Table of Contents
- Collection Summary
- Biographical Note
- Scope and Content Note
- Subject Headings
- Related Material
- Administrative Information
- Access and Use
- Encoding Information
- Arrangement
- Series List
- Container List
Collection Summary
| Repository: | Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries |
|---|---|
| Title: | Elizabeth Bishop Estate and Posthumous Events Collection |
| Dates: | 1973-2013 |
| Quantity: | 5.3 cubic feet (16 boxes) |
| Abstract: | The Elizabeth Bishop Estate and Posthumous Events Collection consists of materials pertaining to the literary estate of Elizabeth Bishop, managed by Alice Methfessel after the poet's death in 1979. The collection also includes ephemera and realia from various events celebrating Elizabeth Bishop since her death. Included are, pamphlets, posters, flyers, clippings, video and audio recordings, and files of general information. |
Biographical Note
Elizabeth Bishop (8 February 1911-6 October 1979) was a Pulitzer-Prize winning poet, Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, and winner of the National Book Award. She was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1911 but after her father's death and mother's hospitalization was raised by other relatives, and her fondest childhood memories were of Nova Scotia and Cape Cod. In 1934 Bishop graduated from Vassar College. In addition to working on the school newspaper, The Vassar Miscellany, Bishop founded a literary magazine, Con Spirito, with fellow students Mary McCarthy, Eleanor Clark, and Muriel Rukeyser. Following graduation, Bishop spent several years traveling. She stayed in New York, as well as various cities in Europe and North Africa, but she finally found a home in Key West, Florida, where she made several influential friends and found inspiration for many of her most significant poems. When World War II turned Key West into a military command center, Bishop packed her suitcase again. After brief periods in Washington, an artists' colony in upstate New York and a return to New York City, Bishop set out on what was supposed to be a voyage around the world by ship. But in Rio de Janeiro, the first port, she had an allergic reaction to the fruit of a cashew and was nursed back to health by Maria Carlota de Macedo Soares. She and "Lota" fell in love and Bishop made Brazil her home for the next 17 years. She returned to the States only when in the mid 1960s it became financially necessary. She accepted teaching positions at the University of Washington, then Harvard, followed seven years later by New York University, and just prior to her death, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
TopScope and Content Note
This collection consists of materials pertinent to the literary estate of Elizabeth Bishop, managed by Alice Methfessel after the poet's death in 1979. The collection also includes ephemera and realia from various events celebrating Elizabeth Bishop since her death. Included are, pamphlets, posters, flyers, clippings, video and audio recordings, and files of general information.
TopArrangement
This collection is arranged into six series.TopAccess and Use
Access
This collection is open for research according to the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library without any additional restrictions.
Restrictions on Use
Permission to quote (publish) from unpublished or previously published material must be obtained as described in the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library.
Subject Headings
Names:
- Baumann, Anny
- Bell, Pearl K.
- Bishop, Elizabeth, 1911-1979
- Giroux, Robert
Organizations:
- Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
- Vassar College
Subjects:
- Executors and administrators--United States
- Literature--Authors
- Publishers and publishing--United States
- Women poets, American--20th century
Document Types:
- Audio recordings
- Audiocassettes
- Clippings
- Contracts
- Correspondence
- Financial records
- Printed ephemera
- Video recordings (physical artifacts)
VCL Categories:
- LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,Transgender and Queer) Life and Culture
- Literature and Writing
Encoding Information
Encoded by Laura Streett, April 2012. Updated by Mark Seidl, September 2019. Updated by Emma Gronbeck, October 2023.
TopPhysical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Audio and video recordings may need to be duplicated before access is allowed. Pleased contact the Archives and Special Collections Library for details.
TopAdministrative Information
Preferred Citation
Elizabeth Bishop Estate and Posthumous Events Collection, Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries.
Processing Information
Processed by Laura Streett and Janine St. Germain, 2012 and 2019.
Acquisition Information
Some material (acquired by the Vassar College Library before 2004) was removed from the Bishop Papers; and some material came in various subsequent accessions. The materials pertaining to the Elizabeth Bishop estate were purchased in 2011.
Series List
Series I. ELIZABETH BISHOP ESTATE, 1973-circa 2005 | |
|---|---|
| Series I is divided into five subseries. The first subseries consists of correspondence relating primarily to Alice Methfessel's stewardship of Elizabeth Bishop's literary estate. The second subseries includes galley proofs of Bishop's writings, as well of scholarly works on Bishop. The third subseries consists legal documents and other materials pertaining to Bishop's literary estate. The fourth subseries includes reviews of Bishop's Collected Poems and Collected Prose taken from various magazines and newspapers. The fifth subseries includes audio cassette recordings of a memorial service for Bishop and of a reading in honor of the tenth anniversary of her death. |
Series II. ASSORTED POSTHUMOUS EVENTS, 1981-2006 | |
|---|---|
| Series II gathers materials pertaining to assorted events in honor of Elizabeth Bishop after her death. |
Series III. VOICES AND VISIONS (1988), 1987-1988 | |
|---|---|
| Series III consists of video recordings and other materials related to the program, Voices and Visions: A Television Course in Modern Poetry, 1988 |
Series IV. 11th ANNUAL KEY WEST LITERARY SEMINAR, 1993 | |
|---|---|
| Series IV gathers participant information, photographs, press clippings and other materials related to the 11th Annual Key West Literary Seminar. |
Series V. THE ART OF ELIZABETH BISHOP (1999), 1999-2000 | |
|---|---|
| Series V consists of participant information, video recordings, realia, and other materials pertaining to The Art of Elizabeth Bishop: An International Conference and Celebração in Brazil, 1999. |
Series VI. CENTENARY EVENTS, NOVA SCOTIA, 2011, 2013 | |
|---|---|
| Series VI gathers audio and printed materials relating to Bishop centenary events organized in Nova Scotia by the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia, 2011. |
Container List
Return to the Table of Contents
Details
The Elizabeth Bishop Estate and Posthumous Events Collection consists of materials pertaining to the literary estate of Elizabeth Bishop, managed by Alice Methfessel after the poet's death in 1979. The collection also includes ephemera and realia from various events celebrating Elizabeth Bishop since her death. Included are, pamphlets, posters, flyers, clippings, video and audio recordings, and files of general information.
