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Anne Buchanan Crosby Collection of Galway Kinnell Letters and Manuscripts
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Anne Buchanan Crosby (1929-) is an English artist. Born in London, Crosby lived abroad for several years in Rome, Paris, and the Var region of France. After returning to London, she painted and taught at an art school. Crobsy married architect Theo Crosby in 1960 with whom she had two children before the couple divorced. One of their children, Matthew, who was born with Down syndrome, was the subject of a memoir Crosby published in 2009 entitled Matthew (Haus Publishing).
Crosby became close friends with Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning poet Galway Kinnell (1927-2014) after meeting him in Paris in the late 1950s.
KinnellGalway Kinnell (1927-2014) was an award-winning American poet, translator, essayist, civil rights activist, orator, and teacher, including serving as professor and director of the creative writing program at New York University.
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Kinnell served in the Navy during World War II. He graduated from Princeton University in 1948 (his roommate was the poet W. S. Merwin), and received a master's degree from the University of Rochester a year later. He held several teaching positions early on both in the United States and abroad, including a tour in Tehran that led to the writing of his only novel, "Black Light." His "Selected Poems" won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1983, and a share of the National Book Award the same year.
In 1965, Kinnell married Spanish translator Ines Delgado de Torres with whom he had two children. The couple divorced after 20 years. In 1997, Kinnell married Barbara Kammer Bristol.
Kinnell became close friends with English artist Anne Buchanan Crosby (1929-) after meeting her in Paris in the late 1950s.
This collection consists of letters from Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning American poet Galway Kinnell (1927-2014) to English artist Anne Buchanan Crosby (b.1929). Kinnell and Crosby met in Paris in the late 1950s and maintained a strong connection spanning several decades. Part travelogue, Kinnell's letters touch on themes that are reflected in his work and document in detail the varied landscapes surrounding the poet as he travelled the world, including New York City, the artists' community, Yaddo, in Saratoga Springs, and New England. Several letters are postmarked from the South and Mississippi, where he spent time during the Civil Rights Movement, as well as countries throughout Europe and Asia. Over a dozen capture his time in Tehran. Some of the letters include photographs.
Also included in the collection are several annotated poetry typescripts and manuscripts authored by Kinnell dating from the late 1950s to early 1960s.
Purchased from Christie's New York in 2021. AM 2022-011
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by Faith Charlton in August 2021. Finding aid written by Faith Charlton in August 2021.
No materials were removed from the collection during 2021 processing beyond routine appraisal practices.
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Author
- Faith Charlton
- Finding Aid Date
- August 2021
- Access Restrictions
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Open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Inquiries regarding publishing material from the collection should be directed to Special Collections Public Services staff through the Ask Us! form. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
Collection Inventory
9 folders
A letter dated March 7, 1967, includes photographs of Kinnell and his daughter, Maud.
10 folders
Heavily annotated typescript draft pages including multiple versions of some pages. Possibly an earlier version of "Seekonk Woods."
Heavily annotated typescript draft pages.
An early draft of this poem with differences from the April iteration.
Typescript carbon with several corrections, with Crosby's autograph note, "we read and read it didn't we / now I think it is done. Love Anne."
Typescript with a few handwritten corrections.
Annotated typescript.
Heavily annotated typescript.
Heavily annotated typescript
Mimeograph typescript