Vince Clemente papers
Biographical / Historical note
Vince Clemente, American poet, biographer, critic, editor, and professor of English was born on April 28, 1932. The son of an Italian-American fisherman and seamstress from New York City, Clemente was interested and inspired by local surroundings and artists - a subject matter of much of his poetry and scholarship. He received a BA in English (Honors) from St. Francis College of Brooklyn in 1953 and served in the U.S. Army's 716th Military Police Battalion from 1953 to 1955. Clemente earned his Master's Degree in English (Honors) from Columbia University and continued his graduate studies at Columbia from 1959 to 1960.
Clemente has written nine volumes of poetry: Under a Baleful Star, A Garland for Margaret Fuller (2006), Sweeter Than Vivaldi (2002), Watergaw Along the Thames (1999), A Place for Lost Children (1997), This Shining Place (1992), Girl in the Yellow Caboose (1991), Broadbill Off Conscience Bay (1982), Songs from Puccini (1978), and Snow Owl Above Stony Brook Harbor (1977). His poems and other writings have appeared in journals and newspapers including The New York Times, The Boston Book Review, Newsday, The South Carolina Review, Poets and Writers Magazine, Cumberland Poetry Review, Blue Unicorn, VIA, and Italian-Americana, and in a selection of newspapers and other publications in the United Kingdom, including The Seventh Quarry: Swansea [Wales] Poetry Magazine. Also, his poems have been featured in anthologies, including Blood to Remember: American Poets on the Holocaust (1991), Island Light: A Long Island Anthology (1983), Remembering Walt Whitman: Centenary Celebration (1992), and Darwin: A Norton Critical Third Edition (2001). In addition, Clemente has collaborated on a bilingual volume of poetry, Soapte ale sufletului/Whispers of the Soul (2008), with Peter Thabit Jones, translated into Romanian by Olimpia Iacob.
In addition to his poetry, Clemente has authored four books: Remembering John Hall Wheelock: North Atlantic Review (1991), John Ciardi: Measure of the Man (1986), Paumanok Rising: Figures in a Landscape (1982), and From This Book of Praise: Conversation with William Heyen (1981). He also wrote a personal responsive essay for the first publication of the bilingual drama, Baiatul si Capul Leului/The Boy and the Lion's Head (2009), by Peter Thabit Jones, translated into Romanian by Olimpia Iacob. He served as the editor of North Atlantic Review, Long Island Historical Journal, West Hills Review: A Walt Whitman Journal, Long Pond Review, and Lyrismos (the latter three he founded). Clemente took pride in the legacy of Long Island authors and artists, and became a trustee of Whitman's Long Island birthplace, where he also founded the poet-in-residence program. He was also a leader in the movement to erect a memorial statue to author John Steinbeck in Sag Harbor, Long Island.
Clemente currently is English Professor Emeritus at SUNY Stony Brook, a lecturer and journalist, as well as author and poet. He is presently Consulting Editor, America, for The Seventh Quarry: Swansea [Wales] Poetry Magazine and a columnist for The Sag Harbor Express. From 1996–1998 he was a lecturer and writer at Richmond-On-Thames, England, and was visiting writer to a number of American institutions including CW Post College, Hofstra University, Dowling College, and several SUNY schools. Clemente has been the recipient of many awards and honors, including grants from the New York State Council of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. He is recipient of the first North Sea Scene Poetry Recognition Award.
Scope and Contents
The Vince Clemente Papers consist of published and unpublished manuscripts, correspondence (including John Ciardi, John Hall Wheelock, and William Heyen) and printed ephemera. Materials date primarily from the 1980s forward, although there is some earlier correspondence. Materials are organized over time as acquired beginning in 2000 and by subsequent updated acquisitions from Vince Clemente.
Boxes 21-26 represent later additions to the collection.
Index of correspondence within the collection:
A
Abramson, Martin
Ahern, John
Allen, Gay Wilson
Anjali, Gurani
Appleman, Philip
Arrowsmith, William
Ashbery, John
Asimov, Issac
Astor, Susan
Awsaph, Philip
Axinn, Donald E.
B
Bain, David H.
Balducci, Carolyn
Barkan, Stanley
Bart, Jill
Battaglia, Concetta
Bell, Marvin
Bertolino, James
Bishop, Janice
Bly, Robert
Booth, Philip
Bourjaily, Robin
Brinnin, John M.
Bridsky, Stan
Broxton, Bonnie Russell
Bruccoli, Matthew J.
Brunnemer, Lewis
Bryant, William Cullen II
Bumas, Jonathan
Burnshaw, Stanley
Byrnes, Fred
C
Cardia, Joseph
Carruth, Hayden
Carter, Jared
Castan, Fran
Cedering, Siv
Chapman, Wayne
Chang, Diana
Ciardi, Ella
Ciardi, John
Ciardi, Judith
Cifelli, Edward M.
Ciolli, Vivian
Codrescu, Andrei
Coles, Robert
Connellan, Leo
Conner, Alison Murphy
Costa, Judith Ann "Judy"
Coulehan, Jack
Cousins, Norman
Cowley, Lisa
Creeley, Robert
D
Davidson, Peter
de Pazzi, Elles
Dickey, James
Di Piero, W.S.
Dodd, Wayne
Dolan, Paul
Donovan, Barbara
Durler, John
E
Eady, Cornelius
Eberhart, Richard
Elman, Richard
Engle, Paul
Erbes, Cynthia
Everett, Graham
Eyges, Doris Holmes
F
Feirstein, Frederick
Feldman, Irving
Ferlinghetti, Lawrence
Finberg, Charles E.
Finkel, Donald
Fishman, Charles
G
Gambone, Kenneth
Garrett, George
Gelfand, Morris
Giancola, Dan
Gibbs, Alonzo
Ginsberg, Allen
Gioia, Dana
Gioseffi, Daniela
Glass, Jesse
Gluck, Louise
Goldfarb, David
Greco, Leonard
Guenther, Charles
Guilbert, Anthony
H
Hadas, Rachel
Hadella, Paul
Haines, John
Hair, Jennie
Hall, Donald
Hamill, Sam
Hansen, Kenneth O.
Harrison, Robert
Haug, James
Hecht, Anthony
Held, George
Helner, Frane L.
Heyen, William
Hoffman, Barbara
Holmes, John
Horowitz, Kathy Sperling
Hubbell, Jay B.
Hugo, Richard
I
Ignatow, David
Ignatow, Yaedi
Iodice, Ruth G.
J
Jafee, Dan
Jeffery, Mildred
Jerome, Judson
Jones, Peter Thabit
Jordan, June
Junkins, Donald
K
Kaufman, Marjorie
Keefe, David
Kennedy, X.J.
Kessler, Milton
Kinsella, Thomas
Kleefeld, Carolyn M.
Kramer, Aaron
Krapf, Norbet
Krickel, Edward
Krieg, John
Kronenberg, Mindy
Kumin, Maxine
Kunitz, Stanley
L
Langland, Joseph
Lewandowki, Stephen,
Logan, John
Long, Robert
Lovill, Jeff
M
Macleish, Archibald
Mancuso, Fran
Mariani, Paul
Mareck, Michele A.
Mazzaro, Jerome
McDermott, John J.
McKee, Lewis
McPherson, Sandra
Melchior, Susan
Meredith, William
Miller, Edward
Milosz, Czeslaw
Moran, Dan
Morgan, Robert
Moseley, Annabelle
Mulvihill, William
Murphy, Robert Cushman
Murray, Dan
N
Napolitano, Louise
Newman, Paul
Neyssen, Grace
Nims, John F.
O
O'Gorman, Ned
P
Pacerick, Gary
Padilla, Celeste
Page, Carolyn
Paleos, Kalliopy
Parisi, Joseph
Parlatore, Anselm
Pastan, Linda
Patterson, Raymond
Pavlivh, Walter
Pavone, Canio
Peternel, Joan
Philips, Robert
Planz, Allen
Porter, Anne
Poulin, A. Jr.
Pound, Omar S.
Prasad, Prem
R
Raffle, Burton
Richman, Susan
Rinaldi, Nicholas
Robbins, Natalie
Roethke, Theodore
Roseliep, Raymond
Rosten, Norman
S
Schacht, Mike
Schulberg, Budd
Shapiro, Karl
Sherman, Carol
Sherman, Susan
Silkin, John
Simpson, Louis
Slavitt, David R.
Smith, Dave
Smith, William Jay
Snodgrass, W.D.
Stafford, Kim
Stafford, William
Stever, Edward
Stock, Tom
Stokes, Terry
Stoddard, Hope
Stone, Barbara
Stone, John
Stryk, Lucien
Swann, Brian
Sward, Robert
Swensen, Karen
Swenson, May
T
Tagliabue, John
Tarn, Nathaniel
Taylor, Barry
Taylor, Henry
Terries, Virginia
Tucker, Martin
Turco, Lewis
V
Viereck, Peter
W
Wadsworth, Charles E.
Wagoner, David
Wakoski, Diane
Walker, Sue
Wallace, George
Wallach, Amei
Walsh, Michael
Waters, Michael
Weber, R.B.
Welt, Ely
Wheat, Maxwell
Wheat, Maxwell C. Jr.
Wheelock, John Hall
Wheelock, Phyllis
Wheelock, Wiliam Hawxhurst
White, Claire N.
White, William
Wilkins, Sophie
Williams, John [A.]
Williams, Miller
Creator
- Clemente, Vince (Person)
- Ciardi, John, 1916-1986 (Person)
- Jones, Peter Thabit (Person)
Dates
- Creation: 1974-2011
Language of Materials
English
Extent
26 box(es)
Access
The Vince Clemente Papers is open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact the Rare Books, Special Collections & Preservation Department prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.
Use
In consultation with a curator, reproductions may be made upon request. Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from a curator. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions.
Preferred Citation
[Item title, item date], Vince Clemente Papers, D.280, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
Subject
- Clemente, Vince (Person)
- Ciardi, John, 1916-1986 (Person)
- Jones, Peter Thabit (Person)
- Title
- Vince Clemente papers
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Rare Books and Special Collections staff
- Date
- undated
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Library Details
Part of the Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation Library
