Skip to main content
COLLECTION Identifier: MS Am 1823-1823.10

E. E. Cummings papers

Overview

Correspondence and working drafts of poems and other writings by American poet E. E. Cummings.

Dates

  • Creation: 1870-1969
  • Creation: 1870-1969

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.

Extent

18 linear feet (116 boxes)
18 linear feet (116 boxes)

The Cummings collection includes most of the papers that were in his possession at the time of his death. Includes correspondence, manuscripts and working drafts of poems and other writings. There are letters by Cummings to his mother and father, and carbon copies of most of the outgoing letters from the later years of his life. Cummings' correspondence includes long runs of family letters, letters from literary friends, and letters from publishers (chiefly from Harcourt, Brace), and from his agents Brandt & Brandt.

Biographical / Historical

Cummings was an American poet.

Arrangement

Organized into the following series:

  1. I. MS Am 1823: Letters to E. E. Cummings
  2. II. MS Am 1823.1: Letters from E. E. Cummings
  3. III. MS Am 1823.2: Letters to Marion (Morehouse) Cummings
  4. IV. MS Am 1823.3: Other letters
  5. V. MS Am 1823.4: Books and pamphlets
  6. VI. MS Am 1823.5: Poems
  7. ___A. Published poems
  8. ___ B. Other poems
  9. VII. MS Am 1823.6: Prose
  10. VIII. MS Am 1823.7: Notes, drawings, tapes, and film
  11. ___A. Notes and drawings
  12. ___ B. Tapes and film
  13. IX. MS Am 1823.8: Business papers and miscellaney
  14. ___A. Agreements and contracts
  15. ___ B. Royalty statements
  16. ___C. Miscellaney
  17. X. MS Am 1823.9: Other manuscripts
  18. XI. MS Am 1823.10: Additional correspondence

Physical Location

b, pf

Immediate Source of Acquisition

67M-150. Purchased with the Lowell fund from Marion Morehouse ; received: 1966.

Processing Information

In 2020-2021, as part of a conscious and inclusive re-description effort, entries were updated to include a woman’s first name when identified.

Marion Morehouse formerly listed as Mrs. Edward Estlin Cummings

Link to catalog

Processing Information

This finding aid was revised in 2022 to address racist descriptive language. During that revision, description was changed in the description of a single item; the derogatory term appears in a formal title and thus was not removed, but a processing information note explaining the term's presence were added to the item's description. If you have questions or comments about these revisions, please contact Houghton Library. If you have questions or comments about these revisions, please contact Houghton Library. For more information on reparative archival description at Harvard, see Harvard Library’s Statement on Harmful Language in Archival Description.

Title
Cummings, E. E. (Edward Estlin), 1894-1962. E. E. Cummings papers, 1870-1969: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou00946

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:
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440