A Guide to the Allen Polite Papers

Archives & Special Collections, University of Connecticut Libraries

Summary Information

Repository:
Archives & Special Collections, University of Connecticut Libraries
Creator:
Polite, Allen, 1932-1993.
Title:
A Guide to the Allen Polite Papers
ID:
2010.0117
Date [inclusive]:
1955-1993.
Physical Description:
11.0 Linear feet
Language of the Material:
English
Abstract:
Handwritten manuscripts, notebooks, letters, typed transcriptions of poetry, prose and a play for voices, by Allen Polite, writer and artist affiliated with the Black Arts Movement. Published works of Allen Polite's poetry, and transcriptions, produced by his widow Helene Polite can be found throughout.

Preferred Citation

[Item description, #:#] Allen Polite Papers. Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Libraries.

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Biography

Writer and artist Allen Polite (1932-1993) was born in Newark, NJ. He was raised and went to school there until he was drafted into the United States Army. He served in Korea and Japan in 1952 and 1953. Polite settled in Greenwich Village, and between 1954 and 1956, studied philosophy at Columbia University. After 1958, he worked at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The writer LeRoi Jones acknowledged Polite as his 'mentor' in his Autobiography and first published Polite's poetry in 1958 in the magazine Yugen. In the early 1960s Polite worked on a novel (never completed) and a long cycle of poetry and prose called "The Dead Seeds," but he refused to publish his work. Polite's writing was included in Sixes and Sevens, An Anthology of New Poetry (Paul Breman, London, 1962), and Langston Hughes' New Negro Poets, U.S.A. published in 1964. Carlene Hatcher Polite in her first novel The Flagellants, published initially in France in 1966, featured the relationship of a young couple that is partially based on her relationship with Allen Polite.

In 1963 Polite left New York for Paris, London, and Stockholm, where he visited his friend the artist Harvey Cropper. He decided to settle in Stockholm, where he joined an international group of artists which centered on a number of black Americans already resident there. Polite began drawing and painting in addition to his writing, and in 1964 he organized and sponsored the exhibition "10 American Negro Artists Living and Working in Europe" at Den Frie, the largest gallery in Copenhagen. To support himself, Polite took a job as a clerk at CWZ Grafiska AB, a company that supplied material for the graphic industry, and subsequently gained the position of head buyer for bookbinding material. In Sweden he met Helene Etzelsdorfer who remained his companion, and later his wife, from 1963 until his death from cancer in 1993. She prepared Allen's work for publication and privately published three volumes including Poems (1996), The Rice and Fiol of the Turd Rake (1996), a 'rhapsodic play for three voices', and Looka Here, Now! (1997), poems from the 1950s.

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Scope and Content

The collection contains handwritten manuscripts by Allen Polite of poetry, prose, aphorisms, dialogues, songs and a play for voices; early writing and student work; notebooks including drafts and notes; transcriptions of poetry by Helene Polite; published works edited and produced by Helene Polite, and a self-portrait in watercolor.

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Arrangement

Handwritten manuscripts and notebooks are filed with typed transcriptions by Helene Polite. Titles for individual texts are linked in this inventory to their location in the collection, and additionally, are filed in hardcopy with their associated manuscripts.

Series I: Box Inventory ( 1955-1993)

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Administrative Information

Publication Statement

Archives & Special Collections, University of Connecticut Libraries January 2011

University of Connecticut Libraries405 Babbidge Road Unit 1205Storrs, Connecticut, 06269-1205860.486.2524archives@uconn.edu

Restrictions on Use

Permission to publish from these Papers must be obtained in writing from the owner of the copyright.

Acquisition Information

This collection was donated by Helene Polite in September 2010, with the generous assistance of Samuel and Ann Charters.

Access

The collection is open and available for research.

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Controlled Access Headings

  • African American authors
  • African American poets
  • Correspondence
  • Manuscripts (document genre)
  • Notes
  • Photographs
  • Publications
  • Sketches
  • United States
  • Works of Art

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Collection Inventory

Series I: Box Inventory, 1955-1993

Title/DescriptionInstances
Family letters and student work,, circa 1955-1958
Box 1: Folder 1-3
Manuscripts (uncataloged),, undated
Box 1: Folder 4-9
Postcard ( LeRoi Jones) and personal documents,, undated, 1958
Box 1: Folder 10
Notebooks and typed transcriptions of the poetic cycle 'The Dead Seeds', and other poems including 'Politics' [Reference: Binder 1A], undated

Digital Object:Poem titles included in this series [link below], undated

Box 2: Folder 11-14
Typed transcriptions [Reference: Binder 1B], undated
Box 2: Folder 15-18
Notebooks (1959, 1964) and draft transcriptions of 'May 66', 'Aug 59', '64 doc', 'Mephisto', and others [Reference: Binder 2A],, 1959, 1964

Digital Object:Poem titles included in this series [link below], 1959, 1964

Box 2: Folder 19-20
Notebook (1966) and draft transcriptions of 'May 66', and others [Reference: Binder 2A], 1966

Digital Object:Poem titles included in this series [link below], 1966

Box 3: Folder 21-22
Typed transcriptions [Reference: Binder 2B], undated
Box 3: Folder 23-25
Manuscripts and longer prose texts, including section 'Intimate Letters' and 'Teaball'; and notebooks and draft transcriptions. [Reference: Binder 3A], undated

Digital Object:Poem titles included in this series [link below], undated

Box 3: Folder 26-29
Typed transcriptions [Reference: Binder 3B],, undated
Box 4: Folder 30-33
Manuscripts and transcriptions [Reference: Binder 4A],, undated

Digital Object:Poem titles included in this series [link below], undated

Box 4: Folder 34-36
Typed transcriptions [Reference: Binder 4B],, undated
Box 4: Folder 37-38
Typed transcriptions [Reference: Binder 4B],, undated
Box 5: Folder 39-40
Manuscripts, including 'In the North' and poems from 'The Dead Seeds' and 'Abra - Beuhla - Cadabra (play for voices)'; a notebook, and draft transcriptions. [Reference: Binder 5A],, undated

Digital Object:Poem titles included in this series [link below], undated

Box 5: Folder 41-42
Typed transcriptions [Reference: Binder 5B],, undated
Box 5: Folder 43-45
Manuscripts, including 'The New Poets', 'Tolstoy', and two notebooks (ca. 1963 to 1965), with transcriptions [Reference: Binder 6A],, undated

Digital Object:Poem titles included in this series [link below], undated

Box 6: Folder 46-49
Typed transcriptions [Reference: Binder 6B],, undated
Box 6: Folder 50-54
Materials chosen for 'The Dead Seeds' with copious notations by several different readers (no manuscript materials included). [Reference: Binder 8A],, undated
Box 6: Folder 55-57
Materials chosen for 'The Dead Seeds' with copious notations by several different readers (no manuscript materials included). [Reference: Binder 8A],, undated
Box 7: Folder 58-61
Final draft of 'The Dead Seeds' (poems selected by Helene Polite from various manuscripts and transcriptions). [Reference: Typescript 8B],, undated
Box 7: Folder 62-65
Self portrait in watercolor
Box X II.5 no. 7
Transcripts of interviews by and about Allen Polite, typed draft manuscript for "Looka Here, Now!" edited by Helene Polite, books of Allen Polite poems published by Helene Polite, Helene Polite memoir, 1964, 1996, 1997, 2010, 2014
Box 8

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