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> Special Collections and Rare Books > Randall Jarrell Collection > Randall Jarrell Collection—Box Listing
Randall Jarrell Collection 1929-1969
CONTENTS: 5 linear ft. of manuscripts, photographs, teaching materials, biographical materials, correspondence, galley proofs, binding samples, dust-jackets, tape recordings, motion picture film (transferred to VHS tape, 1995), microfilm and news clippings.
ACQUISITION: The collection is made up of four sub-groups acquired at different times from different sources:
Randall Jarrell Manuscripts - The author began donating his manuscripts in the 1950s and continued to do so in the early 1960s. It was Jarrell's intention that all of his manuscripts would reside in the UNCG Library. There is correspondence in the papers of the Office of the Librarian in the University Archives concerning the difficulties in establishing a fair market value for the manuscripts at the time they were donated. Jarrell stopped donating his manuscripts until the IRS matter could be clarified, but the situation had not been resolved at the time of Jarrell's death in 1965. His widow, Mary von Schrader Jarrell offered to sell the remainder of the manuscripts to the Library, but funds for the purchase could not be found. Consequently all remaining manuscripts, memorabilia, correspondence, photographs and a wide array of related materials were sold to the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library over an extended period. Mrs. Jarrell continued the sale of papers to the Berg Collection in the 1990's.
Randall Jarrell as a Teacher - A gift of the Class of 1969. This was the last UNCG graduating class to include students who had studied with Jarrell. The items were selected by representative members of the class with the assistance of Mrs. Jarrell. Jarrell's own copy of his Selected Poems used for poetry readings is found here along with final exam questions, grade books kept in long-hand in Italian blank books, and copiously annotated teaching copies of the poetry of Robert Frost and T.S. Eliot.
Randall Jarrell Literary and Biographical Materials - This section is an artificial collection gathered from various sources during the 1950's and 1960's. It includes photocopies of some of Jarrell's early writings for the Hume-Fogg High School yearbook, The Echo, and Vanderbilt University's humor magazine, Vanderbilt Masquerader; some correspondence, awards, reminiscences, tributes; the files created during the planning of the UNC Press dinner honoring Jarrell as the 1961 recipient of a National Book Award for poetry; the manuscript and typescript of Robert Penn Warren's speech delivered at the UNC Press dinner; memorials to Jarrell and a copy of his death certificate. The materials were gathered principally by Charles M. Adams, UNCG's Head Librarian and compiler of the first bibliography of Jarrell (published by UNC Press in 1958). The folders of material for the 1961 tribute dinner sponsored by the UNC Press were given by UNC Librarian, Jerrold Orne. Mr. Adams added other items from time to time until his departure for the University of Hawaii in 1969.
Randall Jarrell News Clippings - Ray Lewis White, editor, historian of literature, and Distinguished Professor of English at Illinois State University, donated this collection of 440 news clippings. Part of his research materials, these clippings are from the pages of USA and Canadian newspapers and magazines from the 1940s through the 1960s. In Professor White's words, this collection "serves to document the critical reception of the Jarrell volumes published in these years." Professor White has donated comparable research materials to numerous university libraries including Yale University and the Newberry Library. The bulk of the collection are reviews of Jarrell's publications including Blood for a Stranger; Complete Poems; Little Friend, Little Friend; Lost World; Pictures From an Institution; Poetry and the Age; Sad Heart at the Supermarket; Selected Poems; Seven-league Crutches; Third Book of Criticism; Woman at the Washington Zoo. Also included are notices of upcoming publications, reprints of poems, excerpts of his books and approximately fifteen articles. Topics of the articles include a description of Jarrell's visit to San Francisco, excerpts of a speech given by Jarrell, a description of Jarrell's participation in Duke's Literary Celebration, the announcement of Jarrell's appointment as Library of Congress consultant, Jarrell's remarks upon accepting the National Book Award, and excerpts from the UNCG Chancellor's speech at the dedication of the Jarrell Lecture Hall.
DESCRIPTION: Randall Jarrell was born May 6, 1914 in Nashville, Tennessee, the son of Owen and Anna Campbell Jarrell. He died in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on October 14, 1965.
When Jarrell was one year old his parents moved to Los Angeles where his father was employed as a photographer's assistant. His parents divorced and Randall and his younger brother, Charles moved back to Nashville with their mother. Randall also lived for a time with his grandparents in California. He returned to Nashville where he attended Hume-Fogg high school from 1927 to 1931. While in high school he developed his tennis skills and involved himself in dramatics and journalism.
In the fall of 1932 Jarrell entered Vanderbilt University where his professors included John Crowe Ransom and Robert Penn Warren. While attending the University, Jarrell wrote for its humor magazine, Vanderbilt Masquerader which he also edited during 1934/35. He completed his course work in three years by attending summer school at George Peabody College. Jarrell was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and received his bachelor of arts degree in 1935.
Jarrell's first published poems appeared in the May, 1934 issue of The American Review. After finishing his undergraduate degree, Jarrell returned to Vanderbilt to attend graduate school. He earned money grading papers for two of John Crowe Ransom's classes. Robert Lowell was a fellow student as was Peter Taylor who became Jarrell's best friend. In 1938 Jarrell followed Ransom to Kenyon College, leaving there in 1939 to take a teaching position at the University of Texas. There he met Mackie Langham, an English Department colleague. They married the following year.
Jarrell's first book of poetry, Blood for a Stranger, was published in 1942. It was dedicated to Allen Tate. Jarrell left Austin in 1942 to join the Army Air Corps as a flying cadet, but he washed out as a pilot and ended up as a celestial navigation tower operator. His second book of poetry, Little Friend, Little Friend was published by Dial in 1945.
Following his discharge from the Army early in 1946, Jarrell accepted an invitation from Margaret Marshall, literary editor at The Nation to come to New York as her temporary replacement. While in New York Jarrell taught a writing course at Sarah Lawrence College and became a good friend of Hannah Arendt who credited Jarrell for teaching her to appreciate English language poetry.
When the year at The Nation was over, Jarrell accepted a teaching position beginning in the fall of 1947 at The Woman's College of the University of North Carolina located in Greensboro (now UNCG). His close friend, Peter Taylor had preceded Jarrell to the Greensboro campus the year before. Although Taylor did not remain in Greensboro -- he taught from 1946 to 1948, 1949 to 1952, and 1963 to 1967 -- Jarrell was on the permanent faculty at UNCG until his untimely death in 1965.
Jarrell took advantage of his Guggenheim Fellowship that he'd received in 1946 during the 1948/49 academic year. He remained in Greensboro, teaching only one class and devoting most of his time to writing. During his years at UNCG Jarrell served on panels of the annual Arts Forum, gave poetry readings and public lectures. He loved teaching and has been quoted often as saying that if he were a rich man, he'd pay money to teach. His courses were always filled, and he was revered by his students, a number of whom went on to successful careers as writers.
In 1951 his fourth book of poetry, The Seven-League Crutches appeared; Jarrell and his wife, Mackie Langham separated; and the academic year found him teaching at Princeton University. The summer following, Jarrell was in California where he met Mary von Schrader. They married in November, 1952. Still on leave from the Greensboro campus, Jarrell lectured at Indiana University and the University of Illinois before returning from Laguna Beach with his new wife and her two young daughters.
Back in Greensboro in the autumn of 1953, Jarrell's literary efforts turned to criticism. Jarrell's only novel, Pictures from an Institution, a satire about a progressive woman's college, was published in 1954.
In 1956 Jarrell served as Poetry Consultant at the Library of Congress for two years. Following the appearance of Selected Poems in 1956, Jarrell would produce only four new poems and a handful of Rilke translations during his tenure at the Library of Congress. In 1958 the Jarrells returned to Greensboro and to academic life at the Woman's College.
Jarrell's Woman at the Washington Zoo, (1960) received the National Book Award for poetry in 1961. This honor was followed in 1962 by the University of North Carolina's Oliver Max Gardner Award. During the early 1960's Jarrell began writing children's books. The Bat-Poet (1963), The Animal Family (1965), dedicated to the Jarrell's cat, Elfi, and Fly By Night (published posthumously in 1976) all were illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Jarrell's last book of poetry, The Lost World was published by Macmillan in the spring of 1965.
According to William Pritchard in his literary biography of Jarrell, uncertainties still surround the chronology of events during the last year of Jarrell's life. It was a difficult time in his life, and his last semester of teaching in
the Fall of 1965 was hardly begun before it was ended.
Randall Jarrell was struck by an automobile on a dark road in Chapel Hill on the evening of October 14, 1965. He died instantly. Jarrell is buried in Guilford College, N.C. not far from the home he shared with his wife, Mary.
Updated by Carolyn Shankle October 8, 2002.