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[Identification of item], Will Inman Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
Collection was purchased from Will Inman in 1998-1999 and received as a gift in 2001-2003 and in 2009.
Processed by Don Sechler
Completed August 11, 1998; Further additions accessioned in 1999 by Lisa Stark
2001-2003 additions minimally processed by Michelle Garcia; Joshua Kaiser; Douglas Brown
Accession 2009-0263 added by Meghan Lyon, December 2009
Encoded by Don Sechler; Lisa Stark; Danielle McGregor; Ruth E. Bryan; Joshua Kaiser; Douglas Brown; Meghan Lyon
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
This collection is unprocessed: materials may not have been ordered and described beyond their original condition.
Will Inman was a poet, essayist, editor, and publisher. He was born William Archibald McGirt, Jr. in Wilmington, North Carolina where his father, William A. McGirt, was in the insurance and real estate business and his mother, Delia E. McGirt (maiden name Inman), was a registered nurse. He attended Duke University, graduating with an A.B in 1943. After college, Inman worked as a union organizer for tobacco workers in North Carolina before moving to New York City in the late 1950s. He served as the Vice-president of Free University of New York in the mid 1960s. He has worked as an editor and publisher of various literary journals and has had his work published in numerous anthologies and literary journals as well as in individual volumes. His weekly column,
The correspondence, diaries, manuscripts, clippings, and printed material in the Will Inman Papers span from 1939-1999, and serve to document the life and literary career of the poet, essayist, editor, educator, and publisher.
Inman was a prolific corespondent and maintained regular correspondent relationships with his friends and family, as well as with his readers and other editors and authors. He also regularly wrote to political and social figures during the 1960s. These letters to public and political figures express admiration and voice concerns about political events and social conditions. Inman protested in favor of civil rights, ending the war in Vietnam, and various environmental causes, and his letters reflect his thoughts and opinions on these subjects. Inman was also in regular contact with the editors and publishers of various literary magazines and the letters to these individuals document his efforts to publish his work. The collection holds many of Inman's out going correspondence as he regularly kept copies of his own letters.
Inman's copious diaries provide almost daily detail of his life from 1950-1994. In his diaries Inman recorded daily events, poetic inspirations, and his responses to world events. The diaries also include information about the poetry he is working on and several include typescripts of completed poems.
Inman also kept detailed records concerning his completed writings. He kept typescript copies of his poems and other writings, ordering them chronologically into notebooks, and recording publication information onto the typescripts. In organizing this collection, Inman's notebooks were discarded, but the typescripts maintain the order they held while bound in the notebooks, and serve to provide a chronological overview of Inman's published and unpublished writings.
This collection also contains copies of several of the anthologies and literary magazines where Inman published his work and several of the poetic monographs that Inman authored.
Inman regularly published his early work in newspapers in North Carolina. The collection contains clippings of these early published works as well as clippings of Inman's mid 1960's newspaper column "Conchsounds in the Hills."
There are also photographs of the McGirt family from ca. 1910, chiefly mounted in albums, as well as Inman's baby book from 1923. (16 accessions from 1998 and 1999) (35,475 items, 59 linear feet; dated 1910-1999)
The addition (accession #2001-0195) (1676 items, 2.7 linear feet; dated 1940-2001, bulk 1976-2001) comprises mainly personal correspondence to and from Inman and Jimmy Santiago Baca, 1971-1995, including typescript poetry. It also includes typescript poetry by Inman as Bill McGirt, 1940-1956; other poetry by Inman; professional correspondence; and a journal kept by Inman, 2000-2001.
The addition (accession #2002-0143) (2250 items, 3.60 linear feet; dated 1982-2001) consists primarily of incoming and outgoing personal correspondence. Topics include Inman's poems, publication work, and his political activites. There is also poetry and prose by Inman and others, and 20 black-and-white and 148 color photographs.
The addition (accession# 2003-0124 and 2003-0181)(2775 items, 3.6 linear feet; dated 1957-2003, bulk 1970-1989) contains published and unpublished typescript poetry written by Will Inman. Also includes literary newsletters, periodicals and brochures; a notebook containing poetry, biographical information and professional correspondence; and a paperweight.
Addition (2009-0263) (500 items, 0.6 lin. ft.; dated 1976-2009) includes correspondence, poetry by Inman and others, press releases and reviews, official documents (such as his birth certificate, insurance information, and medical documents), and materials from Inman's death and funeral.
These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.
Correspondence with various individuals, organizations, and literary magazines, arranged in alphabetical order. Some correspondence is foldered by subject and incorporated into the alphabetical arrangement. Also included with this accession are miscellaneous published and unpublished poetry and essays, diaries, and miscellaneous clippings and notes.
The correspondence includes the letters
Inman received from his parents, Delia E. and William A.
McGirt, while a student at
The writings include Inman's published
poetry and essays for his newspaper column "Conchsound in
the Hills." The journals include one diary with
miscellaneous poetry from the
These two accessions include copies of the
books and literary journals featuring Inman's work;
published and unpublished writings (chronological order);
diaries form
Minimally processed.
Later
Miscellaneous unsorted
Primarily clippings of
Assorted
Accessions received in September of
Miscellaneous unsorted
Inman's
Accessions received in
Inman's
Includes some
Accession received
Nine-box unprocessed accession received in
Various
Materials range in dates from
One box unprocessed accession, chiefly
Two boxes unprocessed correspondence and writings.
Materials date:
Includes
Primarily
All materials in this box arrived together
pasted to a poster-size pad of paper, essentially used as a
Some of the materials in this collection are restricted: The correspondence may not be published.
[In addition, some of the materials in this accession are not immediately accessible, because they require further processing before use. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the Special Collections Library to use this collection.]
[Technical Services staff need to reformat newspaper clippings and brittle paper before use.]
Some of the materials in this accession are not immediately accessible, because they require further processing before use. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the Rubenstein Library to use this collection.
[Technical Services staff need to process materials in envelopes and reformat newsprint before use.]
[Attention: Contains pictorial materials.]
[Technical Services staff need to process materials in envelopes and reformat newsprint before use.]
[Attention: Contains pictorial materials.]
[Technical Services staff need to process materials in envelopes and reformat newsprint before use.]
[Attention: Contains pictorial materials.]
[Technical Services staff need to process materials in envelopes and reformat newsprint before use.]
[Attention: Contains pictorial materials.]
[Technical Services staff need to process materials in envelopes and reformat newsprint before use.]
[Attention: Contains pictorial materials.]
[Technical Services staff need to process materials in envelopes and reformat newsprint before use.]
[Attention: Contains pictorial materials.]
Some of the materials in this accession are not immediately accessible, because they require further processing before use. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the Rubenstein Library to use this collection.
[Technical Services staff need to process materials in envelopes before use.]
[Technical Services staff need to process materials in envelopes before use.]
[Technical Services staff may need to reformat newsprint before use.]
[Technical Services staff need to process materials in envelopes and reformat newsprint before use.]
Addition (09-263) (500 items, 0.6 lin. ft.; dated 1976-2009) includes correspondence, poetry by Inman and others, press releases and reviews, official documents (such as his birth certificate, insurance information, and medical documents), and materials from Inman's death and funeral.