Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm79005676
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of Ezra Pound, poet and critic, were given to the Library of Congress by Herman A. Sieber in 1958. Additional material was purchased by the Library in 2001.
The original gift was part of the division’s Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection. With the addition of the Yankowska correspondence, the papers were reprocessed and a finding aid created.
Five sketches of Pound were transferred to the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division where they are identified as part of these papers
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Ezra Pound is governed by -the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of Ezra Pound are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Ezra Pound Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Ezra Loomis Pound (1885-1972) span the years 1945-1986, with the bulk of the material dating from 1951 to 1958, the years of his confinement at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C.. The papers are in English, French, and Polish and primarily contain correspondence. Ezra Pound was one of the most influential voices in English language poetry of the twentieth century both through the force of his own poetry and through his work as an editor and critic and as an advocate for the poetry of others. When World War II began, Pound, an American citizen, and his wife Dorothy had been long-time residents of Italy. Pound gave regular radio broadcasts during the war from Italy. In 1945 United States occupying forces in Italy arrested Pound, and he was charged with treason. He was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial and confined to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, a mental institution in Washington, D.C. After his release in 1958, he returned to Italy.
The papers are almost entirely composed of Pound’s letters to Stephane de Yankowska and carbon copies of her letters to him written during his time at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. Yankowska was a Polish friend living in England who worked for his release from St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. Many of the notations on Pound’s letters are hers. Several letters have postscripts from Dorothy Pound. Ezra Pound assumed the role of mentor to Yankowska, imparting his political and literary views and suggesting what she should be reading. The style of his letters is idiosyncratically “Poundian” with invented spellings, rambling thoughts, wordplay, and caustic commentary. In addition to politics, culture, history, and economics, Pound’s publication projects are also discussed in the correspondence.
Other papers include a 1957 letter to the
This collection is arranged alphabetically by heading and chronologically therein.