Academy of American Poets at the New School recordings
Abstract
The New School was a frequent host of Academy of American Poets events, co-sponsored by the university's MFA in Creative Writing Program and the university division, formerly known as the Adult Division, that focused on continuing education and public programming. This collection of mostly audio recordings documents Academy of American Poets readings, tributes, and awards ceremonies over a nearly 20-year span.
Dates
- 1993-2011
Creator
- Academy of American Poets (Sponsor, Organization)
- New School (New York, N.Y.) (Host institution, Organization)
- New School (New York, N.Y.). Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program (Sponsor, Organization)
Extent
.5 Cubic Feet (72 analog recordings, 7 optical discs)
37 1/4 inch Audio Cassette
33 DAT
2 u-matic
7 Audio CD
Language of Materials
English
Scope and Contents
The collection consists primarily of analog sound recordings (there is only one video recording) documenting Academy of American Poets sponsored events held at The New School, co-sponsored by the MFA in Creative Writing Program. Although The New School established an MFA in creative writing in 1996, this collection contains numerous recordings of events co-sponsored by the predecessor Writing Program that had existed at the university for decades. The collection does not include Academy of American Poets events hosted by other institutions. Many of these events feature two poets sharing a billing, unless they are tributes to a single poet.
The earliest recordings in the collection are Best American Poetry-related events from 1993. David Lehman, who edited the annual anthology, would later become a New School faculty member in the MFA in Creative Writing Program, eventually serving as poetry coordinator. Following the establishment of the program in 1996, the content of the recordings shifts to predominantly document awards ceremonies as well as Best American Poetry events, both held annually during the fall semester. The programming featuring two poets ends after the Spring 1996 semester.
Recordings are inconsistent from year to year. The years 1994 and 1995 are particularly well represented in the collection, while recordings from 1999, 2002 and 2003 are completely absent.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research use. No access copies of the DAT and U-Matic tape recordings in the collection are currently available. Access to audio cassettes may be available in The New School Archives reading room, depending upon the condition of the cassettes once they are evaluated by Archives staff. Researchers desiring remote access and willing to pay a digitization fee may do so upon consultation with The New School Archives. Please contact archivist@newschool.edu for appointment to listen to audio cassettes and compact discs in the reading room or for more information about ordering digital files.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright is held by each work's respective author. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the user.
Historical note
The Academy of American Poets is a non-profit membership organization which grants financial awards to American poets and students and promotes the appreciation of contemporary poetry. The Academy was founded in 1934 by Marie Bullock (1911-1986), who, returning to the United States after studying at the Sorbonne, noticed the relative indifference of American society to poetry and poets in comparison to European society. Bullock raised the funds to establish a $5,000 annual fellowship, and created a board of chancellors consisting of twelve poets and scholars to advise the organization, which was run from Bullock’s Manhattan apartment for its first thirty years.
In 1963, the Academy hired Elizabeth Kray as its first executive director, and during Kray’s tenure, the organization expanded its scope, creating the Poets-in-Schools program in 1966, as well as a reading series at the Guggenheim Museum, historical-literary walking tours of New York City, and national reading tours for prominent poets such as e.e. cummings and W. H. Auden. After retiring from the Academy of American Poets, Kray co-founded the library and meeting place Poets House in New York City with Stanley Kunitz in 1985.
In the 1993-1994 academic year, The New School for Social Research’s adult division, which would become the university's Schools of Public Engagement (dissolved in 2025) hosted a poetry reading series sponsored by the Academy of American Poets, featuring several prominent poets reading their work. This series coincided with the appointment of professor and poet Robert Polito to the position of director of The New School’s writing, humanities, and theatre program in 1993. Polito would later found and direct the university’s graduate-level creative writing program from 1996 to 2013, during which time the Academy of American Poets co-sponsored numerous events and readings with The New School MFA in Creative Writing program. Such events included special tributes to John Berryman (1994), Amy Clampitt (1995), Virginia Hamilton Adair (1996), and James Merrill (2001), as well as readings from The Best American Poetry anthologies, and annual awards ceremonies featuring readings and presentations of honors to selected poets starting in 2006, with the 2011 awards being the last held at The New School.
As of 2025, the Academy of American Poets distributes over $1 million to poets in the form of prizes and fellowships, promotes National Poetry Month every April, produces the website Poets.org and the Poem-a-Day digital poetry series, and publishes American Poetry magazine, in addition to sponsoring reading and lecture events nationally.
References
Hecht, Anthony. “A Tribute to Marie Bullock.” Poets and Writers Magazine Vol. 15, Iss. 3, (May 1, 1987): 8.
Course Catalogs, 1919-2017, New School Course Catalog Collection, NS.05.01.01, The New School Archives Digital Collections, New York, New York.
Dawson, Judy. “Romp through '60s Winded More Than a Few Hardy Souls.” Tampa Tribune. May 13, 2001: 4.
“Elizabeth Kray.” Academy of American Poets. Accessed August 12, 2025. https://poets.org/poet/elizabeth-kray.
Ennis, Thomas C. “Marie Bullock, 75, Founded and Led Academy of Poets.” New York Times, December 27, 1986. https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/27/obituaries/marie-bullock-75-founded-and-led-academy-of-poets.html.
“Mission and History.” Academy of American Poets. Accessed August 12, 2025. https://poets.org/academy-american-poets/mission-history.
“Programs.” Academy of American Poets. Accessed August 12, 2025. https://poets.org/academy-american-poets/programs.
Arrangement
Arranged in chronological order.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The staff of The New School Archives and Special Collections assembled the earliest recordings in this collection from a larger set of legacy recordings transferred from The New School's Raymond Fogelman Library following the establishment of The New School Archives, circa 2012. Archives staff added numerous additional event recordings to the collection with the accession of records directly from the MFA in Creative Writing Program in 2024.
Processing Information
New School Archives staff based all description in this finding aid on container inscriptions, course catalog descriptions or university-issued periodicals. Staff did not listen to the tapes or discs to verify content.
- American poetry -- 20th century (Subject) (Temporal) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- American poetry -- 21st century (Subject) (Temporal) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Audiocassettes (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Award presentations (Subject) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Compact discs (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Sound recordings (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Title
- Guide to the Academy of American Poets at the New School recordings
- Status
- In Process
- Date
- Jason Adamo and Jenny Swadosh
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin