Phoebe MacAdams Papers, 1958-2018 (MSS 864)

Extent: 4 Linear feet (10 archives boxes)

The Phoebe MacAdams Papers contains personal and professional materials including published and unpublished poetry and prose. The collection also features collaborative projects and events with poets Bill Mohr and Holly Prado.

Phoebe MacAdams (c.1947-) is a poet, cofounder of Cahuenga Press, and teacher, based in Los Angeles.

For an online biographical resource, please visit the Phoebe MacAdams biography by Cultural Daily.

Phoebe MacAdams is a Los Angeles based poet. She was born in New York City and lived in Bolinas and Ojai, California, until she moved to Los Angeles in 1986. The collection includes personal journals; published and unpublished poetry and prose; materials from the Holly Prado workshops; audiocassette tapes; flyers; and some poetry and prose by other poets.

Arranged in four series: 1) EVENTS, 2) JOURNALS, 3) WORKSHOPS, and 4) WRITINGS.

Container List

EVENTS

Scope and Contents

Series 1) EVENTS: In 1987, Holly Prado's husband, actor and poet Harry E. Northrup, began a poetry reading series called Melrose Place. The event was held in a venue called Gasoline Alley Coffee House, owned by Victor Puca and Sharyn Rubenstein. Phoebe MacAdams and poet Bill Mohr ran the series for approximately a year and a half after Northup. This is where MacAdams met many Los Angeles poets shortly after moving to Los Angeles. The series contains flyers, poetry and prose submissions by local poets, a history of Melrose Place by Harry E. Northrup, and 10 audiocassette tapes of poetry readings at Gasoline Alley. This series is arranged chronologically.

Box 1 Folder 1
Dinah Berland submission to Melrose Place, 1988
Box 1 Folder 2
Carine Topal submission to Melrose Place, 1988
Box 1 Folder 3
Janet Gray submission to Melrose Place, 1988
Box 1 Folder 4
Tim Reynolds submission to Melrose Place, 1988
Box 1 Folder 5
Marlene Pearson submission to Melrose Place, 1988
Box 1 Folder 6
Flyers for Poetry on Melrose, 1988
Box 1 Folder 7
Poetry on Melrose Introductions, 1988
Box 1 Folder 8
Collections for LEDB, Undated
Box 1 Folder 9-18
Audiocassette tapes - Poetry readings from Gasoline Alley, 1989

JOURNALS

Scope and Contents

Series 2) JOURNALS: Journal entries by MacAdams from 1958 until 2018. The contents include personal details of MacAdams's life growing up and contains photographs, small flyers and posters, and handwritten poems. Some of the journals are titled "Dreams" where MacAdams recounts her dreams from the night before and analyzes them. Throughout her notebooks are miscellaneous short poems. This series is arranged chronologically.

Box 2 Folder 1-2
Journals, 1958-1964
Box 2 Folder 3-6
Journals, 1970-1976
Box 3 Folder 1-2
Journals, 1978-1979
Box 3 Folder 3-6
Journals, 1980-1983
Box 4 Folder 1-4
Journals, 1983-1990
Box 4 Folder 5-6
Journals, 1990, 1993-1996
Box 5 Folder 1-7
Journals, 1992-1997
Box 6 Folder 1-2
Journals, 1997-2000
Box 6 Folder 3-5
Journals, 2012-2015
Box 7 Folder 1-7
Journals, 2015-2018
Box 8 Folder 1-2
Journals, Undated

WORKSHOPS

Scope and Contents

Series 3) WORKSHOPS: Holly Prado (1938-2019) was a Los Angeles based poet, teacher, and mentor. She ran a poetry workshop for forty years, which MacAdams attended for twenty. According to MacAdams, the structure of the workshop began with Holly reading a poem out loud to the group, then the group would participate in a free-write. The group would then offer critiques and guidance to each other on how to improve. The series contains poems by MacAdams and Prado, paper handouts of miscellaneous poems and short stories, newsletters from Prado, and reflection prompts. This series is arranged chronologically.

Box 8 Folder 3-7
Holly Prado Workshop, 1999-2009
Box 9 Folder 1-2
Holly Prado Workshop, 2010-2013

WRITINGS

Scope and Contents

Series 4) WRITINGS: Arranged chronologically. Materials include drafts and full copies of MacAdams poetry books, such as Sunday (1983), Ordinary Snake Dance (1994), Livelihood (2003), Strange Grace (2007), Touching Stone (2012), and more. The series also includes print copies of the books, unpublished poems, edits, correspondences, cover art examples.

Box 9 Folder 3
Sunday, 1983
Box 9 Folder 4
Ordinary Snake Dance, 1994
Box 9 Folder 5
Livelihood, 2003
Box 9 Folder 6
Miscellaneous Poems, 2003, 2006, 2011, 2015
Box 9 Folder 7
Strange Grace, 2007
Box 9 Folder 8
Touching Stone, 2012
Box 9 Folder 9
Small Dinners and Poems from the Porch, 2012-2013
Box 10 Folder 1
Workshopped, 2013
Box 10 Folder 2
Surgery Journal, 2013-2014
Box 10 Folder 3
Workshopped, 2015
Box 10 Folder 4
Erasure Poems, 2015
Box 10 Folder 5
The Large Economy of the Beautiful proof corrections, 2016
Box 10 Folder 6
The Large Economy of the Beautiful, 2016