Summary
Overview
Blackmur, R. P.
(Richard P.), 1904-1965.
42.0 linear feet, 51 archival boxes (1 oversize box)
Princeton University. Library. Dept. of Rare
Books and Special Collections
Manuscripts Division
One Washington Road
Princeton, New Jersey 08544 USA
English, French, Italian and Greek, Modern (1453-).
Abstract
Richard Palmer Blackmur was a notable literary critic, poet, and Princeton
University professor. This collection documents Blackmur’s creative and academic
efforts, and includes his critical essays, reviews, poetry, short stories, plays, and
unpublished novels. In addition to his writings, Blackmur's papers contain significant
correspondence with major literary figures of the twentieth century.
Description
Description
This collection highlights Blackmur's career as both a prominent literary critic and
a professor of English and Creative Writing at Princeton University. The first part
of the collection is composed mainly of Blackmur's writings, including the literary
and cultural criticism he was well-known for. Blackmur's other writings includes his
poetry - most of which was written during the early half of his career - as well as
novels, short stories, and plays. Manuscripts of full-length book work can also be
found here, including thirty years' worth of work on an unpublished biography of
Henry Adams. The second section of the collection features Blackmur's voluminous
correspondence with notable literary and art figures of the twentieth century,
including Conrad Aiken, Theodore Holmes, Lincoln Kirstein, Waldo Peirce, John Crowe
Ransom, Delmore Schwartz, Wallace Stevens, Allen Tate, William Carlos Williams, and
Yvor Winters. The nature of the correspondence ranges from the formal to the
informal, and covers such topics as publishing and the creative process. The
remainder of the collection is composed of Blackmur's personal and professional
information, and includes teaching materials like lectures and class syllabi.
Blackmur's personal papers include photographs, diaries, and reviews of his work.
Collection Creator
Biography
R. P. (Richard Palmer) Blackmur (1904-1965) was one of America's foremost literary
critics and one of Princeton's most distinguished professors. In the years following his
graduation from the High and Latin School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he worked in a
Cambridge bookstore and sat in on lectures at Harvard. Blackmur did not enroll at
Harvard, however, preferring to attend, in fellow critic Leon Edel's words, “the school
of his own bold intelligence.” He began his literary career as a regular contributor to
The Hound and Horn , one of the earliest and most
influential of America's “little magazines.” In 1935 the publication of his first volume
of essays, The Double Agent , marked the beginning of what
was to become known as the New Criticism - a school of criticism that revolutionized the
teaching of literature in American universities by directing the student's attention to
a close analysis of the language of literary works.
The independence that permitted Blackmur to develop his talents outside the framework
of a formal college education was also at the center of his writing, with its “avoidance
of academic stereotypes” - one of the virtues singled out for mention by his colleague
Allen Tate, whose recommendation brought Blackmur to Princeton in 1940 to help conduct
Dean Christian Gauss' Creative Arts Program. The same independence characterized his
twenty-five year teaching career at Princeton.
He was appointed the first Hodder Fellow in 1943, and the next year became a member of
the Institute for Advanced Study. From 1946 to 1948 he was a Resident Fellow in Creative
Writing at the University, and became Professor of English in 1951. Blackmur conceived
and founded the Christian Gauss Seminars in Criticism in 1949, later directing them from
1957 until his death in 1965.
His literary reputation was based on his poetry as well as his criticism. The first of
his three books of poetry, From Jordan's Delight , was
praised by Allen Tate as “one of the most distinguished volumes of verse in the first
half of the century,” and his six collections of criticism, in the estimate of the Kenyon Review , made him one of the two or three contemporary
critics “likely to endure.”
Blackmur was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, vice-president of
the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and a Fellow in American Letters at the
Library of Congress.
During his early years in Princeton he lived at 43 Linden Lane. In 1943 he moved to 12
Princeton Avenue - a house with apartments occupied by him and various writers, such as
Saul Bellow. In 1959 Blackmur commissioned a new home to be built at 53 McCosh Circle.
In his quarter century at Princeton, Blackmur played a great part in promoting the
writing profession and mentoring a future generation of writers.
Collection History
Acquisition
The bulk of the collection was the gift of Betty Bredemeier Davison on behalf of
R.P. Blackmur's estate in 1966. Additional Blackmur materials were donated to the
Library in 1966, 1975, 1978, 1984, 1995, and 2005. In 1983 six phonograph records
were purchased for the collection. Blackmur's estate assigned his copyright to the
Princeton University Library.
The materials in this collection are from accession AM 21403 unless otherwise
indicated. Additional accession numbers include AM 1996-36, AM 83-115, AM 78-23, AM
85-36, and AM 18880.
Archival Appraisal Information
Personal checks for routine domestic payments were discarded.
Processing Information
Processed by Jenna Marrone in 2012.
Access and Use
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Use Restrictions
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of
copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library
does not own the original. Permission to publish material from the collection must be
requested from the Associate University Librarian for Rare Books and Special
Collections. Blackmur’s literary rights in the papers were transferred to the
Trustees of Princeton University by Blackmur’s residual legatee in 1985. For more
information about permission to publish, please contact the Curator of Manuscripts.
Researchers should note that the student papers in Boxes 39-43 are restricted in
compliance with FERPA regulations.
The sound recordings located in Box 35 are not available for research use. For
preservation reasons, original audio-visual tapes and other magnetic media cannot be
consulted until they have been remastered, resulting in the creation of a surrogate
copy for researchers. Any researcher wishing to access such archival media may
request that the item be professionally remastered, so that they may have a copy for
their personal research. To find out if this is possible and at what cost,
researchers should email their request to rbsc@princeton.edu.
Preferred Citation
R. P. Blackmur Papers; 1864-1965, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
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