

Printed material received with the collection was removed for separate cataloging and can be accessed by searching the library’s online catalog.

Processing Information

Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.

This collection received a basic level of processing, including rehousing and minimal organization.

Information included in the Description of Papers note and Collection Contents section is drawn from information supplied with the collection and from an initial survey of the contents. Folder titles appearing in the contents list below are based on those provided by the creator or previous custodian. Unusual or non-descriptive titles provided by creator have been retained. Titles have not been verified against the contents of the folders in all cases. Otherwise, folder titles are supplied by staff during initial processing. Information in brackets is also supplied by staff.

This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.

Subjects

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Guide to the Eileen Myles Papers
Status
Completed
Author
by Nora Soto
Date
May 2022
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository

http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/
Contact:
P. O. Box 208330
New Haven CT 06520-8330 US
(203) 432-2977

Location

121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Opening Hours

Access Information

The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.

Suggest a Correction