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Carolyn Burke Collection on Mina Loy and Lee Miller

 Collection
Call Number: YCAL MSS 778

Scope and Contents

The Carolyn Burke Collection on Mina Loy and Lee Miller consists of Carolyn Burke’s research files, correspondence, writings, and original documents pertaining to Mina Loy and Lee Miller. These original documents were obtained by Burke during the course of her research, primarily from Loy’s daughter, Joella Haweis Bayer, and Miller’s son, Anthony Penrose.

The 2011 acquisition includes the bulk of the collection’s Mina Loy papers. This acquisition includes original manuscripts and fragments of various writings, including the prose pieces Alda’s Beauty and Promised Land. Correspondence by Mina Loy and family members is especially well represented, and family photographs and records of Loy’s inventions are also present.

The 2012 acquisition contains 14 audiocassettes, transcripts, and notes from Burke’s interviews with Loy’s daughter, Joella Haweis Bayer.

The 2013 acquisition includes further original documents by Loy. Manuscript fragments for Loy's Colossus, Psycho-Democracy, and other poems are present in this acquisition, as is correspondence, photographs, and a small amount of business records. The bulk of the 2013 acquisition, however, is Burke’s research files for the Loy and Miller biographies. Original documents pertaining to Lee Miller are present in this acquisition and include a small amount of correspondence and family photographs. These items have not been separated, and are noted at the file level. Audiovisual material from the 2013 acquisition has been separated to the Audiovisual Material series.

Dates

  • 1904 - 2008
  • Majority of material found within 1976 - 2005

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Boxes 18, 19, and 20 (audiocassettes, VHS cassettes and microfilm): Use of originals is restricted. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.

Box 21 (computer disks): Restricted fragile material. Reference copies of electronic files may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.

Conditions Governing Use

The Carolyn Burke Collection on Mina Loy and Lee Miller 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 Thomas A. Goldwasser Rare Books, Inc. on the Adele Gutman Nathan Theatrical Collection Fund, 2011. Gift of Carolyn Burke, 2012. Purchased from Thomas A. Goldwasser Rare Books, Inc. on the Alfred Z. Baker, Jr. Fund, 2013.

Arrangement

Organized into three groupings: December 2011 Acquisition, January 2012 Acquisition, and July 2013 Acquisition.

Material within this collection has been organized by acquisition reflecting the fact that the collection has been acquired in increments over time. Researchers should note that material within each acquisition overlaps with/or relates to material found in other acquisitions. In order to locate all relevant material within this collection, researchers will need to consult each acquisition described in the Collection Contents section.

Researchers should also note that similar material can be arranged differently in each acquisition, depending on how the material was organized when it was received by the library.

Related Materials

Mina Loy Papers (YCAL MSS 6). Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Extent

8.8 Linear Feet (21 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.burke

Abstract

The Carolyn Burke Collection on Mina Loy and Lee Miller consists of Carolyn Burke's research files, correspondence, writings, and original documents pertaining to Mina Loy and Lee Miller. These original documents were obtained by Burke during the course of her research, primarily from Loy's daughter, Joella Haweis Bayer, and Miller's son, Anthony Penrose. The 2011 acquisition includes the bulk of the collection's Mina Loy papers. This acquisition includes autograph manuscripts and fragments of writings, including the prose pieces "Alda's Beauty" and "Promised Land." Correspondence by Mina Loy and family members is especially well represented, and family photographs and records of Loy's inventions are also present. The 2012 acquisition contains 14 audiocassettes, transcripts, and notes from Burke's interviews in the late 1970s and 1980s with Loy's daughter, Joella Haweis Bayer. The 2013 acquisition includes further autograph manuscripts by Loy. Manuscript fragments for Loy's "Colossus," "Psycho-Democracy," and other poems are present in this acquisition, as is correspondence, photographs, and a small amount of business records. The bulk of the 2013 acquisition, however, is Burke's research files for the Loy and Miller biographies. Original documents pertaining to Lee Miller are present in this acquisition and include a small amount of correspondence and family photographs. These items have not been separated, and are noted at the file level.

Carolyn Burke

Carolyn Burke is a biographer, art critic, and academic. She was born in Sydney, Australia and has taught in American and Australian universities, including the University of California Santa Cruz, Princeton University, the University of California Davis, the University of Western Sydney, and New South Wales University. Burke has written biographies of Mina Loy, Lee Miller, and Edith Piaf. In the course of writing biographies for Loy and Miller, Burke compiled research files comprising both original documents from her subjects, as well as her research work.

Mina Loy

Mina Loy (1882-1966) was a modernist poet whose work expanded technical boundaries and concerned oppression of women, and a playwright, actress, and designer.

Lee Miller

Lee Miller (1907-1977) was a war correspondent during the Second World War, and a photographer and fashion model.

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 organization by acquisition in 2013. 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, titled according to date of acquisition.

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 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 initial processing.

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

Title
Guide to the Carolyn Burke Collection on Mina Loy and Lee Miller
Status
Under Revision
Author
by Alison Clemens
Date
2013
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

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.