Register of the Holly Prado Papers
MSS 597
Finding aid prepared by Mandeville Special Collections Library
Mandeville Special Collections Library
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, California, 92093-0175
858-534-2533
spcoll@ucsd.edu
Copyright 2005
Descriptive Summary
Title: Holly Prado Papers
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 597
Contributing Institution:
Mandeville Special Collections Library
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, California, 92093-0175
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
10.6 Linear feet
(28 archives boxes, 2 oversize folders)
Date (inclusive): 1952 - 2007
Abstract: The Holly Prado Papers include material spanning the career of poet Holly Prado, from examples of early efforts written in
her youth in the 1950s, through her professional work into the early 2000s, with the greatest portion of material dating from
the 1970s and 1990s. Prado's personal journals, dating from 1960 - 1999, make up the largest portion of the collection. Influenced
by Jungian psychology, Prado has described journals an important tool for "nourishing" her writing. The second largest group
of material consists of poetry, sometimes including more than one draft, annotations, and corrections. The balance of the
collection includes personal and professional correspondence, notes, and materials relating to Prado's active involvement
with teaching and literary events.
Creator:
Prado, Holly
Scope and Content of Collection
Accession Processed in 2006
The Holly Prado Papers include material spanning the career of Holly Prado, from examples of early efforts written in her
youth in the 1950s, through her professional work into the late 1990s, with the greatest portion of material dating from the
1970s and 1980s. Prado's personal journals make up the largest portion of the collection. The second largest group of material
consists of poetry, sometimes including more than one draft, annotations and corrections. The balance of the collection includes
correspondence, notes, and materials relating to Prado's active involvement with teaching and literary events.
The collection is arranged in ten series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) WRITINGS, 4) NOTES, 5) READINGS,
6) TEACHING MATERIALS, 7) CONFERENCES, 8) JOURNALS, 9) WRITINGS BY OTHERS, and 10) MISCELLANEOUS.
SERIES 1: BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS
The BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS series contains material providing general background on Holly Prado's life and career. It includes
drafts of her resumes from the 1970s through late 1980s, brief biographies, a grant application, and newspaper clippings of
articles about Prado.
SERIES 2: CORRESPONDENCE
The CORRESPONDENCE series includes personal and professional correspondence. Given Prado's active involvement with poetry
publications and acquaintance with other writers, professional and personal may overlap, with personal letters from friends
occasionally including comments on Prado's work. Query letters to poetry journals and magazines are also present.
SERIES 3: WRITINGS
The WRITINGS series chiefly consists of Prado's poetry, typically in typescript form, sometimes annotated. Some examples of
Prado's earliest writing efforts from the 1950s and early 1960s are also present, including work Prado submitted for publication
while still a student at Albion College and clippings of a column Prado wrote for the Albion College student newspaper.
The series is arranged in six subseries: A) Childhood and Early Writings, B) Albion College, C) Poems, D) Poetry Collections,
E) Poetry Miscellaneous, and F) Prose.
A) The Childhood and Early Writings subseries includes material Prado describes in a note as writing created "before I had
any idea I could have a writing life." Earliest material includes poems from the early 1950s. Short prose and a one act play
are also present.
B) The Albion College subseries primarily includes short prose written while Prado was a college student, between 1954 and
1960, writing under her given name, Holly Johnson. Several clippings of her column for the Albion College student newspaper,
The Pleiad, are also included.
C) The Poems subseries includes individual poems and prose-poems, finished and unfinished, some in more than one version.
Poems are typically typed, occasionally with handwritten annotations, and date from the late 1970s to early 1990s.
D) The Poetry Collections subseries includes groups of poems from Prado's files with a collective title. Some work is grouped
thematically, some created as a poem cycle, and some grouped in collections intended for publication. Work dates from the
1970s to early 1990s.
E) The Poetry Miscellaneous subseries consists of poems and prose-poems from Prado's files grouped to represent various date
spans. The largest portion of material dates from the 1970s.
F) The Prose subseries includes several works of short prose, typed drafts and newspaper clippings of Prado's reviews for
the
Los Angeles Times, and a draft of her unpublished novel The Bright Obvious from 1989.
SERIES 4: NOTES
The NOTES series chiefly consists of notepads which Prado and her husband, actor and poet Harry Northup, kept by their bedside
between 1980 and 1995. On the notepads Prado and Northup shared thoughts, feelings, observations, and short messages. The
subseries also includes a small amount of Prado's writing notes, notes from and about classes she attended in 1963 and 1964,
and some working lists of material she had submitted for publication and information about sources for grants and awards.
SERIES 5: READINGS
The READINGS series includes preparatory material and annotated poems used for live readings during the 1970s and 1980s.
SERIES 6: TEACHING MATERIALS
The TEACHING MATERIALS series includes preparatory material for writing workshops led by Prado, and courses for which Prado
was a guest lecturer.
SERIES 7: CONFERENCES
The CONFERENCES series chiefly consists of notes and organizational material for conferences in which Prado participated.
The largest amount of material relates to the Woman's Words Conference (1975), including promotional materials which Prado
helped create and a packet of writings by various authors who participated in the conference.
SERIES 8: JOURNALS
The JOURNALS series comprises the largest amount of material in the collection. Prado's personal journals date from 1960 through
1999. Influenced by Jungian psychology, Prado has described journals an important tool for "nourishing" her writing. They
record thoughts, experiences, and dreams, and sometimes include drawings, photographs, or ephemera. Some journals deal specifically
with trips Prado took, or dreams and are typically handwritten.
SERIES 9: WRITINGS BY OTHERS
The WRITINGS BY OTHERS series includes a small selection of material, chiefly short prose, by authors other than Prado on
subjects of interest to her. Works of particular note in this series are essays written by students evaluating Prado's writing.
SERIES 10: MISCELLANEOUS
The MISCELLANEOUS series includes material relating to a memorial service for poet Leland Hickman; a collection of newspaper
clippings, correspondence and other material relating to a dispute between Los Angeles area poets and the
Los Angeles Times Book Review, which led to an organized demonstration in 1988; an abstract photograph; a calendar; and miscellaneous publication announcements.
Accession Processed in 2008
The accession processed in 2008 compliments the previous accession. It includes material spanning Prado's work mainly through
the 1980s and 1990s. It is arranged in four series: 11) CORRESPONDENCE, 12) WRITINGS, 13) READINGS, and 14) JOURNALS.
SERIES 11: CORRESPONDENCE
The CORRESPONDENCE series includes personal and private correspondece from 1988-2007. It includes letters with publishers,
as well as personal correspondence that may also include professional comments.
SERIES 12: WRITINGS
The WRITINGS series consists chiefly of Prado's poetry collections as well as works published in other journals. It is arranged
in four subseries: A) Poetry Collections, B) Prose, C) Works Within Journals, and D) Miscellaneous.
A) The Poetry Collections subseries includes collections of poems compiled under one title, including Prado's works
American Poetry and
Orpheus. The work spans from 1991 through 2003.
B) The Prose subseries includes essays and publishing information on Prado's novel
Gardens, 1982 through 1987.
C) The Works Within Journals are instances of Prado's work in other publications, from 1973 through 2006.
D) The Miscellaneous subseries includes essays written by others on Prado's work and other unnamed writing projects.
SERIES 13: READINGS
The READINGS series includes annotated materials used for live readings during the 1990s.
SERIES 14: JOURNALS
The JOURNALS series includes Prado's personal journals from 1999 to 2004. All are titled by date span. The journals are typically
handwritten and occasionally include drawings and clippings.
Biography
Poet Holly Prado was born in 1938 in Lincoln, Nebraska. She received a B.A. from Albion College in 1960. After graduating,
she moved to Los Angeles, where she remained to become an active, influential member of the Southern California literary community
as a poet, educator, and regular participant in live poetry readings and literary events. She married actor and poet Harry
Northup in 1990.
Prado has been involved in poetry and literary education for all age groups since the mid-1960s. She taught English at John
Marshall High School in Los Angeles (1965-1972), participated in a Poetry in the Schools Program sponsored by the Department
of Labor and National Endowment for the Arts (1973-1974), and has taught numerous writing workshops offered through a variety
of schools and organizations. As of 2006 she is included as a faculty member of the University of Southern California Master
of Professional Writing Program.
Prado began writing for publication while still in college, but attributes a 1970 writing workshop taught by Alvaro Cardona-Hine
with helping her develop her mature style. Prado's first published collection was
Nothing Breaks Off at the Edge (1976). Her other published poetry collections include
Losses (1977),
These Mirrors Prove It (1984),
Specific Mysteries (1990), and
Esperanza: Poems for Orpheus (1998). Her poetry has also appeared in various anthologies, poetry journals, and magazines such as
Ms. and
Rolling Stone. In addition to poetry, Prado has contributed essays and reviews to several periodicals, notably the
Los Angeles Times Book Review, and published two books of prose,
Feasts (1976) and
Gardens (1985). Prado became a founding member of the Cahuenga Press Poets Publishing Cooperative in 1989 with James Cushing, Phoebe
MacAdams, and Harry Northup.
Prado's work is often noted for her use of a mythic voice and references to classical myths and mysteries. In the introduction
to her collection
Greatest Hits (2000), she described the work in
Specific Mysteries and
Word Rituals (released as a spoken word recording in 1993) as "ceremonies making words sacred." Jungian psychology has also had a significant
influence on Prado's work, especially her enthusiasm for keeping personal journals. In the literary journal
Chrysalis (no. 7, 1979) she discussed personal journaling as an important tool for keeping in touch with the unconscious, developing
intuitiveness, and exploring emotional states without self-censoring, as well as a means of "nourishing" writing intended
for publication. Her personal journals record thoughts, experiences, and dreams and sometimes include drawings, photographs,
or ephemera.
Publication Rights
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
Preferred Citation
Holly Prado Papers, MSS 0597. Mandeville Special Collections Library, UCSD.
Acquisition Information
Not Available
Restrictions
Documents containing personal information are restricted until 2088. Redacted copies remain and may be consulted.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Northup, Harry E.
Woman's Words Conference.
American poetry--20th century
Poetry -- Congresses
Poetry -- Study and teaching (Secondary)
Accession Processed in 2006
Box 1, Folder 1
Biographies and resumes
1974 - 1991
Restrictions
Restrictions Apply
General note
Curriculum vitae containing social security numbers have been removed; redacted copies remain in the folder.
Box 1, Folder 2
Newspaper clippings
1960 - 1991
Box 1, Folder 4
Prado, Holly and Judy Brown
1975
Box 1, Folder 5
Shatterproof Press Poetry Production and Social Action Award
1987
Box 1, Folder 9
Atlantic Monthly
1973 - 1974
Box 1, Folder 11
Brooks, Elaine
1970 - 1978
Box 1, Folder 15
Caterpillar (Clayton Eshleman)
1970 - 1971
Box 1, Folder 16
Dacotah Territory (Mark Vinz)
1971
Box 1, Folder 18
Fire Exit (Bill Corbett)
1973
Box 1, Folder 21
Hickman, Leland (Lee)
1977
Box 1, Folder 23
Hudson Review (Erin Seely)
1980
Box 1, Folder 24
Hughes, Barbara
1975 - 1977
Box 1, Folder 25
Ironwood (Michael Cuddihy)
1974
Box 1, Folder 27
Kayak (George Hitchcock)
1970
Box 1, Folder 29
Lamp in the Spine (Patricia Hampl)
1974
Box 1, Folder 30
Lifson, Martha
1976 - 1980
Box 1, Folder 32
Margins (Angela Peckenpaugh)
1974
Box 1, Folder 34
Minnisota Review (C.W. Truesdale)
1972 - 1973
Box 1, Folder 42
Note included, "Postcards from Harry Northup to Holly Prado while Harry worked on the movie
Tom Horn"
1979
Box 1, Folder 43
Note included, "Postcards from Harry Northup to Holly Prado while Harry worked on the movie
Used Cars"
1979 - 1980
Box 1, Folder 49
Robertson, Kell
1972 - 1973
Box 1, Folder 50
Rolling Stone
1971 - 1973
Box 1, Folder 53
Stoltzfus, Ben
1988 - 1989
Box 2, Folder 2
Townsend, Alison -- Includes notes on
Island
1980 - 1989
Box 2, Folder 5
Unidentified correspondents
Childhood and Early Writings
Box 2, Folder 12
1965: What I Have Not Said About the House on MacBeth Street
1978 - 1992
Box 2, Folder 14
Climate: A Letter for Harry
1978
Box 2, Folder 17
Dream of Frog Christ, unfinished
1990
Box 2, Folder 18
For Judy, Driving from Los Angeles to Ojai Right Now, ca 1975
Box 2, Folder 20
The Griffith Park Observatory: A Ritual
1978
Box 2, Folder 21
Hades Wife, unfinished
1992
Box 3, Folder 4
What is it in Us that Almost Sees Itself: A Serenade for Cat
1978 - 1995
Box 3, Folder 5
Astrologer Poems
1973 - 1974
Box 3, Folder 6-7
Dream Combinations
1982 & undated
Box 3, Folder 9
Marla and the Singer
1990 - 1991
Box 3, Folder 10
Finished Dream Fictions
1991
Box 3, Folder 11
Dreams to possibly work with as fiction
1991
Box 3, Folder 13-14
From One to the Next - Drafts
1989 & undated
Box 3, Folder 15
Introductions: 15 Morning Love Stories
undated
Box 3, Folder 16-20
Island - Drafts and notes
1989
Box 4, Folder 1-2
Drafts & poems not used
1990 - 1991
Box 4, Folder 4
Novels About England and France
1976
Box 4, Folder 5-6
Poems on the Mooncycle - Groups 1 & 2
1989
Box 4, Folder 7
S'Associent Dans Une Menage a Trois Scandaluese, with Michael C. Ford and Neal Spiegel
ca. 1975
Box 4, Folder 8
Soft Essays: Explorations of the Creative Process
undated
Box 4, Folder 10
Incomplete manuscript
1979 - 1980
Box 4, Folder 11
A Book of a Year
1979 - 1980
Box 4, Folder 12
Revision without corrections
1989
Box 4, Folder 13
Revision with corrections
1989
General note
Includes notes and book jacket material.
Box 4, Folder 14
Two poems published in
Analytic Psychology Club of Los Angeles Bulletin
1981 - 1982
Box 4, Folder 15
The Word in the Middle of the Body - Unpublished typescript
ca. 1980
Box 4, Folder 16-17
Drafts & poems considered but not used
1983 - 1993
Box 5, Folder 4
From Prado's file "Completed Poems"
1970
Box 5, Folder 5
Sketchbook including drawings and poetry
1970s
Box 6, Folder 7
To Approach Poetry, Fiction, and Symbolic Sense
1989
Box 6, Folder 13
Looking Toward America's Third Century: The Artist as Harpo Marx -- And More
undated
Los Angeles Times - Book reviews
Box 6, Folder 15
Newspaper clippings
1976 - 1989
Box 6, Folder 16
Luke Stone's Sister
undated
Box 6, Folder 17
Mankind magazine - Book reviews and article
1976 - 1977
Box 7, Folder 3
The Other Side of the Family
1987
Box 7, Folder 22
Lists of work submitted for publication
1970 - 1989
Box 7, Folder 23-24
Notebooks (2)
1971 - 1972
Box 8, Folder 1
Open readings - Beyond Baroque
1980
Box 8, Folder 3
From Prado's file "Pieces About Writing from Various Readings"
1979 - 1987
Box 8, Folder 6-7
Reading announcements
1971 - 1991 & undated
Box 8, Folder 8
Los Angeles Council of English Teachers talk
1985
Box 8, Folder 10
Whitman, Walt - Session for course taught by Bob Peters, July 1989
Box 8, Folder 11-12
Writing workshops
1976 - 1990
Box 8, Folder 13
Beyond Baroque panel on "The Politics of the Politics of Poetry," 1990
Box 8, Folder 14
The Diary, the Journal, the Autobiography conference - Reprint of article, "Journal Writing: Where it Can Go From Where It
is," by Prado, published in
New 44
May 1977
Box 8, Folder 16
Organizational correspondence
1974 - 1975
Box 8, Folder 18
Organizational material drafts
1974 - 1975
Box 8, Folder 20
Writings, various authors
1975
Box 9, Folder 2
1962, Acting with Jeff Corey
Box 9, Folder 6
1966, Wallace Stevens and Paul Klee
Box 28, Folder 13
Cooper, Dennis and Mark Watt. "It's a Small World: Los Angeles Poets,"
Gosh!
November 1978
Box 28, Folder 14
Cushing, Jimm. "L.A. Poets Drive Alone on Metaphysical Freeway,"
Reader (Los Angeles free weekly)
June 10, 1983
Box 28, Folder 15
Davenport, Guy. "The Contemporary Novel of Sensibility,"
The Sewanee Review
Fall 1986
Box 28, Folder 16
Delp, Laurel. "The License to Write: L.A.'s Poets Start a New Tradition of Their Own,"
Los Angeles Herald Examiner
January 31, 1982
Box 28, Folder 17
Doubiago, Sharon. [review]
Poetry Loves Poetry: An Anthology of Los Angeles Poets, edited by Bill Mohr.
Electum Magazine
Fall/Winter 1987
Box 28, Folder 18
Hampl, Patricia. "A Woman's Journal: Where Public and Private Merge,"
Literata
April 21, 1975
Box 28, Folder 19
Koval, Amy. "Prado's 'Bread Worth Eating' Explains Process, Outcome of Self Satisfaction,"
New York Times
ca. 1990
Box 28, Folder 20
Margolis, Susan. "100 American Seducers on Their Craft and Sullen Art,"
Rolling Stone
August 16, 1973
Box 28, Folder 21
Nolan, Tom. "The Storytellers,"
Los Angeles (March 1987): 86-95
Box 28, Folder 22
Northup, Harry - Miscellaneous notes and poetry
1977 - 1985
Box 28, Folder 23
Schwarz, John. "Everything at the Same Time"
ca. 1980
Box 28, Folder 24
Zweig, Paul. "The Art of Poetry"
undated
Box 28, Folder 25
On Hearing Holly Read Her Poem
undated
Box 28, Folder 26
Poems and broadsides - Miscellaneous
1975 - 1989
Box 28, Folder 27
Student essays on Prado's work
1991
Box 28, Folder 28, Oversize FB-411-04
Davis, Marshall.
The Rhythm Bridge - B&W photograph with inscription on reverse "For Holly Prado"
1980
Box 28, Folder 29
Hickman, Leland - Memorial service
August 3, 1991
Box 28, Folder 30
Los Angeles Times Book Review dispute
1987 - 1989
Box 28, Folder 31
Publication announcements
1971 - 1985
Box 28, Folder 32, Oversize FB-411-05
Whole Woman Calendar
1978
Accession Processed in 2008
Box 29, Folder 4
Garcia, L. Alexandra
2006
Box 29, Folder 6
LA Writers Series
undated
Box 29, Folder 8
Mekler and Deahl Publishers
1997
Box 29, Folder 14-16
Townsend, Alison
1988 - 2006
Box 29, Folder 18
Unidentified correspondents
Box 29, Folder 20
Selections for New Rivers Press & revisions
1997
Box 29, Folder 21
"Copy to read from"
August 1997
Box 30, Folder 2
Poetry chapbook competition
1996
Box 31, Folder 2
Original notebook with final drafts
1994 - 1997
Box 31, Folder 11
Horizon: For my Nebraska
1997
Box 32, Folder 1
Poems in progress
1991 - 1992
Box 32, Folder 3-6
Drafts of finished poems
1992 - 1993
Box 32, Folder 7-8
Blood Becomes Seed
1992, 1994
Box 33, Folder 1
Philomene's class, UCLA
1993
Box 33, Folder 2
Magazine submissions
1993 - 1996
Box 33, Folder 3
Press submissions
1995 - 1997
Box 33, Folder 5
Correspondence, including manuscripts
1982 - 1985
Box 33, Folder 6
Publishing documents and reviews
1983 - 1987
Box 33, Folder 9
Miscellaneous prose
2000 - 2001
Box 33, Folder 10
Water on Mars
December 7, 2000
Box 33, Folder 11-12
Where Have I Been?
1998 - 1999
Box 34, Folder 1
Widswarth
December 26, 1993
Box 34, Folder 6
Essays on Prado's
These Mirrors Prove It, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
2005
Box 34, Folder 7
Miscellaneous choices to work on
January 18, 1993
Box 34, Folder 8
American Poetry - American Food reading selections
1996 - 1997
Box 34, Folder 9
Beyond Baroque
July 31, 1992
Box 34, Folder 10
Beyond Baroque - "Word Rituals"
February 4, 1994
Box 34, Folder 11
1999, December - 2000, January
