Poet Marianne Moore was born November 15, 1887, near St. Louis, Missouri and grew up in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1909 with a B.A. in Biology. She went on to study and later teach at Carlisle Commercial College. In 1918 Moore and her mother moved to New York City, and in 1921 Moore became an assistant in the New York Public Library. Moore began to meet with other poets such as William Carlos Williams and Wallace Stevens, and to contribute to the Dial, a prestigious literary magazine. She was acting editor of the Dial from 1925 to 1929. Her first book, Poems, was published in 1921 without her knowledge by a friend, H.D. Moore went on to publish other books, including Observations (1924), What Are Years? (1941), Collected Poems (1951; Pulitzer Prize), O to Be a Dragon (1959), and Complete Poems (1967). Moore was widely recognized for her work and honored with the Bollingen Prize, the National Book Award, and the Pulitzer Prize.

Jack W.C. Hagstrom was born December 2, 1933 in Rockford, Illinois. After receiving his undergraduate education at Amherst, Hagstrom attended Cornell University Medical College, from which he received a master's degree in 1959. Hagstrom remained at Cornell after graduation and eventually became Instructor of Pathology at Cornell University Medical College. He retained ties with Amherst College after graduation. His avocation of book and poetry collecting developed into a close and ongoing relationship with the Amherst College Library. Hagstrom is a collector of poetry by Robert Frost, whom Hagstrom met at Amherst College as a student. Hagstrom collected over 250 volumes of Frost's work and helped secure tape recordings of Frost's lectures for permanent placement in the Amherst College library. Hagstrom's interest in poetry also led him to develop a friendship with another poet, Marianne Moore. Their correspondence comprises the contents of this collection.

16 letters from Marianne Moore to Jack W.C. Hagstrom as well as carbon copies of 15 of Hagstrom's replies. The bulk of the collection covers the period from winter of 1958 to fall of 1959. The letters continue until March 1966.