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Last modified: October 20, 2009
© 2009 University of Delaware Library
Identification: MSS 099, F842
Creator: Metcalf, Paul C.
Title: Paul Metcalf letters to Ted Wilentz
Inclusive Dates: 1984–1991
Bulk Dates: 1984–1985
Extent: 14 items (15 pp.)
Abstract: The collection comprises letters and postcards written from Paul Metcalf, experimental American writer, to Ted Wilentz, former owner of the Eighth Street Bookshop in New York City, between 1984 and 1991.
Language: Materials entirely in English.
MSS 099, F842, Paul Metcalf letters to Ted Wilentz, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.
F842: Shelved in SPEC MSS 099 manuscript boxes
Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library / Newark, Delaware 19717-5267 / Phone: 302-831-2229 / Fax: 302-831-6003 / URL: http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/
Purchase, November 2008.
Processed and encoded by Anita Wellner, May 2009.
The collection is open for research.
Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library, http://www.lib.udel.edu/cgi-bin/askspec.cgi
Paul Metcalf was a writer of poetry, plays and prose, who used an experimental style. Metcalf was born in East Milton, Massachusetts, to a New England family whose ancestors included Herman Melville and Roger Williams. One of Metcalf's best known works is Genoa, a story in which the author alludes to his family's relationship to Melville. In 1987 Paul Metcalf was honored by the American Academy and institute of Arts and Letters. Mr. Metcalf died on January 21, 1999, near Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Sources:
"Paul Metcalf, 81; Wrote Experimental Tales." The New York Times. 1999 January 31. http://www.nytimes.com (accessed April 21, 2009).
The collection comprises letters and postcards written by Paul Metcalf to Ted Wilentz between 1984 and 1991.
This small collection of ten typed letters and one postcard were written by writer Paul Metcalf to his longtime friend Ted Wilentz, who was the former owner of the Eighth Street Bookshop in New York City. Additionally the collection has a postcard announcing a Metcalf reading, a handwritten thank-you letter from Metcalf's wife Nancy, and a photocopy of a Metcalf's review of a Herman Melville documentary.
Many of the letters regard a poetry reading to be given by Metcalf which was sponsored by the Washington Project for the Arts in 1984. The Metcalfs were guests in the Wilentzes' home during this trip to Washington, D. C., for the reading. In other letters Metcalf commented on his longtime friend, poet Jonathan Williams, who also published several of Metcalf's books.
The letters and postcards are arranged in chronological order.
Typed letter signed , 1984 January 10 [Box 57 F842]
1 p. with envelope
Typed letter signed , 1984 February 14 [Box 57 F842]
1 p. with envelope
Typed letter signed , 1984 March 2 [Box 57 F842]
1 p. with envelope
Typed letter signed , 1984 May 7 [Box 57 F842]
1 p. with envelope
Typed card signed , 1984 June 9 [Box 57 F842]
1 p.
Typed letter signed , 1984 July 10 [Box 57 F842]
1 p. with envelope
Includes postcard announcement of Metcalf's reading for the Washington Project for the Arts on October 20, 1984.
Typed letter signed , 1984 October 12 [Box 57 F842]
1 p. with envelope
Typed letter signed , 1984 October 23 [Box 57 F842]
1 p. with envelope
Included with autograph letter signed from Nancy Metcalf to the Wilentzes.
Typed letter signed , 1985 April 22 [Box 57 F842]
1 p. with envelope
Typed letter signed , 1985 May 27 [Box 57 F842]
1 p. with envelope
Includes photocopy of Metcalf's review of the television program, "Herman Melville: Damned in Paradise."
Typed letter signed , 1991 April 23 [Box 57 F842]
1 p. with envelope
