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Salt Hill Records

An inventory of the records at the Syracuse University Archives


Finding aid created by: Anna E. Shuff
Date: 2026

Historical Note

Salt Hill is a literary journal affiliated with Syracuse University’s Creative Writing Masters of Fine Arts Program. Salt Hill emerged from Syracuse Poems (later Syracuse Poems and Stories), a campus journal that published the work of Syracuse University graduate and undergraduate creative writing students. Syracuse Poems was first published in 1964, only a year after the Graduate Creative Writing Program’s founding in the fall of 1963. Initially, the journal exclusively published the works of students in the graduate poetry cohorts who had been awarded prizes by the University for their writing, as well as other student poetry that had been selected by the program’s faculty. In 1977, the journal was renamed Syracuse Poems and Stories and began publishing the work of graduate students in the program’s fiction cohorts. In 1987, editorial control of Syracuse Poems and Stories was turned over to graduate students in the Creative Writing Program, who renamed the publication the Salt Hill Journal the following year for its 25th anniversary edition. The journal continued to serve as a publication exclusively for the work of Syracuse University students through the spring of 1993.

In 1994, the Salt Hill Journal published its first issue of submitted works from writers outside of Syracuse University, which contained poetry, short stories, translations and scholarly writing. The journal was edited and produced by a group of Creative Writing Program graduate students under the name "The Salt Hill Journal Literary Association," which was later renamed the Salt Hill Literary Association before the organizational name was dropped from the journal's masthead. Salt Hill adopted its current name for its fourth edition in 1997, and in 1998 began publishing biannually. Throughout its history, Salt Hill has also administered a number of writing competitions, including the Salt Hill Poetry Contest, the Short/Short Fiction Contest, the Hypertext Fiction Contest, the Philip Booth Poetry Prize, and the Arthur Flowers Flash Fiction Prize. Salt Hill also oversaw the Dead Lake Chapbook Contest from 2013 to 2017. A number of notable authors have been published in Salt Hill, including National Book Award winners and finalists such as Agha Shahid Ali, Lydia Davis, Ross Gay, Terrance Hayes, Patricia Smith and Jean Valentine; Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists such as Dorianne Laux, W. S. Merwin, Lucia Perillo, Mary Ruefle, Charles Simic, Bruce Smith and James Tate; United States Poet Laureates such as Robert Pinsky; and bestselling authors such as Mary Karr and Stephen King.

As of 2026, Salt Hill is edited and produced by students in Syracuse University’s Creative Writing Graduate Program with support from Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences. The journal currently focuses on poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and visual art. Salt Hill releases physical issues biannually and digitally publishes interviews, reviews, and selected works on its website.

Scope and Content Note

The Salt Hill Records concern the history, operations, and publications of the Salt Hill literary journal. They are divided into two series:

The Publications series contains issues of Salt Hill dating back to the journal's first adoption of the Salt Hill Journal title in 1988. The bulk of this series comprises issues of Salt Hill produced after the journal's shift to publishing national and international writing submissions in 1994. The series also contains early issues of Salt Hill Journal published between 1988 and 1993 when the journal exclusively published the writing of Syracuse University students. Also present are issues from the Dead Lake chapbook series representing the winning entries to Salt Hill's Dead Lake Chapbook Contest which ran from 2013 to 2017.

The Records series contains materials pertaining to the administration and governance of Salt Hill including the journal's constitution, meeting minutes, budget, and correspondence with writers. The series also includes materials concerning Salt Hill's publication process, including calls for submissions, contest guidelines, and publication proofs and edits for Issue 1 of the journal. Also present are newspaper clippings, event advertisements, and promotional materials for specific issues.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

Please note that the collection is housed off-site, and advance notice is required to allow time to have the materials brought to the Reading Room on campus.

Use Restrictions:

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

Related Material

Issues of Salt Hill's predecessor, Syracuse Poems and Stories, can be found in the Syracuse University Department of English Records, as can additional information on Syracuse University's Graduate Creative Writing Program. The Syracuse University Clipping Files also holds files on both the Department of English and the Creative Writing Program.

Selected Search Terms

Names

Agha, Shahid Ali, 1949-2001.
Creeley, Robert, 1926-2005.
Davis, Lydia, 1947-
Gay, Ross, 1974-
Hayes, Terrance.
Karr, Mary.
King, Stephen, 1947-
Laux, Dorianne.
Merwin, W. S. (William Stanley), 1927-2019.
Perillo, Lucia, 1958-2016.
Pinsky, Robert.
Ruefle, Mary, 1952-
Simic, Charles, 1938-2023.
Smith, Bruce, 1946-
Smith, Patricia, 1955-
Tate, James, 1943-2015.
Valentine, Jean.
Salt Hill Literary Association.
Syracuse University -- History.
Syracuse University.
Syracuse University. -- Creative Writing Program.
Syracuse University. -- Department of English.

Subjects

Creative writing (Graduate education)
Student publications.
Authors.
Graduate students.
Higher education.
Poets.

Types of Material

Bookmarks.
Budgets.
Chapbooks.
Clippings (information artifacts)
Constitutions.
Correspondence.
Fliers (printed matter)
Journals (periodicals)
Minutes (administrative records)
Postcards.
Proofs (printed matter)

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Salt Hill Records,
University Archives,
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Transfers from Salt Hill in 2025 and 2026. A small number of issues were transferred into the collection from the Syracuse University Department of English Records.

Processing Information

Materials were housed in acid-free folders in acid-free boxes.

Arrangement

Materials are arranged alphabetically.

Table of Contents

Publications

Records

Inventory