Djuna Barnes papers

Djuna Barnes papers

Barnes, Djuna

73-26

102 linear feet

1910-1975

1820-1982

Literature and Rare Books

Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries, Hornbake Library, College Park, MD 20742. Tel: 301-405-9212, Fax: 301-314-2709, Email: askhornbake@umd.edu

The University of Maryland Libraries are the primary repository for the archive of Djuna Barnes (1892-1982), who was an avant-garde American writer and artist. Her papers consist of family and personal papers, correspondence, publications, manuscript drafts, newspaper clippings, serials, photographs, and original art work documenting Barnes's career. Significant correspondents in the collection include T. S. Eliot, Emily Coleman, Marianne Moore, Peggy Guggenheim, Dag Hammarskjöld, Kay Boyle, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Robert McAlmon, Laurence Vail, Allan Ross Macdougall, Allen Tate, E. E. Cummings, William Carlos Williams, and Eugene O'Neill. Some of the books from her personal library are among the holdings of the Marylandia and Rare Books Department.

This collection is open for research. Researchers will consult the microfilm of Series I-IV, unless permission is granted for access to the actual papers prior to a research visit. Original works of art in Series VIII are fragile and are consulted only by appointment. For information and to secure permission or make an appointment, email archives-um@umd.edu.

Djuna Barnes papers, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries.

Photocopies of original materials may be provided for a fee and at the discretion of the curator. Please see our Duplication of Materials policy for more information. Queries regarding publication rights and copyright status of materials within this collection should be directed to the appropriate curator. Inquiries about permission to publish the works of Djuna Barnes should be directed to the Authors League Fund, 31 East 32nd Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Tel: 212-268-1208, Fax: 212-564-8363 and 212-564-8363, Email: staff@authorsleaguefund.org.

Microfilm of Series I-IV available for loan at a qualified institution. A researcher or qualified borrowing institution may initiate a loan request by contacting the Curator of Literary Manuscripts.

This collection is PROCESSED.

Processed: March 1977, August 1980, March 1984, Summer 1987. Revised: February 1984, March 1987, August 1987, February 1993, September 1994, February 1995, August 1997, November 2000, June 2001. Reprocessed by Robert Vietrogoski, June 1996, October 1996. Reprocessed and revised by Patricia J. Rettig, July 1998. Reprocessed and revised by Jennifer Evans, June 2002. Revised by Ruth M. Alvarez and Jason Stieber, May 2003. Revised October 2009, February 2011.

Since its acquisition by the University of Maryland, the Barnes papers have been processed numerous times in largely piecemeal fashion. In the spring of 1996, all of the collection except the photographs and art underwent major reprocessing. This effort included creating a new series of family and personal papers and merging the two alphabetical runs of correspondence. Materials formerly in the "Typescripts, page proofs, scripts," "Publications," and "Appendix B: Laminated Papers" were brought together into a single "Writings" series. Other work included integrating the unprocessed addenda of the collection (formerly "Appendix A") into existing series and combining the "Clippings," "Pamphlets," and much of the "Miscellaneous" series into a single "Printed Matter" series. In Fall 1996, a new series, "Serial Publications," was created. "Book Catalogs" formerly located under the "Printed Matter" series were relocated into "Serial Publications."

In 1998, the remainder of unprocessed items were integrated into the collection. Also, the photograph and art appendices were made into series and renumbered and rearranged as necessary. Section VI, Cards, and Section VII, Printing Blocks, were added to the art series. The Barnes pen and ink drawings donated in 1997 were also incorporated into the art series. In November 2000, items acquired from a dealer were integrated into the collection.

In July 2001, preparations to microfilm the first four series of the collection began, including some reprocessing. Significant time was devoted to dating previously undated materials and reorganizing the materials accordingly. In Series II, Correspondence, there was a general file for each letter of the alphabet that contained correspondence from multiple individuals. These items were separated and placed into individual, named folders. A list of correspondents, in addition, was compiled for each folder in Series II. Fragile materials were placed in Mylar sleeves, and extremely fragile clippings were backed with Japanese paper before being placed in sleeving. Additional materials, which had been acquired since 1998, were incorporated into the collection. Folded materials were unfolded and moved to a mapcase, and unannotated photocopies of publications were discarded if originals were present in the collection. Several oversize publications that had been arranged by the title of the illustration were moved and refiled under the title of the article, as listed in Douglas Messerli's Djuna Barnes: A Bibliography (Rhinebeck, N.Y.: D. Lewis, 1975).

The arrangement of Series IV, Printed Matter, was discarded at this time; "On Barnes" became "About Barnes"; "On Barnes's Writings" is now titled "About Barnes's Writings"; and "On Others" and "Other" were combined to form "Collected by Barnes." Items within six of the eight "miscellaneous" folders were grouped together under headings, such as book reviews and health, and arranged alphabetically under "Collected by Barnes." In addition, English translations of articles were reunited with their foreign language originals.

An attempt was made to bring some order to Barnes's poetry. When possible, materials within each folder were placed in chronological order, and fragments located in "Poems, Fragments" that were not poetry-related were moved to "Notes, Miscellaneous fragments." Most noticeably, the poems in "Early Poems" were separated into individual folder by title and integrated into the alphabetical schema of the series.

EAD markup created using EAD database in Microsoft Access. Markup completed by Jennie A. Levine. Markup checked and verified by Jennie A. Levine, May 2005.