Acquisition	Purchases, 1969-1974 (R4966, R5857, R6110)
	Processed by	Katie Salzmann, 1995; Sarah Demb, 1996

Repository:

Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

	Derek Parker, critic, interviewer, author, and editor, was born in Looe, Cornwall, England, in 1932. He attended schools in England until the age of seventeen. Parker describes himself as "primarily a journalistic hack with perhaps a flair for interpreting the poetry of others; an occasional poet, an editor with widely catholic tastes."
	Parker is a prolific writer and has been published in many forms, including verse, essays, and monographs, but he is perhaps best known for his work with the British Broadcasting Corporation and for his career as an editor. He has edited anthologies of poetry, letters, and journals, including Poetry Review (1966-1970) and The Author (1986-).
	The Poetry Review is the official journal of the Poetry Society which was founded in 1909 to promote poetry, and publishes poetry, critical essays on poetry and poetics, and reviews. Derek Parker assumed editorship in 1966, and under his guidance, the journal published work by poets such as W. H. Auden, Robert Graves, John Heath-Stubbs, and Hugh MacDiarmid. Members of the Poetry Society who were active during Parker's editorship include: Presidents Neville Coghill and William Plomer; Vice Presidents Robert Armstrong, Sir John Betjeman, Sir Francis Meynell, and Margaret Rawlings; and Chairmen Geoffrey Handly-Taylor and Norman Hidden.
	During his tenure as editor of the Poetry Review, Parker was involved in several other literary activities, including his editorship with John Lehmann of Selected Letters of Edith Sitwell (1970), his contributions to Contemporary Poets of the English Language and Liberté, and his British Broadcasting Corporation interview programs.
	Since leaving the Poetry Review, Parker has been active in other literary ventures, often collaborating with his wife, Julia Louise Parker.
	Throughout his career, Parker has been involved in many literary and artistic societies. He has been a member of the Radiowriter's Association, has served on the council of the Society of Authors, on the grand council of the Royal Academy of Dancing, and as registrar of the Royal Literary Fund.

	The Derek Parker Collection, 1955-1970, consists of correspondence, production files, and printed materials relating to Parker's literary career. The bulk of the collection documents Parker's editorship of the Poetry Review from 1966-1970. Two series form the collection: Parker's editorial files for the Poetry Review, 1965-1970 (4.5 boxes), and documents relating to Parker's other literary activities, 1955-1970 (1 box).
	Of the two series, Parker's editorial files for the Poetry Review is the largest and potentially most important. It is subdivided into three subseries: Correspondence, 1966-1970; Production Materials, 1966-1970; and the Poetry Society, 1965-1968. These three subseries document the contributions to and editorship and production of the Poetry Review as well as other activities of its sponsoring organization, the Poetry Society. The Correspondence subseries includes both outgoing and incoming mail and highlights Parker's role as editor. The material primarily regards contributions to the Poetry Review. The Production Material subseries comprises the bulk of the collection. A combination of copy, paste-up, and galley proof files of each issue published during Parker's editorship document the editing and publishing process of the Poetry Review.
	The second series, Literary Activities, represents Parker's wide range of literary interests. The series is arranged in two subseries, General Correspondence, 1955-1970, and Projects, 1960-1970. The Projects subseries is arranged alphabetically by project, including BBC Interviews, 1963-1969, Civil List Pension for Jack Clemo, 1960-1961, Contemporary Poets of the English Language, 1969, Edith Sitwell: Selected Letters, 1965-1970, and Liberté, 1967. This subseries consists almost solely of correspondence relating to these various projects, documenting Parker's role in them. Significant correspondents in this series include W. H. Auden, Gavin Bantock, Ronald Bottrall, Richard Church, Noel Coward, Bonamy Dobree, Valerie Eliot, Richard Garnett, Robert Graves, Sir Alec Guinness, Christopher Isherwood, George Wilson Knight, John Lehmann, Laurence Olivier, Osbert Sitwell, Stevie Smith, Stephen Spender, and A. J. P. Taylor.

	Correspondents
		Abbott, Eric S.
		Aberconway, Christabel Mary Macnaghten McLaren, Baroness, 1890-
		Auden, W.H. (Wystan Hugh), 1907-1973
		Bantock, Gavin, 1939-
		Barker, George, 1913-
		Betjman, John, Sir, 1906-
		Blunden, Edmund, 1896-1974
		Bottrall, Ronald, 1906-
		Bryher, Winifred, 1894-
		Carman, Philip, 1911-
		Causley, Charles, 1917-
		Church, Richard
		Clark, Leonard
		Clemo, Jack R., 1916-
		Coward, Noel, 1899-1973
		Day, Lewis, C. (Cecil), 1904-1972
		Dobree, Bonamy, 1891-
		Eberhart, Richard, 1904-
		Eliot, Valerie
		Enright, D.J. (Dennis Joseph), 1920-
		Finlay, Ian Hamilton
		Garnett, Richard
		Graves, Robert, 1895-
		Greene, Graham, 1904-
		Guinness, Alec, 1914-
		Gunn, Thom
		Heath-Stubbs, John Francis Alexander, 1918-
		Hepworth, Barbara, Dame, 1903-1975
		Hollo, Anselm, 1934-
		Hughes, Ted, 1930-
		Isherwood, Christopher, 1926-
		Jennings, Elizabeth, 1926-
		Kirkup, James, 1918-
		Knight, George Wilson, 1897-
		Larkin, Philip, 1924-
		Lehmann, John, 1907-
		Lindsay, Jack, 1900-
		Lucie-Smith, Edward, 1933-
		Macbeth, George
		MacDiarmid, Hugh, 1892-1978
		MacInnes, Colin
		Middleton, Christopher, 1926-
		Moore, Gerald, 1923-
		Nance, R. Morton (Robert Morton)
		Nijinsky, Romola de Pulszky
		Olivier, Laurence, 1907-
		Pilon, Jean-Guy
		Pinter, Harold, 1930-
		Plomer, William, 1903-1973
		Powell, Anthony, 1905-
		Pudney, John, 1909-1977
		Purdy, James
		Quennell, Peter, 1905-
		Raine, Kathleen, 1908-
		Rawlings, Margaret
		Roche, Paul, 1927
		Rowse, A.L. (Alfred Leslie)
		Sassoon, Siegfried, 1886-1967
		Singleton, Geoffrey
		Sitwell, Francis
		Sitwell, Georgia
		Sitwell, Osbert, 1892-1969rell
		Sitwell, Sacheve
		Smith, Stevie, 1902-1971
		Spender, Stephen
		Stanford, Derek
		Taylor, A.J.P. (Alan John Percival), 1906-
		Thomas, D.M.
		Tippett, Michael, 1905-
		Waley, Alison
		Watkins, Vernon Phillips, 1906-1967
		Wellington, Gerald Wellesley, 7th Duke of, 1885-1972
		Whicker, Lawrence R.
		Whyte, Lancelot Law, 1896-
		Wilson, Colin, 1931-
	Subjects
		Sitwell, Edith, Dame, 1887-1964
		Poetry Society
		Poetry Review (London, England: 1912)
		Poetry--Editing
		>Poetry--History and criticism
		Poetry, Modern--20th century
		Poetry--Periodicals
		Poetry, English
	Document Types
		Christmas cards
		Galley proofs
		Petitions
		Poems
		Postcards