This collection includes correspondence from colleagues and fellow writers, which offer valuable information on writing and publishing, from finding work and applying for grants to the writing process and getting published. The collection also includes a large amount of correspondence from publishers, whether they were rejecting, accepting, or soliciting work, and offers information on the publishing process. The correspondence also contains letters of a more personal nature, including holiday cards, post cards and letters to and from family. These family letters, covering a range of topics from visits, to health and family disputes, provide insight and background into Reiss's more autobiographical poems. Letters from friends and colleagues sometimes contain a combination of both personal and professional matters. James Reiss's correspondents include Rita Dove, John Irving and Philip Schultz, among many others. The collection also includes correspondence and papers from Reiss's time as a Professor of English at Miami University, and covers a wide range of subjects from class schedules and course loads to setting up and teaching workshops, materials covered in class, and the creation of a Miami University Press poetry series. The bulk of the collection is made up of manuscript materials. As a writer, James Reiss had a specific system for filing his work. Both working copies and final versions of the poems were kept in folders separated by year, ranging from 1969-2007. Many of the poems have the corresponding month and day noted. The poems, both handwritten and typed, were often composed on the back of other poems, student work and even correspondence. The working copies together with the final versions, give valuable insight into Reiss's working style as a writer. Interspersed with the poems are journal entries and notes. Many of these discuss Reiss's writing and feelings, family matters, daily life, publishing and Reiss's career. Also included in the collection is Reiss's line-editing work on the translations from Hebrew of his estranged brother's poetry. The collection contains published material as well. Reviews both written by and about Reiss and articles written by and about Reiss are included within the collection, along with a scrapbook of newspaper clippings collected by Reiss. The collection also includes photographs, consisting of family and friends, colleagues, book and retirement parties, travel, and publicity headshots. The rest of the collection is made up of miscellaneous materials and includes items such as pamphlets from Miami University, financial receipts and paystubs from publishers, announcements, writings by others, the journals of Reiss's mother and father, awards and plaques and even a lock of Reiss's first wife's hair.
