A. R. Ammons Papers Inventory (#4517)
Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Collection Information
- Contact Information:
- Manuscripts Department
- CB#3926, Wilson Library
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
- Phone: 919/962-1345
- Fax: 919/962-3594
- Email: mss@email.unc.edu
- URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/
- Processed by:
- Marion Hirsch and Roslyn Holdzkom
- Date Completed:
- April 1989
- Encoded by:
- Jackie Dean
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Descriptive Summary Including Abstract
- Title
- A. R. Ammons Papers 1944-1987
- Creator
- Ammons, A. R., 1926- .
- Extent
-
- About 310 items (0.5 linear feet)
- Repository
- Southern Historical Collection
- Abstract
- North Carolina poet A. R. Ammons (1926- ), who, since 1961, has been on the English faculty of Cornell University. The collection contains letters from Ammons to his sister, Vida Ammons Cox; letters from Ammons to poet William Harmon of the English Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; writings by Ammons, including poems and a World War II journal; photographs; and other items relating to Ammons. The Cox letters chiefly relate to family affairs and to Ammons's life while a student at the University of California at Berkeley and teacherin the Hatteras (N.C.) public school system; the Harmon letters chiefly deal with literary matters and with Ammons's college teaching career. There are also other Ammons materials.
Administrative Information
- Usage Restrictions
- Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers,or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
- Provenance
- Purchased from Vida Ammons Cox of Clarkton, N.C, in April 1988; received from William Harmon of Chapel Hill, N.C., in May 1988, December 1991 (Acc. 91010 and 92004), and December 1992 (Acc. 93014); received from Laurence Avery in February 1992 (Acc. 92029).
Online Catalog Terms
- Ammons, A. R., 1926- .
- Berkeley (Calif.)--Social life and customs.
- Cornell University--Faculty.
- Cox, Vida Ammons, b. ca. 1925.
- Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
- Harmon, William, 1938-
- Hatteras (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
- Poets, American--Correspondence.
- University of California at Berkeley--Students.
- World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives.
Biographical Note
A. R. Ammons was born in Whiteville, North Carolina, in 1926. He served as a sonar operator aboard the U.S.S. Gunason during World War II, traveling widely through the South Pacific. Returning to North Carolina, Ammons attended Wake Forest University, from which he received a B.S. degree in 1949. After a year as principal of Hatteras (North Carolina) Elementary School, Ammons and his wife Phyllis headed west, where Ammons did graduate work in English at the University of California at Berkeley until 1952.
Starting in 1952 and continuing into the early 1960s, Ammons worked for Freidrich & Dimmock, Inc., a New Jersey laboratory glassware manufacturing company. During this time, his poetry gained increasing acceptance. He left his manufacturing career in 1961 for a position on the English faculty at Cornell University. In 1971, he became a full professor, and, in 1973, Goldwin Smith professor of poetry.
Ammons has received many awards, among them the National Book Award for Poetry (1973), the Bollingen Prize in Poetry (1974), and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry (1981). Besides frequent publication in literary journals, Ammons has published many books, received numerous honorary degrees, and been the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Award.
Back to TopCollection Overview
The division between papers purchased from Vida Ammons Cox and those received from William Harmon has been preserved. Subcollection 1 is the Vida Ammons Cox material; the William Harmon materials are in Subcollection 2. Both subcollections are composed chiefly of letters from Ammons. There is little overlap in content among the letters housed in the two subcollections, however, because those in Subcollection 1 deal chiefly with family affairs and those in Subcollection 2 with literary matters. Subcollection 3 contains materials relating to Ammons and others.
Back to TopOrganization of Collection
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1. Materials purchased from Vida Ammons Cox.
1.1. Correspondence of A. R. Ammons
1.1.1. Letters from A. R. Ammons to Vida Ammons Cox
1.1.2. Letters to A. R. Ammons from Others
1.2. "Log of the U.S.S. Gunason"
1.3. Poems by A. R. Ammons
1.4. Letters to Vida Ammons Cox about A. R. Ammons
1.5. Other Papers
1.6. Pictures
2. Materials received from William Harmon
2.1. Letters from A. R. Ammons to William Harmon
2.2. Letters to William Harmon about A. R. Ammons
3. Other materials
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Series Descriptions
1. Materials purchased from Vida Ammons Cox.
Letters from and to A. R. Ammons, chiefly to Vida Ammons Cox; writings of Ammons, including a journal of his naval experiences during World War II and poems; letters to Vida Cox about A. R. Ammons; papers relating to Ammons's poetry readings and speaking engagements; and pictures, chiefly photographs of A. R. Ammons.
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1.1. Correspondence of A. R. Ammons.
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1.1.1. Letters from A. R. Ammons, 1944-1973 and undated.
About 200 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Chiefly letters from A. R. Ammons (Archie) to his sister Vida Ammons Cox of Clarkton, North Carolina. Early letters describe Ammons's struggles to establish himself as a poet; later letters document his success.
1944-1946: Letters from Ammons during his tour of duty in the United States Navy. Letters in 1944 are from Camp Peary (Williamsburg, Virginia); those from January 1945 to February 1945 are from the Fleet Sonar School (Key West, Florida); and those from May 1945 to January 1946 are from aboard the U.S.S. Gunason. The letters include vivid descriptions of islands in the South Pacific; Ammons's loneliness aboard ship; and, after the lifting of censorship regulations late in 1945, his training and duties as a sonar operator. They also contain advice to Vida about men, marriage, and her career in nursing. (See also Series 2 for journal kept aboard the Gunason.)
1949-1964: Letters from September 1949 to April 1950 document Ammons's duties at Hatteras (N.C.) Elementary School. Ammons married Phyllis Plumbo on 26 November 1949, and letters after that date often discuss his adjustment to married life. After a short stay in Ventnor, New Jersey, the Ammonses moved to Berkeley, California. From late 1950 to May 1952, Ammons did graduate work in English at the University of California at Berkeley. Letters from these years contain Ammons's reflections on his academic work and growing confidence in his writing abilities. The Ammonses spent July to mid-February of 1951 back in New Jersey, where Ammons worked for Friedrich & Dimmock, Inc., a laboratory glass manufacturing company owned by his father-in-law.
The Ammonses returned to Berkeley in February 1951, but, by September 1952, they were back in New Jersey with Ammons again working for Friedrich & Dimmock. In 1956, Ammons was promoted to executive vice-president of the glass firm. Ammons's poetry gained increasing acceptance during this period; from the mid-1950s on, he frequently commented on the publication of poems and reviews of his work in various journals. In 1963, Ammons received an offer from Cornell University to join the English faculty, but no further information about the job is given until 1965, when he was already on staff there.
The letter of 27 April 1960 discusses Ammons meeting with William Carlos Williams; letters of 13 and 31 October 1960 relate to Guy Owen; those in August 1961 describe Ammons's experience at the Breadloaf Writers Conference, where Howard Nemerov read some of Ammons's poetry.
1965-1973: Ammons finally returned to Berkeley in the summer of 1965, but in a letter dated 23 July 1965 he complained about not being able to get back into "the art of studying." By this time, he had apparently accepted the teaching position at Cornell. Letters beginning in September 1965 discuss Ammons's work at Cornell and continuing success as a writer. The letter of 27 September 1969 in particular lays out Ammons's reactions to his growing popularity.
Folder
1
1944
Folder
2
January-May 1945
Folder
3
June 1945-1946
Folder
4
1949
Folder
5
January-April 1950
Folder
6
May-December 1950
Folder
7
1951
Folder
8
January-May 1952
Folder
9
June 1952--December 1953
Folder
10
1954-1955
Folder
11
1956
Folder
12
1957
Folder
13
1958
Folder
14
1959
Folder
15
1960
Folder
16
1961
Folder
17
1962-1964
Folder
18
1965-1966
Folder
19
1967
Folder
20
1968-1969
Folder
21
1970-1973
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1.1.2. Letters to A. R. Ammons, 1949-1988.
5 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Notification of Ammons's employment in the Hatteras (N.C.) Public Schools (1949); notice of a credit to Ammons's account with the Waccamaw Bank & Trust Company of Clarkton, North Carolina (1952); letters from the Yale Review and Poetry, both expressing interest in Ammons's work (1988); and a note (1988) from Ken [Frazolle?] that includes musical notation for a passage from Worldly Hopes (1985).
Folder
22
Letters to A. R. Ammons
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1.2. "Log of the U.S.S. Gunason", 1945-1946.
1 item.
Photocopy of typed transcription of journal kept by Ammons aboard the U.S.S. Gunason from March 1945 to May 1946(51 pages). (See also letters from this period in Subseries 1.1.)
Log of the U.S.S. Gunason
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1.3. Poems.
11 items.
See also poems attached as enclosures in the following letters:
Subcollection 1, Subseries 1.1: 10 January 1960: "Canto 7"; "Canto 10"; 31 October 1960: "Moon of harvest--moon of reaping"; 15 May 1967: "The Little Him"; 16 April 1969: "Periphery"; "Clarity"; "Snow Log"; "Classic"; "Upland".
Subcollection 2, Series 1: 15 December 1975: "Near dusk, approaching"; 27 October 1986: "The High Desiring"; undated: "Zero and Then Some"; "The Spiral Rag"; "The Fairly High Assimilation Rag"
"Canto 38" (mimeographed copy of typescript)
"A Complete Life" (typescript with autograph revisions)
"The Damned" (typescript with autograph revisions)
"The Incomplete Life" (typescript with autograph revisions)
"Rosalie" (galley)
"Stirring Early" (typescript)
"Telltales/The Elite Meet" (typescript with autograph revisions)
"The Way Things Go Wrong" (typescript)
"The Way Things Go Wrong," 2nd and 3rd drafts (typescript with autograph revisions)
"What Was That Again" (typescript with autograph revisions)
"Withywinds" (typescript with autograph revisions)
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1.4. Letters to Vida Ammons Cox about A. R. Ammons, 1971-1986.
4 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Letters chiefly relating to honors bestowed upon A. R. Ammons.
Letters to Vida Ammons Cox about A. R. Ammons
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1.5. Other Papers, 1949-1986 and undated.
15 items.
Clippings about Ammons and posters or other items relating to Ammons's poetry readings and speaking engagements.
Other Papers
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1.6. Pictures
P-4517/1-2: A. R. Ammons as a child
P-4517/3-9: A. R. Ammons, chiefly from the 1940s
P-4517/10: A. R. Ammons and Vida Ammons Cox, 1940s
P-4517/11-13: A. R. Ammons with unidentified others, 1940s
P-4517/14: Cape Hatteras Ferry dock, 1950s
P-4517/15: Ammons's car, [1950s?]
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2. Materials received from William Harmon.
Letters from Ammons to William Harmon at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and letters to Harmon about Ammons.
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2.1. Letters from A. R. Ammons to William Harmon, 1972-1992 and undated.
About 60 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Letters contain much information on the progress of Ammons's writing career. There are many musings on the nature of poetry and some discussion of the technical aspects of writing. Most letters are fairly chatty in style.
1972-1975
Folder
28
1976-1978
Folder
29
1979-1984
Folder
30
1985-1992
Folder
31
Undated, including many poems
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2.2. Letters to William Harmon about A. R. Ammons, 1976-1986.
6 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Letters and other materials relating to Ammons and to Harmon's lectures on and reviews of Ammons's work.
Letters to William Harmon about A. R. Ammons
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3. Other Materials, 1989.
1 item.
Folder
33
Letter from Ammons to Laurence Avery.
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