Laura (Riding) Jackson Papers Inventory (#4542)

Southern Historical Collection, Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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

Lynn Holdzkom

Date Completed

1990-1993

Encoded by

Lynn Holdzkom

Descriptive Summary

Title

Laura (Riding) Jackson Papers (#4542) 1974-1989

Creator

Jackson, Laura (Riding), 1901-

Extent

About 225 items (0.5 linear feet)

Repository

Southern Historical Collection

Abstract

Laura (Riding) Jackson, poet and critic, and member of "The Fugitives," a group of Southern poets that flourished in the 1930s. Jackson, who also worked closely with Robert Graves on several publishing ventures, was concerned, among other things, with issues of linguistic integrity. The collection consists chiefly of letters, 1982-1990, to William R. Harmon of the English Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from Laura (Riding) Jackson. The letters are substantive, containing Jackson's comments on her life and work and including explications of specific poems and discussions about Robert Graves and other prominent authors with whom she worked. Many letters show Jackson in her struggle against critics and editors who, she believed, had misjudged the meaning and significance of her work. Also included are a few letters to Harmon from others and a small number of writings of Jackson and others, most of whom are not identified.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

No restrictions.

Use Restrictions

Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Laura (Riding) Jackson Papers (#4542), Southern Historical Collection, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Provenance

Received from William Harmon of Chapel Hill, N.C., in December 1989, December 1990 (Acc. 91011), December 1991 (Acc. 92005), and December 1992 (Acc. 93015).

Processing Information

Processed by Lynn Holdzkom

Completed 1990-1993

Online Catalog Terms

Graves, Robert, 1895-

Harmon, William, 1938-

Jackson, Laura (Riding), 1901-

Fugitives (Group).

Literature--History and criticism.

Poets, American.

Women poets, American.

Biographical Note

The following is from the Laura Riding Jackson entry in Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, Volume 28 (1981). Material within quotation marks represents Jackson's comments as submitted for inclusion in the entry. The entry also includes detailed remarks on Jackson's career from other sources (these are not reproduced here.

PERSONAL: Born 16 January 1901, in New York, N.Y.; name originally Laura Reichenthal; adopted the surname "Riding," 1926; daughter of Nathaniel S. and Sarah (Edersheim) Reichenthal; married Louis Gottchalk (a professor of history), 1920 (divorced, 1925); married Schuyler Brinckerhoff Jackson (a poet, critic, and former poetry editor of Time magazine), 20 June 1941 (died, 1968). Education: Attended Cornell University, 1918-1921; further study at University of Illinois, Urbana, and University of Louisville.

CAREER: Poet, critic, and author in various fields "with progressive concern with language as the natural human truth-system." Regular member of the Fugitives, a group of Southern poets, including John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, and Robert Penn Warren, in the 1920s; lived abroad, 1926-1939, mainly in England and Spain; worked at "furthering sensitivity of writer-associates, poets especially, to the importance of linguistic integrity as the basis of literary integrity." Founder, with Robert Graves, and managing partner of Seizin Press, 1927-1938; founder, with Graves, and editor of Epilogue, a series of volumes in which new principles of general criticism were explored, 1935-1938. Returned to the United States, 1939; beginning in 1943, involved in citrus farming in Florida with husband, Schuyler B. Jackson, and in working with him "towards the enlargement of the knowledge of words and capability of using them in truthfully exact consciousness of their meanings--towards the initiating of a new lexicography."

AWARDS/HONORS: Nashville prize, 1924; Mark Rothko Appreciation award, 1971; Guggenheim fellowship, 1973; National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, 1979.

WRITINGS: Note that Jackson's works have been published under the names Laura Riding, Laura Riding Gottschalk, and Laura (Riding) Jackson, and Madeleine Vara. In addition to the works listed here, there were also numerous translations of works in French; and essays and journal articles on poetry and other literary forms.

Poetry:

Novels:

Editor:

Collection Overview

The collection consists chiefly of letters, 1982-1989, to William R. Harmon of the English Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from Laura (Riding) Jackson. The letters, written from Jackson's home in Wabasso, Fla., are largely substantive, containing Jackson's comments on her life and work, including explications of specific poems and discussions about Robert Graves and other prominent authors with whom she worked. Many letters show Jackson in her struggle against critics and editors who, she believed, had misjudged the meaning and significance of her work.

Also included are a few letters to Harmon from others, particularly Jackson's friend Elizabeth Friedmann of the English Department at Jacksonville University, and a small number of writings of Jackson and others, most of whom are not identified. Some of Jackson's writings are photocopies of published articles, but others are photocopies of typed works.

Organization of Collection

1. Correspondence
2. Other Papers

Series Descriptions

Related Collections

William Harmon Papers (#4568);

Laura Riding Jackson materials held by Cornell University (primary collection); Joint University Libraries, Nashville, Tenn. (Fugitives period); State University of New York at Buffalo; and Northwestern University.