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Bogan Papers, 1930-1970
27 archives boxes (13.5 linear ft.)

Abstract:
Poet. Collection consists of correspondence, drafts of poems, prose, short stories, and translations, lectures, teaching notes, news clippings, journals and notebooks documenting Bogan's career from 1930 until her death in 1970; and also includes some family correspondence and photographs.

Terms of Access and Use:

Restrictions on access:

The conditions of access to and use of this collection are consistent with the Terms of Access and Use for the Amherst College Library Archives and Special Collections generally, with the additional proviso that no photocopies or other reproductions of Bogan's writings may be made without the written agreement of her literary executor, who also holds the publication rights. Letters or other writings by individuals other than Bogan are not subject to this restriction.

Literary Executor: Mary Kinzie

For further information on how to contact the literary executor, please contact the Amherst College Archives and Special Collections.

Restrictions on use:

Requests for permission to publish materials from the papers should be directed to Archives & Special Collections and to the literary executor.

Amherst College Archives and Special Collections

Biographical Note

Louise Bogan was born in Livermore Falls, Maine, in 1897. She attended Boston Girls' Latin School and, for one year, Boston University. She married Kurt Alexander in 1916 and was widowed in 1920. In 1925, she married her second husband, the poet Raymond Holden, whom she divorced in 1937. Her poems were published in the New Republic, the Nation, Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, Scribner's and Atlantic Monthly. For thirty-eight years, she reviewed poetry for The New Yorker.

Because Bogan was reclusive and disliked talking about herself, details regarding her private life are scarce. She wrote most of her poetry in the earlier half of her life when she published Body of This Death (1923), Dark Summer (1929) and The Sleeping Fury (1937). She published volumes of her collected verse in 1941 and 1954, and finally The Blue Estuaries: Poems 1923-1968, an overview of her life's work in poetry. She died in New York City in 1970.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The collection consists of correspondence, manuscript drafts of both published and unpublished poems, prose, short stories, and translations, lectures, teaching notes, news clippings, journals and notebooks documenting Bogan's career as poet, translator, critic, teacher and editor from 1930 until her death in 1970. Documentation of her personal affairs includes family items, diaries, awards and honors, contracts with publishers, copyrights, financial records, photographs, and material relating to her death and estate.


Information on Use
Terms of Access and Use
Restrictions on access:

The conditions of access to and use of this collection are consistent with the Terms of Access and Use for the Amherst College Library Archives and Special Collections generally, with the additional proviso that no photocopies or other reproductions of Bogan's writings may be made without the written agreement of her literary executor, who also holds the publication rights. Letters or other writings by individuals other than Bogan are not subject to this restriction.

Literary Executor: Mary Kinzie

For further information on how to contact the literary executor, please contact the Amherst College Archives and Special Collections.

Restrictions on use:

Requests for permission to publish materials from the papers should be directed to Archives & Special Collections and to the literary executor.

Preferred Citation

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

[Identification of item], in Louise Bogan Papers [Box #, Folder #], Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library

History of the Collection
Custodial history:

The Bogan papers chiefly cover the years 1930-1970 because a fire destroyed Bogan's home and belongings, in Hillsdale, Columbia County, N.Y. on December 26, 1929. The collection was acquired in 1974 from the Estate of Louise Bogan by Amherst College through purchase by Helen Spencer Humphries. In 1992, four additional boxes of material were acquired containing papers, correspondence and photographs documenting her personal affairs. Integration of the entire collection was completed in 2002.

Processing Information
Processed by: Daria D'Arienzo, Head of Archives and Special Collections
Floyd Merritt, Archivist, Friends of the Library
Revised: 1997 January, 2002 February, 2003 January
By: Carol Trabulsi, Senior Archives Associate (1997)
Peter A. Nelson, Assistant Archivist (2002)
Sarah Sorscher '05 (2002)
Floyd Merritt (2002)
Edited by: Daria D'Arienzo, Head of Archives and Special Collections


Additional Information
Contact Information
Amherst College Archives and Special Collections
Robert Frost Library
PO Box 5000
Amherst, MA 01002-5000

Phone: (413) 542-2299
Fax: (413) 542-2692

Email Reference Form: http://www.amherst.edu/library/archives/askus
URL: http://www.amherst.edu/library/archives

Language
English and German