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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Am 1658

Richard Selig papers

Overview

Correspondence and various documents of American poet Richard Selig.

Dates

  • Creation: 1935-1962
  • Creation: Majority of material found in 1949-1962

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.

Extent

2.5 linear feet (5 boxes)

Correspondence (including 18 letters from Stephen Spender), manuscripts of poetry and prose, notebooks and diaries, college notes and term papers. Includes correspondence of Peter Levi and his materials relating to the posthumous publication of Selig's poems, including proof copies of the book published in 1962. Also a few poems by others, including one by William Carlos Williams.

Biographical / Historical

Selig was an American poet. Educated at the University of Washington, he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. Returning to the U.S. in 1956, he worked in the public relations department of Western Electric. He died of Hodgkin's disease in 1957. A volume of his poems was published posthumously in 1962 by the Dolmen Press, Dublin.

Arrangement

Organized into the following series:

  1. I. Materials concerning Richard Jay Selig and his work
  2. II. Correspondence
  3. ___A. Letters by Richard Jay Selig to various people
  4. ___B. Letters to Richard Jay Selig from various people
  5. ___C. Letters to Peter Levi from various people
  6. ___D. Letters by other people
  7. III. Poetry
  8. IV. Prose
  9. V. Notebooks and diaries
  10. VI. College notes and term papers
  11. VII. Miscellaneous printed works
  12. VIII. Poetry by other authors

Physical Location

b

Immediate Source of Acquisition

*62M-50. Gift of Peter Levi, S.J. ; received: 1962.

Related Materials

Additional papers of Richard Selig are at Magdalen College, Oxford.

Title
Selig, Richard, 1929-1957. Richard Selig papers, 1935-1962: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou00802

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

Contact:
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