John Ridland papers, 1880-2017, bulk bulk 1960-2017

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Summary

Creators:
Ridland, John
Abstract:
Papers of University of California, Santa Barbara Professor Emeritus of English, critic, translator, and poet John Ridland (1933-2020). Materials include correspondence, manuscripts, teaching files, subject files, publications, and diaries.
Extent:
67.22 Linear Feet (51 cartons, 2 document boxes, 3 flat oversize boxes, 93 audiocassettes, 4 audiotape reels, 33 CDs, 18 videocassettes, and 1 film reel)
Language:
English, Hungarian, English, Middle (1100-1500).
Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], John Ridland papers, UArch FacP 51. Department of Special Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Background

Scope and content:

Papers of UCSB Professor Emeritus of English, critic, translator and poet John Ridland (1933-2020). The bulk of the papers date from approximately 1964 to 2014, though they include schoolwork, personal correspondence, and poetry written by Ridland from the 1940s and 1950s, during his elementary, high school, and college years, as well as graduate work at the Claremont Graduate School, where he received his Ph.D. in 1964. The bulk of the materials are the result of Ridland's career as poetry and English professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he taught for more than 40 years.

Included among these materials are original verse manuscripts by Ridland, notes from his poetry readings, copies of literary and journals containing his published poems, correspondence with other writers (including manuscripts with corrections) editorial correspondence, manuscripts of his translations of poems from Middle English and Hungarian, and files related to teaching and coursework (especially files related to creative writing and to the poet Robert Frost). Translation files include manuscripts and notes to Ridland's translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Hungarian epic poem János Vitéz by Sándor Petőfi, and the poems of Miklós Radnóti, Sándor Márai, and Dezső Kosztolányi.

Materials by other writers include original correspondence, but also other items, such as clippings and notes, especially related to poets F.R. Bresgal, Walter Clark, Barry Spacks (1931-2014), and Alan Stephens (1925-2009).

In addition, the papers contain subject files, personal and family files, and audiovisual materials. The subject files range over fairly wide array of topics, from poets, to political issues of the day, to academic issues related to UCSB. Audiovisual materials include audiotape reels, audiocassettes, videocassettes and film and comprise, in addition to family recordings, lectures, and interviews, a number of readings by poet Edward Loomis (1924-2010) as well as many readings by Ridland himself, especially readings of his translation of János Vitéz.

Family and biographical files includes letters written in 1907 by Ridland's maternal great uncle, Scottish physician and Edinburgh University Faculty of Medicine dean Sir Alexander Russell Simpson (1835-1916) to his wife, Margaret Simpson, and letters of Scottish evangelist, lecturer and writer Henry Drummond (1851-1897) to Margaret Simpson, these dating to the 1880s.

In addition, the series includes the diary, transcribed by John Ridland, of his father, John Galbraith Ridland. The diary was written en route to India in 1906. John Galbraith Ridland worked at the Bank of Bombay, soon to be the Imperial Bank of India, throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

Also in the family and biographical file are materials related to Ridland's years at Swarthmore College, including copies of The Dodo, Swarthmore's literary journal, containing early poetry by Ridland, personal correspondence between Ridland and his father John Galbraith Ridland and his mother Margaret Baird Ridland from the 1940s and early 1950s, and personal correspondence with college roomate and lifelong friend William Russell Farrell from the 1950s to approximately 2017.

Acquisition information:
Gift of John and Muriel Ridland, 2014; 2016; 2017.
Arrangement:

The collection has been divided into the following series: Series 1. Books Manuscripts Series 2. Translations Mansucripts Series 3. Poems Manuscripts Series 4. Drafts and Early Writings Series 5. Frost Series 6. Correspondence Series 7. Other Poets and Writers Series 8. Teaching Files Series 9. Subject Files Series 10. Readings, Conferences, and Workshops Series 11. UCSB Department of English Series 12. Miscellaneous Series 13. Publications Series 14. Family and Biographical Files Series 15. Audiovisual Series 16. 2016-2017 Addition

These series (and any further subdivisions) follow Ridland's original filing system, which has been maintained.

Physical location:
A portion of the collection is located at the Southern Regional Library Facility (SRLF).
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research. A portion of the collection is stored offsite. Advance notice is required for retrieval.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the collection and physical objects belong to the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at the UCSB Library. All applicable literary rights, including copyright to the collection and physical objects, are protected under Chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code and are retained by the creator and the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns.

All requests to reproduce, quote from, or otherwise reuse collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB at special@ucsb.edu. Consent is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or their assigns for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], John Ridland papers, UArch FacP 51. Department of Special Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Location of this collection:
UC Santa Barbara Library
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
Contact:
(805) 893-3062
special@library.ucsb.edu
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