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Manuel Ramos Otero Papers, circa 1920s-2007, bulk 1967-1992

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Series II: Correspondence and Personal Materials, circa 1969-1990, undated

Series II: Correspondence and personal materials primarily consists of letters and postcards from Otero's family, friends, and colleagues. It also contains official documentation such as government-issued identification cards, medical and financial records, and religious certificates. A few of Otero's personal belongings are located in this series as well. The series spans Otero's lifetime, 1948-1990.

The correspondence within this series dates from 1969-1990. Some of these letters include information about Otero's writing process and the difficulties of publishing his works. Much of the correspondence deals with the financial issues that Otero faced upon arriving to the United States, from 1969 through approximately 1978.

There is an extensive amount of letters written by Otero to his mother, Carmen Ana Otero, which date from 1969 to 1984. They discuss Otero's work and his relationship with John Anthes. There are also letters and postcards from John Anthes to Otero's mother. These letters--including the letters from Anthes to Carmen Ana Otero--were originally folded tightly and stored in a red treasure chest-shaped box. They were removed for preservation and ease of access. Many of the letters from Otero's adulthood document the financial remittances Otero sent to his family in Puerto Rico throughout the 1980s.

Subseries II.3 consists of Otero's personal collection of literary magazines, newspapers, and clippings. The subseries also contains two books annotated by Otero. These materials do not include any of Otero's works or articles about Otero.

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Subseries II.1: Correspondence, 1969-1990, undated


Box 4 Folder 29 Notebooks, undated

with phone numbers, notes for short stories, to-do lists, etc.

Box 4 Folder 30 Letters to Amelia Cortés and Carmen Beatriz Ramos Otero, 1969-1983

Box 4 Folder 31-32 Otero's letters to his mother, Carmen Ana Otero, 1969


Box 5 Folder 1-7 Otero's letters to his mother, Carmen Ana Otero, 1970-1979, 1983-1984, 1986

Box 5 Folder 8 Letters from John Anthes to Otero's mother, Carmen Ana Otero, 1970-1973


Box 14 Red metal treasure chest-shaped box, undated

Previously used to store Otero's correspondence with his mother, Carmen Ana Otero. Those letters are now located in Box 4, Folders 31-32, and Box 5, Folders 1-8.


Box 5 Folder 9 Letters to Otero's father, Jesús Ramos, and sister, Carmen Beatriz Ramos Otero, 1975-1977

Box 5 Folder 10 Otero's letters to his parents, 1975-1988

Box 5 Folder 11-12 Letters to Amelia Cortés and Carmen Beatriz Ramos Otero, 1973, 1981-1990

Includes one letter from John Anthes to Carmen Beatriz Ramos Otero.

Box 5 Folder 13 Postcards from friends and colleagues, 1978-1990


Box 4 Folder 14 Article on Otero by Asela Rodríguez de Laguna, with letters from Otero responding to de Laguna, 1979-1980


Box 5 Folder 15 Letters from Otero to colleagues about his works, 1983, 1985

Box 5 Folder 16 Letter from Otero to student, 1988

Box 5 Folder 17 Letters that Otero received in the last weeks of his life, 1990

Box 5 Folder 18 Note to Otero from "T. Pynchon", undated

Box 5 Folder 19 Letters and inscription from unidentified correspondents, undated

Subseries II.2: Official documentation and personal effects, 1948-1990

Box 5 Folder 20 Birth certificates and demographic registry report, 1948, 1984

Box 5 Folder 21 Baptism certificate and First Communion scrapbook, 1949, 1956

Box 5 Folder 22 Military paperwork, father's death certificate, etc., 1965-1977

Box 5 Folder 23 Passports and identification, 1966-1988

Box 5 Folder 24 Letters regarding Otero's financial support, 1977-1978


Box 4 Folder 25 Angel Rodríguez-Díaz materials, 1980, 1983, undated

Unidentified drawing, probably by Angel Rodriguez; notecard from Vanessa Droz explaining the contents of the box; a list of rules explaining Il Premio Noega, Angel Rodriguez Diaz's first drawing salon at the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture.


Box 5 Folder 26 Carmen Ana Otero's eulogy, written by Otero, circa 1987

Box 5 Folder 27 Obituary for Carmen Ana Otero, written by Carmen Beatriz Ramos Otero, 1987

Box 5 Folder 28 Personal notebook with doctor's phone numbers and appointments, circa 1990

Box 5 Folder 29 Otero's last will and testament, 1990

Box 5 Folder 30 Otero's childhood medical records, circa 1970

Restricted until 2045

Box 5 Folder 31 Doctor's letter for Otero's emergency room visit, 1977

Restricted until 2057

Box 5 Folder 32 Otero's prescriptions and physician's orders, 1990

Restricted until 2065

Box 5 Folder 33 Dental records and health memo asking for at-home care, 1990

Restricted until 2065


Box 14 Black leather bag containing Otero's wallet, undated

Box 14 Leather portfolio belonging to Otero, undated


Box 12 Item 15 Unidentified film, undated, 1 film reels

Box 12 Item 20 Recorded music, undated, 1 open reel audiotapes

Subseries II.3: Printed material, 1960-1990, undated


Box 15 Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. New York: Rinehart Editions, 1948

Annotated by Otero.


Box 6 Folder 1 Clippings from Otero's adolescence, 1963-1967


Box 15 Poema del Cid. Metered version and prologue by Francisco López Estrada. Madrid: Editorial Castalia, 1974

Annotated by Otero.


Box 16 Guajana. Edited by Vicente Rodríguez Nietzsche, José Manuel Torres Santiago, and Andrés Castro Ríos, No. 1, 1974

Box 16 El cuento: revista de imaginación. Edited by Edmundo Valades. 11:69, 1975 April-June

Box 16 Palestra. Edited by Angel Luis Torres. No 2-3, 1975 April-December

Box 16 El cuento: revista de imaginación. Edited by Edmundo Valades. 11:71, 1976 January-March


Box 6 Folder 2 Clippings about Puerto Rican cinema, 1978

Box 6 Folder 3 News clippings and literary magazines, 1979-1987


Box 16 Droz, Vanessa. La cicatriz a medias. Río Piedras: Impresos Metropolitanos, 1982


Box 6 Folder 4 Reintegro newspapers, 1983


Box 16 Asomante. Edited by Palmira Cabrera de Ibarra. 31:1-2, 1983

Box 16 Vega, José Luis. Reunión de espejos. Harrisonburg: Editorial Cultural, 1983


Box 15 Otero Joy, Sarah C (Saci). Vivía la alondra en silencio. Santo Domingo: Editora Taller, C, 1984


Box 16 Ramírez Córdova, Antonio. Si la violeta cayese de tus manos. San Juan: Ediciones Mairena, 1984


Box 15 Sanabria Santaliz, Edgardo. El día que el hombre pisó la luna. Río Piedras: Editorial Antillana, 1984


Box 16 Asomante. Edited by Palmira Cabrera de Ibarra. 33:1-2, 1985


Box 15 Burgos, Fernando. La novela moderna hispanoamericana. Madrid: Discurso Rigenes, 1985


Box 6 Folder 5 Booklets of poetry and art exhibits, circa 1985

Box 6 Folder 6 La claridad newspapers, 1985-1987

Box 6 Folder 7 En Rojo newspapers, 1985-1987

Box 6 Folder 8-9 Various newspapers about literary figures from Puerto Rico, 1985-1990

Box 6 Folder 10 Photocopied book with underlines, Tiburón, 1986

Sent to Otero in 1986


Box 16 Asomante. Edited by Palmira Cabrera de Ibarra. 34:1, 1986

Box 16 de Burgos, Julia. Yo misma fui mi ruta. Río Piedras: Ediciones Huracán, 1986


Box 6 Folder 11 Literary magazine, Between C & D, 1986-1987 Fall-Winter

Found with Carmen Beatriz Ramos Otero's belongings.


Box 15 En una sola torre. Santo Domingo: Talleres de Editora Corripio, C., 1987

Box 15 Coll, Edna. Instantes en el tiempo: Mis memorias. Hato Rey: Esmaco Printers Corp., 1988


Box 6 Folder 12 Annotated photocopy of Susan Sontag, "AIDS and Its Metaphors", 1988

Box 6 Folder 13 Dialogo newspapers, 1988-1990


Box 16 Balcón. Edited by Antonio Zaya. No. 3, 1989


Box 6 Folder 14 Newsletter from the PEN Club, Puerto Rico, 1989


Box 16 Centro de estudios puertorriqueños. Edited by Blanca Vázquez. 2:6, 1989 Summer


Box 15 Bamboo Ridge: The Hawaii Writers' Quarterly. Edited by Eric Chock and Darrell H.Y. Lum. 41, 1989 Winter


Box 16 Cupey. Edited by Olga Nolla. 7: 1-2, 1990

Box 16 Mairena. Edited by Manuel de la Puebla. No. 30, 1990


Box 6 Folder 15 Press release for Manny Suarez's nonfiction book, "Requiem on Cerro Maravilla", undated

Found with Carmen Beatriz Ramos Otero's belongings.

Box 6 Folder 16 Prayer booklets, prayer cards, undated