mss0099_0894.xml Finding aid for Daniel Berrigan correspondence and Hanoi poems1965-1969 University of Delaware Library, Special Collections University of Delaware Library
Newark, Delaware 19717-5267 Phone: 302-831-2229 Fax: 302-831-6003 URL: http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/
Date encoded (2011 November 16) Finding aid encoded 2011 November 16 English Daniel Berrigan correspondence and Hanoi poems1965-1969 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/
 Berrigan, Daniel. Daniel Berrigan correspondence and Hanoi poems1965-1969 MSS 099, F894 13 items (24 p.) Daniel Berrigan wrote these letters to Elizabeth Bartelme, his editor at Macmillan Company, to accompany enclosed poems, such as the Hanoi poems found in this collection, or to discuss his books which were in the works. Materials entirely in English. University of Delaware Library - Special Collections Source

Purchase, March 2011.

 Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

 Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

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

 Citation

MSS 099, F894, Daniel Berrigan correspondence and Hanoi poems, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

 Shelving Summary Box 61, F894: Shelved in SPEC MSS 099 manuscript boxes Processing

Processed and encoded by Anita Wellner, November 2011.

 Biographical Notes Daniel Berrigan

Jesuit priest Daniel Berrigan is a poet, playwright, teacher, and civil disobedience activist.

Daniel Berrigan, who was born May 9, 1921, in Virginia, Minnesota, entered the Order of Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1939 and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1952.

Berrigan is an award-winning poet who has published nineteen collections of poems. His first book of poetry, Time without Number, published by Macmillan in 1957, won the Lamont Poetry Selection Award awarded by the American Academy of Poets. Drafts of the poems written by Berrigan during his mission to Hanoi in 1968 to arrange the release of three captive American pilots, which were published in Night Flight to Hanoi: War Diary with Eleven Poems , are part of this collection.

Berrigan is known as a peace and human rights activist. One of his most dramatic antiwar actions took place in Catonsville, Maryland, on May 17, 1968, when he, his brother Philip, and seven other Roman Catholic activists seized and burnt the files of potential draftees outside a local draft board using homemade napalm. The group members, who became known as "The Catonsville Nine," were found guilty of destroying government property and sentenced to three years in prison. Daniel Berrigan and several other defendants went underground rather than go to jail. Berrigan was captured in August of 1970 and served eighteen months in the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. Berrigan wrote the courtroom drama, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, and Prison Poems based on his trial and subsequent imprisonment.

 Elizabeth Bartelme

Elizabeth Bartelme is a publishing agent for Macmillan Company. She worked with Daniel Berrigan on a number of his books, including Consequences: Truth and ..., Love, Love at the End, and Night Flight to Hanoi.

 Ray Roberts

Ray Roberts was an editor at Macmillan Company who worked with Berrigan on his book, False Gods, False Men, published in March of 1969.

"Daniel Berrigan." Contemporary Authors Online. Gale Biography In Context. http://ic.galegroup.com (accessed November 2011).Additional nformation derived from the collection.

 Scope and Content Note

Daniel Berrigan wrote these letters to Elizabeth Bartelme, his editor at Macmillan Company, to accompany enclosed poems, such as the Hanoi poems found in this collection, or to discuss the editing of his books.

Three of Berrigan’s letters are written in regard to Love, Love at the End. In one letter he responded to Bartelme’s suggestions for the book’s title and in another letter, he edited the parable titled "The Tools."

The letters also suggest the friendship shared by Berrigan and Bartelme. In addition to thanking her for lunches and dinner parties, Berrigan mentioned events and people in his life, including his active resistance to the war in Vietnam during the 1960s. He discussed the lack of news from his Order regarding his trip to Hanoi but says, “I wd. never leave the Order, but don’t mind being kicked out on such an issue.” In a letter dated December 8, [1967], he mentioned that he, his brother, and others were “in the midst of another big preparation for Resistence. Hope we all survive.” This may refer to the antiwar action in Catonsville, Maryland which occurred on May 17, 1968, and resulted in his imprisonment.

The drafts of the Hanoi poems were sent to Elizabeth Bartelme for a book which was published in 1968 by Macmillan as Night Flight to Hanoi: War Diary with 11 Poems. However these poems were first published by Cornell United Religious Work in 1968 in the exact order and wording found in these drafts and titled Hanoi Poems. When the poems were published in Night Flight to Hanoi: War Diary with 11 Poems, the order was changed, the poem “Flowers” was omitted, the title of one poem was changed and a verse of one poem was deleted. The introduction found with these draft poems was not published by the Cornell group nor used in Night Flight to Hanoi. The introduction stated that the poems were: “written on the spot” during Berrigan’s trip to Hanoi from January 31 to February 18, 1968. Berrigan also wrote: “The reader may be sure that references to actual persons, living or dead, are purely intentional – indeed willful."

In addition to Berrigan’s letters and the Hanoi poems, there is one letter from The Right Reverend James A. Pike to Bartelme. The letter included a positive comment for publication regarding Consequences: Truth and … .

The final two letters in the collection were written by Daniel Berrigan to Macmillan editor, Ray Roberts, regarding the 1969 publication of Berrigan’s False Gods, False Men. In one of the letters Berrigan praised the dust jacket artwork created by Corita Kent, a contemporary artist whose artwork appeared in several of Berrigan’s books.

 Arrangement

The letters and manuscripts are arranged in chronological order.

 Selected Search Terms Personal Names Berrigan, Daniel--Correspondence. Bartelme, Elizabeth--Correspondence.Roberts, Ray--Correspondence.Pike, James A. (James Albert), 1913-1969--Correspondence. Corporate Names Macmillan Company. Topical Terms Poets, American--20th century. American Poetry--20th century. Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Poetry. Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Protest movements--United States. Geographic Names Hanoi (Vietnam)--History--20th century. Form/Genre Terms Correspondence. Poems. Personal Contributors Bartelme, Elizabeth, correspondent.Roberts, Ray, correspondent. Related Materials in this Repository

This item forms part of MSS 099 Miscellaneous Literary and Historical Manuscripts.

MSS 481, Robert A. Wilson collection

MSS 099 F644, Daniel Berrigan, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine : play

 Detailed Contents List 61 F894 Daniel Berrigan autograph letter signed to Elizabeth Bartelme [1966] 1 item (1 p.) 61 F894 James A. Pike typed letter signed to Elizabeth Bartelme 1967 March 23 2 items (2 p.)

An original letter written to Elizabeth Bartelme and a carbon copy sent to Daniel Berrigan. The letter includes Pike's comment regarding Berrigan's book, Consequence: Truth and .... . The carbon copy bears an brief autograph note from Berrigan to Bartelme.

 61 F894 Daniel Berrigan autograph letter signed to Elizabeth Bartelme [1967 June] 1 item (1 p.) 61 F894 Daniel Berrigan typed letter signed to Elizabeth Bartelme [1967] July 4 1 item (2 p.) 61 F894 Daniel Berrigan autograph letter signed to Elizabeth Bartelme [1967] 1 item (1 p.) 61 F894 Daniel Berrigan typed letter signed to Elizabeth Bartelme [1967] December 8 1 item (1 p.) 61 F894 Daniel Berrigan autograph letter signed to Elizabeth Bartelme [1968] 1 item (2 p.) 61 F894 Daniel Berrigan autograph letter signed to Elizabeth Bartelme [1965-1968] 1 item (1 p.) 61 F894 Daniel Berrigan autograph letter signed to Elizabeth Bartelme [1965-1968] 1 item (1 p.) 61 F894 Hanoi poems typescript1968 1 item (10 p.)

This group of eleven poems is typed on Cornell United Religious Work stationery. The poems bear a few pencilled word changes and corrections. With the poems is a handwritten draft introduction and a typed revision of the introduction. The bottom right corner of the first page of the poems bears a brief handwritten and signed note from Berrigan to Bartelme. The poems include: "Waiting: Vientiane," "Prayer," "Darkness: The Night Flight to Hanoi," "Alert," "Bombardment," "Children in the Shelter," "Flowers," Song," "Progress in Rural Development: A Lecture on Privies, and a Gift to Our Countrymen," "My Name," "The Pilots, Released." All of these poems were published by Macmillan Company in 1968 as Night Flight to Hanoi: War Diary with 11 Poems.

 61 F894 Daniel Berrigan typed letter signed to Ray Roberts 1969 January 14 1 item (1 p.) 61 F894 Daniel Berrigan typed letter signed to Ray Roberts 1969 February 7 1 item (1 p.)