Special Collections Department
Norman Macleod Manuscripts
1940 - 1951
Manuscript Collection Number: 190
Accessioned: Purchase, April 1986
Extent: 24 items (.3 linear ft.)
Content: Autobiography, short
story, poems, resume, reviews, lecture, and articles
Access: The collection is open for research.
Processed: Revised August
1995 by Anita A. Wellner
Special Collections, University of Delaware Library
Newark, Delaware 19717-5267
(302) 831-2229
Table of Contents
Biographical Note
American editor, educator, and poet Norman Wicklund Macleod was born October 1, 1906, in Salem, Oregon. After receiving a B.A. from the University of New Mexico in 1930, Macleod continued his education at the University of Southern California (1931- 1932) and the University of Oklahoma (1934), before receiving a master's degree from Columbia University in 1936.
Norman Macleod began his editing career as the American editor of Front (Netherlands) and Morada (Italy), serving both from 1930-1932. From 1932 to 1978 Macleod worked in a variety of editing positions, including reader and circulation assistant for Harper & Brothers (1932-1934), editorial director of the Maryland Quarterly (1942-1944) and Briarcliff Quarterly (1944-1947), guest editor of Cronos (1947), and editor of Pembroke Magazine (1969- 1978).
Macleod began teaching in 1939 as instructor in poetry at the New York Poetry Center, where he worked until 1942. From 1942 until 1978, he was on the faculty of numerous high schools, colleges, and universities, including the University of Maryland, San Francisco State College, and the University of Baghdad (Iraq). His final and most lengthy residence was as Associate Professor of English, poet-in-residence, and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Pembroke State University in Pembroke, North Carolina (1967-1978).
Although Macleod is most often recognized for his poetry, he also wrote two novels, You Get What You Ask For (1939) and The Bitter Roots (1941), plus an autobiography, I Never Lost Anything in Istanbul (1978). His collections of poetry include his first book, Horizons of Death, published by Parnassus in 1934, as well as Thanksgiving Before November (1936), We Thank You All the Time (1941), A Man in Midpassage (1947), Pure as Nowhere (1962), Selected Poems (1975), and The Distance: New and Selected Poems, 1928-1977 (1977).
Norman Macleod was awarded the Horace Gregory Award in 1973 for his work as a poet, novelist, editor, and teacher. On June 5, 1985, Macleod died in Greenville, North Carolina.
Sources:
Locher, Frances Carol (ed.) Contemporary Authors. Volumes 73-76. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1978. pp. 390-391.
May, Hal (ed.) Contemporary Authors. Volume 116. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1986. p. 297.
Scope and Content Note
An autobiography, fifteen poems, one short story, two resumes, a lecture, and several compilations of reviews of his work comprise this collection of manuscripts written by or related to American poet Norman Macleod. In addition to these twenty-four items (.3 linear ft.), tear sheets for Polly Hardy's article, "Introducing Norman Macleod," are available as part of this collection. Although most of the material is undated, it appears that the majority of the manuscripts were written between 1940 and 1951.
In addition to the fifteen poems by Macleod, numerous typescript drafts of poems (plus drafts of letters) are found on the verso of pages of Macleod's autobiography, Period One.
Descriptions of each manuscript are available in the contents list. This small group of manuscripts provides examples of Macleod's writing style and an idea of how the author viewed his own work.
Related Collections:
Ms 110 Pagany Archive (65 letters to Richard Johns)
Contents List
Box -- Folder -- Contents
Period One: An Autobiography, 1951
Typescript (carbon) with extensive autograph corrections.
The title page bears an autograph note: "Second copy of
first draft" and is signed by Macleod. Numerous pages bear
typescript poems or drafts of letters on the verso.
F1 Pages 1-158
F2 Pages 159-270
F3 Pages 271-401
F4 Cover
"Get on a Horse and Ride," n.d.
F5 Typescript short story, with cover and acknowledgement page.
21 pp.
Poems written by Macleod, n.d.
F6 Fifteen typescript poems with some typescript comments or
autograph notes about the publication history of particular
poems. Poems include "Golden Cripple," "Newsreel," "The
Electric Air," "Sons of Soil," "Song of Masses," "20th
Century Bucking Broncho," "Booze Runners," "Red Year,"
"Twisted Poem," "In Memory: Northern Navajo," "Nigger
Cabins: Alabama," "Boulevard Stop," "Mill Workers," "Charnel
Rose," and "The Hunkey's Vision." 16 pp.
Lecture/critique on the poem, "In Tiny, Leaden Effigy," n.d.
F7 Typescript lecture and critique of this poem by an
unidentified writer. The text includes Macleod's poem,
"Cold Memory." 6 pp.
"Supplement to the Application of Norman Macleod," 1941-1948
F8 Two versions of Norman Macleod's resume titled "Supplement
to the Application of Norman Macleod." Includes a
mimeographed typescript compiled ca. 1941 and a printed
version (ca. 1948). 9 pp.
"Critical Comments on the Work of Norman Macleod," n.d.
F9 Two typescript versions of "Critical Comments on the Work of
Norman Macleod" and one page of another draft of the same
work. Includes reviews of Macleod's books, You Get What You
Ask For and Horizons of Death, as well as excerpts from
Ikeda's article, "The Poetical Style of Norman Macleod." 24
pp.
Article about Macleod, [n.d.]
F10 Tear sheets, from an unidentified magazine, of Polly Hardy's
article, "Introducing Norman Macleod." Includes two poems
by Macleod titled "Period Piece" (1940) and "Short Order
Over the Stand" (1942). 3 pp.
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