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M. L. Rosenthal Papers

Call Number

MSS.045

Date

ca. 1930-1996, inclusive

Creator

Rosenthal, M. L. (Macha Louis), 1917-1996

Extent

51.5 Linear Feet in 38 boxes.

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

Macha Louis Rosenthal (1917-1996), poet, critic, editor, and teacher, earned a Ph.D. at New York University where he was a professor of English until 1996. He also served as director of the Poetics Institute at NYU. Besides publishing numerous books of criticism, collections of verse and contributing poetry, articles and reviews to The New Yorker, Poetry, the Spectator, he served in the U.S. Cultural Exchange Program from 1961-1980 and was a visiting specialist to Germany, Pakistan, Romania, Poland, and Bulgaria, Italy and France. He also was poetry editor of The Nation, the Humanist, and Present Tense and edited various anthologies of poetry. The collection is comprised of the correspondence, manuscripts and subject files of many notable literary figures; the manuscripts and business/production files for Rosenthal's scholarly books, essays, poetry, reviews, and lectures; journals, offprints, and other printed materials; biographical material; photographs; and audiovisual material.

Historical/Biographical Note

Macha Louis Rosenthal, poet, critic, editor, and teacher, was born on March 14, 1917 in Washington, D. C. He took his B.A. (1937) and M.A. (1938) degrees at the University of Chicago. On January 7, 1939, he married Victoria Himmelstein with whom he had three children: David, Alan, and Laura. From 1939 to 1945, he taught as an instructor in English at Michigan State University. In 1946, he was hired as an instructor at New York University, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1949. In 1961, he served in the U.S. Cultural Exchange Program and was visiting specialist to Germany; in 1965, to Pakistan; in 1966, to Romania, Poland, and Bulgaria, and in 1980, to Italy and France. In 1974, he was a visiting poet in Israel. From 1977 to 1979 he served as director of the Poetics Institute at New York University where he was a professor of English until 1996. He was a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies and twice won Guggenheim Fellowships (1960-1964). He contributed poems, articles, and reviews to such leading journals as The New Yorker, the New Statesman, Poetry,the Spectator (London), ELH, and the Quarterly Review of Literature; he also served, from 1956-1961, as poetry editor of The Nation, from 1970-1978 as poetry editor of the Humanist, and from 1973-1990 as poetry editor of Present Tense. He published numerous books of criticism and collections of verse and edited various anthologies of poetry. M. L. Rosenthal died on July 21, 1996.

Arrangement

Folders are arranged alphabetically by subject and author heading.

The files are grouped into 9 series and subdivided into subseries.

Missing Title

  1. Series I: Correspondence
  2. Series II: Manuscripts
  3. Series III: Subject Files
  4. Series IV: M.L. Rosenthal's Writing
  5. Series V: Printed Material
  6. Series VI: Biographical Material
  7. Series VII: Production Files
  8. Series VIII: Photographs
  9. Series IX: Audiovisual
  10. Oversize

Scope and Content Note

The M. L. Rosenthal Papers is comprised of the correspondence, manuscripts and subject files of many notable literary figures; the manuscripts and business/production files for Rosenthal's scholarly books, essays, poetry, reviews, and lectures; journals, offprints, and other printed materials; biographical material; photographs; and audiovisual material. The M. L. Rosenthal Papers contains a comprehensive collection of the early to late literary career of M. L. Rosenthal. Sally M. Gall's original organization of Rosenthal's papers was preserved as much as possible.

SERIES DESCRIPTION

SERIES I: Correspondence: contains 2 boxes of correspondence with such important literary figures as William Carlos Williams, Ted Hughes, Robert Creeley, Christopher Grieve, Laura Riding Jackson, Muriel Rukeyser, and many others. It also contains family correspondence with Rosenthal's wife, Vicki, and his two sons, David and Alan.

SERIES II: Manuscripts: contains 3 boxes of manuscripts by Paul Blackburn, Kenneth Burke, Ramon Guthrie, Ted Hughes, Muriel Rukeyser, James Schevill, Grace Schulman, Theodore Weiss, and William Carlos Williams, among many others.

SERIES III: Subject Files: contains 2 boxes of subject files providing background information, notes, reviews, articles, etc. on the literary figures with which Rosenthal corresponded or studied. Subseries B contains 2 boxes of general subject files on various topics of interest for Rosenthal.

SERIES IV: M. L. Rosenthal's Writing: contains 6 boxes of Rosenthal's manuscripts and other book-related files, arranged chronologically by book. All materials related to each book are kept together, including later editions. Subseries B contains 4 boxes of Rosenthal's manuscripts for poems, essays, reviews and lectures, often in several drafts.

SERIES V: Printed Material: subseries A contains 2 boxes of the journals and other publications that include entries by Rosenthal. Subseries B contains 2 boxes of offprints and other miscellaneous printed material by authors other than Rosenthal.

SERIES VI: Biographical Material: contains 8 boxes of biographical materials including juvenilia, college materials, notebooks, teaching notes, syllabi, student papers, and other course-related materials pertaining to Rosenthal's teaching career. It also contains programs and playbills from various events he attended, information and souvenirs from places he traveled, and paperwork from grants and programs for which he applied. Box 1 of Series VI contains the most important biographical material, including articles about M. L. Rosenthal. Box 7 of Series 6 is a small gray box holding Rosenthal's address books and planners. Box 8 of Series 6 contains accretions from Rosenthal's office at the English Department and materials found in Rosenthal's books while cataloguing them at Fales.

SERIES VII: Production Files: contains 2 boxes of production files for several of Rosenthal's books, arranged alphabetically by book title.

SERIES VIII: Photographs: contains 1 small black box of photographs of Rosenthal, his family, and other miscellaneous group photographs.

SERIES IX: Audiovisual Files: contains 1 letter box of cassette tapes of readings and other miscellaneous recording, reel-to-reel tape, and one microfilm. [Research copies may not be available for these materials yet. Check with the Fales archivist.]

OVERSIZE: There is 1 flat oversize box that contains oversize materials from series 5 and 6.

Access Restrictions

Materials are open to researchers. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date (if known); The M. L. Rosenthal Papers; MSS 045; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries.

Provenance

The M. L. Rosenthal Papers were donated in October 1996 by Victoria Rosenthal. The initial organization of the collection was done by Sally M. Gall, student and colleague of Rosenthal.

Separated Material

The M. L. Rosenthal Library, comprising some 5,000 titles, was donated to the NYU libraries along with the papers. The library was sorted, primary texts were catalogued for the Fales Library, secondary texts were sent to the open stacks.

Collection processed by

Processed by: Tania Friedel, June 1998-March 1999

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 17:06:00 -0400.
Language: Description is in English.

Processing Information note

In March 2016, boxes from Series II through Series IX and Oversize were renumbered to numerically follow boxes in Series I. Researchers with citations to previous box numbers may contact fales.library@nyu.edu for assistance with identifying new box numbers.

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from finding aid.doc

Repository

Fales Library and Special Collections
Fales Library and Special Collections
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012