The Austin Poetry Society (APS) was founded in 1949 as the Austin chapter of the Poetry Society of Texas when Miss Frances Alexander sent out invitations to persons in Austin who might be interested in organizing a local chapter. The purpose of the organization is to promote recognition of the art of poetry, to kindle a finer and more intelligent appreciation of poetry, and to encourage the writing and reading of poetry. In 2006 APS was informed that they were no longer under the protective umbrella of the Poetry Society of Texas's non-profit status and applied for a non-profit corporation status as its own entity.
Meetings are held once a month and are open to anyone who loves poetry. The Society also sponsors open microphone readings and a poetry critique group that meet separately. During the program year (which runs September to May) the Society sponsors poetry contests for members, culminating in an Annual Awards Ceremony in May. Since 2007 the Society has sponsored a $1,000 Jenny Lind Porter Scholarship for an Austin undergraduate student enrolled in writing courses. The Society also observes state and national poetry celebrations with a variety of events. Along with a monthly newsletter the Society periodically publishes anthologies.
SOURCE: adapted from the 2010-2011 Austin Poetry Society Yearbook
The meeting minutes, correspondence, financial records, scholarship applications, event flyers, yearbooks and scrapbooks in this collection highlight the activities of the Austin Poetry Society (APS) from 1949 to 2012. The Administrative Records series (1987-2012) consists of meeting minutes, financial records, correspondence, membership lists, annual award winner lists, proposals, bylaws and the annual President's Report. The program year for APS runs from September to May and the administrative records are filed by year using the same date scheme. Materials dated during the summer months were added to the file for the next program year as the subject matter generally pertained to issues of the coming year. The Scholarship series (2007, 2010) contains correspondence and meeting minutes pertaining to the creation of the Jenny Lind Porter Scholarship in 2007 as well as the 2010 applications from students. Event programs, writings, historical information about APS and club yearbooks make up the Printed Materials series (1967, 1988-2012, undated). The club yearbooks are a good source of information for membership lists, names of the officers and types of programs sponsored by APS through the years. Earlier editions of the yearbooks can be found in the scrapbooks assembled by the Society. The Scrapbook series consists of five scrapbooks the cover the years 1949-1958, 1958-1961, 1961-1964, 1997-1998, 1998-1999. The scrapbooks contain clippings from the local and national newspapers, The Poetry Society of Texas and the Austin Poetry Society's newsletters; club yearbooks; event programs; poems from APS award winners; and a limited amount of photographs.
Periodicals
General Collection
Archives & Manuscripts
Copies of APS newsletters (
A photocopy of portions of
This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
Open to all users.
None.
Austin Poetry Society Records (AR.1994.007). Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
Donor #: DO/1960/006
Donation Date: annually
Finding aid created and encoded by Molly Hults/2011.
The APS donates administrative records, newsletters and member anthologies on a regular basis.