The Diane di Prima Papers comprise Correspondence, Writings in manuscript and printed form, Manuscripts by other authors, Miscellaneous items, and a file of The Floating Bear newsletter. The papers, which date from 1948 to 1971, are arranged in six archival boxes.

Correspondence (boxes 1-2) dates from 1960 to 1971 and is arranged chronololgically. Incoming and outgoing letters are interfiled, but the bulk of the correspondence is addressed to Diane di Prima. Her correspondents include John Ashbery, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Denise Levertov, Walter Lowenfels, Charles Olson, Kenneth Patchen, Louis Zukofsky, and other persons notable in contemporary American literature. There are 98 letters, 1969-1971, from Alan Marlowe and 18 letters from Michael McClure. Some of the letters (including those from "Miles Campion," Edwin Denby, Diane Wakoski, "Anton Webern," and John Wieners) were published in The Floating Bear. A complete name index of the letters is appended to this inventory, and a chronological shelf list of the letters is available in the Manuscripts Division.

Manuscripts submitted to The Floating Bear and copies of the published newsletter itself are arranged in box 3. Of the 37 newsletters that were published, the first 35, 1961-1968, are present in the papers. The 86 manuscripts are submission copies of articles, poems, and reviews, arranged alphabetically by the authors' names. Prominent among the authors are Robert Creeley, LeRoi Jones, Kenneth Koch, Frank O'Hara, and Gary Snyder. Details on individual manuscripts appear in the accompanying shelf list; standard abbreviations indicate the physical form of the manuscripts, and dates are listed in the shelf list when they appear on the manuscripts. The number of the newsletter in which the manuscripts appeared is marked on most of them. All manuscripts of Diane di Prima are isolated in the next section, Writings.

Other Floating Bear records are reported at Indiana University.

Writings of Diane di Prima in manuscript and printed form (boxes 3-6) date from 1948 to 1968 and have been organized first by type and then alphabetically by title. These include a diary, nine notebook volumes, four manuscript plays, four reels of recording-tape readings, manuscripts of three groups of collected verse, and two folders of miscellaneous verse. The physical form of the writings is indicated by standard abbreviations.

A group of Miscellaneous material closes the papers in box 6. There is one folder of material on the American Theatre for Poets. Other items relate to the editing of The Floating Bear.

Purchases, 1963, 1968-1971