Archive for New Poetry (University of California, San Diego)

Administrative History

The Archive for New Poetry (ANP) is a collection of materials devoted to the work of significant English-language writers who have published since 1945. It is located in the Mandeville Special Collections Library of the University of California, San Diego. The ANP was conceived and begun by Literature Professor Roy Harvey Pearce. Establishing the collection in 1968, Pearce donated to the UCSD Library important first editions of post-war American poets.

The ANP's holdings emphasize the ongoing "alternative tradition" in recent American writing -- particularly the Objectivist movement, the Black Mountain poets, the San Francisco Renaissance, the New York School, and the "language" writers. This interest has led the ANP to acquire a large number of manuscripts, audiotapes, monographs, rare and well-known serials, and alternative printing (non-book) experiments.

The records in RSS 1034 were created primarily by Michael Davidson, Ph.D., who served as long-time curator of the ANP. Davidson began as a post-doctoral appointee in 1974. Two years later he was permanently hired by the Library to serve as "Associate Research Historian," the official title for the ANP curator. In the administrative hierarchy he reported to the head of the Department of Special Collections.

Davidson's responsibilities included curating for the Archive's extensive book and manuscript collection, organizing a poetry-reading series (called the "New Poetry Series" and later the "New Writing Series"), supervising the processing of manuscripts, editing and producing a tri-annual newsletter, serving as adviser for several local poetry-related projects, and periodically publishing issues of "Documents for New Poetry," a pamphlet focusing on a given aspect of ANP's collection. As a result of his long-term employment at the library and his considerable knowledge of contemporary American poetry, Davidson strongly influenced the shape and vision of the ANP -- encouraging and aiding in the acquisition of a number of its most prized papers and collections.

Throughout most of his term at the library, Davidson also taught in the Department of Literature. In 1985, after receiving tenure in the Literature Department, he resigned his position at the ANP in order to teach literature full-time. The position was subsequently filled by Stephen Rodefer (1985-1988) and John Granger (1988-1992).