Topic: Women's History Resources in Archives & Special Collections

Alice Notley, born in Bisbee, Arizona, in 1945, is a recognized American poet, author, and editor. The collection consists primarily of correspondence and collages. One of the more significant documents in the collection is Notley's long, personal narrative poem “The Descent of Alette” (1992) which was published in The Scarlet Cabinet.

Scholar, author, photographer, and life-long editor and chronicler of Jack Kerouac and other writers of the Beat Generation, Ann Charters was born in November 1936 in Bridgeport, CT. She attended the University of California, Berkeley (B.A., 1957) and Columbia University (M.A., 1959, Ph.D., 1965). Charters career has included teaching creative writing at Colby Junior College, New London,
NH (1961-63), working as an assistant editor at Random House-Knopf (1965) and continuing as an educator at Columbia University (instructor in literature, 1965-66), New York City Community College of Applied Arts and Sciences of the City University of New York (assistant professor of English (1967-70) and University of Connecticut (associate professor, 1974-81, professor of English, 1981-2011).

Poet, editor and teacher Diane Di Prima was born August 6, 1934 in New York City, the daughter of Francis and Emma (Mallozzi) di Prima. In the late 1950's and early 1960's Diane di Prima was a member of a group of New York poets and writers, frequently known as the "Beats". There she wrote and published several volumes of verse, and helped to found the American Theatre for Poets. She was co-editor of The Floating Bear, with LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) during 1961-1962, and the sole editor from 1963 to 1968. She was publisher of The Poets Press (1963-1969) and Eidolon Editions (1972-1976) and taught at Naropa Institute School of Poetics, New College of California, California College of Arts and Crafts, and San Francisco Art Institute. She has authored thirty collections of poetry as well as plays, short stories, novels, non-fiction, translations, and an autobiographical novel, The Calculus of Variation (1966). The collection dates from 1934 to 1990 and contains primarily correspondence between Di Prima and colleagues, friends and family. Also included are journals and diaries, poetry and a manuscript of Memoirs of a Beatnik.

The Louise Gaffney Flannigan Papers consist of 52 poems and writings written by Louise, mostly in the late 1880s, in her unofficial position as "poetess" of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Lodge #201 of New Haven, Connecticut.

Margaret Witter Fuller was born 23 January 1872, in Brooklyn, New York. She was the daughter of Captain James Ebenezer and Rebecca P. (Hope) Fuller. In 1874, the family moved to Norwich, Connecticut. A prolific writer, she authored many poems, plays and novels.

Papers and literary manuscripts of award-winning American poet, translator, and children's book author Marilyn Nelson. A professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut, and the former poet laureate of Connecticut, Nelson is a winner of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature, and the Frost Medal. From 1978 to 1994 she published under the name Marilyn Nelson Waniek. The collection contains correspondence with poets, personal notebooks, photographs, manuscripts of poetry and translations and term papers written while Nelson was a student.

Patricia Hubbell is a poet born on July 10, 1928 in Easton, Connecticut. She attended the University of Connecticut and graduated with a degree in English in 1950. Following graduation she worked at a weekly newspaper. She began writing poetry at the age of eleven and has produced numerous children's books. Her poems have also been featured in poetry anthologies.

Ruth Daigon, an award-winning American poet, singer and editor, was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She received a B.A. with honors from the University of Manitoba. Her career in music as a soprano brought her into contact with New York Pro Musica, appearances on Columbia recordings, CBS-TV, recitals and tours. Her poetry has been published in hundreds of literary magazines and in several anthologies. The collection consists of nearly three decades of poetry by Daigon.

Ruth Krauss was born in 1901 in Baltimore, Maryland and received her bachelor's degree from the Parsons School of Fine and Applied Arts. In 1940, she married David Leisk (known as Crockett Johnson). From 1944 until 1979, Krauss published many children's works, some of which she illustrated herself. Other children's books were collaborations with her husband, usually employing Krauss's text and Johnson's illustrations. Krauss's career as a writer of adult poetry began in the late 1950s, with publications spanning 1965-1977. Many of these adult poems were experimental theatrical poems, many of which were performed in New York, New Haven, and Boston. The Ruth Krauss Papers date from approximately 1938 through the early 1990s and include materials pertaining to Krauss's writing for children and for adults and correspondence with writers and illustrators.

Susan B. Aller is a children's and young adult's book author. The collection contains the original manuscripts of Susan B. Aller as well as her collection of works by Scottish journalist, playwright, and author J.M. Barrie.

Magdalena Gómez is a poet, playwright, actor, director, educator, producer, youth mentor, national keynote speaker and arts based activist. Born in Manhattan, New York City in 1953, and raised in the Hunts Point section of Bronx, she started her career as a performance poet in 1971, while she was still in high school. She became involved in NYC poetry scene by performing her poetry in cafes,
bars, churches, theaters, artist lofts and wherever opportunity presented itself within the tri-state area. The collection contains correspondence, photographs, CDs, posters, flyers, promotional postcards, press releases that document the life of Magdalena Gómez as a poet, writer, spoken word performer, and social activist for such issues as homeless, arts in K-12 education, teenage bullying, teenage empowerment through the arts, women’s rights, Latino/a and other minorities rights