Descriptive Summary
Cummings, E. E. (Edward
Estlin), 1894-1962
E. E.Cummings Collection
1902-1968
TXRC98-A2
12 boxes (4 linear feet), 8
galley folders, 8 oversize folders
Harry Ransom Center,
University of Texas at Austin
Manuscripts of poems,
short stories, and collections of verses, notes from his school days, and
correspondence make up the bulk of the Cummings Collection.
English.
Biographical Sketch
Edward Estlin Cummings (1894-1962) was brought up in a conservative
Cambridge, Massachusetts, home. His father, with degrees in both philosophy and
divinity, taught at Harvard University until 1900 when he received ordination
by the Unitarian Church and became a pastor at the South Congregational Church
of Boston.
According to family diaries, Cummings wanted to be a poet from an early
age. He was supported in this ambition by his mother who made up word games and
other activities to encourage his creativity. Cummings attended public schools,
including the Cambridge High and Latin School, prior to entering Harvard in
1911. While there, he concentrated in the classics, including Latin, Greek, and
literature, and he mastered the various forms of poetry, gaining the foundation
he needed in order to begin the experimentation with poetic form and shape that
became his trademark. While at Harvard, Cummings published poetry in the
Harvard
Monthly and the Harvard
Advocate. Through these organizations he
became acquainted with S. Foster Damon, Stewart Mitchell, John Dos Passos,
Scofield Thayer, and J. Sibley Watson. These friends would encourage and
support Cummings through much of his artistic career.
Cummings earned his BA from Harvard in 1915,
magna cum laude, like his father before him,
and was invited to speak at the commencement ceremony. He presented a term
paper on
The New Art. This paper demonstrated
Cummings' affinity with the modern artistic sensibility, especially his
interest in the overlap between the visual arts and literature, a keystone in
his distinctive typographical style.
After finishing his Master's degree, also from Harvard, in 1916,
Cummings moved to New York City in January of 1917. He worked at P. F. Collier
for a few weeks, but became bored and quit, deciding instead to pursue the
freedom of life as a full-time artist and poet. In April, he volunteered for
the Norton-Hajes Ambulance Service and shipped out for France. On the trip he
met William Slater Brown and their friendship was cemented by an unexpected
five weeks of free time in Paris awaiting the rest of their ambulance unit.
Several months later, events took a defining turn for Cummings when he
and Brown were detained by the French military on suspicion of espionage and
undesirable activities. As a result of censor-provoking letters home by Brown
and a preference for the company of French soldiers over their fellow American
ambulance drivers, the two young men were held for three months in a
concentration camp at La Ferté Mace. They were kept, along with their fellow
detainees, in a large room which was represented in the title of Cummings' book
about this experience,
The Enormous Room (1922). Cummings' father
worked through diplomatic channels and finally wrote a letter to President
Wilson to obtain Cummings' release in December 1917. Brown was released two
months later.
Cummings returned to the United States, first to his parents' home in
Massachusetts and then to New York, where he was joined by Brown. For the next
several years, Cummings painted and wrote. In 1924, he married Elaine Orr
Thayer, the mother of his daughter Nancy. They divorced after two months and in
1929, Cummings married Anne Minnerly Barton. They spent much of the next two
years living and traveling in Europe.
In 1931, Cummings left Barton and traveled to the Soviet Union.
Pre-disposed to enjoy the trip, Cummings found his personal sense of
individualism disturbed by the lack of intellectual and artistic freedom that
he found. He published his diary from the trip under the Greek title
Eimi (1933), which translates to
I am.
In 1932, while his divorce from Barton was being settled, Cummings met
Marion Morehouse, who was to be his companion and common law wife for the rest
of his life. In 1933, Cummings received the Guggenheim Fellowship for the
purpose of writing a book of poems. In 1935,
unable to find a publisher for his book, he published
No Thanks (1935) with the help of his
mother. It was dedicated to the fourteen publishing houses that had turned him
down.
E. E. Cummings continued to produce a steady stream of poems and
publications throughout the forties and fifties. In 1952, Harvard offered him
the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship for the 1952-53 school year. Also during
the fifties, Cummings began to tour, reading his poetry across America. In
1958, he won the Bollingen Prize for Poetry from Yale University and published
his final volume of new poems,
95 Poems.
He died at his family farm on September 3, 1962.
Scope and Contents
Manuscripts of poems, short stories, and collections of verses, notes
from his school days, and correspondence make up the bulk of the Cummings
Collection, 1902-1968. The collection is organized into four series, with
materials arranged alphabetically by author or title: I. Works, 1908-1968 (6
boxes), II. Letters, 1902-1962 (.5 boxes), III. Recipient, 1913-1962 (1 box),
and IV. Miscellaneous, 1902-1968 (4.5 boxes). This collection was previously
accessible through a card catalog, but has been re-cataloged as part of a
retrospective conversion project.
The Works series contains drafts of several collections of verse as well
as individual poems. The editing of
Poems: 1923-1954 is particularly well
represented in both typed manuscript and galley format. There are also essays
written by Cummings for college exams and two notebooks with notes and poetry
fragments.
The Letters series is mostly composed of single letters to various
people, with the exception of Howard L. Nelson, with whom Cummings maintained a
lively correspondence concerning books, poets, and fatherhood over a 22 year
period. The Recipient series contains letters from admirers, publishers, and
friends, including Merle Armitage, Robert Bly, Hart Crane, Judson Crews, Foster
Damon, John Dos Passos, Harvard University, Amy Lowell, Stewart Mitchell,
Marianne Moore, Marion Morehouse, Charles Norman, James Purdy, Stephen Spender,
Samuel Ward, and Louis Zukofsky.
The Miscellaneous series is largely composed of notes from Cummings'
school days, some elementary, but mostly collegiate. Most of these are
preprinted items and lecture notes, rather than original material.
Additionally, a large number of letters sent to Marion Morehouse by several
individuals, most of them written after Cummings' death, are present, along
with quite a few letters to Charles Norman. Other miscellany includes
manuscripts by other authors, a copy of Cummings' birth certificate, musical
scores, and photostats of an advertisement series.
Elsewhere in the Ransom Center is a large collection of newspaper
clippings covering the publication and criticism of Cummings' works, as well as
programs, invitations and calendars (Vertical File folders and three
scrapbooks). Located in the Art Collection are about 300 items, including oil
paintings, sketches, portraits, self-portraits, anatomical studies, landscapes,
and cartoons by Cummings. In the Literary Files of the Photography Collection,
there are about 100 photographs of Cummings, his friends, and his art.
Acquisition:
Purchase and gifts, 1965-1983 (R3942, R3819, R11908, G1647, R7995,
R7996, R5913, R5067, R4488, R4289, R2738, R2394)
Access:
Open for research
Processed by:
Chelsea S. Jones, 1998
Index Terms
Correspondents
Armitage, Merle,
1893-1975.
Bly, Robert.
Crane, Hart,
1899-1932.
Crews, Judson.
Damon, S. Foster (Samuel
Foster), 1893-1971.
Dos Passos, John,
1896-1970.
Lowell, Amy,
1874-1925.
Mitchell, Stewart,
1892-1957.
Moore, Marianne,
1887-1972.
Morehouse, Marion,
1906-1969.
Nelson, Howard.
Norman, Charles,
1904-.
Purdy, James.
Spender, Stephen,
1909-.
Ward, Samuel, fl.
1931.
Zukofsky, Louis,
1904-1978.
Subjects
American poetry
Children's poetry,
American
Fairy tales
Poets, American -- 20th
century
Young adult poetry
Document Types
Birthday cards
Christmas cards
Galley proofs
Juvenilia
Love letters
Postcards
Sources:
Dictionary of Literary Biography -- Volume 48:
American Poets, 1880-1945, Second Series. Peter Quartermain, Ed. (Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1986).
For further information on E. E. Cummings see:
E. E. Cummings, The Magic Maker. Charles
Norman. (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1972).
Dreams in the Mirror: A Biography of E. E.
Cummings. Richard S. Kennedy. (New York: Liveright Publishers, Corp.,
1980).
E. E. Cummings Collection--Folder List
Series I. Works,
1908-1968
1
1
Unidentified works, A-B,
nd
1
2-3
By E. E. Cummings with illustrations by the
author,
1930
1
4
C,
1914-1931, nd
1
5
The casualty list, tipped into
Eight Harvard Poets after page 10,
nd
1
6
College notebook, poetry workbook,
ca. 1915
1
7-8
Complete Poems: 1913-1935,
1968,
864pp
2
1
D-E,
1908-1941, nd
2
2
Early poems,
1910-1914,
54pp
2
3
F-I,
1909, nd
I & my parents' son
[removed to oversize folder 1]
2
4-5
Fifty Poems,
nd
2
6
J-O,
1909-1916, nd
2
7
Juvenile poems,
1902-1914,
106pp
2
8-9
A Miscellany, cut and full galleys,
1958
[full galleys removed to galley folder 1]
3
1
The New Art,
ca. 1915
3
2
P,
1914, nd
3
3
Picture stories, drawings,
nd
3
4-5
Poems with author index,
1912,
249pp
Poems: 1923-1954
3
6-7
Composite print
4
1-4
Composite print (continued)
5
1-2
Composite print (continued)
5
3
Table of contents
5
4-5
Unbound proof copy,
1954,
492pp [galleys removed to galley folders 2-5]
5
6
The Poetry of a New Era,
nd,
47pp
6
1
Poetry workbook,
nd
6
2
R-Z,
1909-1968, nd
6
3-5
73 Poems,
1963
[galleys removed to galley folder 6]
Selected Letters,
1969
[removed to galley folder 7]
Six Etudes for Voice and Piano,
nd
[removed to oversize folder 2]
6
6
Story's story,
nd,
29pp
6
7
Tulips and Chimneys,
nd,
38pp
6
8
Workbook, 1912-[c. 1915], bound volume
6
9
A world of men and women,
1912
6
10
Xli poems,
nd,
7pp
Series II. Letters,
1902-1962
7
1
Unidentified; A-Z,
1902-1962
[letter and drawing to unidentified recipient removed to
oversize folder 8]
7
2
Lougée, David,
1951-1959
Morehouse, Marion, Valentine cards
[removed to oversize folder 3]
7
3
Nelson, Howard L.,
1940-1962
Series III. Recipient,
1913-1962
7
4
Unidentified; A-B,
1917-1962
7
5
C-G,
1917-1962
7
6
Cummings, Edward,
1923-1926
7
7-8
Cummings, Rebecca Haswell,
1917-1935
7
9
H-O,
1913-1962, nd
[musical score removed to oversize folder 7]
8
1
Harvard University,
1911-1916
8
2
Hindus, Milton,
1948
8
3
Huff, Robert,
1948
8
4
Jacobs, Sam A.,
1931-1935
8
5
P-Z,
1914-1965
8
6
Qualey, Elizabeth,
1928-1935
8
7
Ward, Samuel,
1931-1936
Series IV. Miscellaneous,
1902-1968
8
8
Unidentified, A-Cu,
1964, nd
8
9
Arrowsmith, William,
The Birds: The Complete Greek Comedy,
1961,
181pp
8
10
Boni and Liveright, Inc.,
1921,
3 pp
Cummings, E. E.
8
11
Unidentified; A-I,
1907-1951, nd
8
12
Collected poems, index of first lines,
1938
9
1
English notebook,
1915
9
2
The Enormous Room, page layout, no
text,
1956
9
3
History notes,
nd,
30pp
9
4
Geology notebook,
1915
9
5-6
Harvard course notes, loose pages,
1912-1916
10
1-2
Harvard course notes, loose pages,
1912-1916
10
3
J-R,
1913-1917, nd
10
4
Latin notebook,
1912
10
5
Mementos,
1911-1917, nd
Memoranda of Agreement,
1924-30,
6pp [removed to galley folder 8]
10
6
Report cards,
1902-03, 1911, 1912
10
7
S-Z,
1917, nd
10
8
School notebook,
nd,
240pp
11
1
School notes on English literature,
nd
11
2
D-G,
1922-1968, nd
11
3
H-N,
1915-1968, nd
[musical score removed to oversize folder]
11
4
Hindus, Milton,
The Crippled Giant,
nd,
112pp
Kennedy, Richard S.,
E. E. Cummings at
Harvard
11
5
Studies,
nd,
45pp
11
6
Verse, Friends, Rebellion,
nd,
61pp
11
7
Modell, Merriam,
Bunny Lake is Missing,
nd
11
8
Nelms, S. Randolph,
A Checklist of the Works of E. E. Cummings
and of the Critical Writings on E. E. Cummings with a Sketch of the Directions
of that Criticism to 1950,
nd,
99pp
12
1-2
Nelson, Howard L.,
The Literary Guide to Paris,
nd,
157pp
Nordoff, Paul
It's been a long hard winter,
nd
[removed to oversize folder 4]
Three songs for mezzo-soprano on poems by
E. E. Cummings,
nd
[removed to oversize folder 5]
12
3
O-Z,
1921-1951, nd
[photostats removed to oversize folder 6]
12
4
Wegner, Robert E.,
The Poetry and Prose of E. E.
Cummings,
1965,
112pp
12
5
Miscellaneous envelopes, fragments, and blank forms,
1946-1951, nd
E. E. Cummings Collection--Index of Correspondents
Index entries followed by the notation [from Cummings] indicate that the
person is the reipient of correspondence from Cummings. Box and folder numbers
followed by a number in parenthesis indicate the number of items by (or to)
that person. Where there is no number in parenthesis, there is only one letter.
So in the example Benson, Deborah--7.1(5) [from Cummings], 7.4(2) there are
five items from Cummings to Benson in box 7, folder 1 and two items, from
Benson to Cummings, in box 7, folder 4.
- Acton Foundation--7.4(2)
- American Red Cross--7.4
- The Anderson Galleries--7.4
- Andrews, Kevin--7.4
- Appleton-Century Company--8.8(7)
- Armitage, Merle, 1893-1975--7.4
- Arrow Editions, New York--7.4
-
Atlantic Monthly--7.1 [from Cummings]
- Battan, David, 1938- --7.4
- Bayed, Ronald H., 1932- --7.4
- Bell, Muriel--7.4
- Benson, Deborah--7.1(5) [from Cummings], 7.4(2)
- Berrigan, Ted--7.4
- Bly, Robert--7.4(2)
- Bodley Head (firm)--7.4
- Boni & Liveright, Inc.--8.10(3)
- Bosquet, Alain, 1919-1997 --7.4
- Brandt & Brandt--7.1(2) [from Cummings]
- Brown, Andreas--7.4, 8.8
- Campos, Augusto de--7.5
- Carroll, Donald, fl. 1962-7.5
- Cary, Sylvia Preston--7.5
- Charles Boni Paper Books--7.4(2)
- Charles Scribner's Sons--12.3
- Charlton, Margette--8.8
- Colonna, Roy--7.5
- Cookson, William, 1939- --7.5
- Courlander, Harold, 1908- --7.5
- Cowley, Malcolm, 1898- --8.8
- Crane, Hart, 1899-1932--7.5
-
Creative Art--7.5(2)
- Crews, Judson--7.5
- Cummings, Edward, 1861-1926--7.1 [from Cummings], 7.6(5)
- Cummings, Jane--7.5(3)
- Cummings, Rebecca--7.7-8(45)
- Curtiss, Mina Kirstein, 1896- --7.5
- Damon, S. Foster (Samuel Foster), 1893-1971--11.2
- Davis, Philip (Cambridge)--7.5
- Deuell, Harvey Vail--11.2
- Dickerson, George--7.5
- Dickson, Robert Cook--7.5
- Dos Passos, John, 1896-1970--7.5(4), 11.2(3)
- Doubleday and Company, inc.--11.2
- Drake, Lawrence--7.5
- Duell, Sloan and Pearce, Inc.--7.5
- Eastman, Max, 1883-1969--7.5
-
Les Éditions du point du Jour--7.5
- Ellis, E. Virginia--7.5
- Engle, Paul, 1908- --7.5
-
Epoch (Cornell)--7.5
-
Eros Magazine, Inc. (New York)--7.5
- Evans, Mike, fl. 1960--7.5
- Eversole, Noorna--7.1 [from Cummings]
- Farr, Howard Acton--See Acton Foundation
- Firmage, George James--7.5
- Fleet Publishing Corporation--7.5
- Foote, A. D.--7.5
- Ford, Peter, fl. 1956--7.5
- Forrest, Cleo--11.2
- Freedgood, Anne--7.5, 11.2
- Fritchey, Clayton--11.2
- Frye, Burton C., 1920- --7.5
- George Braziller, Inc.--7.4
- Gibson, Michael, 1929- --7.5
- Goldstone, James R.--7.5
- Goodson, Wilbur Chapman--7.1 [from Cummings]
- Gotham Book Mart--11.2
- Hagen, Yvonne--7.9
- Hall, Carol--See
Epoch
- Harcourt, Brace, and Company, Inc.--7.9, 11.3(2)
- Harper, Alastair--7.9
- Harris, Cyril B.--7.9
- Hart, James Alfred, 1927- --11.3
- Harvard University--8.1(12)
- Henry Holt and Company--7.9
- Hindus, Milton--8.2
- Hopper, John--7.9
- Horace Liveright, Inc.--7.9
- Huff, Robert, 1924- --8.3(2), 11.3
- Hugo, Adele, fl. 1957--7.9
- Hunt, Edward Eyre, 1885- --7.9, 11.3
-
Imagi--7.9
- Jacobs, Hildegard--11.3
- Jacobs, S. A. (Samuel Aiwaz)--8.4(4), 11.3
- King, Alexander, 1900-1965--7.9
- Labarthe, Pedro Juan, 1906- --7.9
- Laughlin, James, 1914- --7.9
- Layton, R. E. J.--7.9
-
The Light Year--7.9
- Limes Verlag (Publisher)--7.9
- Lougée, David--7.2(20) [from Cummings]
- Lowell, Amy, 1874-1925--11.3
- Lyman, Frank H.--7.9
- MacIver, Loren--7.9
- MacMillan Company--11.3(3)
- McCarty, Catherine--7.9
- McCord, David Thompson Watson, 1897- --7.9
- Mead, Frederick Sumner, Mrs.--7.9
- Mears, Alice Monks--7.9
- Meredith Press--11.3
- Messner, Julian--7.1 [from Cummings]
- Mitchell, Stewart, 1892-1957--7.9
- Moore, Marianne, 1887-1972--7.9
- Morehouse, Marion, 1906-1969--7.1(5) [from Cummings], 7.9(8),
11.3(6)
- Mulcahy, Dione Matte--7.9(2)
- Neagoe, Peter--7.9(2)
- Nelson, Christine, fl. 1957--7.1 [from Cummings]
- Nelson, Howard--7.3(65) [from Cummings]
- New Hampshire Motor Vehicle Department--7.9
- New York Committee Against Child Misery--7.9
-
New York Post--7.9
- Nist, John--7.9
- Norman, Charles, 1904- --7.1 [from Cummings], 11.3(4)
- Old Settler Bookshop--7.9
- Orr, Alexis--7.9
- Parrish, Dilwyn--7.1 [from Cummings]
- Patchen, Miriam--12.3
- Pinkerton, Bobs--See Appleton-Century Company
- Plas, Michal van der, 1927- --8.5
-
Poetry Dial--8.5
- Posner, David Louis, 1921- --8.5
- Provincetown Playhouse--8.5(2)
- Purdy, James--8.5
- Qualey, Elizabeth F. Cummings--8.6(3), 12.3(3)
- Qualey, John--8.5
- Rachewiltz, Mary de--8.5, 12.3
- Rainer, Dachine--8.5
- Rappaport, Herman A.--7.1(7) [from Cummings]
- Reck, Hanne Gabriele--12.3
- Redman, Ben Ray, 1896-1961--12.3
- Reid, Alastair, 1926- --8.5
- Roodenko, Igal--12.3
- Roseliep, Raymond--12.3
- Ruder & Finn--12.3(2)
- Salinas, Pedro, 1892-1951--8.5
- Schevill, Ferdinand, 1868-1954--7.1(5) [from Cummings]
- Scott, Laurence--8.5
-
Scribner's Magazine--8.5
-
The Seven Arts--8.5
- Solbert, Oscar N., 1885- --12.3
- Sorrentino, Gilbert--8.5
- Spender, Stephen, 1909- --12.3
- Steffens, Roger--12.3
- Theatre Guild--8.5
- Titus, Edward W., 1880- --7.1 [from Cummings]
- Toklas, Alice B.--12.3
- Triem, Eve, 1902- --12.3
- Tuck, Margery--12.3
- Tucker, Robert, fl. 1966--12.3
- Turner, W. Price (William Price), 1927- --7.1 [from Cummings]
-
Vanity Fair--8.5(2)
- Vaughan, Rita C.--12.3(10)
- Viking Press--8.5
- Villa, José García--8.5
- Ward, Samuel, fl. 1931--8.7(12)
- Wasserstrom, William--8.5
- Watson, Hildegarde Lasell--8.5
- Werner, M. R. (Morris Robert), 1897- --8.5, 12.3
- Weston, Carol H.--8.5
- Wilson, Barbara--7.1 [from Cummings]
- Wilson, Arthur W. Tex--7.1 [from
Cummings]
- Wilson, Jane, 1916- --12.3
-
Wisconsin English Journal--12.3
- Wood, Audrey--12.3
- Zukofsky, Louis, 1904-1978--8.5
E. E. Cummings Collection--Index of Works
Unidentified Works
-
The boys I mean are not refined--1.1
-
Dear H-----1.1
-
Under the New Hampshire moon the loons' wild
laughter...--1.1
Identified Works
- An Appeal--1.1
-
The auto experiences of Hiram Featherbrain
Teddy Bear--1.1
- Ballad of an Intellectual--1.1
-
Ballad of blushing May--1.1
-
By E.E. Cummings with illustrations by the
author--1.2-3
-
The call of the sea--1.4
- Camp Fire Tales--1.4
-
The Casualty List--1.5
-
Chaucer--1.4
-
C I O P W--1.4
-
The coming of spring--1.4
-
Complete Poems: 1913-1935--1.7-8
-
Danger men working (A.D. 1941)--2.1
-
Eight Harvard Poets--2.3
-
Elizabeth Eliza: A history of her and her
doings--2.1
-
Fancy of May the first--2.4
-
Fifty Poems--2.5-2.6
-
For a lady's birthday--2.4
-
God's messenger--2.4
- I & My parent's son--oversize folder 1
- Invocation--2.4
- King Arthur--2.7
- Lectures--2.7
- Legend of Mr. Chockom--2.7
-
A little domestic incident with
Orientals--2.7
- Manuscript found in a bottle--2.7
-
A Miscellany--2.9-2.10, galley
folder 1
-
My specialty is living said--2.7
- The new art--3.1
-
Ode to temptation--2.7
-
The other man--2.7
-
The persecuted hermit--3.2
-
Poems: 1923-1954--3.6-7, 4.1-4,
5.1-5, galley folders 2-5
- The Poetry of a New Era--5.6
- Rex--6.2
-
Selected Letters--galley folder 7
-
73 Poems--6.3-4
-
Six Etudes for Voice and
Piano--oversize folder 2
- Sketches and watercolors of the twenties and thirties--6.2
- Story's story--6.5
-
Song--6.2
-
Thanksgiving prayer--6.2
-
Three poems--6.2
-
To an Olympic winner--6.2
-
To start, to hesitate; to stop--6.2
-
To the night moths--6.2
-
The true epic--6.2
-
Tulips and Chimneys--6.6
-
Two composers--6.2
-
Two poems--6.2
- When Calvin Coolidge laughed--6.2
-
A world of men and women--6.8
- Xli poems--6.9
-
ygUDuh--6.2