The Melville Society Archive
Descriptions of the contents of the 5 boxes containing the Walter Bezanson Papers
Walter Bezanson Papers Box 1
At front: loose, MS Extracts, Sept. 1978 – Feb. 1982
Manila folder: “MSEX 1990” (# 80, 83, 97, 78)
Loose: MSEX 82, 97, 98, plus typescript of talk at Melville Society meeting at Nantucket May 15, 1986: “Water, Meditation, Words”
Miscellaneous Extracts: 97, 97, 97, 86 (4), 82, 84, 86, 85
Emerson Society Quarterly, No. 28, part 2 (1962?)
More Extracts: 98, 91, 97, 98, 95, 96 (3), 2000
Letter from Merton M. Sealts, Jr., to Gail Coffler and Walter Bezanson
Folder: “Melville Society 96- 96 (1994, 1995, 1994)”
Folder MSEX = “Extracts” #s 71 -79 (+ #72 – 79 (Feb. 1988 – Nov. 1989)
Folder: Untitled
Extracts, Feb. 84 / Feb. 86, Feb. – Nov. 1990
Feb, Nov, 1991, March – Nov. 1992
June 1993, Dec. 1996
“Annual Report, American Literature Section of the Modern Language Association”
Folder: Untitled
Extracts for May 72, Oct. 72, Jan. 73, April 73, Sept. 73, Oct. 71, May 71, Feb. 71, Oct. 70, Jan. 72, Dec. 69, Nov. 69, Aug. 69, June 69, May 77, Nov. 77, Nov. 73, Feb. 75, May 75, Dec. 75, Feb . 76, June 76, Sept. 76 (2), Nov. 76, Feb. 74, Nov. 74
Letter to Members of the Melville Society April 1969
Loose: Berkshire History, 21 (Spring 1976)
Program for Volos Conference 1997
Nina Byam offprint: “The Erotic Motif in Melville’s Clarel,” Texas Studies in Literature and Language (Summer 1974)
Richard Fogle offprint: “Meville’s Calrel: Doubt and Belief,” Tulane Studies in English
Folder: Untitled
Miscellaneous emails, typed manuscripts, essays
Walter’s notes on “Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams after 100 years” (11/17/99)
Invitation for submission from Jill B. Gidmark
Melville / Hawthorne conference, Pittsfield, June 1982, reprint
Editorial correspondence
Page proofs for “Document, Drama, Dream”
Offprints: “Moby-Dick: Work of Art,” Darmstadt, 1977
Red Folder: Prints (“Model of Whaler Deborah Gifford,” Garneray “Peche du Cachalot,” “Capturing a Sperm Whale,” Garneray “Peche de la Baleine,” “Sperm Whaling—the Conflict”)
Folder: Untitled
Miscellaneous clippings
Hofstra Conference (2001) Program
Christmas card from John Bryant
More clippings, Christmas card photo of Walter Bezanson and Gail Coffler
Folder: “Clarel Review”
Review in the The New Republic by Helen Vendler (1992)
Loose: Copy of Neal Tolchin’s “The House of Mourning: Melville in His Culture” (written for Walter’s seminar)
Folder: “Tolchin, ‘The House of Mourning: Melville in His Culture’” (Tolchin essay removed, a catalog of Gaughin paintings [text by John Rewald] inserted instead)
Loose: Brochures and “Companion Guide” for “Damned in Paradise” (annotated)—Video (1986)
Folder: Untitled
Series of prints, some nautical, with captions clipped on, as well as postcards from the New Bedford Whaling Museum
Loose: Two Arrowhead Newsletters (one from 2007 Gam), both annotated, and a New Bedford Whaling Museum Members Bulletin (2007)
Folder: “NN Clarel—Hist Note—Nov. 90.” Proofs of Clarel “Historical Note,” annotated.
Loose: Offprints of articles by Luther Mansfield, J. A. Ward, Paolo Cabibbo, John W. Young, Cornel West and D. Graham Burnett, Larry J. Reynolds (some annotated)
Folder: “HM—Offprints” A chapter by David Leverenz
Envelope: Addressed to Walter E. Bezanson, 313 Beechwood Ave., Middlesex, N.J. Marked “Melville Society Newsletter, XIII 1957, XIV 1958 (minus Winter).”
Loose: Sheila Post-Lauria, “Editorial Politics and the Composition of Israel Potter.” Typescript, Xerox.
Extracts for February 1985, 2005, July 2003, all annotated.
Accordian Folder: “GALAPAGOS Islands ’83.”
Postcards, brochures. Envelope: “Galapagos Trip: business stuff.” Folder: “GALAPAGOS—list of people (etc).” Folder: “GALAPAGOS.” Loose notes and brochures. Envelope: “Princeton Nature Tours.”
Walter Bezanson Papers Box 2
Loose Papers
Folders (numbers refer to folders)
Walter Bezanson Papers Box 3
1. Correspondence with Helen Wilson et al (re: videotaped interview with Walter)
2. SALEM: Peabody-Essex Museum brochure (June 1998)
3. Mystic Seaport materials and news clippings (1998)
4. Essays by other scholars and writers, including Dennis Berthold, Merton M. Sealts, Jr., Louise Barnett, Carolyn Karcher, Gail Coffler, and Wilson Heflin.
5. Herman Melville ‘09 Teaching Notes (2 index cards and list of Melville’s tales)
6. Moby-Dick course and ideas (Dartmouth travel brochure and notice of two books on ocean studies)
7. Dartmouth College Board of Trustees (correspondence and mailing)
8. Melville Society Extracts (No. 95, December 1993)
9. Blue folder: Pittsfield Centennial Conference (May 1991)
10. Britten’s Billy Budd opera (playbill, ticket stub, news clippings, broadside of “Billy in the Darbies”)
11. Billy Budd (notes and bibliography of secondary sources)
12. Billy Budd (article by Charles Weir, reader’s report, bibliography of secondary sources, speculations about Melville’s use of New York City libraries in 1885-1891)
13. Billy Budd (clippings and notes for an essay)
14. Notes related to a class on the short stories of Herman Melville (Spring ’01) at Boston Center for Adult Education
15. Herman Melville’s short fiction (clippings and notes)
16. Clippings and notes related to “Paradise of Bachelors, Tartarus of Maids”
17. Herman Melville short stories (chronology and news clipping re: Harper’s)
18. Ms. for Bezanon’s “Herman Melville: Uncommon Common Sailor”
19. Materials on New Bedford (news clippings, maps, brochures)
20. Miscellaneous materials (review of Eric Dolin’s Leviathan, Melville Society announcements, NBWM calendar)
21. Publications of Benzanson (bibliography and annual supplemental personnel record sheet for Rutgers)
22. Notes related to Bezanson’s keynote address for Melville Centennial in Pittsfield (1991) and “Herman Melville: Uncommon Common Sailor” (includes correspondence with Robert Milder and John Bryant)
23. Heinrich Heine’s Pictures of Travel
24. Bezanson personnel data (CVs and lists of publications)
25. Bezanson personnel data (NEH grant application)
26. Letter from Walter Bezanson and Gail Coffler to Merton M. Sealts, Jr.
27. Miscellaneous notes for Moby-Dick (includes critical essay by Albert Camus)
28. Teaching notes for Moby-Dick
29. Correspondence and program for panel at 1990 American Culture Association meeting.
30. Pages 199-202 of an offprint for “Moby-Dick: Document, Drama, Dream”
31. Clippings and notes for “Moby-Dick and the Sea”
32. Clippings and notes related to Benito Cereno
33. List of “Further Reading” for Moby-Dick
34. Moby-Dick teaching notes (Fall 2000), New York Times Magazine article, “Herman-Neutics,” correspondence with Hershel Parker re: Harrison Hayford’s obituary.
35. Moby-Dick teaching notes (Fall 2001)
36. Notes related to Moby-Dick class at Boston Center for Adult Education (Winter 1995)
37. Notes related to Moby-Dick class at Boston Center for Adult Education (Fall 1994)
38. Notes on whaling
39. Melville correspondence from 1960 (3 letters)
40. Photostat of 1844 copyright entry for Redburn
41. Melville Society conference in Mystic (1999)
42. Melville Society meeting at MLA (1992)
43. Melville-Hawthorne conference (1982)
44. Melville Society conference at Annapolis (1994)
45. Melville Society Extracts (Nos. 51, 52, 53, 55, 59, 60, 62, 63, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
46. Northwestern University Press bill
47. Melville Society records, 1966
48. Notes related to Melville Society meetings at MLA (1965-1967); correspondence with Richard Poirier and M.H. Abrams; articles by Terence Martin, Stuart Sherman, Merton M. Sealts, Jr., Frances Osborne
49. Notes related to Melville Society meeting at MLA (New York, NY) in 1954
50. Notes related to Melville Society executive committee (1955); Melville Society Newsletter (Spring 1954); Annual Melville Bibliography (1951)
51. Melville Society Newsletter (1948-1956); Melville Society notes and membership roster.
52. Assorted news clippings and offprint of Bezanson’s “Moby-Dick: Document, Drama, Dream”
53. Folder: “M. Soc—actions, memos, etc.” Correspondence with Tyrus Hillway (1958). Copy of By-Laws. Correspondence with Henry Murray (1969), Hennig Cohen (1969) re: “poor mad Gil Wilson,” and Howard Vincent. Notes.
54. Folder: “MELVILLE SOC.—FELLOWS + Reg Reps.” Lists of officers and regional representatives. Correspondence with Leon Howard, Willard Thorp, Richard Fogle, Tyrus Hillway, Luther Mansfield, W.B. Dillingham, Robert Ryan, and Hershel Parker. 1969.
55. Folder: “LEVIATHAN—plans.” Plan for a volume entitled “Knowing Melville: Essays on Herman Melville and American Literature of the Sea.” 1972. Plan for journal Leviathan (1969). Correspondence with Hennig Cohen and Thomas Philbrick. Story by Charles Philbrick based on the wreck of the Essex submitted to Leviathan.
56. Loose. Mimeograph list of collections of Melville’s stories. Rough draft of an essay on Ishmael, attached to a legal pad.
57. Folder: “M-D—class—BEALE 3/20/96.” Notes on “Atlantic Initiation.” Extracts Dec. 1994, March 1994, September 1994.
58. Folder: “Haskell’s bk—my notes on ‘American Lit and the Sea.’” In reference to Haskell Springer’s America and the Sea: A Literary History (1995).
59. Folder: “Haskell’s Am & The Sea—U. Ga. Pr. ’93. –coming 2/95.” Brochure.
60. Folder: “HASKELL’S MSS American & The Sea.” Bezanson’s reader’s report.
61. Folder: “Duban, Clarel art—from John B.—5/97.” Off-print of review by Robert Milder. Manuscript article by James Duban sent by John Bryant.
62. Folder: “M—H—F: (notes for) ‘Essays.’” WB notes.
63. Loose: Mimeograph list of Bezanson publications. Manuscript note to Jonathan Brent.
64. Folder: “CLAREL & The Late Years.” Manuscript notes.
65. Loose: Manuscript note to Robert Milder.
66. Folder: “CLAREL—N. Adams—’96.” Manuscript notes.
67. Folder: “Poetry—HM Clarel—Conf?” Manuscript notes, clippings.
68. Folder: “N. Adams—HM Conf: 1 Aug. 95 (+ R. P. Warren [Robert Penn Warren]).” Clippings.
69. Folder: “HM—arts & crit.—read.” Clippings, note cards. 1969.
70. Folder: “H. PARKER—Clarel selections.” Correspondence with Hershel Parker.
71. Folder: “Melville—current misc. TO FILE.” Clippings, 1950s.
72. Folder: “Clarel: review (pub) + personal ltrs.” Fan letter from Geoffrey Newbold. Miscellaneous correspondence. Reviews re. Clarel edition.
73. Folder: “Clarel—Corresp. (not errata, not reviews, not pub).” Miscellaneous letters.
74. Folder: “H. B. Hough, ‘Melville’s Capt.’” Correspondence. Clipping on Capt. Pease [Henry Beetle Hough, “Melville’s Captain Was a Vineyarder,” Vineyard Gazette (Edgartown, MA), July 2, 1929].
75. Loose: Note on comedy. Xerox of essay on Typee.
76. Folder: “Melville Offprints, Etc.” Student Paper (Edward Mylod, 1949) on Melville’s poems. Offprints by Harrison Hayford, Jay Leyda. Mimeograph essays by Howard C. Horsford and Merton M. Sealts, Jr.. Offprints by Joseph Jones, John Birss, Merton M. Sealts, Jr., Walter Harding, Louise Dauner, Egbert S. Oliver, and David Potter. Miscellaneous notes and clippings.
77. Folder: “H. Hayford 2003.” Email correspondence with Harrison Hayford family (2001), Elizabeth Schultz, Hershel Parker, Gail Coffler, John Bryant, John Gretchko, and Clare Spark.
78. Folder: “Melville—Book Cats.” Book lists from 1948, 1952.
79. Folder: “Melville—Reviews.” Clippings 1947-52.
80. Folder: “Melville Conference—1951 (Williamstown).” Brochures, clippings.
81. Folder: “Melville Movies, Plays, etc.” Clippings 1956-65.
82. Folder: “VITA—’90.”
83. Folder: “KEYNOTE—copies.” “Herman Melville: Uncommon Common Sailor.”
Walter Bezanson Papers Box 4
Letters to Walter Hendricks regarding publication of Clarel, 1957-1959
Correspondence with Howard Vincent and Harrison Hayford, 1957-1959
Tom Wolfe and To Do list on Hendricks’ Israel Potter Edition 1968
Israel Potter: Reputation – 1856-1921 (after reviews)
Typed Manuscript of intro to Hendricks’ Israel Potter with Notes (Section III) 1970
Typed Manuscript of intro to Hendricks’ Israel Potter with Notes (Section IV) revised 1971
Typed Manuscript of intro to Hendricks’ Israel Potter with Notes (Section V) original 1970 and revised 1971
Notes and Articles on Israel Potter Articles and Sources
Israel Potter – Critics – Since 1921
Notes on Typee – Northwestern-Newberry Edition
Correspondence and Notes on Northwestern-Newberry Editions, 1967
Melville Editions (Northwestern-Newberry), Reports on and Early Plans
Herman Melville: European Journal (1849), Sources for Israel Potter
Notes on Henry Trumbull, original author of Israel Potter
Notes on Benjamin Franklin sources for Israel Potter
Notes on John Paul Jones sources for Israel Potter
Notes on Ethan Allen sources for Israel Potter
Notes on Berkshire sources for Chapter One of Israel Potter
Notes on various sources for Israel Potter (Revolution, James Fenimore Cooper, Arthur Mervyn, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne)
Notes on Dissertations on Israel Potter by Walter Jones and W. Sprague Holden
Articles and Papers read and reviewed by Bezanson on Nathaniel Hawthorne, John Keats, Robert Frost, and Goldman’s Clarel [Stan Goldman, Melville's Protest Theism: The Hidden and Silent God in Clarel (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1993)]
Correspondence with Jill B. Gidmark/Jill Barnum and Mary K. Bercaw Edwards on the Encyclopedia of the Sea and the Great Lakes
Syllabus, Roster, and Recommendation on Teaching Moby-Dick at the Boston Center for Adult Education, 1998
Reviews of N-N Journals by James D. Bloom and Geoffrey O’Brien
Press Materials on the video: Damned in the Midst of Paradise (1985)
Personal Correspondence, letters of Walter Bezanson from 1960, 1961, 1982
Melville’s Tales, Chronology and Bibliography
Notes on Chris Sten, 1998
Review of Hershel Parker and article on “The Apple-Tree Table” by Jonathan A. Cook
Galapagos Islands (map)
Notes on “I and My Chimney”
Xeroxes of “In the Desert” and “the College Colonel”
Copies of “Mingling Threads of Life” – short Melville biography
Notes on Arrowhead
Syllabus and Roster for course on Great Short Works of Melville, Boston Center for Adult Education, 2001
Information Sheets for Reading Moby-Dick, Boston Center for Adult Education, 2001
Notes on class on Bartleby at Boston Center for Adult Education, 1997
“Rough Drafts” of “Herman Melville: Uncommon, Common Sailor,” on Typee, 1849 Voyage
HM: Course Records (Boston Center for Adult Education), handout on Reading Moby-Dick
Short Biography of Walter Bezanson for 1999 Mystic Conference
MLA Radio Series “What’s the Word?” 1998-1999
Official Papers on Mystic Conference, 1999
Notes on Moby-Dick CD-Rom for Jim Bride with Merton M. Sealts, Jr., 1997-1998
“W’s [Walter Bezanson’s] Essay for John Bryant”: Publication papers and hard copy of “HM: Uncommon, Common Sailor” for Evermoving Dawn, 1995-1996
Helen Vendler’s review of Clarel and Journals, New Republic, 1992
Reader’s Report on Julian Markels’ King Lear, Moby-Dick, and the Politics of America for U. of Fla., 1990
Published Reviews of “Into the Deep: America, Whaling, and the World” (2010) and Philippe Sollers, “Diabolique Melville” in Le Novel Observateur, (March 17, 2010): 54-6
Letters and cards from Steve Whicher [1952] , Jonathan A. Cook [1997] , and Milton [Stern?] [1961]
Walter Bezanson Papers Box 5