The Ralph Maud Papers
In the course of his researches into Charles Olson’s poetry and its sources, Ralph Maud corresponded with more than 250 individuals. He retained the incoming copies of this correspondence along with additional enclosures, and occasionally with copies of his outgoing letters. This archive, stored in seven banker’s boxes, represents about fifteen linear feet of material.

Even before the books comprising the Maud/Olson collection were transferred from Vancouver to the Gloucester Writers Center, the archive was discovered in Maud’s office by John Faulise and his wife Sandi Carmichael. They recognized the continuity of these papers with the Maud/Olson books, and reported the existence of the archive to Sean Hern, lawyer for the Maud estate. He transferred the archive into the ownership and care of Maud’s friend Leonard Minsky. Tom McGauley, another friend and associate of Ralph Maud, did a preliminary inventory of the archive and in July 2016, through the good offices of Leonard Minsky, the Ralph Maud Papers were gifted to the Gloucester Writers Center, where they took their place alongside the books in the Maud/Olson Library.

This archive contains letters from greats and unknowns, and presents new insights into American poetry at the end of the Twentieth Century. Most of the material has never been seen or published, and will be an exciting resource for scholars, historians, and general readers. The Gloucester Writers Center is currently in the process of cataloging and properly storing the archive, and plans are also underway for digitizing and publishing some of the more interesting material.

For a preliminary overview of the files contained in the Ralph Maud Papers, see the “MAUD INVENTORY” prepared by Tom McGauley for Leonard Minsky (3-4/ 2016).