William F. Claire Collection on Mark Van Doren, 1940-1987

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Series I: Correspondence



Box 1 Folder 1 Booth, Philip to William Claire (1 ALS, 1 page), 4 February 1980

Booth is responding to Claire's sending him the Mark Van Doren tribute issue. (Voyages: Vol. V numbers I-IV, 1973). Booth notes that he did not know of the issue when it came out. Booth was born in 1925 in Hanover, New Hampshire. He attended Dartmouth College, where he studied with Robert Frost; he received his B.A. in 1947. He subsequently received an M.A. from Columbia University. Booth was an instructor and professor of English and of creative writing at Dartmouth College, Bowdoin College, Wellesley College, and at Syracuse University. He was one of the founders of the Creative Writing program at Syracuse. Booth's poetry was published in many periodicals including "The New Yorker", "The Atlantic Monthly", "The American Poetry Review", "Poetry", and "Denver Quarterly". He published 10 poetry collections and one book about writing poetry and received numerous awards for his work



Box 3 Folder 1 Budd, Louis J. to William Claire, 9 June 1982



Box 1 Folder 2 Bullock, Marie to William Claire (1 TLS), 1 November 1977

(with clipping)



Box 3 Folder 2 Bullock, Marie to William Claire, 24 May-19 December 1977, 3 letters


Box 3 Folder 3 Burton, Pat to William Claire, 29 July 1975


Box 3 Folder 4 Claire, William to Marie Bullock, 8 December 1977

(With Biographical sketch of William Claire and Mark Van Doren)


Box 3 Folder 5 Claire, William to Jene Lyon, 18 April 1977


Box 3 Folder 6 Coleman, Harry to William Claire, 16 July 1977, 1 postcards


Box 3 Folder 7 Darkey, William to William Claire, 23 November 1976


Box 3 Folder 8 Editor, New England Quarterly to William Claire, 1 February 1973


Box 3 Folder 9 Grabowski, Bernard F. to William Claire, 27 October 1965


Box 3 Folder 10 Heckscher, August to Mark Van Doren, 14 June 1972


Box 3 Folder 11 Hendrick, George to William Claire, 26 August 1981


Box 3 Folder 12 Hovde, Carl F. to William Claire, 18 July 1976


Box 3 Folder 13 Inez, Colette To William Claire, 1973

(Written on the cover of "Yes: A Magazine of Poetry"


Box 3 Folder 14 Jellema, Rod to William Claire, 23 February 1973


Box 3 Folder 15 Jevtro?, Bill to William Claire, 21 September 1974


Box 3 Folder 16 Johnston, Richard J. H. to William Claire, 10 July 1964


Box 3 Folder 17-18 Joseph, Nannie to William Claire , 5 February & 18 June 1973


Box 3 Folder 19 Kahn, Sholom J. to William Claire, 24 May 1973


Box 3 Folder 20 Lester, Laurie to William Claire, 5 July 1984


Box 3 Folder 21-23 Lyon, Jene to William Claire, 5 January 1977-15 January 1978


Box 3 Folder 24 Lyon, Jene to Richard D. Weigle, 26 May 1977


Box 3 Folder 25-26 Malloy, Nancy to William Claire, 23 November 2015 & 27 July 2017


Box 3 Folder 27 May, F. B. to William Claire, 1 postcards


Box 3 Folder 28 Ray to William Claire, 16 December & 1 January 1977, 2 letters


Box 3 Folder 29 Rowe, Harry P. to William Claire, 13 October 1964


Box 3 Folder 30 Samuel, Edith to William Claire, 31 August 1967


Box 3 Folder 31 Smith, William to William Claire


Box 3 Folder 32 Van Doren, Charles to William Claire, 13 September 1976



Box 1 Folder 3 Van Doren, Dorothy to William Claire, 24 September 1974-18 April 1978

(1 ALS; 2TLS; 2 postcard)



Box 3 Folder 33 Van Doren, Dorothy to Helen and William Claire, 6 February 1973-24 July 29180, 7 letters


Box 3 Folder 39-40 Van Doren, Mark to Brombach, 6 August 1972

(With "How Praise A World" music)



Box 1 Folder 4 Van Doren, John to William Claire (1 TLS), 29 June 1978

(With a copy of Poetry Pilot, April, 1978 by The Academy of American Poetry)


Box 1 Folder 5 Van Doren, John to William Claire (1 TLS), 21 November 1978

(Concerning the Mark Van Doren issue of Voyages)



Box 3 Folder 34-36 Van Doren, John to William Claire, 10 September 1976-31 October 1977, 3 letters



Box 1 Folder 6 Van Doren, Mark to William Claire (1 postcard), 4 June 1966


Box 1 Folder 7 Van Doren, Mark to William Claire (1 ALS), 17 August 1967


Box 1 Folder 8 Van Doren, Mark to William Claire (1 postcard), 26 December 1967


Box 1 Folder 9 Van Doren, Mark to William Claire (1 postcard), 1 February 1968


Box 1 Folder 10 Van Doren, Mark to William Claire, 2 May 1968

 (Autograph note on a printed notice on "the consumption of brooms" by the US Tariff Commission)


Box 1 Folder 11 Van Doren, Mark to William Claire (1 TLS), 17 October 1972



Box 3 Folder 37-38 Van Doren, Mark to William Claire, 14 May & 8 August 1970


Box 3 Folder 41 Van Doren, Mark to William Claire, 1 June 1961-16 September 1972

(Photocopies)



Box 1 Folder 12 Van Doren, Mark to Gladys Ewing Combes (wife of Abbott Combes) of Sheffield, MA (1 ALS), 19 August 1940


Box 1 Folder 12 Van Doren, Mark to Gladys Ewing Combes (wife of Abbott Combes) of Sheffield, MA (1 postcard), 12 March 1953



Box 3 Folder 42 Vinson, James to William Claire, 27 June 1977


Box 3 Folder 43-44 Wagner, Charles A. to William Claire, 31 March &13 April 1973


Box 3 Folder 45 Wang, Arthur W. to Willaim Claire, 16 February 1965


Box 3 Folder 46 Wensberg, Erik to William Claire, 16 January 1975


Box 3 Folder 47-49 Zamuda, Bob to William Claire, 4 March-17 July 1976


Box 3 Folder 50 Envelopes (3)

Series II: Manuscripts



Box 1 Folder 17 Booth, Phillip. "These Men"; (for M. V. D)

(Autograph Manuscript Signed. (1999). 21 lines in the author's holograph on a single 8-1/2 x 11 in. sheet. A fine copy. This poem, to Mark Van Doren was supposed to have been published in the "Voyages" Mark Van Doren issue but arrived too late to be included. Not sure if it has been published)


Box 1 Folder 21 Brubeck, David Warren (Dave), Jazz pianist and composer. MS: "How Praise A World"

(Two pages on quarto musical composition paper, text and music written in pencil. (ca 1973). Not signed.

This puts to music the first stanza of the poem by Mark Van Doren. The first page of this was reprinted in the 1973 Mark Van Doren tribute issue of the magazine "Voyages" . The piece was performed by Brubeck at the memorial service for Mark Van Doren in New York City)


Box 1 Folder 18 Lax, Robert. "for Mark"; Autograph Manuscript (unsigned), ca. 1973

(17 lines in holograph on a PAX magazine stationary.

A poem that was probably written for the Mark Van Doren issue of "Voyages" but did appear there. Unpublished? A convert to Roman Catholicism, the American poet Robert Lax (1915-2000), was a friend of the Trappist monk and author Thomas Merton. A student of Mark Van Doren, he and Thomas Merton were also influenced by their friend Ad Reinhardt. In his later years Robert Lax chose to live as a hermit on the island of Patmos in Greece where, in a quest for simplicity, he became a leading figure in literary minimalism)


Box 1 Folder 19 Lax, Robert. "Mark the teacher"

(Typed Manuscript (unsigned).17 lines (Page 3 only, edges of sheet chipped))


Box 1 Folder 20 Lax, Robert. "Why be Cause ..."

(Autograph Manuscript (unsigned). (ca 1973). 15 lines in holograph on this paper. This poem that was written for the Mark Van Doren issue of "Voyages" (Issue 14/15, 1973) and appeared on page 48)


Box 1 Folder 23 Tagliabue, John "Continuing a Spiritual Habit"

(Typed poem: 13 lines (December 14, 1972-thinking of my great teacher Mark Van Doren))


Box 1 Folder 22 Tate, Allen. TMS, Mark Was My Friend: 1924-1972

(1 page with holograph title, some ink corrections in the text. [ca 1973]. 19 lines, with 3 ink corrections.

Accompanied by a holograph note, in full: "3/22/73 | Dear Bill | Here's the review, with | a brief introduction | There will be many | pages about Mark in the | book I am writing. | yrs. | A. T." These were directed to editor and poet William Claire whose magazine "Voyages" published a tribute issue to Mark Van Doren in 1973. The Manuscript here listed was printed on page 23 of the special issue and was followed by a reprinting of Tate's review of "Very Much At Ease in Formal Attire" Van Doren's collected poems. The two pieces are here offered together

John Orley Allen Tate (November 19, 1899 -- February 9, 1979) was an American poet, essayist, social commentator, and Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1943 to 1944. He began attending Vanderbilt University in 1918 where he met fellow poet Robert Penn Warren. Warren and Tate were invited to join a group of young Southern poets under the leadership of John Crowe Ransom; the group were known as the Fugitive Poets and later as the Southern Agrarians. Tate contributed to the group's magazine The Fugitive and to the agrarian manifesto I'll Take My Stand published in 1930 and this was followed in 1938 by Who Owns America? Tate also joined Ransom to teach at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Some of his notable students there included the poets Robert Lowell and Randall Jarrell. Lowell's early poetry was particularly influenced by Tate's formalist brand of Modernism)


Box 1 Folder 13 Introduction by William Claire to The Other Harmony, Selected essays of Mark Van Doren (1924-1972)

(TMS, with holograph corrections and additions, 18 pages (photocopy))


Box 1 Folder 14 Introduction by William Claire to The Other Harmony, Selected essays of Mark Van Doren (1924-1972)

(TMS, with holograph corrections and additions, 25 pages (photocopy))


Box 1 Folder 15 Introduction by William Claire to The Other Harmony, Selected essays of Mark Van Doren (1924-1972)

(Typed manuscript, with holograph notes on the cover by Dorothy Van Doren and Charlie Van Doren, 15 pages)


Box 1 Folder 16 "An Evening of Voyages in Memory of Mark Van Doren" [Washington, DC: Folger Library, 19 March 1973

(TMs mock-up, with corrections throughout, 23 pages (With accompanying annotated envelope))


Poems by Mark Van Doren:


Box 1 Folder 24 Humanity Unlimited, 12 sonnets by Matk Van Doren. Williamsburgh: College of William and Mary, 1950


Box 1 Folder 25 "Meekness After Wrath" a poem in The Nation, July 15, 1931. Signed by Van Doren


Box 1 Folder 26 "The Pressure" a poem in The Nation, December 9, 1931. Signed by Van Doren


Box 1 Folder 27 "The Bystanders" a poem inThe Nation, November 4, 1931 signed by Van Doren, November 4, 1931



Box 4 Folder 4 "The First Poem", signed by Mark Van Doren


Box 4 Folder 1 Claire, William "Biographical sketch of Mark Van Doren" (2 paged, with ms. corrections)


Box 4 Folder 2 Kroll, Ernest "A Letter from Mark Van Doren"


Box 4 Folder 3 The Jewish Theological Seminary of America "The Eternal Light: Maurice Samuel - Mark Van Doren", 2 December 1962

(Scirpt for radio. Telecast Chapter T-101 NBC network)


Box 4 Folder 5 Claire, William "The Poetry of Mark Van Doren" for St. James Press, Ltd. (Mss, with corrections)


Box 4 Folder 6 Vinson, James "Writers of the English Language" (T.ms.)


Box 4 Folder 7 Memorandum of Agreement between Greenwood Press, Inc. and William Claire, 22 December 1978


Box 4 Folder 8 'Mark Van Doren on "If"' and "Rumors" (both to Carl Van Doren), 16 June 1918


Box 4 Folder 9 Claire, William "Introduction" and "A Note on Mark Van Doren"


Box 4 Folder 10 Note on photographs packed for Folger Library, Winter 1973


Box 4 Folder 11 Claire, William note on some letters of Thomas Merton and Robert Lax


Box 4 Folder 12 Claire, William "Grant-in-aid application statement for a collection of Mark Van Doren essays"

Series III: Memorials



Box 1 Folder 28 Thomas Mann Commemoration, held under the auspices of Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, Swarthmore College in Goodhart Hall, Bryn Mawr College, October 5th, 1956. (includes: "Joseph and his brothers, a comedy in four parts" by Mark Van Doren)


Box 1 Folder 29 Obituary and "farewell" to Van Doren in The Lakeville Journal, 14 December 1972


Box 1 Folder 30 How Praise A World That Nay Not Last: Mark Van Doren.

(A speech delivered at the 275th anniversary of St. John's College Santa Fe New Mexico-August 8, 1971. Preface by Richard D. Weigle, Introduction by William F. Claire. [Santa Fe: NM] The Lightning Tress, Jene Lyon publisher, 1977)


Box 1 Folder 31 An Evening of Voyages in Memory of Mark Van Doren . [Washington, DC: Folger Library, 19 March, 1973. Broadside, 8-1/2 x 11 in.

(Printed in black on light grey still paper. This reprints the poem "O World" by Van Doren and "from A Letter to Mark Van Doren" by poet and editor of Voyages William Claire.) (Accompanied by an annotated folder)

Series IV: Broadsides


Box 1 Folder 32 Van Doren, Mark. "Morning Worship" and "Song" by Peter Lewis; PAX number 3. NY, 1957

(First Edition. Broadside, (11-1/2 x 16-3/4 in) printed in red on thin paper, folded into quarters, paper browned, tears to the folds) Two copies_



Box 4 Folder 13 The Folger Poetry Series: An Evening of Voyages in memory of Mark Van Doren (3 copies), 19 March 1973

Seris V: Photographs



Box 1 Photograph of Mark and Dorothy Van Doren with Bill Claire, Cornwall Hollow, CT, 1971

(Photo by Helen Bidwell (looks like computer printing) (With an autograph note from William Claire to Russell)


Box 1 Van Doren. (1970). 8 x 10 in., black and white image of Van Doren sitting holding a book in his lap.

(An excellent clear image, taken at the home of Jame Laughlin when Griffin was interviewing Van Doren. One of the other images, taken at the same time was published in Twelve Photographic Portraits (Greensboro, NC: Unicorn Press, 1973)

(John Howard Griffin (June 16, 1920 -- September 9, 1980) was an American journalist and author, He is best known for darkening his skin and journeying through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia to experience segregation in the Deep South in 1959. He wrote about this experience in his 1961 book Black Like Me., 1920, 1961)



Box 4 Folder 14 Mark Van Doren with Eric Goldman and Catherine Drinker Bowen at the White House 1st Festival of the Arts


Box 4 Folder 15 Photograph of Mark Van Doren in France (taken by Robert Lax), 1955

(Inscribed by Mark Van Doren to William F. Claire, 1/8/1971)


Box 4 Folder 16 Photograph of Mark Van Doren seated, laughing with hands behind his head


Box 4 Folder 17 Snapshots (6) taken at the Mark Van Doren Memorial

Series VI: Printed



Box 2 Van Doren, Mark. Edwin Arlington Robinson. NY: Literary Guild, 1927

(First Edition. Small 8vo, pp. 93. Frontis portrait. Cover little soiled, little nicked at the top of the spine, o/w VG. The author's copy, inscribed by Robinson on the end paper: "Mark's Copy | Given by | Edwin Arlington | Robinson | May 1927")


Box 2 Voyages: A National Literary Magazine. Washington, DC, 1967-1973



Box 4 Folder 18 Mark Van Doren Boy With Sword and Other Stories (paperback), 1975


Box 4 Folder 19 To Have and To Hold: Courtship, Wedding, and Marriage in a Collection of Beauthiful Verse , 1967

(Mark Van Doren's poem "My Love Comes Walking" on page 34)


Box 4 Folder 20 William Claire Mark Van Doren on Robinson Jeffers, 2017


Box 4 Folder 21 Mark Van Doren How Praise A World That May Not Last: A speech delivered at the 275th anniversary of St. John's College , 1971


Box 4 Folder 22 Press clipping re. Mark and Carl Van Doren, 8 November 1987


Box 4 Folder 23 Book review by Don Harrell of The Essays of Mark Van Doren (1924-1972), October 1980


Box 4 Folder 24 William A. Darkey "In Memory of Mark Van Doren" (remarks), 13 December 1972


Box 4 Folder 25 The Simenon Festival '87 , 1987


Box 4 Folder 26 Academy of American Poets Poetry Pilot, April 1978


Box 4 Folder 27 Authors Guild Bulletin (photocopy), September 1986


Box 4 Folder 28 State of Connecticut "Cornwall" monument inscription and Mark Van Doren/Dorothy Graffe grave stone