Collection inventory

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Swallow, Alan, 1915-1966.
Title:	Alan Swallow Papers
Inclusive Dates:	1934-1964
Quantity:	3.5 linear ft.
Abstract:	Papers of the American author, poet, publisher. Correspondence (1942-1964); manuscript poems and essays; and published materials, including articles and clippings by and about Swallow, book reviews, poems, and stories by Swallow, and photographs. Correspondents include Louise Bogan, Weldon Kees, Archibald MacLeish, Henry Miller, Marianne Moore, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Wallace Stevens, Allen Tate, Robert Penn Warren, William Carlos Williams, and others.
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

Alan Swallow (1915-1966) was an American poet, editor, teacher, and publisher.

Swallow was born February 11, 1915, in Powell, Wyoming. He received a B.A. degree from the University of Wyoming in 1937 and an M.A. degree from Louisiana State University in 1939. At LSU he studied under Robert Penn Warren and Cleanth Brooks. He was an instructor at the University of New Mexico (1940-1942) and associate professor of English at Western State College (1942-1943). He then taught at the University of Denver as assistant professor(1948-1954). He also directed the writing program at U. of Denver and from 1947 to 1953 was director of the University Press. In 1940, Swallow became the founder, owner, and single employee of his publishing firm, Alan Swallow, Publisher. He sought to promote the poetry and fiction of contemporary writers who are often unrecognized by the larger commercial publishers. His list included J.V. Cunningham, Thomas McGrath, Janet Lewis, and the more well known Yvor Winters and Allen Tate. Swallow has also written and published several books of poems and has edited anthologies of poetry and of prose. He lectured at various writers' conferences and was a member of the Western Writers of America, Colorado Authors League, Denver Westerners, and American Civil Liberties Union. He died on November 27, 1966 in Denver, Colorado.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Alan Swallow Papers consist of correspondence, subject files, manuscripts and published material.

Correspondence includes authors, editors, publisher, and fellow poets. Notable individuals include Louise Bogan, Jane Grabhorn (Grabhorn Press), Archibald MacLeish, Henry Miller, Marianne Moore, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Wallace Stevens, Allen Tate, Robert Penn Warren, and William Carlos Williams.

Subject files contains conference and writers' workshop programs, legal material relating to the Supreme Court case involving Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer, photographs of Swallow, printing specimens, and various trade lists, mailing pieces and notices from Alan Swallow, Publisher, and his subsidiary presses (e.g. Sage Books).

Manuscripts consists of typescripts of books, essays, poems, and other writings by Swallow and by others.

Published material consists of articles, book reviews, newspaper clippings (Swallow had a regular newspaper column), pamphlets, poems, and short stories by Swallow. In addition, there are articles about Swallow, magazines published by him and by others, books written by others and some published by Swallow, pamphlets published by Swallow, pamphlets written and published by others, and miscellaneous magazines. Some of the articles, books, and pamphlets are inscribed by their authors to Swallow.

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Arrangement of the Collection

Correspondence is arranged alphabetically by correspondent. Subject files and manuscripts are arranged alphabetically by subject or title respectively. Published material is subdivided by type and then arranged in alphabetical order by type, except for newspaper clippings and poems by A.S. which are arranged chronologically.

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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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Related Material

A large number of books have been removed from the collection and catalogued separately. Please refer to Libraries Search for a complete listing.

See also the William Claire Collection Relating to Alan Swallow.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Subjects

Genres and Forms

Occupations

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Alan Swallow Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Alan Swallow, 1964-1966.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: -
Date: May 25 1966
Revision history: 4 Jan 1967 - additions (-); 24 Sep 2007 - converted to EAD (JPK); 26 Oct 2012 - extent revised (MBD); 9 Sep 2015 - added link to Claire collection (MRC); 22 Feb 2017 - correspondence re-done; portions rehoused, expanded to boxes 6-7 (MRC); 6 May 2019 - added Ruth Horton letter (KD)

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Inventory

	Correspondence
Box 1		American Poet 1943
Box 1		Bogan, Louise 1943
Box 1		Brown, Robert 1942-1943
Box 1		Bruce Humphries Inc. 1943
Box 1		B, misc 1943
			Brittin, Norman A,; Broomell, Myron H.
Box 1		Ciardi, John 1942
Box 1		Coleman, Carroll 1943
Box 1		Caukin, Helen Ferguson 1942-1943
Box 1		Clark, Walter van Tilburg 1943
Box 1		The Colt Press (Bill Roth) 1942
Box 1		Cunningham, J. V. 1942, undated
Box 1		Davidson, Gustav 1943
Box 1		Decker, James A. 1942, 1947 - includes cancelled check from AS
Box 1		De Jong, David Cornel 1942-1943
Box 1		Doubleday, Doran & Co. 1943
Box 1		Dudgeon, Patrick Orpen 1942
Box 1		Elman, Richard (Dick) 1961-1963 - outgoing
Box 1		E, misc. 1947, 1959
			Elliott, George; Erno, Richard B.
Box 1		Felton, George H. 1943
Box 1		Ferril, Thomas Hornsby 1943
Box 1		Fitzell, Lincoln 1943
Box 1		Frederick, John T. 1943
Box 1		F, misc. 1951, undated
			Fergusson, Harvey; Fox, Albertine
Box 1		Grabhorn, Jane 1943
Box 1		G, misc. 1943, 1946, 1948, undated
			Gold, Herb; Goll, Yvan; Gordon, Caroline; Griggs, Stephen Tolland
Box 1		Hartman, Carl 1964 - outgoing; detailed three-page letter, almost an essay, on the novel as a genre and novel publishing
Box 1		Horton, Ruth 1963
Box 1		Hunter, Bonnie 1960
Box 1		Kees, Weldon 1943
Box 1		Kunitz, Stanley 1943
Box 1		MacLeish, Archibald 1943
Box 1		McGrath, Thomas 1942
Box 1		Miller, Henry circa 1948 - includes letter from Miller's wife Lepska on his behalf
Box 1		Mills, Clark 1942
		Moon, Bucklin
			See Doubleday, Doran & Co.
Box 1		Moore, Marianne 1963
Box 1		Moore, Merrill 1942
Box 1		M-R, misc. 1942-1943
			McGregor, J.S.T.[?]; Miles, Josephine; Montana State University; Moore, Nicholas; Rosenberg, Harold
Box 1		Singer, Isaac Bashevis 1962
Box 1		Stevens, Wallace 1943
Box 1		S, misc. 1943, 1964
			Schevill, James; Stanford, Ann; Sutherland, Anne
Box 1		Taggard, Genevieve undated
Box 1		Tate, Allen 1943
Box 1		T-U, misc 1943
			Thomson, Rosamund Dargan; University of Buffalo; University of Nebraska Press
Box 1		Van Doren, Mark 1943
Box 1		Volkening, Henry 1943
Box 1		Warren, Robert Penn 1942-1943
Box 1		Williams, William Carlos 1943, 1951
Box 1		W, misc. 1942-1943
			Western State College; Wynn, Dudley
Box 1		Unidentified undated - outgoing; to multiple recipients, requesting assistance in publishing his work

	Subject files
Box 1		Conference and workshop programs
Box 2		Fisher, Vardis - AS interview of Fisher
Box 2		Greeting card
Box 2		Legal contracts
Box 2		Notes
Box 2		Photographs - candid shots of AS alone and with others
Box 1		Printer's specimen sheet - various examples of letterhead, AS and others
Box 1		Trade lists, mailing pieces, advertisements, notices to authors - from A.S.

	Manuscripts
		Books
Box 2			The Harvest Waits / Lorene Pearson - typescript with corrections, 659 pp. (5 folders)
Box 3			Stars Ploughed Under / Stephen Tolland Griggs - typescript carbon with corrections, approximately 500 pp.
		Essays
Box 3			[Untitled] / J.V. Cunningham, on his style
Box 3			"The Death of the Novel and/or the Disappearing Audience" / Jarvis Thurston - typescript, 33 pp.
Box 3			Foreword to unidentified book / Alan Swallow
		Poems
Box 3			Code, Grant H. / "Division" - several poems and epigrams
Box 3			Cunningham, J.V. - several poems and epigrams
Box 3			Damon, S.F. / "The Mad Huntsman"
		Speeches
Box 3			"Poetry of the West" / Alan Swallow - several poems and epigrams

	Published material
Box 4		Abstract of thesis by Alan Swallow
		Articles
Box 4			About Swallow
Box 4			By Swallow (4 folders)
Box 4			By others
		Books
Box 4			Curecanti 1943 - yearbook for Western State College
			An editor's essays of two decades / Alan Swallow 1948
				Transferred to Rare Books for cataloging. Please refer to Libraries Search to locate this item.
Box 4			Index to Little Magazines / Alan Swallow, H. Colgrave, A. Smith 1948
Box 5			Moods in Melody / Jesse L. Kraft 1962 - signed and inscribed to Swallow
Box 5			A Season of Grace / N. V. M. Gonzalez
Box 5			Silver Souvenir / Poetry Society of Colorado - published by Alan Swallow
		Book reviews
Box 5			By Swallow 1943, 1954
				Reviews of Hill Wind (Kittredge) and God or Caesar? (Vardis Fisher)
		Legal briefs
Box 5			Smith v. California amica curiae brief 1962 - pertaining to lawsuit regarding Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer, includes memo from Barney Rosset of Grove Press; Swallow and more than 100 others were co-signers of the brief
		Magazines
Box 5			Advance Guard #2 /Swallow Press 1948
Box 5			Antiquarian Bookman 1948-1950 (3 folders)
Box 5			Evergreen Review #25 / Grove Press 1962 - issue contains "Freedom to Read" statement; Swallow and more than 100 others were co-signers
Box 5			Foothills / University of Denver 1946 - creative writing class publication; AS was faculty advisor
Box 5			Through the Leaves / Great Western Sugar Company Jul 1941 - contains article by Swallow's father, Edgar Swallow
Box 5			Writing at Wyoming / University of Wyoming Dept. of English 1963 - AS was co-sponsor
Box 6			Miscellaneous, A-Z - no discernible connection to AS
		Newspaper clippings
Box 6			About Swallow
Box 6			About others
Box 6			By Swallow 1957, undated (5 folders)
		Pamphlets
Box 6			By Alan Swallow
Box 6			By others, published by Swallow
Box 6			By others, some inscribed to Swallow
			Miscellaneous
				Transferred to Rare Books for cataloging. Please refer to Libraries Search to locate these items.
		Poems
			By Alan Swallow, in greeting card
				Transferred to Rare Books for cataloging. Please refer to Libraries Search to locate these items.
Box 6			By Alan Swallow 1934-1938 - in various publications, including College Verse and New Mexico Quarterly (3 folders)
Box 7			By Alan Swallow 1939, 1941, 1943, 1949-1950, 1957, undated - in various publications, including College Verse and New Mexico Quarterly (5 folders)
Box 7			By Genevieve Taggard - "To Tolstoy in Retrospect" signed
		Publisher and bookseller catalogs
Box 7			Miscellaneous
		Short stories
Box 7			By Alan Swallow 1951 - "Golden Girl" in New Mexico Quarterly

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