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Wesleyan University Honors College Poetry and Connecticut Poetry Circuit records

 Collection
Identifier: 1000-158

Scope and Contents

The collection is made up of 20 Hollinger boxes. The first seven boxes contain material about the poetry at the Honors College each year beginning in 1966. The material in these boxes includes announcements of poets coming to campus to read, as well as Wesleyan student poets reading at the Honors College. Information for the 1975-1976 year is not present. Boxes 8 through 11 contain information on the student poets on the Connecticut Poetry Circuit for every year from 1970 to 1990. (A list of the names of the off-campus poets and student poets for both the Honors College and the Connecticut Poetry Circuit can be found above.) Boxes 12 through 14 contain more detailed information about the poets who read at the Honors College and toured on the circuit (and are listed alphabetically). The final six boxes of the collection contain more administrative information, mostly from the Connecticut Poetry Circuit, including correspondence, requests from poets to be included in the tour, financial information, information about the selection committee, and some history of the circuit.

Dates

  • Creation: 1966-1990

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

University records - Copyright held by Wesleyan University; all other copyright is retained by the creator - In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted

Biographical / Historical

This collection of poetry is comprised of information regarding the poetry presented at the Honors College. The Honors College, housed in Russell House, was a program for distinguished students in the Wesleyan community. In addition to informal lectures by young men and women distinguished in the arts, sciences, and professions, the Honors College hosted for its members (and later, the public) a series of music concerts and poetry readings by distinguished, young American poets beginning in either 1964 or 1965. The poetry series at the Honors College also came to include an opportunity for Wesleyan students to share their own work for an audience. In April of 1984, the Honors College hosted an anniversary poetry festival with over 30 poets participating to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Wesleyan Press Poetry Program.

Another large part of this collection is the work with the Connecticut Poetry Circuit. The Connecticut Poetry Circuit is a non-profit organization that provides three poetry reading programs for colleges and some preparatory schools. The Connecticut Poetry Circuit was founded as the New England Poetry Circuit in 1963, but after August, 1968, the New England Poetry Circuit split into the New England Poetry Circuit and the Connecticut Poetry Circuit. The intention of the circuit was to bring established yet unpublished poets to colleges and universities, as well as a competition among students throughout Connecticut to travel the circuit as student poets. The winners of the competition (usually four students, sometimes five) are chosen by a selection committee to tour the state reading their poetry. The first group of student poets to tour around Connecticut was in 1970. While not a major part of the poetry circuit, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts awards grant money to the circuit to allow for the poets to tour. The connection between the Connecticut Poetry Circuit and Wesleyan University is that Jean Maynard, the assistant director of the Honors College, was the director of the Connecticut Poetry Circuit. She organized the committee to select the student poets, as well as find and invite poets to join the circuit.

Extent

10 Linear Feet (20 hollinger boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The Honors College, housed in Russell House, was a program for distinguished students in the Wesleyan community. In addition to informal lectures by young men and women, the Honors College hosted a series of music concerts and poetry readings by distinguished, young American poets. The poetry series at the Honors College also came to include an opportunity for Wesleyan students to share their own work for an audience. The Connecticut Poetry Circuit is a non-profit organization that provides three poetry reading programs for colleges and some preparatory schools. The intention of the circuit was to bring established yet unpublished poets to colleges and universities, as well as a competition among students throughout Connecticut to travel the circuit as student poets. The winners of the competition are chosen by a selection committee to tour the state reading their poetry. The connection between the Connecticut Poetry Circuit and Wesleyan University is that Jean Maynard, the assistant director of the Honors College, was the director of the Connecticut Poetry Circuit.

The collection contains material about the poetry at the Honors College; information on the student poets on the Connecticut Poetry Circuit; detailed information about the poets who read at the Honors College and toured on the circuit; and administrative information, mostly from the Connecticut Poetry Circuit, including correspondence, requests from poets to be included in the tour, financial information, information about the selection committee, and some history of the circuit.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Given by Jean Maynard in June 1990.

Professional Poets at the Honors College

1966-1967 Bink Noll, A.R. Ammons, Jon Silken, Adrienne Rich

1967-1968 Richard Howard, Donald Petersen, Edward Weismiller, F.D. Reeve, James Scully, Marge Piercy, Philip Levine, Richard Wilbur

1968-1969 Tony Connor, Michael Benedict, James Wright, William Jay Smith, William Meredith, Mark Strand, Gray Burr, Leonard Nathan, Barbara Howes, John Montague, Vito Hannibal Acconci

1969-1970 Louis Simpson, Charles Levendosky, James Seay, Thomas Kinsella, Gwendolyn Brooks, Daryl Hine, Richard Tillinghast, Anne Stevenson, Ken Smith, Robert Peters

1970-1971 Michael Hamburger, Stanley Burnshaw, Michael Goldman, Dugan Gilman, John Haines, Anthony Hecht, Phyllis Thompson, Clarence Major, William Harmon, Philip Appleman

1971-1972 Tony Connor, W.S. Merwin, Irving Feldman, Derek Walcott, Richard Wilbur, The Blue Cat, Michael Harper, Andrew Gaus, Edmund Helminski

1972-1973 Carolyn Kizer, Robert Huff, Donald D. Walsh, Lawrence Lipking, Richard Howard, Wilbert Snow, Peter Klappert, Thom Gunn

1973-1974 Lucille Clifton, Josephine Miles, James Tate, Rex Warner, Rosemarie & Keith Waldrop, Christopher Montgomery, Maxine Kumin, William Jay Smith, Constance Carrier, Robert Penn Warren

1974-1975 Richard Wilbur, Robert Fitzgerald, Muriel Rukeyser, Thomas Kinsella, Marge Piercy, William Heyen, Robert Siegel, John Ormand

1975-1976 Denise Levertov, Brendan Galvin, Robert Francis, Michael Hamburger, Charles Wright, Calvin Forbes, John Hollander

1976-1977 Mark Strand, Charles Simic, John Ashbery, Peter Fallon, F.D. Reeve, Samuel Hazo, David Walker, Partizia Cavalli, Judith Minty, Leon Forrest, Michael Harper

1977-1978 Tony Connor, Margaret Atwood, Richard Hugo, Brendan Kennelly, Ellen Bryant Voigt, Ruth Stone, Thom Gunn, Robert Hayden, Michael Harper, Richard Eberhart

1978-1979 Richard Willar, Linda Pastan, Derek Walcott, Robert Morgan, F.D. Reeve, Ricardo Alonso, Stephen Policoff, Judith Hemschemeyer, Frank Bidart, Galway Kinnell

1979-1980 Mark Strand, Vernon Yang, Steve Orlen, Lucien Stryk, Robert Pinsky, William Stafford, Diana Der Hovanessian, James Merrill, Alfred Corn, Annie Dillard

1980-1981 Edmond Jabès, Tony Connor, Rosemarie Waldrop, Daniel Haberman, Robert Fitzgerald, Philip Martin, John Peck, Daniel Hoffman, William Meredith, Sherley Anne Williams, Linda Pastan, Irving Feldman

1981-1982 Richard Wilbur, Tony Connor, Wilbert Snow, Charles Olson, Constance Carrier, Elizabeth Spires, Robert Neal, Norma Blacke-Bragg, Dean Holmes, Donald Justice, Jane Cooper, Richard Tillinghast, Allen Grossman, Judith Moffett, John Malcolm Brinnin

1982-1983 Alastair Reid, Katha Pollitt, Galway Kinnell, Gillian Clarke, John Ormond, Robert Minhinnick, William Jay Smith, F.D. Reeve, Seamus Heany, J.D. McClatchy, Charles Wright

1983-1984 James Merrill, David Ferry, Brendan Galvin, Tony Connor, Brad Leithauser, James Tate, George Starbuck, Robert Bly, Yehuda Amichai, Derek Walcott

April 1984 25th Anniversary Poetry Festival: James Dickey, Richard Howard, Sherman Hawkins, Susan Mitchell, Jean Maynard, Richard Tillinghast, Robert Brown, Garrett Hongo, Bonnie Costello, Charles Wright, David Ingatow, Carl Viggiani, Mark Schafer, Tony Connor, David Lehman, Margaret Gibson, Gertrude Hughes, Annie Dillard, Louis Simpson, Grace Shulman, Richard Stamelman, Harvey Shapiro, Richard Wilbur, Richard Katrovas, Jonathan Galassi, Yusef Komunyakaa, Brendan Galvin, Colleen McElroy, Krishna Winston, Hilary Mullins, Collin Camobell, Norman Shapiro, James Tate

1984-1985 John Tranter, Amy Clampett, John Haines, Norman Shapiro, Rosanne Coggeshall, Philip Levine, Robert Mezey, Dave Smith, Joseph Brodsy, Lisel Mueller

1985-1986 Liam Rector, Harvey Shapiro, Charles Simic, Joanne Burns, Pi O, Geoff Page, John A. Scott, George Garrett, Rachel Hadas, Sharon Olds, Peter Davison, John Ash, T. Carmi, Richard Katartrovis, Brad Leithauser

1986-1987 Sandra Mcpherson, Michael Collier, Marilyn Wanick, Neely Bruce reads Gertrude Stein, Gjertrud Schnackenberg, Edmond Jabès, Dana Gioia, David Ingatow, Richard Wilbur, Tony Connor

1987-1988 Mark Anderson, Mark Schafer, Laurie Duggan, Helen Garner, Michael Heyward, Susan Mitchell, Rennie McQuilkin, Michael Standon, Mary Jo Salter, Charles Wright, David Lehman, Yusef Komunyakaa, Dick Allen,

1988-1989 James Merrill, Nancy Willard, Wendy Larsen, Tran Thi Nga, Richard Kenney, J.D. Reeve, Judith Baumel, James Tate, Katha Pollitt

Wesleyan Student Poets

1967-1968 John Barlow, Andrew Gaus, Edmund Helminski, Lynn T. Kozlowski, Jeff Wanshel, Michael Wolfe

1968-1969 John Barlow, Frank Cobb, Lynn T. Kozlowski, Cedric Noble, Jeff Wanshel

1969-1970 Georgia Sassen, Andrew Elden, Allan Gray, Paul Maynard, Richard Noble, Stephen Policoff

1970-1971 Connie Balides, Frederick Lord, John Marlone, Geoffrey Rips, Kit Royce, Robert Ulreich

1971-1972 Kate Ballen, Michael Carlson, John Cox, Bonnie Krueger, Frank Levering, Steven Pope, Steven Soria, Nathaniel White

1972-1973 Tim Bahti, Kate Ballen, Michel de Konkoly Thege, John Martone, Cedric Noble, Caroline Sutton

1973-1974 Barbara Bachtell, Norma Bragg, Peng Khvan Fong, Jennifer Gage, Robert Lake

1974-1975 Bill Aronstein, Carol Cooper, John Jackson, Seth Lerer, Jill Rips, Stan Sutton

1975-1976 Stephen Alter, Bonnie Bernstein, Dean Holmes, Jerry McGuire, Ruth Pachman, Ellen Marks, Nina Shengold, Tracy Winn, Michael Minard

1976-1977 Elissa Ely, Judith Harway, James Skofield, David Wisdo

1977-1978 Nola Butler, Michael Dorsey, Bryna Goodman, Beverly Hinton, Elaine Tietjen, Elizabeth Weiss

1978-1979 Christopher Breyer, Robert Chance, Elizabeth Dunn, Candace Payne, Edwina Trentham, Stephen Ward

1979-1980 Christopher Breyer, Michael Collins, Kenneth Haltman, Cynthia Jaffee, Lisa Kaufman

1980-1981 Cori Adler, Paul Margolis, Alan Botsford, Becky Shuster, James Marcus, John Stanizzi

1981-1982 Julia Croston, David Frankfurter, Jennifer Montgomery, Virginia Rye, Clara Silverstein

1982-1983 Susan Lepseiter, David Lorey, Catalina Rios, Kirsten Wasson

1983-1984 Nancy Daley, Hilary Mullins, Jon Sadowsky, Liz Solar, Molly Willey

1984-1985 Lisa Cook, Evelyn Gonzales, Rachel Kaplin, Spencer Reece, Scott Sager, Mark Shafer

1985-1986 David Aronson, Marcy North, Karin Schalm, Elizabeth Zsuga

1986-1987 Antonio Jocson, Naomi Mezey, Amy Schwartz, Matthew Weiner

1987-1988 Bethany Casarjian, Nicole Grieco, Cameron Gearen, Lisa Nash, Antonio Jocson

1988-1989 Laura Michelle Cherry, Daniel Handler, Arthur Halpern, Ezra Fred Tawil, Adina Hoffman

Student Poets on the Connecticut Poetry Circuit

1970 Gayle Jones - Connecticut College, Raymond A. Biasotti - University of Bridgeport, Stephen Policoff - Wesleyan University, Daniel Santhouse - University of Connecticut

1971 D.W. Donzella - University of Bridgeport, Theodore James Guhl - Central Connecticut State University, John Maynard - Wesleyan University, Don Shambroom - Yale University

1972 Katherine Royce - Wesleyan University, Leonard Marcus - Yale University, Sarah Meisner - Manchester Community College, Raja Changez Sultan - Trinity College

February 1973 Rika Lesser - Yale University, Frank Levering - Wesleyan University, Shelley Strohm - Manchester Community College, Chase Twichell - Trinity College

February 1974 Elizabeth Egloff - Trinity College, Peter Kerr-Jarreti - Yale University, Jerry McGuire - Manchester Community College, David Weinstock - Wesleyan University

1975 Michael Collier - Connecticut College, Dederick Finne - Yale University, Binnie Klein - University of Bridgeport, James Stefon - Mohegan Community College

1976 Robin Green - University of Bridgeport, Dean Holmes - Wesleyan University, Melinda Kahn - Yale University, Philip Paradis - Central Connecticut State University

1977 Nina Shengold - Wesleyan University, Starry Schor - Yale University, Elizabeth Tyson - Trinity College, Nina George - Connecticut College

1977-1978 Madelyn Flammia - University of Bridgeport, Susan Ralph Jackman - University of Connecticut, Mark Malone - Western Connecticut State University, John Stanizzi - Manchester Community College

1978-1979 Allan Garry - Mohegan Community College, Langdon Hammer - Yale University, Vincent Kay - Central Connecticut State University, Judith Shaw - Trinity College

1980 Carolyn Abbott - Connecticut College, Jon Davis - University of Bridgeport, Martha Hollander - Yale University, Amy Pattullo - Wesleyan University

1981 Particia Daddona - Connecticut College, Nancy Kamm - Manchester Community College, David Leavitt - Yale University, Michael Lohnes - Southern Connecticut State, Maddy Sheinberg - University of Bridgeport

1982 Cori Adler - Wesleyan University, Robert Breen - Fairfield University, John Carey - University of Connecticut, Elena Vira - Trinity College

1983 Barbara Browning - Yale University, Cheryl Bouteneff - Central Connecticut State, Ted Lord - Trinity College, Francis Drapeau - Fairfield University, Doug Swift - University of Bridgeport

1983-1984 Kaci Kinne - Connecticut College, Dale Mantautas - Trinity College, Lisa Mierzejewski - Central Connecticut State, Mark Shafer - Wesleyan University, Claude Solnik - Southern Connecticut State

1984 James Aquilino - Southern Central Community College, Thomas Curtis - Connecticut College, Mara Eilenberg - Trinity College, Carol Foster - Hartfold College for Women

1985-1986 Meg Bishop - Trinity College, Jane Mendelsohn - Yale University, Anne Minicozzi - University of Hartford, Ralph Savarese - Wesleyan University

1986-1987 John Hamlett Barker - Yale University, Mary Kane - University of Connecticut, Joseph Pandolfo - Eastern Connecticut State, Karin Schalm - Wesleyan University

1987-1988 Nan Cohen - Yale University, Anne de Kay - Mohegan Community College, Claudia Grandi - Manchester Community College, Antonio Jocson - Wesleyan University, Susan Pfeil - University of Bridgeport

1988-1989 Adina Hoffman - Wesleyan University, Sung-San Hong - Trinity College, Monica Prasad - Yale University, John Stambaugh - University of Bridgeport

1990 Hanneli Ansel - Mohengan Community College, Lawrence Berger - Yale University, Robin Delman - Wesleyan University, Kimberly Peters - Trinity College, Khan Wong - University of Connecticut

Title
Wesleyan University Honors College Poetry and Connecticut Poetry Circuit records, 1966-1990
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Kate Levy, October 2008 Encoded by Valerie Gillispie, October 2008 Migrated to ArchivesSpace by Jenny Miglus, September 2020
Date
September 15, 2020
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the University Archives Repository

Contact:
Olin Library
252 Church Street
Middletown CT 06459 USA
860-685-3864