Overview
Correspondence, poems, prose, notes, and drawings by American poet Edward Estlin Cummings. Also includes papers of his third wife Marion Morehouse.
Dates
- 1870-1969
Language of Materials
Collections material is in English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.
MS Am 1892.7: Section E. was restricted until 1991. It is now open.
Conditions Governing Use
Images linked to this finding aid are intended for public access and educational use. This material is owned and/or held by the Houghton Library, and is provided solely for the purpose of teaching or individual research. Any other use, including commercial reuse, mounting on other systems, or other forms of redistribution requires the permission of the curator.
Extent
78 linear feet (155 boxes)Includes correspondence, manuscripts and working drafts of poems and other writings, notes, diaries, sketch books, travel notebooks, galley and page proofs, business papers, drawings, photographs, scrapbooks, clippings, memorabilia, phonograph records, audio tapes, and one film. Cummings' correspondence includes long runs of family letters, letters from literary friends and publishers and from his agents Brandt & Brandt. Correspondents include: Kevin Andrews, Nancy (Thayer) Roosevelt Andrews, Alfred Jules Ayer, Edward Cummings, Jane Cummings, Rebecca Haswell Cummings, David Leo Diamond, John Dos Passos, Peter Monro Jack, Sheri Martinelli, Paul Nordoff, Ezra Pound, Elizabeth (Cummings) Qualey, Scofield Thayer, and Hildegard Lasell Watson, among others.
Cummings' art work is represented by numerous drawings, portraits, and self-portraits as well as catalogues and clippings concerning his art. Also includes papers of his wife Marion Morehouse and some manuscripts by others.
Biographical / Historical
Cummings was an American poet. Morehouse was his third wife and was a model, actress, and photographer.
Arrangement
Arranged into the following series:
- I. MS Am 1892: Letters to E. E. Cummings
- II. MS Am 1892.1: Letters from E. E. Cummings
- III. MS Am 1892.2: Letters to Marion Morehouse
- IV. MS Am 1892.3: Letters from Marion Morehouse
- V. MS Am 1892.4: Other letters
- VI. MS Am 1892.5: Poems
- ___A. Single poems
- ___B. Groups of poems
- ___C. Worksheets, fragments, and drafts of poems
- VII. MS Am 1892.6: Prose
- VIII. MS Am 1892.7: Notes
- ___A. Notes concerning plays
- ___B. Other notes
- ___D. Class and other early notes
- ___E. Personal notes
- IX. MS Am 1892.8: Drawings
- XIV. MS Am 1892.9: Galley proofs and page proofs
- ___A. Works by E. E. Cummings
- ___B. Works by others
- IX. MS Am 1892.10: Compositions by others
- X. MS Am 1892.11: Other papers
- ___A. Tapes and records
- ___B. Business papers
- ___C. Photographs
- ___D. Scrapbooks
- ___E. Miscellaneous printed materials
- ___F. Diaries, engagement books, notebooks
- ___G. Ephemera
Physical Location
b, pf
Immediate Source of Acquisition
67M-150a. Purchased with the Amy Lowell Fund from Marion Morehouse; received: 1966-1971.
This collection comprises the second part of the letters and manuscripts of E. E. Cummings, which were the property of Cummings at the time of his death. This collection also consists of Cummings' letters and manuscripts which were the property of Marion Morehouse at the time of her death in 1969.
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. Also formerly listed as Marion Morehouse Cummings.
Processing Information
Box 132 was inadvertently skipped during box numbering.
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 contextual historical note as well as 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 additional papers, 1870-1969: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou01075
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.
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