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Ann Charters Papers

 Collection
Identifier: 1998-0200

Scope and Content

The Ann Charters Papers contain literary manuscripts, letters, notebooks, photographs, periodicals, broadsides, posters, interviews, audio and video recordings, works of art, realia, and first, fine, and small press editions of works by and about Beat writers.

Also included are: typescripts and correspondence with contributors to Charter's compilation of Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 16: The Beats: Literary Bohemians in Postwar America (Detroit: Gale, 1983 ). Related to her contributions to the Dictionary are original 30 black and white photographs, portraits of literary personalities that were displayed as an exhibition in the University Libraries (1981-1982) entitled "Beats & Others: Literary Photographs 1966-1981" by Ann Charters.

Dates

  • Creation: 1966-2020

Creator

Access

Works of art require special handling and require that researchers make an appointment prior to viewing and accessing this material.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish from these Papers must be obtained in writing from both the University of Connecticut Libraries and the owner(s) of the copyright.

During the use of the archival collections, including collections that are unprocessed or have been minimally processed by archival staff, information with regard to third parties and privacy protected information may be revealed. Manuscript collections that include twentieth and twenty-first century archival materials may contain information that is protected under federal or state "right to privacy" laws, including but not limited to certain educational, medical, financial, criminal, attorney-client, and personnel records. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to third parties or living individuals without the consent of those individuals may have legal cause for action.

Researchers agree to indemnify and hold harmless the University of Connecticut and its officers, employees, and agents from and against all suits, claims, actions, and expenses arising out of use of archival collections held by the University of Connecticut.

Biography

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, the daughter of Nathan (a contractor) and Kate (Schultz) Danberg. 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). She has been awarded fellowships from Columbia University (1958-59, 1963-64, 1965-66) and grants from the University of Connecticut (1975-76, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986). Charters is a member of International PEN and Phi Beta Kappa. Her writings include: Olson/Melville: A Study in Affinity, Oyez, 1968; Nobody: The Story of Bert Williams, Macmillan, 1970; Kerouac: A Biography, Straight Arrow Books, 1973, reprinted with a new introduction, St. Martin's, 1987; Beats and Company: Portrait of a Literary Generation, Doubleday, 1986; The American Short Story and Its Writer, St. Martin's, 2000; Beat Down to Your Soul: What Was the Beat Generation?, for Viking Penguin, 2001. Included among the many works edited by Charters during her fifty-year career are: Charles Olson, Special View of History, Oyez, 1969; Scattered Poems by Jack Kerouac, City Lights Books, 1970; Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, Scenes along the Road, Gotham Book Mart, 1970; Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 16: The Beats: Literary Bohemians in Postwar America, Gale, 1983; The Story and Its Writer, second edition, St. Martin's, 1986, fifth edition, 1998; The Portable Beat Reader, Viking Penguin, 1992; The Penguin Book of the Beat, Penguin UK, 1993; Howls, Raps & Roars: Recordings of the San Francisco Poetry Renaissance (audio recording), Fantasy Records, 1993; The Kerouac Reader, Viking Penguin, 1995; Selected Letters of Jack Kerouac, 1940-1956, Viking Penguin, 1995; (And author of introduction) Jack Kerouac, Big Sur, Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1995; Literature and Its Writers, St. Martin's, 1997; and Selected Letters of Jack Kerouac, 1957-1969, Viking Penguin, 2000 In 2001, Ann Charters told Contemporary Authors "My primary motivation for writing is to entertain and to inform. What influences my work are my students at the University of Connecticut--they are often smart and responsive, and I want more than anything to share my passion for literature with them. In the past two decades my work has continued in the two fields of Beat Generation writers and the American short story that I've been involved with ever since I began college teaching almost forty years ago."

Extent

41 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

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, the daughter of Nathan (a contractor) and Kate (Schultz) Danberg. She attended the University of California, Berkeley (B.A., 1957) and Columbia University (M.A., 1959, Ph.D., 1965). Her papers include literary manuscripts, letters, notebooks, photographs, periodicals, broadsides, interviews, audio and video recordings, works of art, and first, fine, and small press editions of works by and about Beat writers.

Acquisition Information

The literary portraits were purchased for the collection at the time of their exhibition.

Related Material

Archives & Special Collections has a substantial collection of materials pertaining to literary materials, especially those associated with Black Mountain College, Charles Olson and the Beat Generation Poets. For detailed information on these collections please contact the curator or ask at the Reading Room desk.

Separated Material

The following materials have been separated from the collection and cataloged:

Charter's Listening Night 2000-0105.vr1

Bibliography

American Literary Scholarship: An Annual, Duke University Press, 1983. Chicago Tribune Book World, September 2, 1979. Choice, , July/August, 1973. Library Journal, May 1, 1979. Newsweek, April 2, 1973. New York Times, September 6, 1979. New York Times Book Review, April 15, 1973. New York Times Book Review, , July 15, 1979. Poetry Project, April/May, 1987. Saturday Review, July 7, 1979. Time, July 30, 1979. Times Literary Supplement, November 23, 1979.

Processing Information

Collection contains additions that are unprocessed, uncataloged, and have been minimally sorted. See Conditions Governing Use for more information regarding use of these materials.

Title
Ann Charters Papers
Status
Published
Author
Archives & Special Collections staff
Date
2002 July
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Archives and Special Collections, University of Connecticut Library Repository

Contact:
University of Connecticut Library
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Storrs Connecticut 06269-1205 USA US
860-486-2524