Scope and Content
Biography
Acquisition Information
Preferred Citation:
Conditions Governing Use
Conditions Governing Access
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Ron Loewinsohn papers
Creator:
Loewinsohn, Ron.
Identifier/Call Number: M0856
Identifier/Call Number: 761
Physical Description:
20 Linear Feet
(40 manuscript storage boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1932-2014
Abstract: The collection contains correspondence, published and unpublished manuscripts between American poet Ron Loewinsohn and many
of the most prominent American authors of the mid-to-late 20th Century.
Scope and Content
The Ron Loewinsohn Papers primarily consist of correspondence collected by Loewinsohn over more than two decades, as well
as materials concerning both published and unpublished manuscripts. The primary group of correspondence is from contemporary
authors and artists, including Robert Creeley, Denise Levertov, Philip Whalen, and others. Some letters, including those from
Allen Ginsberg and William Carlos Williams were not identified in the original listing. Additionally, there is a wealth of
correspondence from personal acquaintances, students, and family not directly involved in the San Francisco and New York poetry
scenes of the 1960s. Loewinsohn also received a considerable amount of correspondence from universities with which he was
affiliated and publishers regarding his works. The materials pertaining to Loewinsohn's published manuscripts concern several
major works. These include, L'Autre, Meat Air, Goat Dances, and Loewinsohn's doctoral thesis on the life and influence of
William Carlos Williams titled The Province of a Poem (William Carlos Williams and the Invention of America). The unpublished
manuscripts series includes many drafts of poems and short stories, and ideas for more of the same. Notebooks kept by Loewinsohn
and his second wife, Joanie, have observations and ideas for works, as well as personal notes. Also, a large portion of poetry
was found in a series of folders labeled "Hopper," "Master Hopper," "Asleep," "Dead," "Dead and Buried," and so on. These
folder titles supply some insight into projects Loewinsohn may have been considering for the future, and other projects he
had set aside.
Biography
Ron Loewinsohn has been associated with San Francisco poetry since the late 1950s. In the early 1960s he taught at San Francisco
State College, and in 1963 he co-edited and published the little magazine Change with Richard Brautigan. Loewinsohn's poems
first achieved a wide readership by virtue of their inclusion in Donald Allen's anthology, The New American Poetry. His first
book, Watermelons, contains an introduction by Allen Ginsberg and a letter from William Carlos Williams. Loewinsohn acknowledges
both writers as his major influences, along with Robert Creeley and Philip Whalen. A later collection of poems, L'Autre, was
the first full-length publication of the Black Sparrow Press. Loewinsohn's later publications include Meat Air and Goat Dances,
both of which are collections of poetry. A complete checklist of Loewinsohn's primary publications is included in Gary Lepper's
Bibliographical Introduction to 75 Modern American Authors. Ronald William Loewinsohn was born December 15, 1937, in Iloilo,
Philippines and came to the United States with his parents in 1945. After he graduated from high school in 1955, he traveled
around the country and then worked at various printing jobs, before instructing at the San Francisco Poetry Center, 1960-61.
He attended San Francisco State College and earned his bachelor's degree from University of California, Berkeley in 1967.
Loewinsohn then again instructed poetry at the Center for Adult Education in Cambridge, Mass., in the summer of 1968. He earned
his master's and doctorate from Harvard University, in 1969 and 1971, respectively. Loewinsohn returned to Berkeley where
he received a professorship in the English Department teaching American literature and creative writing, beginning in 1970.
Ron Loewinsohn's awards and honors include the Poets Foundation Award (1963), the Irving Stone Award of the Academy of American
Poets (1966), and the Ina Coolbrith Memorial Prize for Poetry (1966).
Acquisition Information
Purchased, 1996.
Preferred Citation:
[identification of item], Ron Loewinsohn papers (M0856). Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Conditions Governing Use
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization
to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission or reproduction
beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use. Audiovisual & born-digital
materials are not available in original format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
American literature -- 20th century.
Blackburn, Paul
Palmer, Michael.
Olson, Charles
Levertov, Denise, 1923-1997
Kyger, Joanne.
Duerden, Richard
Creeley, Robert, 1926-2005
Koch, Kenneth, 1925-2002
King, Basil.
Brautigan, Richard.
Irby, Kenneth
Corso, Gregory
Wieners, John
Whalen, Philip
Wah, Fred
Stanley, George
Snyder, Gary