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Richmond Lattimore papers
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Held at: Bryn Mawr College [Contact Us]Bryn Mawr College Library, 101 N. Merion Avenue, Bryn Mawr 19010
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Bryn Mawr College. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
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Richmond Lattimore was born in 1906 in Paotingfu, China, to David and Margaret Barnes Lattimore. He received his A.B. in 1926 from Dartmouth College, where he often contributed his early poetry to the various college publications. He obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in 1928 and 1935 from the University of Illinois. He was a Rhodes Scholar (1929-1932) and a Fulbright Lecturer at Oxford, from which institution he received an A.B. in 1932 and an M.A. in 1964. Lattimore was also a fellow at the American Academy at Rome and it was there that he met and married Alice Bockstahler, with whom he had two sons, Steven and Alexander. In 1935 he was appointed to teach Greek at Bryn Mawr College, where he later held the Paul Shorey Chair in Greek until his retirement in 1971. While at Bryn Mawr, Lattimore frequently celebrated the college in verse at faculty dinners, inaugurations, convocations, or in his personal poems. During World War II he became a lieutenant in the Navy and worked as a cryptanalyst.
His published volumes of original and translated poetry include Hanover Poems (with Alexander Laing), Poems, Sestina for a Far-Off Summer, The Stride of Time, Poems from Three Decades, and Continuing Conclusions. Critical works include Themes in Greek and Latin Epitaphs, The Poetry of Greek Tragedy and Story Patterns in Greek Tragedy. Translations from the Greek include The Iliad of Homer; The Odyssey of Homer, The Odes of Pindar, Greek Lyrics, The Works and Days, Theogony, and Shield of Herakles; The Oresteia, Iphigeneia at Tauris, The Four Gospels and the Revelation, and Acts and Letters of the Apostles. In addition, Lattimore authored many essays, lectures, and articles and collaborated with other scholars on books such as The Complete Greek Tragedies. Lattimore's translations of Homer and his original poetry also inspired the artworks of Leonard Baskin and Fritz Janschka.
As a translator and a scholar of Greek, as well as an original poet himself, Lattimore held memberships in the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Philological Society, and the Archaeological Institute of America. His honors and awards include the Rhodes Scholarship, Rockefeller Fellowship, Fulbright Scholarship, American Council of Learned Societies Award, and Bollingen Translation Award. Richmond Lattimore was awarded the Academy of American Poets Fellowship shortly before his death on February 26th, 1984.
The Richmond Lattimore collection contains the papers of Richmond Lattimore, a former Professor of Greek at Bryn Mawr College who was well known for his translations. The collection, which dates from circa 1924 to 1984, although the bulk of the materials are concentrated circa 1950-1980. The collection is wide-ranging, and provides insight into Lattimore's professional and personal lives.
The collection includes ten boxes of materials. The collection is divided into the following five series: "Series I: Poetry;" "Series II: Biblical and Classical Translations;" "Series III: Articles, Essays, Lectures, and Reviews;" "Series IV: Correspondence and Works of Others;" and "Series V: Miscellaneous Personal and Bryn Mawr Materials."
"Series I: Poetry" contains Richmond Lattimore's various handwritten and typed poetry drafts. The majority of the drafts, with the exception of a few translations from the ancient Greek in Folder 3, consist of his original works or translations from modern languages. Chronological groups of poems include the early poems from Dartmouth (1924-1926), poetry from Illini publications (1927-1929), poems of 1949-1957 and poems of 1957-1969. Groups of poetry drafts published in specific collections include the following: Sestina for a Far-off Summer, Continuing Conclusions, Poems, The Stride of Time, and Poems from Three Decades. Other materials included are clippings, offprints, notes on other poets, an unpublished manuscript, a list of published poems and publications, and poems concerning Bryn Mawr College. The groups of drafts are categorized chronologically, miscellaneously, and by publication. Individual poems with multiple drafts in different folder locations are cross-listed. All folder contents are arranged alphabetically by poem title except for Folder 20, which is by publication title, and Folders 3 and 4, which contain notebooks of drafts and are ordered according to page number. For poetry drafts elsewhere in the collection, see Box 8, Folder 13.
"Series II: Biblical and Classical Translations" includes the following items: Richmond Lattimore's notebooks, typescripts, and notes for his biblical translations of The Four Gospels and the Revelations and Acts and Letters of the Apostles; the notebooks, typescripts, and notes for his translations from classical Greek texts, which include Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Hesiod's Works and Days, Theogony and Shield of Herakles, lyric poetry, comedy, and tragedy; and the unpublished manuscript and drafts of Three Battles in Herodotus.
"Series III: Articles, essays, lectures, and reviews" contains a number of Lattimore's published and unpublished works, as well as articles and dissertations written about him. There are also a number of published articles, essays, and reviews of other scholars and poets by Richmond Lattimore; his material from the Penrose Memorial Lecture; a bibliography in his hand; and book reviews of his work. The arrangement of the material is chronological.
"Series IV: Correspondence and Works of Others" is largely constituted by incoming letters and is organized alphabetically by correspondent. His personal correspondents include his brother Owen Lattimore as well as many renowned poets and writers such as Richard Eberhart, Allen Ginsberg, Phyllis McGinley Hayden, Carolyn Kizer, Alexander Laing, William Meredith, Robert Penn Warren, William Carlos Williams, and Anne Sexton. Occasionally his correspondence with other writers enters into dialogue about generational differences among poets and the effect of classical languages on English poetry. Lattimore also corresponded with notable scholars, among them Rhys Carpenter, E.R. Dodds, I.A. Richards, Eric G. Turner, and T.B.L. Webster. The collection also houses correspondence with several publishers of his works, Lattimore's memorial of Penn Haile, his former classmate at Dartmouth; the poems and translations of his sister Isabel Casseres, and poems and essays sent to Lattimore by other writers. For Bryn Mawr correspondence, refer to Box 8, Folder 1 of the miscellaneous personal and Bryn Mawr materials.
"Series V: Miscellaneous Personal and Bryn Mawr Materials" includes incoming and outgoing correspondence with Bryn Mawr personages such as Rhys Carpenter, Katharine McBride, Gertrude Ely, and Carol Rittenhouse. Lattimore's affiliations with national institutions such as The American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (AAIAL) and the Peace Movement as well as with Bryn Mawr projects are attested by correspondence and other materials. A few small notebooks contain additional poetry drafts and various notes and lists. Other miscellaneous materials include clippings kept by Lattimore on various topics, a group of programs featuring his poetry or personal participation in various events, pencil sketches, and teaching evaluations by U.C.L.A. students. Also included among his personal materials are his cryptanalysis notebooks from the Navy during World War II and various laudatory certificates. Most material is chronologically arranged, except for the lists of poem drafts, which are arranged alphabetically by poem title.
Best known for his translations of Homer and other Greek greats, Lattimore was respected as both a classicist and a poet. This collection highlights his abilities as a translator and as a creator of original works. Additionally, it showcases some of his personal relationships through his correspondence with people such as his brother, Richard Eberhard, William Carlos Williams, and Katherine McBride. It would be of value to anyone interested in Greek poetry and plays, Lattimore's work, or Lattimore's life.
Gifts of Richmond Lattimore and Alice Lattimore. Individual gifts of outgoing correspondence are noted.
People
- Alexander, the Great, 356 B.C.-323 B.C. -- In literature
- Flanner, Janet, 1892-1978 -- Correspondence
- Lattimore, Owen, 1900-1989 -- Correspondence
- Williams, William Carlos, 1883-1963 -- Correspondence
Subject
- Publisher
- Bryn Mawr College
- Finding Aid Author
- Jessica Sisk, Melissa Torquato
- Finding Aid Date
- 2013 November 13
- Access Restrictions
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This collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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The Richmond Lattimore papers are the physical property of the Special Collections Department, Bryn Mawr College Library. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns.
Collection Inventory
This series is divided into four subseries: 1. Chronological Groups of Poems, 1924-1969 2. Miscellaneous Poetry Drafts 3. Groups of Poems Published in Specific Collections 4. Other Poetry Materials
Physical Description0 boxes
Photocopied poems from Richmond Lattimore's Dartmouth days.
Writes that she is sending more of Richmond's early poems, which she procured from Dartmouth College Library on May 10th. Discusses the publication situation with respect to the early poems and includes a typewritten list of enclosed poems. TLS and TD.
Photocopied poems from "Illini" publications.
Published sometime in 1927 in the Sunday literary section of the The Daily Illini, Urbana, Illinois.
1924-1929, ed. Paul Landis. The University of Illinois Supply Store. Champaign: Illinois, 1929. "Cassandra" "Clytaemnestra" "Lines" "Lucretius" "Sonnets" "We Three"
Holograph notebook with numbered pages. Contains translations and original poems, both published and unpublished, with occasional emendations
Holograph notebook of drafts of original poetry, translations, and various interleavings. The majority of drafted poems contain in pencil RL's notations of the publication, which are noted in the below list by italics.
Three holograph notebooks of drafts, some unidentifiable.
1 holograph notebook of drafts, some unidentifiable.
Contains an untitled, unidentifiable draft.
Contained in a notebook and two notepads.
"The most futile form of criticism is that a poet is no good because he doesn't remind the reviewer of some other poet, the next most is that he is no good beause he does remind the reviewer of some other poet."
Some drafts unidentifiable
Several drafts unidentifiable.
Formerly interleaved in Iliad 4.248-6 Notebook (Box 3, Folder 1).
Handwritten and typescript drafts of poems published in Poems
This series is divided into three subseries: 1. Biblical Translations 2. Classical Translations of Richmond Lattimore 3. Herodotus Materials
Notebook containing translation of Matthew (dated 19 Nov. 1961), first seven chapters of Mark (n.d.), and Romans (29 Nov. 1979). AMs. Together 87p.
Notebook containing translation of Acts (30 Apr. 1980) and Epistles (27 Nov. 1980). AMs. Together 142p.
Notebook (27 Oct. 1981). AMs. Together 131p.
Notebook. AMs. 44p.
Carbon typescript with revisions in RL's hand.
Photocopy of typescript, with revisions in RL's hand. 56p.
Photocopy of manuscript. AMs. 150p.
Photocopy of manuscript. AMs. 109p.
Photocopy of manuscript. AMs. 52p.
Preface to Acts and Epistles and Notes. AMs, 6p; AMs, 7p.
Handwritten translations. Two notebooks. For Iliad 22.387-end, see Box 1, Folder 3. For miscellaneous notes on Homer, see Box 8, Folder 5.
Handwritten translations in 6 notebooks. Bound in 2 boxes: Books 4-13 and 14-24.
Notes for translation. AMs.
Handwritten translations in notebook. 74p. With miscellaneous notes and Introduction to Helen interleaved. AMs. 6p. Also with an interleaved typescript list of seniors registered for Greek 101 and Greek 203 of Semester II, 1954-5.
Handwritten translation in notebook. With Introduction and miscellaneous notes interleaved. AMs, 6p.
Handwritten translations in notebook. Together 59p.
5 translations. To Delian Apollo, To Pythian Apollo, To Hermes, To Pan, To Selene. TD. Together 28p.
Notes for translation and Introduction. AMs. 23p.
1.Typed versions of "Pythia 3: For Hieron of Syracuse;" "Pythia 8," with photocopy of typescript; "Isthmia 3: For Melissos of Thebes," with two photocopies; and "Isthmia 4: For Melissos of Thebes," with emendations in RL's hand and 2 photocopies. 2. Feedback on Isthmian Odes 3 and 4. Signed "Rick" [Richard Hamilton]. 3. Notes. AMs. 70p. together.
3 Notebooks containing translations.
1. Euripides' Alcestis. With interleaved introduction. AMs. 2. Euripides' Iphigeneia in Tauris. See notes in Folder 8. 3. Euripides' Rhesus. With interleaved introduction. AMs.
Translated in close approximations of the original metre. For the use of classes in Greek Literature at Bryn Mawr College. 1949.
The unpublished manuscript of Three Battles in Herodotus with related materials. See also correspondence in Box 6, Folder 2.
Report (author unknown) evaluating publication potential, with notes in RL's hand. 7p. Carbon copy of the typescript, with additional notes in RL's hand. 4p.
This series is divided into six subseries: 1. Published Articles and Essays (chronologically arranged) 2. Unpublished Articles and Essays 3. Reviews 4. Miscellaneous Notes and Bibliography 5. Articles and Dissertations about Richmond Lattimore 6. Book Reviews and Notices of Richmond Lattimore's Works
Includes Douglas Worth, Robert Fitzgerald, Howard Moss, Ezra Pound, Adrienne Rich, Galway Kinnell, John Montague, Alan Stephens, Frederick Buell, L.E. Sissman, Vladimir Nabokov, Constantine Cavafy, Charles Boer, Léon Damas, J.A. Richards, Voznesensky, William Mills, John Gill, and Robert Graves. AMs. 71p.
This series is divided into three subseries: 1. Personal Incoming and Outgoing Correspondence (alphabetically arranged by last name) 2. Correspondence with Publishers (chronologically arranged) 3. Works Sent to Richmond Lattimore
(alphabetically ordered by correspondent)
Thanks RL for a reprint of poems published in the Hudson Review. ALS. 1p. "You compose your poems within a world of space (a plastic sense), and they have movement. Whether you deal with abstractions or reality they are 'plastic.' As you say 'Verb not noun or adjective.' "
In thanks for a copy of RL's Sestina for a Far-Off Summer. TLS. 1p. "The poems seem wonderfully to be one man's; they stretch themselves with an imagination that is all yours, and hold themselves up for repeated reading."
Card inscribed to RL and his family. Includes her maiden name (Lolah Mary Egan) and her years at Bryn Mawr (1947-1951). ANS. With a photocopy of her letter to an unidentified Mayor. Also with a photocopy from Burford's Edward, Edward, in which she marked passages regarding Edward's opinions on Latin and includes a note in her own hand: "I concur in Edward's 'salute' to Latin, but I'm not so hard on Romans and Roman civilization, etc., as Edward is!"
Writes regarding his wood cuttings made to illustrate the Iliad, inspired by RL's translation. TLS. 1p. Poster of woodcuts enclosed.
Reports on her failure to locate a publication called The Press at RL's request and includes a brief account of one of her own poetry readings. TLS. 1p.
Signed "Jack." Feedback on RL's classical translation, most likely of Herodotus. ALS. 4p. See Box 5 for other Herodotus materials.
Regarding the Academy of American Poets.
Representing the Literary Public Affairs on WZLY-FM at Wellesley College and relates updates on programs and his son Alex. TLS. 1p.
Memorandum from the National Book Committee regarding a panel in Translation, for which RL was a juror.
Regarding the Penrose Lecture and sharing his reminiscences about Paul Shorey. TLS. 1p. For the Penrose Lecture materials, see Box 4, Folders 21 and 22.
Thanks RL for a copy of his New Testament translation and remarkes on time spent in the Navy. TLS. 1p.
Thanks RL for his poems and hopes to see him in a few weeks. TLS. 1p.
"What a splendid heart and mind feels and thinks within you. 'A decade or so now left...' No...More. And more. Let me rephrase you: Unknown territory glimpsed to be. But of course the end will be what it has to be. For us all. In sadness but fulfillment."
In thanks for a copy of RL's I.T. (Iphigeneia in Taurus) TLS. 1p. "...(you can say more in seven pages than others do in seventy)."
Signed "Dick." Thanks RL for a copy of one of his books, grives feedback on the poems, and updates RL on his son Dikkon and family. TLS. 1p. "I recognize your new work as so different from our beginnings and your too much 'Swinburne.' I like the hardness and realism of your work, the dryness, the vast understanding from which items are plucked and made memorable..."
Regarding RL's Gospels. TLS. 2p.
APcS. Signed "Bob." Seconds RL's nomination and asks RL to second his of John Frederick Nims. This is most likely Robert Fitzgerald, who did nominate Nims and was seconded by Lattimore. See AAIAL Nominations in Box 8, Folder 9
Thanks for a poem, probably RL's "The Father." ALS. 2p. "---That you were impressed by it gives me pleasure and the sense of reward which writers only receive from writers, not from reviewers....to write a poem to a piece of writing is like writing doubly on the same page... "
Thanks RL for poems. ALS. 1p.
APA appeal. TLS. 1p.
"I am nominating Pound's peer Basil Bunting for honorary membership in the National Institute of Arts and Letters. If you know his work and are willing can you second the nomination? If it's ok please let Margaret Mills know, at the Institute, before Oct. 1." APcS.
Writes to RL from Vermont that he's been entertaining an Italian friend, wants to get out another issue of Groundswell, the periodical he began with Alec Laing; and is concerned about his friend Gerry's arthritis. TLS. 1p. With original envelope.
Letter from Gerry Jacobsen to RL. Writes regarding RL's participation in Penn's memorial service. ALS. 1p. With original envelope.
Richmond Lattimore's Memorial to Penn Haile. TD and AMs versions.
Thanks Rl for two books and sends three of her own works in return - Love Letters, Times Three, and Christmas Legends. ALS. 2p.
On Beaver College letterhead. Enclosed a check to cover expenses of photograph. ALS. 1p. "Rereading your fine act of piety to Stevens makes me regret all the more my having to admit failure on funding Bard to Bard..."
Business card of the President of the International Poetry Forum, with "Thanks!" written on it.
Assignment of a Radnor Junior High student. ALS. 1p. With envelope. "I was wondering what first made you want to write poetry?"
Regarding setting Lattimore's poems from Poems from Three Decades to music, his own work, and birds. ALS. 2p. "You're a good editor of your own works (many poets are not)...these are all 'male voice' texts - so we must look about for a competent baritone..."
Requesting, as a graduate student, information regarding a theory. TLS. 1p. With notes in RL's hand.
Thanks RL for responding to his work. TLS. 1p. See poem sent by Johnson to RL in Folder 22.
Writes that he is off to visit Israel and Egypt and to glean experience for an essay on "The Language of Religion" which might include Lattimore renderings. Mentions RL's sister Isabel. ALS. 1p.
Sent with clipping (not extant) and writes admiration of RL's Oresteia, which he reviewed. TLS. 1p. "Nothing in the world of literature has so thrilled or excited me in a long time...I fear my review is not a very professional job, for God knows I am no Greek scholar, but personally as well as publicly I wanted to let you know what a wonderful piece of poetry you have created here."
Regarding the death of his wife, the poet Dilys Laing. Also gives his response to Sestina for a Far-Off Summer, comments on RL's original poetry versus translations, and writes of his own poetic program. TLS. 2p. Also includes a copy of a program of his wife's poems, assembled after her death, and with a note in his hand to RL.
"It's unwary of me to trust my judgment in matters springing out of my own experience as well as out of yours, yet I should tell you that your poems of simple recollection of your own emotional experience seem to be your very best. Nothing odd about that, is there, now that it's stated? I suppose I've had to get over my memory of most of the Lattimore I've read, for many years, as having been translation that I was moved to trust..."
"...Your devotion to Greece has acted somewhat in the same fashion, hasn't it? Instead of the long middle period of grinding it out, you've dealt all the way with first rate material and have kept your skill sharp in translating it so freshly. Am I permitted to think that now the just rewards are arriving...that the high inner experience of Lattimore himself will be more and more the subject?"
Three newspaper clippings pertaining to Owen Lattimore's publications and hearings.
Addressed to "Scop" [RL] and Alice, and signed "Scop." Writes that he has just left Mongolia and while in a city library has found a medieval MS of the Drutski-dubetski family "where Uncle Alec had been a tutor!...I've never owed the Mongols so much friendship as I do now. They really put me on my feet. And I'm coming home with so much work to do that I shall just have to start my new life." ALS. 2p.
Letter from Piel Gerard to RL, sending Owen's address. TLS.
Invitation to membership in the Athenaeum. TLS. 1p.
Thanks RL for his hospitality and writes regarding photographs and an exhibition by the Pennyslvania Humanities Council. TLS. 1p.
Representing Power/Rector Productions and regarding a television program on the subject of translation, to include RL. TLS. 1p.
Expresses pleasure in RL's translation of the Gospel and the Revelation. Enclosed an edition of the Thomas Gospel (not extant). On Christ Brotherhood, Santa Fe, New Mexico, letterhead. ALS,.1p.
In response to RL having read his typescript. TLS. 1p. "I was pleased to learn that you enjoyed my work, Although I would have very much appreciated some slight comment, especially on the poetry...Let me thank you again for your willingness to help me. I quite agree: it is something difficult to sell."
Pritchard's thoughts on modern poets. TLS. 1p. "Cummings? Well, he's just never meant much to me; but I could be impressed by an account of him as a superb song-writer. I must think about Cummings more. Jeffers I have never got anywhere with; and since I've gotten everywhere with Frost, I can't understand your preference for the former."
RL's draft response in his hand. TL. 2p. "As for Frost, I think back to a generation ago when I argued with friends who were horrified to hear that I thought Jeffers a better poet than Frost. Why on earth, they asked me, and I could only mumble weakly, because he writes better poetry. This I still think to be true: a more imaginative eye, surer ear, stronger hand, stronger lines...Williams has far more followers, though his influence is mostly bad (wasteful spate of watery verse)."
Director of the North Shore Country Day School, requesting permission for the high school to perform RL's Trojan Women. TLS. 1p.
In thanks for a copy of Sestina for a Far-Off Summer. Dorothea adds her remembrances about ascending Parnassus. ALS. 2p.
Regarding retirement and RL's fortunate position at Bryn Mawr. ALS. 2p. "It must be very gratifying, as you retire, to know how much you have been appreciated at your college. I have always been happy for your sake that you were allowed to do what you do so well, and that you could spend your time writing poetical translations of Greek authors, instead of hunting for some boring subject, which would be accepted as a contribution to knowledge, however insignificant it might be. The rest of us were always caught in that kind of rat-race, asking nervously what we must do to be saved. But you remained gloriously free on the heights and Bryn Mawr was delighted to keep you there."
Writes in thanks for a copy of RL's Sestina for a Far-Off Summer. TLS. 1p. With corrections and exclamations in AS's hand.
Writes in response to reading Sestina for a Far-Off Summer. Lists her particular favorites from the volume. TLS. 1p. With corrections and a note in her hand.
Writes in response to receiving a copy of Sestina for a Far-Off Summer. TLS. 1p.
Writes in response to receiving a copy of RL's translation of Euripides. "You vary the tone and style with great skill. And I have wrestled with Euripides' Greek..." ALS. 2p.
Regarding military numbers at Plataea. ALS. 1p. See Box 5 for other Herodotus materials.
Thanks RL for his poems: ""I am very glad to have the poems, particularly 'Homecoming Day' and 'Home.' These are certainly the real thing. I do wish that our paths could cross more often..." Signed "Rob." TsPcS.
Remarks on RL's Story Patterns and Greek tragedy. ALS. 2p.
Regarding reprints sent to him, RL's tribute to Richards, and RL's poetry. ALS. 4p. With envelope. "I would say that we see pretty much eye to eye where many of our youthful contemporaries are concerned...I am an admirer of your own poetry, and am by no means willing to see it yield first place to your scope and virtuosity as translator. You are one of the true poets of our time who write not too much but too little."
In response to RL's interest in him. TLS. 1p. "I'm honored to have attracted the interest of a poet and scholar of your distinction and I wish I could give you an answer to your questions that would be more satisfying to you than this one is likely to be. All I can tell you is that the answer is in the mystery."
Williams' response to reading Lattimore's poetry and a statement of his interest in the effect of classical languages, particularly Greek, on modern poetry. Discourses on the qualities needed for greatness as a poet. TLS. 1p. "What I am interested in is how a knowledge of the old language has influenced you in writing modern english or american verse. You are not quite easy in the medium. You do not quite make your verses sound as if they originated in a language which is in everyday use..."
Regarding honorary membership in the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. TLS. 1p.
On University of Kansas Classics Department letterhead. Writes on the occasion of birthday, also sends a gift to RL and asks for a list of other poems published since the collected volume. TLS. 1p.
On University of Kansas Classics Department letterhead. Writes on the occasion of birthday, also sends a gift to RL and asks for a list of other poems published since the collected volume. TLS. 1p.
Postcard from Greece relating sight-seeing. Signature and postmark not clear. With envelope. APcS.
Notes on Greek text. Signature not clear, on University of California, Los Angeles letterhead. ALS. 1p
Signed "Greg." Thanks RL for his hospitality and mentions happy memories of Bryn Mawr. On Harvard University Department of Classics letterhead. ALS. 1p.
Signed "Deborah." Birthday greetings on the reverse of a colored ink drawing of the symbol of St. John. Note on the reverse explains iconography of drawing. ANS. 1p.
A poem of three lines, on a Bryn Mawr card. AN.
Writes in response to Leach's letter and encloses his chapter on Legend. Mentions that he does not have a lecture topic and is "not much inclined to write one. If I did it might be on something like the 'optatives of consent and refusal' (mine own invention) which nobody would want to listen to." Also writes that he is occupied with writing notes to his Iphigeneia in Taurus. ALS. 1p. For Optatives of Consent, see Box 4, Folders 12 and 13. (Gift of Professor Eleanor W. Leach, 2005).
Correspondence regarding the translation of RL's poems into Italian.
Refers Pettinella to University of Michigan Press for copyright information. ALS.
Thanks Pettinella for her letter and gives biographical information. ALS.
From the University of Michigan Press to Dora Pettinella regarding her Italian translation. 2 letters. TLS. 2p.
Letters regarding Alesandra Schmidt's thesis, which he directed. 5 TLS. 9 ALS. Includes Mabel Lang's notes. (Gift of Alesandra Schmidt, 2004).
Sidney Q. Phillips to RL. 2 TLS.
Howard Moss to RL. 16 TLS. Beata Sauerlaunder and R. Hawley Truax to RL. 3 TLS. Hardy T. Mason to Elisabeth Case. Carbon copy. 3 TLS. Draft letter of RL to New Yorker. TLS.
Roger W. Shugg, Carroll G. Bowen, Estelle Stinespring, et al. to RL. 15 TLS.
Frederick Morgan to RL. 2 ALS. Frederick Morgan et al. to RL. Some with notes in his hand. 8 TLS. Book list. TLS.
Harold E. Ingle, et al. to RL. 8 TLS. Announcement from Oxford Books.
John Scott Mabom, et al. to RL. 8 TLS.
John F. Nims, et al. to RL. 3 TLS. 2 form letters of acceptance of poems for publication.
Fred Wieck, Patricia Mach to RL. 2 TLS.
Essay describing Literature of the Western World project. Photocopy. Notes to contributors. Photocopy. David Daiches, University of Sussex, to RL. 6 TLS, 1 ALS. Aldus Books. 2 ALS.
RL draft to Scribner's. AMs. RL to Scribner's. Sample form-letter requesting copyright for poems previously published. List of poems and publishers in RL's hand. Charles Scribner, Jr., et al to RL. 7 TLS.
Athenaeum Publishers to RL. 1 TLS. William Arrowsmith to RL. 2 TLS with photocopy. Joan Daves to RL. 2 TLS. Oxford University Press to RL. 2 TLS.
Robert Giroux to RL. 6 TLS. Nancy Miller, et al to RL. 4 TLS. Roger Strauss to RL. 2 TLS.
Geoffrey Gardner to RL. 3 TLS. RL, draft to Geoffrey Gardner. AMs.
Martha Hall to RL. 8 TLS. 2 ALS. Beverly Jarrett, et al. to RL. 18 TLS. Recommendation of Continuing Conclusions for publication. Photocopy. Draft of RL acknowledgment of copyrights of other publishers/publications. Note on Permission to Reprint. Review list for Continuing Conclusions. Advertising Schedule for Continuing Conclusions.
Paul Kurt Ackermann. Boston University Journal. 2 ALS. Michael Alexander. Agenda. ALS. Clive Allison, The Harlequin Poets, 1 TLS. Joseph Epstein. The American Scholar. 1 TLS. Robert Evett. The New Republic. 3TLS. Jean Garrigue. Doubleday & Co. 1 TLS. Verna Gillis. Poetry in Public Places. 1 TLS. James B. Gwynne. Steppingstones. 1 TLS. Marguerite Harris. A Tumult for John Berryman. 1 TLS. Julian L. James. Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company. 1 TLS. Alan Jenkins. The Times Literary Supplement. 1 TLS. Carolyn Kizer. Poetry Northwest. 1 TLS. Miriam Kotzin. Unclear publishers. 1 TLS. Sydney Lea. New England Review. 1 TLS. Denise Levertov. 1968 War Resisters' League Engagement Calendar. 2 TLS. Amy Loveman. The Saturday Review. 1 TLS. Alan F. Pater. Monitor Book Co., Anthology of Magazine Verse Yearbook of American Poetry. 1 TLS. Ernest M. Robson. Primary and Dufour Press, 3 TLS. Ernest Stefanik. The Rook Society, The Sound of a Few Leaves. 1 TLS. Gregory Stephenson. Pearl. 1 ALS. Vernon Sternberg. Southern University Illinois Press. 1 TLS. James Vinson. St. James, Contemporary Poets. 1 TLS. David Wagoner. Poetry Northwest. 1 TLS. Robert Wallace. Bits Press, Light Year. 1 TLS. Richard L. Wentworth. The University of Illinois Press. 1 TLS. Steve Pike. The Word-Smith. 1 TLS and 1 ALS. Unclear publisher. The Charles Street Press. 1 ALS. Suzanne Zimmer. Poetry on the Buses. 1 TLS.
Helen Cohan. Appleton-Century-Crofts. 1 TLS. Toby Cole. Actors and Authors Agency. Janus Derks. Editions Rodopi. 1 TLS. Emery George. Unknown publication. 1 TLS. Pauline Hire. Cambridge University Press. 1 TLS. Johnson, Pyke. Doubleday & Co. 1 TLS. Elizabeth Kray. The Academy of American Poets. 2 TLS. Ian Mackenzie. Ohio University Press. 1 TLS. Michael C.J. Putnam. Brown University Department of Classics. 1 TLS. Unknown correspondent. 1 ALS.
Reminds RL that they met at the symposium on translation at the Poetry Society of America and asked if he would read her thesis. "My first and last love is Homer..." ALS. Enclosed thesis not extant.
This series is divided into five subseries: 1. Bryn Mawr Correspondence 2. Bryn Mawr Projects 3. National Affiliations 4. Notes and Notebooks 5. Miscellaneous Materials
"It was an excellent device to print an original with two diverse translations. Neither of the two seems to me very magical (as all good poetry surely should be); but by reading them I got a better grip on the original version with its bewilderingly mixed metaphors..."
This subseries contains materials related to two projects: 1. Bryn Mawr Centential Volume, "A Century Recalled" 2. Oral History: Correspondence with Caroline Rittenhouse
Correspondence and notes regarding the centennial volume, for which Richmond Lattimore began an essay on verse at Bryn Mawr: "Seasons of Verse: Poetry at Bryn Mawr." He was unable to finish the essay due to illness, and poems were used for the volume instead of the proposed essay.
Notes on poets and poetry at Bryn Mawr. Includes Marianne Moore and a note to "look up more about HD." AMs. Notepad. 17p.
"Tentative Prospectus for the Centennial Volume of Essays." 2 versions, photocopies of typescripts.
"Extracts from the Will of Joseph Taylor." Photocopy. Remarks on the education of females.
"Report of the President to the Board of Trustees." 1884. Photocopy.
During the early 1980's a series for oral history at Bryn Mawr was conducted by Caroline Rittenhouse. Lattimore contributed two fifteen-minute interviews to the archives on the 7th and 9th of November 1983. The collection includes a small amount of correspondence related to the oral history project.
Agrees to interview for the oral history collections. ALS. 1p.
Writes that he has had a return of his winter pneumonia and that the oral history project will have to be delayed. ALS. 1p.
Letter to members regarding meetings. TLS.
Extracts from a letter from Wallace Stegner to Cowley on the subject of the Institute and West coast writers, and sent to members of the subcommittee. With notes on the letter by Cowley. Photocopy. TLS.
Letter to Richmond Lattimore with attached photocopy of meeting details. With notes in RL's hand. TLS.
Letter to Richmond Lattimore. Signed "Dick." Seconds RL's nomination of Philip Booth. "I had been trying to get Dartmouth to give him some honorary degree for at least ten years with no result. I wrote a long letter last fall. If he had a parcel of national awards they might leap to that music. I intend to keep trying..."ALS. Other letter from Eberhart to Lattimore in Box 6, Folder 1. Lattimore's official nomination in Folder 9.
Minutes of a Meeting of the Committee on Progress and the Board of Directors. 1 TS.
Two notebooks containing poetry drafts, miscellaneous notes concerning other poets, and lists of his own publications.
Contains lists of poets, states, cities, mileage and expenses; notes on poets; and untitled poetry drafts (below). AMs.
Another version in Box 1, Folder 3, p.126.
Spiral bound notebook contains drafts of poems (below), diary of Greece trip, expenses, and miscellaneous notes.
12 articles about RL from Bryn Mawr Now, The College News, etc.
On the topics of peace, sports, religion, etc.
Miscellaneous programs for events in which Richmond Lattimore or his works were involved, chronologically arranged.
39 questionnaire forms completed by students. 1 computer print-out of the results of the survey.
29 pencil sketches; 2 in mat frame. Primarily of buildings, rooms, vases of flowers, and lamps.
Lattimore served during the second World War for the Navy and did work as a cryptanalyst. Materials from that experience are extant in the collection and he discussed this work in the oral history interview.