Collection inventory

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Masterson, Dan, 1934-
Title:	Dan Masterson Papers
Inclusive Dates:	1960-1980
Quantity:	2.25 linear ft.
Abstract:	Papers of the American poet. Collection comprises detailed submission records covering approximately 25 years and worksheets for nearly 100 poems, among which is a large binder of research material, notes, photographs, drafts, worksheets, and publisher correspondence relating to Masterson's poem "Avalanche."
Language:	English
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center

Biographical History

Elected to membership in Pen International in 1986, Dan Masterson is a recipient of two Pushcart Prizes and the Bullis, Borestone, and Fels awards. Widely published, his 5th book, That Which Is Seen: Poems Based Exclusively on Artwork, is nearing completion. Many of the selections have already appeared in such journals as The Sewanee, Georgia, and Ontario Reviews, Artful Dodge, Ekphrasis, The New York Quarterly, Hotel Amerika, Kestrel, Mudlark, Eratio, Innisfree, Poems Niederngasse, and Inkwell, as well as in two anthologies and a college workbook. He founded and edits PoetryMaster.com and Enskyment.org, and has directed the Poetry Writing Program at SUNY/Rockland since 1966. For 18 of those years, he also directed the Poetry Writing program, and created and directed the Screenwriting program at Manhattanville College. Recently, the latter college established its Annual Screenwriting Competition in his name. The complete texts of his first two books, On Earth As It Is (Illinois, 1978) and Those Who Trespass (Arkansas,1991) are displayed on The Contemporary American Poetry Archives site (capa.conncoll.edu). His 3rd and 4th books are still in the marketplace. Recently, his work was featured on Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac.

Dan Masterson spent his early years in Buffalo, NY, where he started writing poetry in 3rd grade, hiding his work in an orangewood box beneath his bed. A drummer, boxer, and swimmer, he studied at Canisius College and graduated from Syracuse University. He has served stints as actor, narrator, disc jockey, stateside missionary worker, advertising copywriter, and theatrical public relations director. He resides in Rockland County, NY, with his wife, Janet, a psychotherapist. They are the parents of two children and the grandparents of four.

"It's a good life; writing, teaching. I'm trying to turn people on to poetry, in my classes and at readings. There are four elements I look for and try for in a poem: they are memorable language, remarkable images, engaging storylines, and residue of pain or experience. I spend a great deal of time (sometimes 200 hours) finishing a poem. The idea arrives like a chicken bone caught in the throat and it takes a long while to write it out of there. Much of my writing happens at our mountain cabin hidden away, like that orangewood box, in the high peak region of New York State's Adirondacks." (Contemporary Authors Online. The Gale Group, 2001.)

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Dan Masterson Papers consists of a Writings and Records.

Writings includes drafts of a poetry collection, On Earth As It Is, and worksheets (drafts, notes, and occasional correspondence) for nearly one hundred poems. The most extensive is a 3-ring binder filled with background material for Masterson's poem "Avalanche," which was published in the Autumn 1981 issue of Poetry Northwest. The binder contains over 200 pages of photographs, research notes, word lists, drafts, and a very large wall chart. Many of the worksheets bear on-page revisional suggestions by fellow poets including John Allman and Miller Williams. There is also correspondence to and from journal editors.

Records, consisting of submission records in the form of more than 200 4x5 cards, offers a partial record of the first four decades of the poet's submission/rejection/acceptance history. Journals of first publication include The New Yorker, Poetry, Esquire, New York Quarterly, Crazyhorse, Shenandoah, Poetry Now, Prairie Schooner, and The London Magazine, as well as the Ontario, Paris, Sewanee, New Orleans, Southern, Gettysburg, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Yale Reviews.

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Arrangement of the Collection

Poem worksheets are arranged alphabetically by title.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Associated Titles

Subjects

Genres and Forms

Occupations

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Dan Masterson Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Dan Masterson, 2006, 2009.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: MRR
Date: 14 Jun 2006
Revision history: 16 Jan 2006 - processed original plus additions (MRC); Nov 2006 - additions (MRC); May 2009 - additions (MRC); 1 Jun 2016 - inventory expanded, rehoused for SULF (MS, MRC); 31 Oct 2017 - additions, OS 1-2 (MRC)

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Inventory

	Writings
		Poetry
Box 1			Collections - drafts of On Earth As It Is
Oversize 2			"That Which is Seen: Narrative Poems Based Exclusively on Artwork" - printed, including color copies of photos, in plastic binder (2 copies)
		Poetry worksheets
Box 1			Ach, wir Bekennen Unsere Schuld
Box 1			After 3 Days Alone
Box 1			The Air-cooled Cacoon [sic]
Box 1			At the Edge of Sleep
Box 1			At Midnight
Box 1			August Clouds
Box 1			Aunt Sadie’s Carrot Juice
Oversize 1			Avalanche 1978-1981 - three-ring binder
Box 1			Backroad
Box 1			Beaver
Box 1			Bed
Box 1			Calling Home
Box 1			Child’s Play
Box 1			The Circuit
Box 1			The Condition
Box 1			Cook-out
Box 1			Cruelty Poem
Box 1			Deerhurst
Box 1			Departure
Box 1			Dependence
Box 1			Description
Box 1			Diminishing Compulsions
Box 1			The Dogwood
Box 1			An Earlier Summer Than This
Box 1			Early Sorrow
Box 2			The Elders
Box 2			The End of Things
Box 2			An Ending
Box 2			Eye Witness
Box 2			Feeding the Birds
Box 2			For a Cook…
Box 2			Genesis
Box 2			Getting Ready for Snow
Box 2			Heron
Box 2			Hide and Seek
Box 2			House-call in the 40’s
Box 2			I Wished You Dead
Box 2			Isolation
Box 2			Jail-bait
Box 2			John
Box 2			The Killing
Box 2			Lamoka
Box 2			Late into Dusk
Box 2			The Lawn
Box 2			Legacy
Box 2			The List (alternate titles: Cabin Poem; Well We Did It’; Let’s Get Some Sleep)
Box 2			A Litany
Box 2			Locked in the Icehouse
Box 2			The Lord’s Day
Box 2			Memo to a Doctor Who Would Not See Me
Box 2			Missing in Action (working title: “Bambino” or “Bambino, Bambino”)
Box 2			Night Sky
Box 2			The Northway
Box 2			Novice
Box 2			Old Drummer in the Poor House
Box 2			Opening Doors
Box 2			The Outing
Box 2			The Phoebe Snow
Box 2			The Plumber
Box 3			Private Room
Box 3			Purple Finch
Box 3			Recovery
Box 3			Rescue
Box 3			Rolling the Awning
Box 3			A Room With a Bath
Box 3			Safe Distance
Box 3			Sanctuary
Box 3			Seed
Box 3			Snowshoe Rabbit
Box 3			Stones
Box 3			Sunday Dinner
Box 3			Test Case
Box 3			To My Son…
Box 3			The Tower
Box 3			Transformation
Box 3			Trinidad Sunday
Box 3			A Trip Home
Box 3			Uncle Steve
Box 3			Under Cover of Darkness (alternate titles: “A Week in November”; “A Matter of Grave Concern”)
Box 3			Ward Seven
Box 3			Whatever You Say, Henry
Box 3			While Swimming
Box 3			Whitetail (alternate titles: “Buck”; “Deer”)
Box 4			Whose Boy Are You?
Box 4			Winter Sleep (alternate title: “The Cabin”)
Box 4			The Woman in the Corner House
Box 4			World Without End
Box 4			Yatto

	Records
Box 4		Submission records

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