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**THIS VERSION PROVIDED FOR SEARCHING/INDEXING ONLY**
A more fully navigable version is available at
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms003057

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John Ciardi
A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress


Prepared by John C. Broderick 
Revised and expanded by T. Michael Womack with the assistance of
Laura Kells, Sherralyn McCoy, and Susie Moody 
2000
Manuscript Division, Library of Congress 
Washington, D.C.
Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress 
Manuscript Division, 2003


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Collection Summary

Title:    Papers of John Ciardi , 1910 - 1997 (bulk 1960 - 1985 ) 
ID No.:    MSS15826 
Creator: Ciardi, John, 1916-1986 
Extent:    31,500 items ; 91 containers plus 2 oversize ; 36.6 linear feet 
Repository:    Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington,
D.C. 
Abstract:    Poet, editor, literary critic, lecturer, and journalist.
Advertisements, biographical material, contracts, correspondence,
newspaper clippings, notes, photographs, press releases, research material,
royalty statements with holograph and typescript drafts, galley proofs, page
proofs, and printed versions of aphorisms, articles, book reviews, books,
columns, essays, etymological dictionaries, limericks, plays, poems, poetry
reviews, radio and television scripts, and speeches and lectures.

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of
person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed
alphabetically therein. 
Names:
Ciardi, John, 1916- 
Abbe, George, 1911- --Correspondence 
Adams, Léonie, 1899- --Correspondence 
Basler, Roy Prentice, 1906- --Correspondence 
Benét, Stephen Vincent, 1898-1943 
Burroughs, William S., 1914- Naked lunch 
Cousins, Norman--Correspondence 
Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank), 1888-1964 --Correspondence 
Eberhart, Richard, 1904. 
Fitts, Dudley, 1903- --Correspondence 
Frost, Robert, 1874-1963--Correspondence 
Holmes, John Haynes, 1879-1964 
Jaffe, Dan--Correspondence 
Kennedy, X. J.--Correspondence 
Kreymborg, Alfred, 1883-1966--Correspondence 
MacLeish, Archibald, 1892- 
Nims, John Frederick, 1913- --Correspondence 
Pack, Robert, 1929- --Correspondence 
Pratt, Fletcher, 1897-1956 
Roethke, Theodore, 1908-1963--Correspondence 
Rukeyser, Muriel, 1913- --Correspondence 
Scott, Winfield Townley, 1910-1968--Correspondence 
Schwartz, Shloime, 1907-1988 
Sloane, William, 1906- --Correspondence 
Swenson, May--Correspondence 
Terkel, Studs, 1912- 
Thoma, Henry F. (Henry Francis)--Correspondence 
Viereck, Peter Robert Edwin, 1916- 
Wallace, Henry Agard, 1888-1965 
Wilbur, Richard, 1921- --Correspondence 
Alabama Education Association 
American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters 
American Academy in Rome 
Bates College (Lewiston, Me.)--Students. 
Bread Loaf Writers' Conference of Middlebury College 
CBS Television Network 
College English Association 
Garden State Choral Society 
Harvard University--Faculty 
Library of Congress 
National Public Radio (U.S.) 
Progressive Party (U.S. : 1948) 
Rutgers University--Faculty 
Tufts University--Students 
Twayne Publishers 
University of Missouri at Kansas City.--Faculty 

Subjects:
Saturday review 
American periodicals 
American poetry 
Art--Exhibitions 
Art, Modern 
Children's poetry 
English language--Study and teaching 
English literature--Censorship 
Lectures and lecturing 
Oral interpretation of poetry 
Plagiarism 
Protest movements--United States 
Science fiction 
Segregation--Alabama 

Occupations:
Critics
Editors
Journalists
Lecturers
Poets

Administrative Information
Provenance:
The papers of John Anthony Ciardi, poet, editor, literary critic, lecturer,
and journalist, were donated to the Library of Congress in three parts. Part
I was given by John Ciardi in 1970; Part II by his daughter, Myra Ciardi
Watts, in 1998; and Part III by Wayne State University Libraries, Detroit,
Michigan, in 1999. Additional items in Part III were given by Mary Lou
Harkness in 2000.

Processing History:
Part I of the papers of John Ciardi was arranged and described in 1974.
Additional material received between 1998 and 2000 was processed as
Parts II and III respectively.

Copyright Status:
Copyright in the unpublished writings of John Ciardi in Part I has been
dedicated to the public. Copyright in the unpublished writings of John
Ciardi in Parts II and III is controlled by Myra Ciardi Watts.

Preferred Citation:
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following
information: Roman numeral designating the Part followed by a colon and
container number, John Ciardi Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of
Congress, Washington, D.C.

Biographical Note
Date Event 
1916 , June 24 Born, Boston, Mass. 
1933 - 1935  Attended Bates College, Lewiston, Maine 
1935 - 1938  Attended Tufts University, Medford, Mass., receiving B.A. in
1938 
1938 - 1939  Attended University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.,
receiving M.A. in English in 1939 
1939  Avery Hopwood Award for poetry 
1940  Published Homeward to America (New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and
Co. 62 pp.) 
1940 - 1942  Instructor in English, University of Missouri, Kansas City,
Mo. 
1942 - 1945  United States Army Air Corps 
1945  Eunice Tietjens Award for poetry 
1945 - 1946  Instructor in English, University of Missouri-Kansas City,
Kansas City, Mo. 
1946  Married Myra Judith Hostetter 
1946 - 1953  Instructor and assistant professor, Harvard College,
Cambridge, Mass. 
1947 - 1955  Lecturer in poetry, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Ripton,
Vt. 
1949 - 1955  Poetry editor, Twayne Publishers 
1954  Published translation of Inferno by Dante Alighieri (New
Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. 288 pp.) 
1953 - 1961  Associate professor and professor, Rutgers University, New
Brunswick, N.J. 
1955  Published As If: Poems New and Selected (New Brunswick, N.J.:
Rutgers University Press. 143 pp.) 
1955 - 1972  Director, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Ripton, Vt. 
1956 - 1972  Poetry editor, Saturday Review 
1956  Prix de Rome, American Academy of Arts and Letters 
1959  Published The Reason for the Pelican (Philadelphia, Pa.: J.B.
Lippincott. 63 pp.) 
1960  D. Litt., Tufts University, Medford, Mass. 
1961  Published translation of Purgatorio by Dante Alighieri (New York,
N.Y.: New American Library. 350 pp.)
Published I Met a Man (Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin. 74 pp.) 
1963  Published Dialogue with an Audience (Philadelphia, Pa.: J.B.
Lippincott. 316 pp.) 
1964  Published Person to Person (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers
University Press. 83 pp.) 
1966  Published The Monster Den (Philadelphia, Pa.: J.B. Lippincott. 62
pp.) 
1970  Published translation of Paradiso by Dante Alighieri (New York,
N.Y.: New American Library. 367 pp.) 
1971  Published Lives of X (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University
Press. 118 pp.)
Published Manner of Speaking (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University
Press. 118 pp.) 
1978  Published Limericks, Too Gross with Isaac Asimov (New York,
N.Y.: W.W. Norton. 101 pp.) 
1980  Published A Browser's Dictionary (New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row.
429 pp.) 
1981  Published A Grossery of Limericks with Isaac Asimov (New York,
N.Y.: W.W. Norton. 101 pp.) 
1983  Published A Second Browser's Dictionary (New York, N.Y.: Harper
& Row. 329 pp.) 
1986 , Mar. 30 Died, Edison, N.J. 
1987  Posthumous publication of Good Words to You (New York, N.Y.:
Harper & Row. 343 pp.) 
1997  Posthumous publication of Collected Poems of John Ciardi edited
by Edward M. Cifelli (Fayetteville, Ark.: University of Arkansas Press.
618 pp.) 

Scope and Content Note

The papers of John Anthony Ciardi span the years 1910-1997, with the
bulk of the items concentrated in the period between 1960 and 1985. The
collection, which focuses on Ciardi's work as a poet, editor, literary critic,
lecturer, and journalist, is made up of three parts. Part I consists of two
series: Writings and Subject File. Part II consists of four series: General
Correspondence, Professional File, Writings, and Subject File. Part III also
consists of four series: General Correspondence, Professional File,
Writings, and Subject File. Included in the papers are advertisements,
biographical material, contracts, correspondence, newspaper clippings,
notes, photographs, press releases, research material, and royalty
statements as well as drafts, proofs, and printed versions of articles and
essays, aphorisms, book reviews, books, columns, etymological
dictionaries, limericks, plays, poems, poetry reviews, radio and television
scripts, and speeches and lectures. A few of the items are in Italian. 
Part I

The Writings series in Part I contains articles and essays on various topics,
drafts, notes, and proofs from five of Ciardi's books, including You Read
to Me, I'll Read to You and his translation of Paradiso, writings from his
Saturday Review column "Manner of Speaking," and numerous poems.

The Subject File contains biographical material as well as items relating to
art exhibitions, censorship, English language instruction, plagiarism, and
speaking engagements.

Part II

Part II consists of material organized in four series. The first series,
General Correspondence, principally covers the period of the 1950s and
1960s during which Ciardi was director of the Bread Loaf Writers'
Conference and poetry editor at Saturday Review magazine. Prominent
correspondents include writers and poets, publishers, and others influential
in American culture, such as Leonie Adams, Norman Cousins, Richard
Eberhardt, Dudley Fitts, Robert Frost, John Holmes, Dan Jaffe, X. J.
Kennedy, Alfred Kreymborg, Archibald MacLeish, John Frederick Nims,
Theodore Roethke, Muriel Rukeyser, Winfield Townley Scott, William
Sloane, May Swenson, and Richard Wilbur. The series primarily
documents Ciardi's activities at Saturday Review. In addition to exchanges
between Ciardi and Norman Cousins, managing editor of the magazine,
regarding operational policy and procedures, the correspondence also
includes reader responses, poems and essays submitted for publication,
and literary controversies, such as Ciardi's review of Anne Morrow
Lindbergh's collection of poems, The Unicorn, and his debate with Lord
Dunsany concerning the state of contemporary poetry. Additional
correspondence may be found in Selected Letters of John Ciardi, a
published collection of letters to and from Ciardi from 1935 through 1986.

The Professional File reflects Ciardi's association with colleges and
universities, the publishing industry, educational television, the promotion
of writing and poetry, public speaking, and audio recordings. His years as
a college professor are documented in files on Harvard College, Rutgers
University, and the University of Missouri at Kansas City. His tenure at
Saturday Review is covered in files by that name. His work as editor of
poetry and science fiction at Twayne Publishers is also chronicled in the
series. A sizable file of correspondence, primarily between Ciardi and
Jacob Steinberg, managing editor and cofounder of the company,
documents the establishment and operation of the publishing firm in its
early years. Although "Unity of the Arts," Ciardi's 1958 proposal for an
educational television series, failed to receive sponsorship, in 1961-1962
he did have a successful run with "Accent," which he hosted and narrated
on the CBS Television Network. Both of these activities are documented
in the Professional File.

Ciardi promoted the training of writers and poets through his participation
in writing conferences and his twenty-five-year involvement with the
Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, seventeen of which he served as its
director. His frequent public speaking engagements are noted in files
related to general conferences, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and
Harry Walker, Inc., the speakers bureau which represented Ciardi. Ciardi
was also involved with several companies which produced recordings of
him reading his own poems and those of others. These activities are
chronicled in files on Folkway Records, Harcourt, Brace & World, and the
Library of Congress.

Poetry constitutes the largest section of the Writings series in Part II. His
column, "Manner of Speaking," appeared in Saturday Review for over a
decade. Ciardi published over four dozen books, particularly collections of
poetry and essays. There is also material related to his work during a
twenty-year period in which he translated Dante Alighieri's Divine
Comedy. He published each part as he finished translating it and then
published all three in a complete edition. Ciardi's program on National
Public Radio, "A Word in Your Ear," is documented in radio scripts in the
series. His pedagogical activities are reflected in files on anthologies and
textbooks. The series also contains writings by others, many of which were
complimentary copies from writers, poets, and playwrights who were
friends of Ciardi, while other material was submitted by strangers for
review or publication. Among these are a draft of Fletcher Pratt's proposed
fourth biographical volume on Napoleon Bonaparte, a photocopy of
Archibald MacLeish's director's copy of J.B.: A Play in Verse, poems by
Richard Eberhard, John Holmes, Selwyn Schwartz, and Peter Viereck, a
radioscript by Studs Terkel, and a short story by Stephen Vincent Benét.

The Subject File consists of awards, interviews, obituaries, military service
records, newspaper clippings, painting and sculpture catalogs,
photographs, material on Ciardi's student days at Bates College and Tufts
University, and numerous writings about him. The series includes files on
Ciardi's support for Henry Wallace and the Progressive Party in the 1947
presidential election, literary censorship, cancellation of speaking
engagements at racially segregated conferences in Alabama and
Mississippi during the 1960s, and the House Internal Security Committee
which labeled him a "radical speaker" during the campus unrest of the
1960s. Additional files document Ciardi's fellowship from the American
Academy in Rome in 1957, his membership in the American Academy
and Institute of Arts and Letters, and his involvement with the College
English Association.

Part III

Part III consists of material organized in four series. The General
Correspondence series principally covers the years 1961-1962 and
documents Ciardi's work as poetry editor at Saturday Review. Prominent
correspondents include George Abbe, Roy P. Basler, Norman Cousins, J.
Frank Dobie, Richard Eberhardt, Dudley Fitts, John Holmes, Archibald
MacLeish, Robert Pack, and Henry F. Thoma. Subjects in the
correspondence include discussions between Norman Cousins and Ciardi
regarding editorial matters, proposed literary projects with colleagues,
reader response, and material submitted for publication.

The Professional File chronicles Ciardi's activities as a television
personality, public speaker, magazine editor, and a poetry reader for
commercial sound recordings. From 1961 through 1962 Ciardi was the
host and narrator of "Accent," a documentary series on the CBS Television
Network, and files under this heading contain ideas for shows, scripts, and
an essay by Ciardi summarizing the cancellation of the series. Files related
to Harry Walker, Inc., contain Ciardi's itineraries and expense accounts,
reflecting his career as a public speaker. Many of his reviews of
phonograph records are included in files related to the Saturday Review.
Ciardi's recordings are also noted in the series.

Poetry covering a wide range of subjects constitutes the major portion of
the material in the Writings series of Part III. Articles, essays, and columns
are also included, particularly Ciardi's column in the Saturday Review.
The files also document many of Ciardi's collections of poetry and essays,
such as Dialogue with an Audience, In Fact, and Person to Person.
Material related to his translation of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy is
contained in the series as well. Representative of Ciardi's collections of
children's poems are files on An Alphabestiary, I Met a Man, The King
Who Saved Himself from Being Saved, The Man Who Sang the Sillies,
and The Monster Den. In addition, there is material relating to limericks
and textbooks as well as writing by others.

The Subject File reflects Ciardi's varied interests and activities. Ciardi's
appearance as a witness in the trial regarding William Burrough's Naked
Lunch is documented in a file on censorship. His cancellation of a
speaking engagement at a racially segregated teachers' conference in
Alabama in 1961 is chronicled in the Alabama Education Association file.
His service as a consultant to the Special Committee on Student
Publications is detailed in a Tufts University file. His interest in modern
art is reflected in painting and sculpture catalogs he collected over the
years. Samples of his own artistic renderings are found in the drawings
file. Additional subjects include the American Academy and Institute of
Arts and Letters and the Garden State Choral Society.

Organization of the Papers
The collection is arranged in three parts composed of twelve series:

Part I 
Writings, 1957-1969, n.d. 
Subject File, 1949-1972, n.d. 
Part I: Oversize, n.d.
Part II 
General Correspondence, 1946-1991, n.d. 
Professional File, 1936-1989, n.d. 
Writings, 1910-1997, n.d. 
Subject File, 1914-1987, n.d. 
Oversize, 1960, n.d.
Part III 
General Correspondence, 1953-1985, n.d. 
Professional File, 1961-1968, n.d. 
Writings, 1947-1968, n.d. 
Subject File, 1951-1965, n.d.



April 15, 2004