Scope and Contents
The collection contains writings, correspondence, and other materials documenting Maxine Kumin's literary work and professional and public activities since 1960. Writings include drafts, proofs, and other materials relating to book-length and shorter works. Kumin wrote children's books, poetry collections, essay and short story collections, and novels, and files can be found for works dating from the early children's book A Winter Friend (1961) to the late collection of poems, Still to Mow (2007). Large files can be found for a variety of work: The Abduction (1971), The Long Approach (1985), Looking For Luck (1992), Women, Animals, and Vegetables (1994), Selected Poems 1960-1990 (1997), Quit Monks or Die (1999), Inside the Halo and Beyond the Journey (1999), Always Beginning (2000), and Jack and Other New Poems (2005).
Correspondence in the collection can be found with writers, literary critics, publishers, and family. Correspondents include: Dudley Fitts, William Meredith, Howard Nemerov, Anne Sexton, and the publishers Harper & Row, McGraw-Hill, W. W. Norton, Viking, and North Point Press. The March 2013 Acquisition contains a large file of correspondence, dating from 1945 and 1946, between Maxine Kumin and her husband Victor.
Other materials appear chiefly to document Kumin's professional and public actitivities. There are financial and legal records, such as contracts and permissions, correspondence and documents relating to speaking engagements and participation on literary juries and in the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference; printed materials, including reviews and publicity; audiovisual materials, including both sound and video recordings of readings by Kumin, interviews, and other cultural events; and personal papers, such as calendars and photographs.
Correspondence in the collection can be found with writers, literary critics, publishers, and family. Correspondents include: Dudley Fitts, William Meredith, Howard Nemerov, Anne Sexton, and the publishers Harper & Row, McGraw-Hill, W. W. Norton, Viking, and North Point Press. The March 2013 Acquisition contains a large file of correspondence, dating from 1945 and 1946, between Maxine Kumin and her husband Victor.
Other materials appear chiefly to document Kumin's professional and public actitivities. There are financial and legal records, such as contracts and permissions, correspondence and documents relating to speaking engagements and participation on literary juries and in the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference; printed materials, including reviews and publicity; audiovisual materials, including both sound and video recordings of readings by Kumin, interviews, and other cultural events; and personal papers, such as calendars and photographs.
Dates
- 1923 - 2015
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Boxes 47, 54, 61, and 64-65 (audiovisual material, computer disks): Restricted Fragile Material. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Boxes 43-46 and 62-63 (sound and video recordings): Restricted fragile material. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Boxes 79, 82, 94 (audiovisual materials): Restricted fragile material. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Boxes 80, 81, 96, 98 (born digital): Restricted fragile material. Access copies of digital files may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Boxes 47, 54, 61, and 64-65 (audiovisual material, computer disks): Restricted Fragile Material. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Boxes 43-46 and 62-63 (sound and video recordings): Restricted fragile material. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Boxes 79, 82, 94 (audiovisual materials): Restricted fragile material. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Boxes 80, 81, 96, 98 (born digital): Restricted fragile material. Access copies of digital files may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Conditions Governing Use
The Maxine Kumin 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 James S. Jaffe Books on various funds, 1990-2015.
May 2017 Acquisition: Purchased from Maxine W. Kumin Literary Trust on the George B. Alvord Fund, 2017.
June 2017 Acquisition: Gift of Susannah Colt, 2017.
May 2017 Acquisition: Purchased from Maxine W. Kumin Literary Trust on the George B. Alvord Fund, 2017.
June 2017 Acquisition: Gift of Susannah Colt, 2017.
Arrangement
Organized into ten groupings: March 1990 Acquisition; May 1995 Acquisition; March 2001 Acquisition; January 2005 Acquisition; August 2006 Acquisition; January 2012 Acquisition; March 2013 Acquisition; September 2015 Acquisition; May 2017 Acquisition; and June 2017 Acquisition.
Extent
76.01 Linear Feet ((95 boxes) + 1 roll, 2 record album storage)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
The collection contains writings, correspondence, and other materials documenting Maxine Kumin's literary work and professional and public activities since 1960.
Maxine Kumin (1925-)
Maxine Kumin was born Maxine Winokur on 6 June 1925 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and educated at Radcliffe College (1946, 1948). Kumin worked as an instructor and lecturer in English and Tufts University for several years between 1958 and 1968 and has held visting appointments at other institutions around the country since the 1970s. She is the author of numerous children's books, poetry collections, essay and short story collections, and novels, and her many awards include the Pulitzer Prize (1973) for Up Country, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award for excellence in literature (1980), Poets' Prize (1994) and Aiken Talyor Poetry Prize (1995) for Looking For Luck, and Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize (1999). Since 1976, she and her husband have lived on a farm in Warner, New Hampshire.
Biographical information taken from "Maxine Kumin." Contemporary Women Poets. Gale, 1998. Biography In Context. Web. 13 June 2013.
Biographical information taken from "Maxine Kumin." Contemporary Women Poets. Gale, 1998. Biography In Context. Web. 13 June 2013.
Processing Information
This collection received a basic level of processing, including rehousing and in some instances minimal organization. Various acquisitions associated with the collection have not been merged and organized as a whole. Each acquisition is described separately in the contents list below according to month and year of acquisition.
The finding aid for this collection is compiled from individual preliminary lists for each acquisition that were created at or around the time of receipt by the library. The preliminary lists were migrated to comply with current archival descriptive standards and merged into a single file in 2007-2008.
As a rule, descriptive information found in the Collection Contents section is drawn in large part from information supplied with the collection and from an initial survey of the contents. Folder titles appearing in the contents list below are often based on those provided by the creator or previous custodian. Titles have not been verified against the contents of the folders in all cases. Otherwise, folder titles are supplied by staff during processing.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
Former call numbers: Uncat Za Ms 131, Uncat Za Ms 436, Uncat MSS 118, Uncat MSS 739, and Uncat MSS 899.
The finding aid for this collection is compiled from individual preliminary lists for each acquisition that were created at or around the time of receipt by the library. The preliminary lists were migrated to comply with current archival descriptive standards and merged into a single file in 2007-2008.
As a rule, descriptive information found in the Collection Contents section is drawn in large part from information supplied with the collection and from an initial survey of the contents. Folder titles appearing in the contents list below are often based on those provided by the creator or previous custodian. Titles have not been verified against the contents of the folders in all cases. Otherwise, folder titles are supplied by staff during processing.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
Former call numbers: Uncat Za Ms 131, Uncat Za Ms 436, Uncat MSS 118, Uncat MSS 739, and Uncat MSS 899.
- American literature -- 20th century
- Audiovisual materials
- Authors -- United States -- 20th Century
- Authors, American -- 20th Century -- Archives
- Born digital
- Bread Loaf Writers' Conference of Middlebury College
- Electronic documents
- Fitts, Dudley, 1903-1968
- Harper & Row, Publishers
- Kumin, Maxine, 1925-2014
- McGraw-Hill Publishing Company
- Meredith, William, 1919-2007
- Nemerov, Howard, 1920-1991
- North Point Press
- Photographic prints
- Sexton, Anne, 1928-1974
- Sound recordings
- Video recordings
- Viking Press
- W.W. Norton & Company
- Title
- Guide to the Maxine Kumin Papers
- Author
- by Beinecke staff
- Date
- 2007-05-16
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
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.