- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Writings, circa 1957-2006
Collection Overview
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Scope and Contents
This series of materials consists primarily of drafts of Mills' poetry and prose, as well as essay drafts, autobiographical pieces, short stories, reflections, a radio play script, fragments, notes, lists, and numerous drafts of correspondence. Some of these draft letters were addressed to Peter Quartermaine, Robin Crozier, Alan Halsey, Adrian Mitchell, Marjorie Perlof, Jonathan Williams, and Pia Simig, among several others. A small portion of the notes and fragments pertain to novel ideas that Mills was developing and researching. The essays pertain to the works of poets and artists (e.g. Ian Hamilton Finlay, Roy Fisher, David Prentice, and Peter Berry), as well as broader topics, such as the "world of little magazines." Additional materials pertaining to Mills' writing include mockups and layouts of works such as poetry booklets and maquettes, but most significantly the board mockups of "30 Signatures to Silver Catches" by Ian Hamilton Finlay, Margot Sandeman, and Stuart Mills, which Tarasque Press printed in 1971 and also likely put on exhibition. To a lesser extent, the series also contains drawings, paintings, and collages; a small amount of teaching notes; and material related to to Tarasque, Aggie Weston's, and Poet's Poems. Mills' drawing of the Tarasque bird that became the magazine's front cover design is in this series. Some of these publications-related materials include catalogue lists, a note to subscribers, and planning notes.
- Arrangement
This series was arranged by the dealer.
Collection History
- Appraisal
Photocopies of the Ian Hamilton Finlay notebook in the "Domestic Pensées" series were discarded, as the collection contains the original notebook.
- Processing Information
This collection was processed by Amy C. Vo in 2022. The dealer had primarily housed materials in plastic binder sleeves and binders. The majority of these binders were retained, and each sleeve contains item-level description from the seller. Materials were rehoused in folders and boxes in instances where binders were damaged or materials were loose in containers.
Several groupings of correspondence, which were separated by sender in the dealer's arrangement, were integrated to create the Correspondence series. The dealer groupings included the "Simon Cutts, Erica Van Horn, and Kay Roberts Correspondence to Stuart and Rosemary Mills" series, the "Ian Hamilton Finlay Correspondence" series, and a subseries of materials from the Aggie Weston's series called "Miscellaneous correspondence and orders from libraries, collectors, and dealers" (now called "Business") which actually also included correspondence related to Mills' work with Tarasque and Poet's Poems. A gift for Stuart Mills' son from Simon Cutts was also moved from the Tarasque series and added to Correspondence.
Finding aid written by Amy C. Vo in 2022, incorporating description written by the dealer, and retaining some dealer-supplied folder titles. Titles were changed to simplify arrangement and and title information was added to scope and content descriptions where appropriate.
The born-digital materials in this collection have been processed according to Princeton University Library's Born-Digital Processing Workflows. For more information on the workflow, please read our full Born-Digital Processing Information Note.
Access & Use
- Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use
Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
- Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection contains digital files, which may require specific software or hardware for access. Refer to our Tips on Accessing Born-Digital Content for information on how to render these file formats.
- Credit this material:
Writings; Stuart Mills Papers, C1654, Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Location:
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Firestone LibraryOne Washington RoadPrinceton, NJ 08544, USA
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (mss): Box B-001828