Patricia Traxler Papers, 1972-2020 (MSS 825)

Restrictions: Robert Pinsky correspondence is restricted through December 2025.

Extent: 4.25 Linear feet (11 archives boxes)

Papers of American poet, writer, and educator Patricia Traxler. Traxler has taught many creative writing courses and projects, served as poet-in-residence in Salina, Kansas and other locations, and received numerous awards for her fiction and poetry. The collection includes correspondence, writings, photographs, and ephemera of both Traxler and United States poet laureate Robert Pinsky.

Patricia Traxler was born in San Diego and educated at the University of California. She began writing at an early age, influenced by her grandmother, Irish poet Nora Dunne. In 1980, she moved to Salina, Kansas, where she was named poet-in-residence by the Salina Arts and Humanities Commission. Traxler has been the Bunting Poetry fellow at Radcliffe College in 1990 and 1991, Hugo Poet at the University of Montana in 1996, and Thurber Poet at Ohio State University in 1997. She has taught creative writing and poetry at Kansas Wesleyan University and other universities, and developed writing programs and projects for children and adults. Her published books of poetry include Blood Calendar (1975), The Glass Woman (1983), Forbidden Words (1994), and Naming the Fires (2016), which was awarded the 2019 Hefner Heitz Kansas Book Award in Poetry. Traxler has also written two novels, Blood (2001) and In the Skin (2020), and edited a history of Salina, Kansas, In Our Time: An Anthology of Personal History, 1910-1975 (1988). She is the recipient of numerous awards, including Ploughshares' Cohen Award in 1990, Radcliffe's Presidential Discretionary Award in 1991, and Nimrod's Pablo Neruda Award for Poetry in 1998.

Papers of American poet, writer, and educator Patricia Traxler. Traxler has taught many creative writing courses and projects, served as poet-in-residence in Salina, Kansas and other locations, and received numerous awards for her fiction and poetry. The collection includes correspondence, writings, photographs, and ephemera of both Traxler and United States poet laureate Robert Pinsky.

Arranged in three series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL FILE AND CORRESPONDENCE, 2) WRITINGS, and 3) ROBERT PINSKY MATERIALS.

Container List

BIOGRAPHICAL FILE AND CORRESPONDENCE

Scope and Content of Series

Series 1) BIOGRAPHICAL FILE AND CORRESPONDENCE: Biographical information about Patricia Traxler and her correspondence with poets, writers, publishers, and editors. Correspondents include Victor Contorski, Patricia Goedicke, Robert Hershon, Ted Kooser, Margo Livesey, Adrienne Rich, and Roderick Townley.

Box 1 Folder 1
Biographical information, 1990-2002
Box 1 Folder 2
AGNI (Melnyczuk, Askold), 1990-2002
Box 1 Folder 3
Anderson, Jack, 2016-2017
Box 1 Folder 4
Archer, Nuala, 1987
Box 1 Folder 5
Averill, Tom, 2002-2019
Box 1 Folder 6
Brock-Broido, Lucie, 1991-1995
Box 1 Folder 7
Brook, Donna, 1983
Box 1 Folder 8
Burns, Ralph, 1986
Box 1 Folder 9
Cairns, Scott, 1987-1990
Box 1 Folder 10
Contorski, Victor, 1984-1998
Box 1 Folder 11
Davison, Peter (The Atlantic Monthly) , 1992

Regarding Traxler's poem "High Wire."

Box 1 Folder 12
Dorris, George, 2016
Box 1 Folder 13
Gewanter, David, 1997
Box 1 Folder 14
Goedicke, Patricia, 1988-2004
Box 1 Folder 15
Goldbarth, Albert, 1988-2019
Box 1 Folder 16
Hacker, Marilyn, 1988-1993
Box 1 Folder 17
Haskins, Lola, 1994-2001
Box 1 Folder 18
Heffernan, Michael, 1985-1986

Includes photograph of Michael Heffernan, 1985.

Box 1 Folder 19
Henry, DeWitt, 1991-1993
Box 1 Folder 20-23
Hershon, Robert (Hanging Loose Press), 1972-2014
Box 2 Folder 1-2
Hershon, Robert (Hanging Loose Press), 2015-2018
Box 2 Folder 3
Holden, Jonathan, 1984-1989
Box 2 Folder 4
Howard, Richard, 1988
Box 2 Folder 5-9
Kooser, Ted, 1993-2019
Box 2 Folder 10
Lifshin, Lyn (Tangled Vines) , 1976-1992
Box 2 Folder 11-12
Livesey, Margot, 1998-2019
Box 3 Folder 1
Lourie, Dick, 2015
Box 3 Folder 2
Low, Denise, 2006-2008
Box 3 Folder 3
Maristed, Kai (von Bismarck, Karen), 2002-2018
Box 3 Folder 4
Martinez, Max Carlos, 2019-2020
Box 3 Folder 5
Mazur, Gail, 1999
Box 3 Folder 6
McCarriston, Linda, 1991-1995

Includes photograph of Linda McCarriston, 1991.

Box 3 Folder 7
McMahon, Lynne, 1994-2003
Box 3 Folder 8
Mirriam-Goldberg, Caryn, 2011-2014
Box 3 Folder 9
Moramarco, Fred (Poetry International) , 1996
Box 3 Folder 10
Moran, B. K., 1975-1984
Box 3 Folder 11
Murray, William Cotter (Bill), 1995
Box 3 Folder 12
Peirce, Kathleen, 1993-1994
Box 3 Folder 13
Piepenbrink, Gary, 1989-1999
Box 3 Folder 14
Ploughshares (Lee, Don), 1989-2000
Box 3 Folder 15
Rachlin, Nahid, 1993
Box 3 Folder 16
Ray, Janisse, 1996-1998
Box 3 Folder 17
Rich, Adrienne, 1975-1978
Box 3 Folder 18
Santos, Sherod (Rod), 1993-1999

Includes photographs of Robert Hershon, Lori Brack, Jodie Blankenburg, Sherod Santos, and Kathleen Peirce, ca. 1994.

Box 3 Folder 19
Schreiber, Ron, 1978-2002
Box 3 Folder 20
Schwartz, Lloyd, 1991-2001
Box 3 Folder 21
Shelley Memorial Award, Poetry Society of America, 1991
Box 3 Folder 22
Shirley, Aleida (The American Voice) , 1991-1992
Box 3 Folder 23
Sleigh, Tom, 1992
Box 3 Folder 24
Stafford, William, 1983-1993

Includes photograph of Patricia Traxler, 1986.

Box 3 Folder 25
Stern, Gerald (Jerry), 1990-1996
Box 3 Folder 26
Tabbi, Joe, 1993-1995
Box 3 Folder 27
Thon, Melanie Rae, 1991-2019
Box 3 Folder 28-29
Townley, Roderick and Wyatt, 1996-2018

Includes photographs of the Townleys.

Box 3 Folder 30
Trowbridge, William (The Laurel Review) , 1990-1995
Box 3 Folder 31
Turpin, Mark, 1998-2000
Box 3 Folder 32
Wakoski, Diane, 1985

Includes photograph of Diane Wakoski, 1985.

Box 3 Folder 33
Waniek, Marilyn Nelson, 1992

Includes photograph of Marilyn Nelson Waniek, ca. 1992.

Box 3 Folder 34
Miscellaneous correspondence

WRITINGS

Scope and Content of Series

Series 2) WRITINGS: Manuscripts, drafts, ephemera, and reviews for writings by Patricia Traxler. Prose materials include a manuscript and reviews of Traxler's 2001 novel Blood, drafts for personal narratives, and a review. Poetry includes drafts of poems, reviews and ephemera for Traxler's published works, and the manuscript for Forbidden Words (2016). The series also includes ephemera and correspondence for poetry readings by Patricia Traxler, particularly the 1998 Favorite Poem Project reading in Salina, Kansas, which was organized by Traxler.

Prose

Box 4 Folder 1
The Unremembered Dream, 1997
Box 4 Folder 2-6
Blood (2000) - Manuscript, correspondence and reviews, 2001-2003
Box 4 Folder 7
The Missing World (Margot Livesey, 2006) - Review
Box 4 Folder 8
Secrets We Keep From Ourselves, 2018
Box 4 Folder 9
The Eternity Bird

Poetry

Box 4 Folder 10
Blood Calendar (1975) - Review
Box 4 Folder 11
The Glass Woman (1983) - Review, 1984
Box 4 Folder 12
Forbidden Words (1994) - Excerpts and ephemera, 1995
Box 4 Folder 13
Naming the Fires (2016) - Manuscript, 2015
Box 4 Folder 14
Miscellaneous poems

Readings

Box 4 Folder 15
Third Annual New Poetry Series, San Diego State University, 1975 October 14
Box 4 Folder 16
Favorite Poem Project reading, Salina, Kansas, 1998 October 29

The event was organized by Patricia Traxler.

Box 4 Folder 17
Ephemera, 1984-1998

ROBERT PINSKY MATERIALS

Scope and Content of Series

Series 3) ROBERT PINSKY MATERIALS: Materials regarding poet and writer Robert Pinsky which were collected by Patricia Traxler. Pinsky was U.S. Poet Laureate from 1997 to 2000. Arranged in two subseries: A) CORRESPONDENCE AND MISCELLANEOUS, and B) WRITINGS.

A) CORRESPONDENCE AND MISCELLANEOUS: Correspondence between Patricia Traxler and Robert Pinsky in which they discuss and critique their writing drafts. The correspondence has been restricted until 2025. The subseries also includes photographs of Pinsky, sketches by him, and ephemera regarding his talks and poetry readings.

B) WRITINGS: Drafts, manuscripts, correspondence, cover art, and reviews for Pinsky's published and unpublished writings, many of which were annotated by Traxler. Includes essays, interviews, personal narratives, fiction, drama, poetry, and translations of Dante and Czeslaw Milosz. Pinsky numbered and dated many of his drafts.

Correspondence and Miscellaneous

Box 10 Folder 1-7
Correspondence, 1986-2007

Restricted through December 2025.

Box 11 Folder 1-5
Correspondence, 2008-2018

Restricted through December 2025.

Box 4 Folder 18
Sketches
Box 4 Folder 19
Photographs of Robert Pinsky, 1989-1996
Box 4 Folder 20
Ephemera - Talks and readings, 1986-2009

Writings

Nonfiction

Box 4 Folder 21
An Interview with Robert Pinsky by P. Michael Campbell (Berkeley Poetry Review 17), 1984 fall
Box 4 Folder 22
The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams, Vol. I, 1909-1939 (A. Walton Litz and Christopher MacGowan, editors, 1987) - Review
Box 4 Folder 23
The Death of Methuselah and Other Stories (Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1988) - Review
Box 5 Folder 1-2
Poetry and the World: Selected Prose 1977-1987 (1988) - Drafts, review, and cover layout, 1988
Box 5 Folder 3
Some Passages of Isaiah, 1988
Box 5 Folder 4
A False Mustache, A Frozen Swan: The Holocaust from a Distance, 1988 December
Box 5 Folder 5
Bitter Flame: A Life of Sylvia Plath (Anne Stevenson, 1989) - Review
Box 5 Folder 6
The Poet in the Faubourg "Jewish", 1989
Box 5 Folder 7
Casey and McGraw (Joseph Durso, 1989) - Review
Box 5 Folder 8
The Language Net. Review of Poems of Paul Celan (Michael Hamburger, translator, 1972), 1989 July 31
Box 5 Folder 9
Skies of the City: A Poetry Reading, 1989 summer
Box 5 Folder 10
The Hand, 1989 November 21
Box 5 Folder 11
Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball (Warren Goldstein, 1989) - Review, 1990 February 13
Box 5 Folder 12
Robert Lowell, 1990 November 24
Box 5 Folder 13
Introduction to "A Poetry Supplement," Tikkun vol. 6, no. 4, 1991
Box 5 Folder 14
News From a Foreign Country Came (Alberto Manguel, 1991) - Review, 1991 April
Box 5 Folder 15
Compost interview with Robert Pinsky, 1991 December 11
Box 5 Folder 16
The Dark American Bar, 1991 December 18
Box 5 Folder 17
Czeslaw Milosz essays, 1991-2001
Box 5 Folder 18
Poetry Chronicle, 1992 January 8
Box 5 Folder 19
Review of Canvas by Adam Zagajewski (Renata Gorczynski, translator, 1990), 1992 November 12
Box 5 Folder 20
The Amateur, 1992 November 28
Box 5 Folder 21
Essay on 16th century poetry, 1993
Box 5 Folder 22
Thom Gunn, 1993
Box 5 Folder 23
O Holy Cow! The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto (Tom Peyer and Hart Seely, editors, 1993) - Review, 1993 March 16
Box 5 Folder 24
On "Sailing to Byzantium", 1993 March 16
Box 5 Folder 25
Old Poetry and New Poetry, 1993 April 25
Box 5 Folder 26
Gerry Mulligan, 1993 June 2
Box 5 Folder 27
Woman Alone at Bar, 1993 September 12
Box 5 Folder 28
The Collected Stories (Grace Paley, 1994) - Review, 1994 March 28
Box 5 Folder 29
Getting it By Heart, 1994 June 30
Box 5 Folder 30
Donne's Valediction, 1994 September 12
Box 5 Folder 31
Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway (Clifford Stoll, 1995) - Review, 1995 February 12
Box 5 Folder 32
The Muse in the Machine, 1995 February 23
Box 5 Folder 33
Prose in the Poetry of William Carlos Williams, 1995 March 24
Box 5 Folder 34
If You Could Write One Great Poem, What Would You Want It To Be About?, 1995 April 10
Box 5 Folder 35
The Meaning of American Poetry at the Present Time, 1995 May 15
Box 5 Folder 36
The Saving Vulgarity of Poetry, 1996 December 27
Box 5 Folder 37
Diary, Days One - Five, 1996 December 30 - 1997 January 3
Box 5 Folder 38
An Alphabet of My Dead, 1997 February 24
Box 5 Folder 39
Letter to the editor regarding the American Poetry event at the White House on April 22, 1998, 1998
Box 6 Folder 1-2
The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide (1998) - Drafts, 1997-1998
Box 6 Folder 3
The Simpsons - Essays, 1998 and undated

Includes "My Favorite Show: Robert Pinsky on The Simpsons" and "Sitcome Verité: Welcome Back, Simpsons."

Box 6 Folder 4
"Western wind, when will thou blow", 1998 March 19
Box 6 Folder 5
Swamp Dreams. Review of The Meadowlands: Wilderness Adventures at the Edge of a City (Robert Sullivan, 1998), 1998 April 19
Box 6 Folder 6
Fitchburg, 1998 May 29
Box 6 Folder 7
Poetry and American Memory, 1998 October 5
Box 6 Folder 8
Robert Pinsky interviewed by The Washington Post - Transcript, 2002 September 9
Box 6 Folder 9
Cape Cod (Henry David Thoreau, 1865), 2003 November 20
Box 6 Folder 10
On My Poem "Louie Louie", 2004 November 6
Box 6 Folder 11
Myths of the Workroom, 2005
Box 6 Folder 12
The Year of Magical Thinking (Joan Didion, 2005) - Review
Box 6 Folder 13-16
The Life of David (2006) - Manuscripts, 2004-2006
Box 6 Folder 17
Speaking the Unspeakable. Review of While They Slept: An Inquiry into the Murder of a Family (Kathryn Harrison, 2008), 2008 June 8
Box 6 Folder 18
Introduction to English Renaissance Poetry: A Collection of Shorter Poems (John Williams, 1963), 2016
Box 6 Folder 19
Democracy and the Cultural Ideal, 2018 September 10
Box 6 Folder 20
American Culture and the Voice of Poetry
Box 6 Folder 21
Essay on peace and poetry
Box 6 Folder 22
No Picnic

On "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg.

Box 6 Folder 23
Miscellaneous prose, 1988-1994

Fiction and Drama

Box 6 Folder 24
Mr Mintser, 1982 September 1
Box 6 Folder 25
Boxers (Abe), 1988 November
Box 6 Folder 26
Michael, 1989
Box 7 Folder 1
Jesus and Isolt, 1989 summer
Box 7 Folder 2-4
The Lion Biter Stories, 1989-1990
Box 7 Folder 5
The Robot Pageant: An Opera, 2010
Box 7 Folder 6
Barney
Box 7 Folder 7
The Female Ghost

Poetry

Box 7 Folder 8
The Hearts, 1986
Box 7 Folder 9
What Why When How Who, 1986
Box 7 Folder 10
At Pleasure Bay, 1987
Box 7 Folder 11
Visions of Daniel, 1987
Box 7 Folder 12
Voyage to the Moon, 1987
Box 7 Folder 13
Pilgrimage, 1988
Box 7 Folder 14
The Refinery, 1988 May 21
Box 7 Folder 15
The Ghost Hammer, 1989
Box 7 Folder 16
The Rhyme of Reb Nachman, 1989
Box 7 Folder 17
Shirt, 1989
Box 7 Folder 18
Shiva and Parvati Hiding in the Rain, 1989
Box 7 Folder 19
Avenue, 1990
Box 7 Folder 20
House Hour, 1990
Box 7 Folder 21
Isaac Leybush Peretz, 1990
Box 7 Folder 22-23
The Want Bone (1990) - Manuscripts and cover art, 1990
Box 7 Folder 24
The City Dark, 1991
Box 7 Folder 25
The Heartmoss, 1991-1994
Box 7 Folder 26
The Figured Wheel (1993) - Cover art and reviews, 1993-1996
Box 7 Folder 27
Poems - Manuscript, 1994
Box 7 Folder 28
Impossible to Tell, 1994 July 18
Box 8 Folder 1
The Ice Storm, 1995 September 13
Box 8 Folder 2
Poems - Manuscript, 1998 July 11
Box 8 Folder 3-4
Jersey Rain (2000) - Manuscript, 1999-2000

Originally titled Machine.

Box 8 Folder 5
The Knight's Prayer, 2000
Box 8 Folder 6
Coat, 2001 July 17

About Italian writer Natalia Ginzburg.

Box 8 Folder 7
9/11, 2002
Box 8 Folder 8
Pliers, 2003-2004
Box 8 Folder 9
First Things to Hand - Drafts, 2005
Box 8 Folder 10
Poem of Disconnected Parts, 2005
Box 8 Folder 11
Gulf Music (2007) - Draft
Box 8 Folder 12
Creole, 2011
Box 8 Folder 13
Selected Poems (2011) - Draft
Box 8 Folder 14
At the Foundling Hospital (2016) - Drafts and cover art
Box 8 Folder 15
Branca, 2017 March 13
Box 8 Folder 16
At the Worcester Museum
Box 8 Folder 17
Ginza Samba
Box 8 Folder 18
Memoir
Box 8 Folder 19
A Phonebook Cover Hermes of the Nineteen-Forties
Box 8 Folder 20
Miscellaneous poems, 1989-2004

Translations

Box 8 Folder 21-22
The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation (1995) - Drafts, 1992-1993
Box 9 Folder 1-3
The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation (1995) - Manuscript, drafts, correspondence, and reviews, 1992-1995
Box 9 Folder 4
From The World (Fourteen poems from The World: A Naive Poem by Czeslaw Milosz, 1943) - Draft