“How can we explain the places where we finally land, after inexplicable journeys, long boring holidays, years of misapprehension?” – Louise Bogan, Journey Around My Room: The Autobiography of Louise Bogan.
Louise Bogan was a distinguished American poet and the poetry editor at the New Yorker from 1931-1969. Once part of the library holdings of Western College, the working library of Louise Bogan is now housed in the Walter Havighurst Special Collections. Though portions of her personal papers can be found at both Amherst College and Princeton University, Bogan’s personal book collection is here at Miami. Approximately 2,000 volumes, the collection includes many annotated review copies of the works of her contemporaries, as well as her general poetry and literary criticism collections.
Shown here are annotations in Bogan’s copy of E.E. Cummings’ 95 published in 1958. The collection also includes first editions of Bogan’s own poetry, including a copy of her 1968 collection, The Blue Estuaries: Poems 1923-1968, inscribed to her daughter Maidie.
April is National Poetry Month and what better time to explore the wonderful world of poetry. The Bogan collection is cataloged and available to researchers.
Kimberly Tully
Special Collections Librarian
