The archives of the London Magazine are held, along with so many other amazing archives, at the Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin . Sylvia Plath had her poems, stories and other prose published in the London Magazine from June 1958 ("Spinster" and "Black Rook in Rainy Weather") through January 1963 ("The Applicant" and "Stopped Dead") in her lifetime and also made appearances after her death, from April 1963 and beyond. Plath dealt with a few people on the staff of the magazine over the years, including John Lehmann, Charles Osborne, and Alan Ross. In addition to what was found at the University of Texas, I would be remiss if I did not mention that the Mortimer Rare Book Room of Smith College has photocopies of a number of Plath's letters to Lehmann and Osborne. These are contained in the Edward Butscher papers . Presumably the originals of these letters are with the London Magazine records in Texas, but as I have seen ...

Just a small post today. Sylvia Plath had two poems published in Texas Quarterly : "Flute Notes from a Reedy Pond" and "Witch Burning". Both poems appeared in specially themed issues on Britain and largely featured British writers. Which is bizarre as Plath was American (her way of talk was an "American way of talk"…), both poems were written in Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, as parts of her sequence "Poem for a Birthday" in the Fall of 1959. However, Ted Hughes figures prominently in the issue, so she must have been lumped in with him.   In the " Texas Quarterly records", held at the University of Texas at Austin's Harry Ransom Center, there is just one typescript that a kind archivist searched for me (us!) and found: "Flute Notes from a Reedy Pond" which appeared in the Winter 1960 issue. Ted Hughes' poem "Lines to a Newborn Baby" and his story "The Caning" also appeared in the Winter 1960 issue. One...

The University of Texas at Austin holds the Eric Walter White: An Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Center (Manuscript Collection MS-4489) ( PDF Version ) in their Harry Ransom Center . The papers of Eric Walter White, like those of Sylvia Plath's, are divided between archival repositories as a forthcoming post will discuss. The Plath materials can be found in several boxes and folders: "Series III. Correspondence, 1923-1985, undated (5 boxes)" has the most important material in it: three letters from Plath to White dated October 23 and October 26, 1962 and November 14, 1962. The letters are very excellent ones and in "These Ghostly Archives 5: Reanimating the Past" , Gail Crowther and I discuss the letters in some detail. See pages 51-53 of that paper specifically for these letters. There are additional Plath-related materials in the White papers, and these are transcriptions and printings of some of Plath's poems: "A Birthday Presen...

The following event will take place on Wednesday 6 February 2008 at the University of Texas at Austin. Poetry on the Plaza: Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton — Noon Wednesday. Readers share poems from Plath and Sexton and from poets who inspired and were inspired by them. Ransom Center, 21st and Guadalupe streets. Free. 471-8944 , www.hrc.utexas.edu.

The impressive Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (HRHRC) at the University of Texas at Austin holds the Alfred A. Knopf Inc Records, 1873-1996. (You may remember from an earlier posting that the HRHRC also holds Anne Sexton's papers.) Knopf published The Colossus and other poems in 1962, so when it came time for Plath to try to get The Bell Jar published in the United States, she sent the manuscript along to Knopf. Knopf rejected it, unfortunately. In "Series I. General / Historical Correspondence, 1922-71, bulk 1946-66", they hold in box 362, folder 2, correspondence with Plath from 1961-1962, approximately the time period for both the publication of The Colossus , as well as her attempt to secure them as publisher for her novel. The collection does hold their rejection letter to Plath. In "Series VII. Other Department Files, 1916-96, bulk 1943-68 , A. Publicity Department, 1916-96, bulk 1943-96, 1. Publicity Files, 1916-67, bulk 1943-58", they hold in ...

The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin is one of the largest, most impressive, and fastest growing archives in the world. They hold the Anne Sexton Papers, 1912-1996 (Bulk 1953-1974). In these papers are a couple of Plath related items, including a copy of the ‘Mushrooms’ by Plath, written in 1959 and published in Harper’s in July 1960. The papers also include correspondence with Sylvia Plath and her mother, Aurelia Schober Plath, as well as letters to and from Olwyn Hughes and Ted Hughes. They hold four letters to and from Sexton and Olwyn Hughes, four letters to and from Sexton and Ted Hughes in Box 20, Folder 7. They hold one letter from Aurelia Schober Plath to Sexton in Box 24, Folder 4 and two letters from Sylvia Plath to Sexton, also in Box 24, Folder 4. The finding aid to the Anne Sexton Papers is online here . The web site for the Harry Ransome Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin is here .