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Janet Pressley Piper Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MsC0308

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Scope and Contents

Janet Piper apparently wrote poetry almost compulsively. Her correspondence as well as literary and social criticism are oftentimes expressed in poetry.The collection consists of poetry and correspondence. There are six notebooks and one folder of what one would probably call collage poetry. She has collected items from the press, mostly New Yorker cartoons, and photocopied them, sometimes several to a page, and then typed a poem in response to the item. Due to the nature of the cartoons, these comprise mostly social commentary, oftentimes making literary references. Her correspondence, as well as sometimes being written in poetry, usually includes poetry as attachments. Some of her letters are essays or include long discursive essays. Included in the collection are bound manuscripts that comprise most of her books. Most of these items are photocopies. Series 4 contains a poem index that has been provided by the Sam Houston State University and is recreated here with their gracious permission. It is not current and her latest books are not indexed here. Their holdings do not completely overlap with that of the University of Iowa, but it was thought worthwhile to reproduce this index in the finding aid. The index is organized by poem title - book - page number. Not all listings have a corresponding page number. Below is the book key to the finding aid: AEL: An Examinded Life BMB: Behind This Mortal Pone CAS: Conversations and Soliloquies FOS: In Fervor of Sun FOSAP: In Fervor of Sun and Perspectives LW: Last Words LWR: Last Words Revised (UI does not have this title) SS: Skyscapes Copy refers to a holding at Sam Houston State which is not available at the University of Iowa. Copies may be available from the Special Collections Department of Sam Houston State University.

Dates

  • Creation: 1939-1988

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright restrictions may apply; please consult Special Collections staff for further information.

Biographical / Historical

Janet Pressley was born in 1902 in Nebraska. She received an undergraduate degree in English from the University of Nebraska in 1922 and an M.A. in Philosophy in 1923, also at the University of Nebraska. In 1927 she married one of her poetry teachers, Edwin Ford Piper, who was some thirty years older than she. Edwin was a member of the English faculty at the University of Iowa in the early years of the twentieth century, when the New Humanists were displacing the more formal poets of an older generation. Edwin and Janet, who was a graduate student in the department, were caught up in this conflict and Janet believed it contributed to her husband's early death of a brain hemorrhage. Several of the manuscripts in the collection deal with this phenomenon. Feeling unwelcome at the University of Iowa after she received her Ph.D., Janet moved to Texas where she took up a position at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville in 1942. She was to remain in this position for thirty years where, according to Dr. David S. Gallant in his introduction in Behind This Mortal Bone: Poems 1920-1938 " . . . she became a legendary figure among her students and colleagues. Her intellectual brilliance, acumen and training based upon vast reading in several languages made her renowned among the large number of people with whom she came in contact." (p.3) She apparently attempted suicide in 1949 and her son put her under the treatment of Dr. Hauser, who used electric shock therapy on her. This incident alienated her from her son. She died in Huntsville in August 1997.

Norman Sage's Maecenas Press published her Behind This Mortal Bone in 1990. In the early 1980s Janet wrote to him, enclosing poems. Mr. Sage donated these letters and poems, and they form part of the collection.

She read widely and her writings, including letters, are filled with literary allusions, citations, and suggested readings. She could argue a point intelligently and convincingly. Nevertheless, her poetry did find a national publisher. Most of her works are self-published and a great many of them are bound manuscripts.

Extent

3.50 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Janet Pressley Piper was a poet, scholar, professor, and wife of Edwin Ford Piper. This collection is comprised mostly of self-published manuscripts, along with some correspondence.

Physical Location

Moved from n10:04:2-3 on 5/11/2019-JS

Method of Acquisition

This collection is a gift of Janet Pressley Piper starting in 1987 and continuing until 1995.The collection was augmented by her estate after her death in 1997. Norman Sage, a member of the English faculty at the University of Iowa and proprietor of the Maecenas Press, also contributed to this collection.

Related Materials

See the Papers of Edwin Ford Piper, MsC0040 Sam Houston University also has a Janet Piper collection that is not online. This collections contains the names of individual poems (see Poem Index, below.)

Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
eng

Repository Details

Part of the University of Iowa Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City IA 52242 IaU
319-335-5921
319-335-5900 (Fax)