Biographical Sketches
Kenneth Patchen
Kenneth Patchen was a writer, poet, and artist. The third of five
children, Kenneth was born on December 13, 1911, in Niles, Ohio, to Eva and
Wayne Patchen. Writing, a life-long pursuit, began for Kenneth around his
twelfth year when he started keeping a diary. Publication of his writing first
appeared in his high school newspaper
High School Life, in 1928. His scholastic
abilities were complimented by his athletic accomplishments in football and
track in high school and in college. Patchen worked two summers in the steel
mills with his father and brother to supplement his college scholarship. From
1929-1930 he attended the Alexander Meilejohn's Experimental College at the
University of Wisconsin. Following his mentor, Meilejohn to the Commonwealth
College in Mena Arkansas, Patchen became disenchanted with academics and left
after one semester to travel around the country.
Doing odd jobs and traveling in the United States and Canada from
1930-1933, Patchen continued his writing and had two sonnets published in the
New York Times. While at a Christmas party
in Boston in 1933, Patchen met Miriam Oikemus, and on June 28, 1934, they were
married.
Before the Brave, Patchen's first book of
poetry, was published in 1936. In 1937, Patchen damaged his back severely while
trying to separate the locked bumpers of two cars that had collided. It wasn't
until 1950, when he had surgery to fix the slipped disk that he was temporarily
relived of this chronic pain. In 1956, a spinal fusion gave Patchen the
mobility to tour around the country giving concert performances of poetry and
jazz. This activity was unfortunately short lived. In 1959, Patchen was
undergoing exploratory surgery when a surgical
mishap occurred. Patchen fell off the operating table, permanently
damaging his spine, and was bedridden the remainder of his life. This however,
did not prevent him from continuing to write and paint.
From 1936-1972, Kenneth Patchen published over 36 books and pioneered
experiments in the anti-novel, concrete poetry, poetry and jazz, irrational
tales and verse, as well as painting and poetry experiments which he termed
painted books,
poems and
drawings, and picture poems. Patchen's
unique work followed no particular group or style, and he wrote and painted for
his own pleasure, not for recognition by academics or for commercial
acceptance. On January 8, 1972 Kenneth Patchen died from a heart attack.
Richard Morgan
Richard G. Morgan was born on December 17, 1950. He married Lissa
Fischer on May 19, 1975. While writing several books on Kenneth Patchen, Morgan
taught English and creative writing at the University of New Mexico in
Albuquerque. Morgan is the author of
Patchen's Lost Plays (1977);
Kenneth Patchen: A Collection of Essays
(1977);
Kenneth Patchen: An Annotated, Descriptive
Bibliography (1978); and
Tiger in the Air (1979). Poems and essays
of Morgan's have appeared in periodicals in the United States, Canada, England,
France, and Australia.
Scope and Contents
The Kenneth Patchen collection was purchased in three parts from 1968 to
1978. The last purchase was from Richard G. Morgan who wrote several books
about Patchen. The majority of the collection is from the third purchase and
pertains to the books Morgan wrote about Patchen. The materials are arranged in
three series: Series I: Correspondence, 1939-1978 (1 box); Series II: Works,
1946-1976 (3 boxes); and Series III: Miscellaneous, 1927-1978 (1/2 box, 1 flat
file). Most of the materials were not created by Kenneth Patchen, and the order
imposed on the collection helps establish a distinction between Patchen and
Morgan materials. The Correspondence and Works series contain a combination of
Morgan and Kenneth and Miriam Patchen materials, while miscellaneous items
relate primarily to Kenneth Patchen.
The correspondence series is divided into two sections: letters written
by or to the Patchens, and letters written to Morgan. Each section is in
alphabetical order. In the Patchen section of the correspondence, Miriam
Patchen's letters to Bill and Lillian Perlman from 1939 to 1949 provide
biographical information of the Patchen's life. There is one card from Victor
Gonsalves, and two cards written by Miriam that were removed from books. There
is also a form letter that was created by the Patchen Foundation to raise money
for Patchen's medical expenses.
There are no letters written by Richard Morgan. Two folders of the
correspondence to Morgan are from the individuals who wrote only a few letters
regarding the publication of his books on Patchen. Correspondence from the
publishers of two of Morgan's books,
Patchen's Lost Plays (Capra Press), and
Kenneth Patchen: A Collection of Essays (AMS
Press), permission forms for use of the essays, and Miriam Patchen's letters to
Morgan, comprise the bulk of Morgan's section of the correspondence. Miriam
discusses both logistical concerns of the publications as well as providing
biographical information about her husband and their lives together. She
answers questions Morgan presumably asked, though she generally does not repeat
the questions and unfortunately the letters from Morgan are not part of this
collection. Permission forms and letters from Miriam to Morgan are separate
from the rest of her correspondence, and are filed under permission forms in
this section. Their correspondence began in 1973 and abruptly ends in 1978 when
Morgan sold these materials. Individuals who corresponded with Morgan include
Stanley Burnshaw, Alan Clodd, Jack Conroy, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, James
Laughlin, Michael McClure, John Martin, James Boyer May, Henry Miller, Harold
Norse, Steven Osterlund, Bern Porter, Jack Eric Williams, Jonathan Williams,
and others. Also included in the correspondence series are the forms and
letters from the individuals who contributed articles for
Kenneth Patchen: A Collection of Essays.
This folder is arranged alphabetically by author. There is an
alphabetical index to the correspondence at the end of the inventory which does
not include the names of individuals for whom there are only permission
forms.
Works by Patchen, Works by Morgan, and Works by Others are the three
sections of the Works series. Works by Patchen and Morgan are arranged
alphabetically by title and works by others are arranged alphabetically by
author.
This section of the collection is predominantly Morgan's materials,
though there are unbound page proofs of Patchen's
See You in the Morning, and
Sleepers Awake, and an original handwritten
bound copy of
Teeth of the Lion.
Portrait of the Artist as Interior
Decorator, published in
The Bridge, v.3, #2, October 12, 1948, is
also included with Patchen's works. For individual items such as greeting
cards, book jackets, and post cards created by Patchen, see the miscellaneous
series. Also see the list of additional materials for two of Patchen's
portfolios that are in the HRC Art Collection.
The works by Morgan pertain to three books:
Kenneth Patchen: An Annotated, Descriptive
Bibliography;
Kenneth Patchen: A Collection of Essays; and
Patchen's Lost Plays. Copies of the essays
collected, original typescripts, drafts, and printers proofs for these three
books form the bulk of this section.
There are six works by other writers, two of which are by Miriam
Patchen. Her works include, a forward to
The Argument of Innocence, and draft
versions for the introduction to
Kenneth Patchen: A Collection of Essays. An
article by David Tony Glover,
Kenneth Patchen, the Horror and the Hope;
Homage to Kenneth Patchen, by a collection
of authors; Edward Bellamy's
Parable of the Water Tank; and an article,
Blake, by a unidentified author are also
part of this subseries.
Miscellaneous materials consist of clippings, three of Patchen's high
school year books (
The Echoes), materials withdrawn from books,
photographs, publicity for Patchen's books, performances, and exhibits,
including examples of four of Patchen's postcards as well as some of his
holiday greeting cards and book jackets.
The clippings include reviews of Patchen's
Memoir of a Shy Pornographer (1945); a
tribute to Kenneth Patchen to raise money for an operation and other medical
expenses (1961); an interview with Miriam (1977); and reviews of
Kenneth Patchen: A Collection of Essays, and
Patchen's Lost Plays (1977).
Additional materials
Additional materials by and about Kenneth Patchen are available in
other HRC manuscript collections, as well as photographs in the Photography
Department, art works in the Art Collection, and books in the book collection
of the HRC. The first published works of Patchen in his high school newspaper,
High School Life in 1928
(qPS/3531/A764/C475), and a copy of the
Rebel Poet, July 1932 (PS/3531/A764/R484)
in which
Reversing the Inquest appears, are both
available at the HRC. Items in the personal effects section of the Vertical
Files include a rubber stamp used for Patchen's picture poems and stationery.
An audio tape of a discussion about Patchen by Charles Burowski and others is
#220 of the sound recordings collection.
The following manuscript collections contain Patchen materials:
- Armstrong, Terence Ian Fytton
- Beck, Julian
- Cummings, Edward Estlin
- El Corno Emplumado
- Ford, Charles Henri
- Gardiner, Wrey
- Genesis West
- Higham, David
- Johnson, Spud
- Morley, Christopher Darlington
- Norman, Charles
- Pachen's
Before the Brave
(PS/3531/A764/B39/1936b)
- Sitwell, Dame Edith
- Zukofsky, Louis