Purchase, 2013-2014 (13-12-008-P, 14-01-008-P)
Open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using archival materials. Two notebooks restricted due to condition and some correspondence restricted during Collins' lifetime.
Open for research. Two notebooks restricted due to condition and some correspondence
restricted during Collins' lifetime. Researchers must create an online Research
Account and agree to the Materials Use Policy before using archival materials. To
request access to electronic files, please email
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Katherine Mosley, 2016
American poet and academic William James Collins was born March 22, 1941, in New York, New York. The only child of Katharine "Kay" MacIsaac (1901-1997) and William Stephen Collins (1901-1994), Collins grew up in Queens and White Plains, New York. He received a B.A. in English from College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1963, followed by an M.A. (1965) and Ph.D. (1971) from the University of California, Riverside.
Collins began his teaching career by working as an instructor at San Bernardino Valley College (1963-1964) and as a teaching assistant at the University of California, Riverside (1964-1967) while earning his degrees. His longtime association with the Herbert H. Lehman College began when he was hired as a lecturer at the time that the college was established as an independent City University of New York campus in the Bronx in 1968. The following year he was made professor; Collins has continued to teach at the college since that time and currently holds the title Distinguished Professor of English. In addition, he has taught at Stony Brook Southampton and Sarah Lawrence College and is Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Winter Park Institute at Rollins College.
In 1975, Collins co-founded and edited the small literary magazine
Collins was appointed to two terms as Poet Laureate of the United States (2001-2003) and served as the New York State Poet (2004-2006). Among his many other honors, Collins was chosen to be a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library in 1992 and was inducted into the Academy of Arts and Letters in 2016. He directed the Katonah Poetry Series from 1991 to 2008 and in 2012 became a poetry consultant for
Collins married architect Diane Lynn Olbright on January 21, 1978. For most of their married life he lived in Somers, New York, but following their separation in 2006, Collins moved to Florida, where he became engaged to lawyer and poet Suzannah Gilman in 2013.
In addition to material found within the Billy Collins Papers, the following sources were used:
The papers of American poet Billy Collins include notebooks, drafts, proofs, clippings, tearsheets, reviews, royalty statements, and agreements relating to his poetry, essays, books, and other published works; drafts, programs, and schedules for commencement addresses, readings, and other public appearances; photographs; travel diaries; datebooks; sketchbooks and drawings; professional and personal correspondence; fan mail; press and publicity material; childhood papers; college course notes, essays, and dissertation; and lecture notes, syllabi, exams, and assignments from his teaching career.The materials date from 1935 to 2013 (bulk 1962-2013) and are organized in four series: I. Works by Collins (1962-2013, 28 boxes); II. Correspondence (1962-2013, 25 boxes); III. Personal and Career-Related Material (1935-2013, 39 boxes); and IV. Works by Others (1965-2013, 3 boxes). Any labels found on file folders have been transcribed and in most cases are indicated by single quotation marks in the container list. Descriptions of electronic files of manuscript drafts and digital images from Collins’ Apple G3 laptop computer (1312008P_001) and four computer disks (1312008P_002 through 1312008P_005) are included in the container list.
Series I. Works by Collins contains materials relating to his poetry, books, talks, essays, and reviews and is divided into six subseries: A. Poetry, 1962-2013; Subseries B. Notebooks and Sketchbooks, 1964-2013; Subseries C. Commencement Addresses, Lectures, and Other Talks, 1993-2013; Subseries D. Contributions to Books and Other Publications, 1991-2013; Subseries E. Editing, 1975-2010; and Subseries F. Reviews by Collins, 1978-2006. The subseries are arranged alphabetically, with the exception of notebooks and sketchbooks, which are in chronological order.
Subseries A. Poetry consists of drafts, proofs, and printed texts of individual poems, followed by manuscripts, publication material, and promotional material for Collins' published collections. Of particular note are typescript drafts of one of his best-known poems,
Subseries B. Notebooks and Sketchbooks include Collins' notebooks of handwritten drafts, drawings, journal entries, and notes; and his sketchbooks, all dating from 1964 to 2013. The titles of drafts of works found within the notebooks have not been indexed, but the notebooks are arranged chronologically, and any titles written on them are included in single quotation marks in the container list descriptions. Collins' beginning drafts of most of his poems are written in his notebooks, so that a particular poem may be present in Subseries A as a handwritten or typescript draft and also located in a notebook from that time period. For example, early handwritten drafts and lists of names for Collins' poem
Subseries C. Commencement Addresses, Lectures, and Other Talks is comprised primarily of typescript and handwritten drafts of Collins' commencement addresses, keynote speeches and presentations at workshops and conferences, and talks at festivals and various other events. These date from 1993 to 2013, and some drafts are accompanied by handwritten notes, programs and other material. Additional material relating to Collins' appearances may be found in his correspondence, press and publicity files, and teaching files.
Subseries D. Contributions to Books and Other Publications consists mainly of drafts and proofs representing Collins' blurbs for books by other authors; essays published in anthologies, periodicals, catalogs, and programs; introductions, forewords, and prefaces to works by other authors; and poems by or translated by Collins that he contributed to books edited by other authors. These materials date from 1991 to 2013 and are arranged alphabetically within each group. Most blurbs are handwritten drafts on letters from publishers, but some typescripts are also present. Among items of particular interest are manuscripts relating to Collins' introductory comments about his poems included in
Subseries E. Editing includes materials relating to Collins' work as editor of
Subseries F. Reviews by Collins spans the years 1978 to 2006 and is made up of tearsheets and clippings of Collins' reviews of works by other authors, as well as a typescript of his review of
Series II. Correspondence is comprised of Collins' personal and professional correspondence from 1962 to 2013. The voluminous files are arranged chronologically by year, with general alphabetical groupings. Although some copies of Collins' outgoing letters are present (usually as draft responses written on incoming letters), the majority of the correspondence consists of incoming letters from his agents, publishers, friends and fans, and from colleges and organizations requesting appearances by Collins. More recent files also include some printouts of email exchanges. While the bulk of correspondence is located in the Correspondence series, additional letters are scattered throughout the papers. An index of correspondents at the end of this finding aid contains locations for all correspondence in the collection.
Noteworthy professional correspondence includes that with Collins' longtime literary agent Chris Calhoun; Steven Barclay, whose lecture agency arranges Collins' speaking engagements; and Collins' editors Daniel Menaker at Random House, Cynthia Miller at the University of Pittsburgh Press, and Miller Williams at the University of Arkansas Press. Among other significant correspondents are Sister Mary Catherine Alexander, Warner Berthoff, Maude Schuyler Clay, Dan Christensen, Lee Gurga of Modern Haiku, Janice Fitzpatrick and James Simmons of Poets' House, Mark Halliday, Edward Hirsch, Lawrence Johns, David Lehman, Thomas Lux, Ronald Koertge, Todd McEwen, Joseph Parisi of
Series III. Personal and Career-Related Material comprises awards and honors; childhood and family papers; curriculum vitae; datebooks; travel diaries (some with photographs and drawings); scrapbooks; papers relating to Collins' education and academic degrees; ephemera; financial and legal material; proposed projects; files concerning the Katonah Village Library Poetry Series and other organizations and professional societies; photographs; poetry competitions; press and publicity files; materials related to Collins' readings and other appearances; and Collins' teaching files. These materials all date from 1935 to 2013 and are arranged alphabetically by subject, with further divisions by date.
Collins' postgraduate studies focused on nineteenth-century English literature, particularly the Romantic period. Papers relating to his coursework are accompanied by drafts of his 1971 dissertation on Wordsworth and the Romantic poet's conception of an audience. Within financial and legal materials are publication and broadcast agreements, royalty and earnings statements, and a file of correspondence and clippings regarding the dispute between Random House and the University of Pittsburgh Press over publication rights to Collins' poetry. Press and publicity files include clippings, tearsheets, and proofs of published articles about and interviews with Collins; transcripts of interviews; and Collins' typescript responses to journalists' questions, as well as publisher catalogs and announcements, clippings of book reviews and advertisements, and promotional material from the Steven Barclay Agency. Collins' readings and other public appearances, which have been handled by the Steven Barclay Agency since 2000, are represented by engagement contracts, itineraries and schedules, tickets and travel receipts, nametags and badges, programs, flyers, press releases, invitations, questions submitted by audience members, and reading copies of poems. Additional files relate to specific appearances, including the
Collins' teaching career is documented by notes (most on index cards), course handouts, syllabi, writing exercises and assignments, and exams; grade books; and appointment letters and other employment correspondence from Lehman College, Rollins College, Sarah Lawrence College, and Stony Brook University. The numerous index cards of typed and handwritten lecture notes include jokes and quotations, and some grade books also contain lists of student malapropisms and teaching notes. Programs, brochures, rosters, and similar items relating to specific workshops and seminars, such as the Key West Literary Seminar and Southampton Writers Conference, and several files holding notes and poems used for unidentified lectures or workshops conclude the series.
Series IV. Works by Others (1965-2013) is comprised of materials created by writers and artists other than Collins and is divided into two subseries: A. Works Related to Collins and His Work, and B. Other Works. Both subseries are arranged alphabetically by author. Among notable manuscripts about Collins and his work are a copy of an elaborate scrapbook made by Karieann Morehouse of Collins' poem
For additional materials related to Billy Collins at the Harry Ransom Center, see manuscript holdings for Miller Williams.
Marc H. Miller's early photographs and manuscript material relating to Billy Collins may be found on his website, 98 Bowery 1969-89: View from the Top Floor, www.98bowery.com (accessed December 2016).
Bound volumes and serials (including eleven issues of
Commercial compact disc covers on metal rings and Collins' poet laureate identification badge and key were transferred to the Ransom Center Personal Effects Collection.