Selected Letters, Journals, and Papers (1954-1974).

The Ammons papers in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at Cornell University Library include 68 journals covering the years 1950 to the late 1970s, with a small number of items from the 1980s. In this article, the selection featured concludes in the early 1970s. Consisting mostly of correspondence, the journals provide considerable insight into Ammons' literary friendships, his relations with editors and publishers, his reading, his attitudes toward teaching and public readings, his growing consciousness of the meaning of having a career, and of course the development of his thinking about poetry. While the letters show the contours of Ammons' affiliations, they also make clear his singularity.