Collection ID: PCMS.0111

Collection context

Summary

Creator:
Benedikt, Michael and The Poetry Collection
Abstract:
Collection of materials relating to the personal life, photography, and writings of Michael Benedikt. Michael Benedikt was a writer and editor who was also active in documenting "Happenings" in the 1960's and 1970's The collection includes poetry drafts, manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, and other related materials.
Extent:
7 Linear Feet and (5 cartons, 3 legal manuscript boxes, 1 artifact box, 1 card file box)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Description and date of item], Box/folder number, PCMS-0111, Michael Benedikt papers, circa 1939-2012 (bulk 1947-2008), The Poetry Collection of the University Libraries, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.

Background

Scope and Content:

The Michael Benedikt papers includes manuscripts, photographs, letters, and other related material to the life and works of Micahel Benedikt. The first series Manuscripts includes drafts of poems, plays, and anthologies written and edited by Michael Benedikt. Series II: Correspondence relates to letters between Michael Benedikt and various people. Photographs consist of pictures of Happenings and from Benedikt's personal life. Finally, Series IV includes additional material such as posters, ephemera, documents related to a legal case involving Benedikt's apartment, and condolences written after Michael Benedikt's death.

Biographical / Historical:

Born 1935, Michael Benedikt earned his BA degree from New York University and MA in English and comparative literature from Columbia University. He was the editorial assistant of Horizon Press 1959-1962. From 1963 to 1964 he served as managing editor for the literary magazine Locus Solus. Benedikt also helped bring European avant-garde poetry and theater to the U.S., mainly through his editorship of the anthologies The Poetry of Surrealism (1974) and The Prose Poem: An International Anthology (1976). From 1975-1978 Michael Benedikt was the editor of the Paris Review. Benedikt taught at institutions such as Sarah Lawrence, Bennington, Vassar, and Boston University in the 1960's to 1970's. His poems appeared in publications such as Agni, Iowa Review, the New Republic, the Paris Review, and Partisan Review. Benedikt earned fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council for the Arts. Michael Benedikt passed away in February of 2007.

Acquisition information:
The Michael Benedikt papers were gifted to the Poetry Collection by Laura Boss and William Morgan in September, 2015 and in December, 2015.
Processing information:

Processed by Matthew Gadziala, July 2019; finding aid encoded by Matthew Gadziala, August 2019

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into four series: Series I. Manuscripts, Series II. Correspondence, Series III.Personal/misc., and Series IV. Photographs. Series I is arranged by manuscript title. Series II is arranged by date. Series III and Series IV are arranged by subject.

Accruals:

No further accruals are expected to this collection.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

Pursuant to Poetry Collection Restricted Records Policy, access to portions of this collection is RESTRICTED until February, 2057 (Box 4, Folders 69-82, and Box 7, Folders 12-13).

TERMS OF ACCESS:

Copyright of papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns. Researchers must obtain the written permission of the holder(s) of copyright and [University Archives or Poetry Collection] before requesting photocopies and/or publishing quotations from materials in the collection. Once permission is obtained, most papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures unless otherwise specified.

PREFERRED CITATION:

[Description and date of item], Box/folder number, PCMS-0111, Michael Benedikt papers, circa 1939-2012 (bulk 1947-2008), The Poetry Collection of the University Libraries, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.

LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
420 Capen Hall
North Campus
Buffalo, NY 14260, United States
CONTACT:
716-645-2917
lpo-poetry@buffalo.edu