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Primary Writing small press records and Phyllis Rosenzweig personal correspondence collection

 Collection
Identifier: MS2393

Scope and Contents

This collection contains publications (journal issues, postcards, monographs) related to the Primary Writing publication as well as small presses in Washington D.C., manuscript drafts, correspondence both related to the journal publication and other Primary Writing related work between Phyllis Rosenzweig, Diane Ward, and contributing authors, and a small amount of organization records related to the production of a journal including layout mock-ups, and receipts. There is also a series with correspondence between Phyllis Rosenzweig and writers that cover topics beyond Primary Writing. These records date from 1973-2019 with the bulk of the records dating between 1994-2009.

Dates

  • Creation: 1973-2019
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1994-2009

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Materials in this collection are governed by copyright. For activities that the researcher determines fall under fair use as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission to cite or publish is required. Researchers are responsible for determining who may hold materials' copyrights, determining if the intended re-use falls under fair use, and obtaining approval from the copyright holder if the intended use does not fall under fair use. Please contact Special Collections if the copyright status of the materials you wish to reuse is unclear. Staff will provide additional information.

Biographical note

Phyllis Rosenzweig is curator emerita of the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden. She has also taught adjunct classes at GWU and the Corcoran College of Art + Design, and organized several exhibitions of contemporary art in D.C. and the Bronx, New York. She affiliates herself with a group of D.C. poets (including Tina Darragh, Lynne Dreyer, Peter Inman, Diane Ward, Bernard Welt, and Terence Winch), and a community originally formed around Folio Bookstore and readings organized there by poet Doug Lang in the 1970s. She currently edits Primary Writing Books, devoted to publishing work by D.C. area writers.

Biographical note

Poet Diane Ward (November 9, 1956- ) was born in Washington, DC and attended the Corcoran School of Art. She was initially associated with the first wave of Language poetry in the 1970s. She has published more than a dozen works of poetry and been included in numerous anthologies.

Historical note

Primary Writing was a small press publication devoted to work by contemporary poets in the D.C. area, New York, the West Coast and beyond. Co-edited by Diane Ward and Phyllis Rosenzweig, it consists of 44 issues published between April 1995 and February 2008. The issues varied in format from postcard, to broadside, to stapled booklet, depending on the content of each one, and were mailed to an extended audience of writers and special collection libraries. Three issues of an earlier version of Primary Writing were published by Phyllis Rosenzweig in 1983, 1984, and 1988.

Extent

5.5 Linear Feet (10 document boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

This collection contains publications (journal issues, postcards, monographs) related to the Primary Writing publication as well as small presses in Washington D.C., manuscript drafts, correspondence both related to the journal publication and other Primary Writing related work between Phyllis Rosenzweig, Diane Ward, and contributing authors, and a small amount of organization records related to the production of a journal including layout mock-ups, and receipts. There is also a series with correspondence between Phyllis Rosenzweig and writers that cover topics beyond Primary Writing. These records date from 1973-2019 with the bulk of the records dating between 1994-2009.

Primary Writing was a small press publication devoted to work by contemporary poets in the D.C. area, New York, the West Coast and beyond. Co-edited by Diane Ward and Phyllis Rosenzweig, it consists of 44 issues published between April 1995 and February 2008. The issues varied in format from postcard, to broadside, to stapled booklet, depending on the content of each one, and were mailed to an extended audience of writers and special collection libraries.

Arrangement

Organized into four series: Publications and correspondence, Phyllis Rosenzweig personal correspondence with writers, DC small press publications, and Doug Lang correspondence and publications

Physical Location

Materials are stored off-site, and will require additional retrieval time. Please contact the Special Collections Research Center for more information.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Phyllis Rosenzweig, 2020 October 30 (Accession 2020.028).

Separated Materials

With this donation came issues of the journal Washington Review. After weeding out duplicates the remaining issues were added to the serial holdings in Special Collections. The issues included from this accession are v. 9 no. 1 - no. 4, v. 10 no. 2 - no. 3, v. 13 no. 2. The call no. for this publication is NX 510.W3 W32.

Title
Guide to the Primary Writing records, 1973-2019
Status
Completed
Author
Special Collections Research Center, The George Washington University
Date
2020
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Research Center, The George Washington University Repository

Contact:
George Washington University Gelman Library
2130 H Street NW
Washington DC 20052 United States of America