http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf5s200778 No online items Alex Smith Papers Finding aid prepared by Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla, California, 92093-0175 858-534-2533 [email protected] Copyright 2005 Alex Smith Papers MSS 0070 1 Descriptive Summary Title: Alex Smith Papers Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0070 Contributing Institution: Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla, California, 92093-0175 Languages: English Physical Description: 11.8 Linear feet (29 archives boxes and 1 flat box) Date (inclusive): 1963 - 1987 Abstract: Papers of Alex Smith, poet, writer, teacher and bibliographer. The collection includes typescripts of hundreds of Smith's poems, manuscripts of his short stories and long poems, and correspondence with a number of important literary figures including: Steve Benson, Alan Bernheimer, George Butterick, Joan Hall, and Kit Robinson. Creator: Smith, Alexander, 1948 Scope and Content of Collection Papers of Alex Smith, poet, writer, teacher and bibliographer. The collection includes typescripts of hundreds of Smith's poems, journals, manuscripts of his short stories and long poems, and correspondence with a number of important literary figures including: Steve Benson, Alan Bernheimer, George Butterick, Joan Hall, and Kit Robinson. The bulk of the collection dates from the 1970s. Notably missing in this collection are the papers related to the scholarly work Frank O'Hara: A Comprehensive Bibliography (1979) that Smith compiled while a graduate student at the University of Connecticut. Arranged in seven series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE, 2) JOURNALS, 3) WRITINGS BY SMITH, 4) ACADEMIC MATERIALS, 5) MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS, 6) EPHEMERA, and 7) WRITINGS BY OTHERS. Biography Alexander Dick Smith, Jr. - poet, writer, teacher and bibliographer - was born on October 10, 1948, in Portland, Maine, to Maryrose Ann Delano Smith and Alexander Dick Smith, Sr. His family moved to Groton, Connecticut, where Smith attended Robert E. Fitch Sr. High School for the years 1960-1966. After finishing high school, Smith went directly to Yale University in 1966. There, he met fellow poets Rodger Kamenetz, Alan Bernheimer, and Kit Robinson, with whom he maintained close ties with his life, exchanging poetry, ideas and criticism with them. After graduating from Yale University and a cross-country bicycle trip to San Francisco, Smith returned to Groton, Conn., and accepted a position as substitute teacher in the local school system. He proved to be an excellent teacher, and he received several offers for full-time teaching positions. However, he declined so that he could return to San Francisco where he felt he could best pursue his love of writing. Kit Robinson, Alan Bernheimer, Lyn Hejinian, and Bill Graves were a few of many poets Smith knew who were living and thriving in San Francisco and writing a style of poetry that Alex very much wanted to understand and practice himself. He lived in San Francisco for half a year, during which time he edited the only issue published of Nadine, a poetry magazine with work from writers all over the country, including Merill Gilfillan, Alan Bernheimer, Steve Benson and Rodger Kamenetz, as well as some of Smith's own work. Smith decided his writing would benefit from more education; thus, in 1973, he enrolled as a graduate student in the English Department at the University of Connecticut. At UConn, Smith studied Chaucer, modern and post-modern narrative, and Greek. In addition to his studies, Smith was also occupied with a graduate assistant position. During the three summers between 1974 and 1976, he worked as a research and editorial assistant to George Butterick on The Journal of the Charles Olson Archive. In 1976, Smith was awarded a monetary grant from the University of Connecticut's Computer Center, which allowed him to complete Frank O'Hara: A Comprehensive Bibliography (1979) as well as increase his computer skills. Throughout graduate school, Alex wrote and published poetry. In 1975, 1977 and 1978, he won first prize in the Wallace Stevens Poetry Contest. Alex's writing style had undergone a change by the time he entered graduate school. His earlier writing was heavily influenced by the New York School and was visual, iconographic, light, and humorous. As he grew older, his poems began to grow darker. Influenced by Walt Whitman and Wallace Stevens, Smith began to write what he called narrative poems - descriptions of real situations, with people interacting with each other, often very unhappily. Later, Smith began to use spelling and diction that were reminiscent of a Shakespearean and Elizabethan age. He wrote extremely long poems, such as "The Four Seasons," which were often a rewriting of works by Shakespeare. Smith called these poems "Snets." In Smith's letters to his friends, beginning around 1976, one can see a developing disdain for academia. He often speaks of his apathetic students, with whom he became increasingly frustrated due to their seeming indifference. Smith himself was Alex Smith Papers MSS 0070 2 a stellar student, maintaining straight A's in all of his courses, and he had a dwindling tolerance for bored and boring students. Thus, rather than earn his PhD and remain in academia, Smith left the University in 1980 to pursue a career in computer programming. In 1980, Smith was hired as a mail-room clerk for the New England Research Application Center (NERAC), a NASA sponsored agency that specialized in computer assisted information retrieval for business and industry. He moved up rapidly within the company and, by the end of 1981, was already a computer programmer. He stayed with NERAC until 1987, earning several more promotions. Smith never put aside his love of writing poetry, often composing poems while at work. Many of his poems from the eighties are scribbled on scraps of NERAC office paper. In March or April of 1987, Smith moved with Tom Yankowski, Smith's companion for more than ten years, to the community of Hillcrest in San Diego, California. By this time, Alex had suffered from AIDS, and he attempted simply to focus on maintaining his health and continuing his writing. In July of 1987, Rodger Kamenetz, a classmate from Yale, helped Smith to publish his only collected book of poems titled Colonizing the Red Planet. Smith died of cancer in September of 1987. Preferred Citation Alex Smith Papers, MSS 70. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego. Acquisition Information Acquired 1994 and 2013. Publication Rights Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection. OFF-SITE STORAGE COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS. Subjects and Indexing Terms Benson, Steve, 1949- -- Correspondence Bernheimer, Alan, 1948- -- Correspondence Bertholf, Robert J. -- Correspondence Boer, Charles, 1939- -- Correspondence Butterick, George F. -- Correspondence Button, John -- Correspondence Kamenetz, Rodger, 1950- -- Correspondence Robinson, Kit, 1949- -- Correspondence Smith, Alexander, 1948 -- Archives AIDS (Disease) -- United States American poetry -- 20th century Gay men -- United States Gays' writings CORRESPONDENCE Scope and Content of Series SERIES ONE) CORRESPONDENCE: Divided into two subseries. Family Correspondence contains letters from Smith's immediate family that date between 1976-1987. General Correspondence contains letters written to and, in many cases, by Smith. The letters from Steve Benson, Alan Bernheimer, Tom Devine, Bill Graves, and Joan Joffe Hall make up a significant portion of this subseries. Also included are letters from Donald Allen and Kit Robinson. The general correspondence subseries is arranged first alphabetically by correspondent and then chronologically within the folders. Smith's outgoing letters are filed with the pertinent incoming correspondence. Family Correspondence Box 1, Folder 1 Delano, Daniel B. [Smith's grandfather] Alex Smith Papers MSS 0070 3 CORRESPONDENCE Family Correspondence Box 1, Folder 2 Delano, Michael. [Smith's cousin] 1987 Box 1, Folder 3 Delano, Rose. [Probably Smith's aunt on his mother's side] 1987 Box 1, Folder 4 Smith, Alexander D. [Smith's father] 1976 - 1987 Box 1, Folder 5 Smith, Alex D. & Marirose. [Smith's mother and father] 1977 - 1985 Box 1, Folder 6 Smith, Marirose Ann Delano 1976 - 1987 Box 1, Folder 7 Smith, Tim 1976 - 1981 General Correspondence Box 1, Folder 8 A miscellaneous 1977 - 1987 Box 1, Folder 9 Allen, Donald - Uncollected Frank O'Hara materials Box 1, Folder 10 Ann 1985 - 1987 Box 1, Folder 11 Axelrod, Giancoplos and Johnson, P.C. 1987 Box 1, Folder 12 B miscellaneous 1981 - 1987 Box 1, Folder 13 Barone, Dennis and Debbie 1978 - 1980 Box 1, Folder 14 Benson, Steve 1976 - 1987 Box 2, Folder 1 Bernheimer, Alan 1977 - 1987 Box 2, Folder 2 Bertholf, Robert 1976 - 1982 Box 2, Folder 3 Bittker, Susan 1976 - 1987 Box 2, Folder 4 Bly, Robert 1978 Box 2, Folder 5 Boer, Charles 1977 - 1987 Box 2, Folder 6 Boggs, Leslie 1980 Box 2, Folder 7 Business letters 1973 - 1979 Box 2, Folder 8 Butterick, George and Collette 1976 - 1987 Box 2, Folder 9 Button, John 1977 - 1979 Box 2, Folder 10 C miscellaneous 1976 - 1987 Box 2, Folder 11 Chow, Vivian 1979 - 1987 Box 2, Folder 12 Cobble, Sue 1976 Box 2, Folder 13 Copies of letters received and sent 1974 Box 2, Folder 14 Cummings, Hildy [William Benson Museum of Art] 1980 - 1981 Box 2, Folder 15 D miscellaneous 1987 Box 2, Folder 16 Danon, Ruth 1979 - 1980 Box 2, Folder 17 Dena 1977 Box 2, Folder 18 Devine, Tom 1973