There is no restriction on access to the James I. Merrill (AC 1947)-William S. Burford (AC 1949) Correspondence, 1945-1980 for research use. Particularly fragile items may be restricted for preservation purposes.

Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be directed to the Archives and Special Collections in the first instance. Washington University retains ownership of all copyrights to the letters written by James Merrill. All requests for permission and consent for use of the letters must be agreed to by the owners and the holders of copyrights to the materials that are the subject of such requests, including Amherst, as the physical owner of the original letters written by Merrill; Washington University as the holder of the Merrill copyrights; Merrill's literary executors as necessary; and the holders of the Burford copyrights, as appropriate. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

[Identification of item], in James I. Merrill (AC 1947)-William S. Burford (AC 1949) Correspondence [Box #, folder #], Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library

The collection was part of a larger lot of Merrill material from the estate of Jonathan Goodwin, sold at auction by Christie's in New York, on June 17, 2003. The lot was acquired by Washington University in St. Louis; the Merrill-Burford material was acquired from them, by prior arrangement, in October 2003. Merrill's letters were presented to the Amherst College Library on April 23, 2004, by the Friends of the Amherst College Library, in a ceremony celebrating the growth of the Library collection to more than one million volumes. The acquisition of the letters as the symbolic millionth accession to the Library's holdings was made possible by a gift in memory of James I. Merrill.