Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 182

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

10 boxes

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Carl W. Gatter Collection on Ezra Pound, 1894-1979, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1894-1979 (inclusive)

Creator:

Gatter, Carl W.

Form:

Correspondence, Research notes, Poetry, Memorabilia, and Photographs

Abstract:

The collection contains very little original Pound material, although there are six folders of photocopied correspondence from him to various correspondents, primarily from the period when Pound was institutionalized at St. Elizabeth's Hospital. Correspondents include Pound's wife Dorothy and an early girlfriend Mary Moore. There are 22 folders of correspondence to Gatter relating to the early life of Ezra Pound. The balance of the collection comprises Gatter's research material on the life of Ezra Pound, including some printed material and photographs.

Though the American poet Ezra Pound (1885-1972) was born in Idaho, he spent most of his formative years—from 1889 to 1907—living in Pennsylvania, in or around the city of Philadelphia. This period of the poet's life serves as the focal point of this collection of research material.

Carl W. Gatter has lived for many years at the childhood home of Ezra Pound at 166 Fernbrook Ave., Wyncote, Pa. As a result of this connection to the poet, Carl Gatter and his mother Elsie K. Gatter established a correspondence with Ezra Pound between the years of 1956 and 1966. During this time Carl Gatter became interested in taking what Pound called a "census report" of the poet's childhood acquaintances. Based on references in Pound's letters, Gatter began to collect printed material and photographs relating to Pound's youth in Pennsylvania. He also interviewed Wyncote residents who had known Pound as a child. In 1958, when Pound was released from St. Elizabeths Hospital, he visited the Gatter's in their Wyncote home before returning to Italy. Gatter used this visit as an opportunity to interview the poet about his early life in Wyncote, and to take photographs.

As Gatter's research on Pound's early life became known to the larger community of Pound scholars, his collection served as a resource for Pound biographers, several of whom have credited Gatter and used his photographs to illustrate their works. The culmination of this research was Gatter's collaboration with Noel Stock on Ezra Pound's Pennsylvania, published in 1976 by The Friends of the University of Toledo Libraries. The title page of this work reads: "Compiled for the most part from Mr. Carl Gatter's researches into original sources and documents." In fact, almost all of Gatter's significant research and photographs have been published in this work.

While this collection contains very little original Pound material, it does offer a unique resource for scholars researching the details of Pound's youth, by conveniently gathering together diverse secondary material relating to the poet's life in Pennsylvania. This collection has been reorganized with consideration for the researcher's need to quickly and easily access the most pertinent material. In order to facilitate research, and to insure proper storage, all photographs have been moved to albums at the end of the collection.