Sylvia Plath Archival Materials

Working with Sylvia Plath's papers provides valuable insight into her creative process. Below is a list of repositories that hold Sylvia Plath archival materials. These materials range from poetry drafts, correspondence, journals and diaries, photographs, and realia such as her elm plank writing desk and hand-painted cradle.

There are three major repositories for Plath materials: the Mortimer Rare Book Room at Smith College, the Lilly Library at Indiana University at Bloomington, and the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Emory University. As these collections are massive, I've just listed the collection titles. These are listed first. For the other repositories that hold Plath materials, I've tried to list - with as much detail - what they hold. These are listed second and in alphabetical order by college or university name.

Links are provided to online finding aids, catalog entries, or other useful information at the repository when possible. Some links will take you to Sylvia Plath Info blog postings. These often list in detail what the repository holds based on materials I have seen. Libraries often have paper copies of finding aids available for use on site only. When in doubt, contact the librarian, archivist, or curator for more information. Please let me know via email (listed on the home page) if any links do not work.

Major Collections

Smith College - Neilson Library - Mortimer Rare Book Room & Smith College Archives
Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts 01063, USA

Sylvia Plath Collection, 1940-1981 (Mortimer Rare Book Room)
Helle collection of Plath family photographs (Mortimer Rare Book Room)
Steinberg photographs of Sylvia Plath related places (Mortimer Rare Book Room)
Collection of papers on Bitter Fame, 1954-1991 (Mortimer Rare Book Room)
Edward Butscher Collection of Papers on Sylvia Plath (Mortimer Rare Boom Room)
Sylvia Plath Hughes Papers, 1955- (Smith College Archives)

Indiana University at Bloomington - Lilly Library
The Lilly Library, 1200 East Seventh Street, Bloomington, Indiana, 47405-5500, USA

Sylvia Plath mss
Sylvia Plath mss II - Boxes 1-8 - Boxes 9-15
Sylvia Plath mss III
Sylvia Plath mss IV
Sylvia Plath mss V
Ted Hughes Materials I & II
Gordon Ames Lameyer Materials
Oscar Williams Materials

Emory University - Robert W. Woodruff Library
Robert W. Woodruff Library, 540 Asbury Circle, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA

Sylvia Plath materials (Series 3)
Olwyn Hughes papers, 1951-1997
Ted Hughes papers
Letters to Assia Wevill, 1955-1970
Letters to Ben Sonnenberg, 1961-2000
Letters to Frieda Hughes, 1971-1997
Letters to Gerald Hughes, 1952-1991
Letters to János Csokits, 1960-1998
Letters to Lucas Myers, 1955-1988
Letters to Peter Redgrove, [ca. 1966-1984]
Letters to W. S. (William Stanley) and Dido Merwin, 1958-1969
Daniel Weissbort papers, [ca. 1957-1999]
Selden Rodman collection, 1938-1959
Third programme radio scripts, 1949-1978
The Raymond Danowski Poetry Library

Sylvia Plath's Library

Sylvia Plath's Library
The books Sylvia Plath read, owned, or used in writing papers is catalogued on LibraryThing using information from Emory University, Indiana University, Smith College, and other sources.

Smaller Collections

British Broadcasting Corporation Written Archives Centre (website)
Peppard Road, Caversham Park, Reading, RG4 8TZ, UK

Sylvia Plath correspondence regarding copyright and talks, 1957-1963.
(The BBC Written Archive Centre also holds Plath related materials in their Ted Hughes files.)

British Library, London (website)
The British Library, St Pancras, 96 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DB, UK

Add 52617: Insomniac: [in 'Cheltenham Festival prize poems' collection] / by Sylvia Plath.
Add 53784: Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath: verse and prose
Add 83684-83698: Hughes-Baskin papers (See specifically Add 83684, 83687, 83688, for Plath manuscripts)
Add 88482-88611: Alvarez papers, Vols. CVIII-CX
Add 88589: Alvarez papers, Vol. CVIII
Add 88612: Letters from Ted Hughes : includes a letter to Sylvia Plath from Assia Wevill .

Brown University, John Hay Library
20 Prospect St, Box A, Providence, RI 02912, USA

St. Martin's Press Archive, 1952-1996

Harvard University
Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
Woodberry Poetry Room, Lamont Library, Room 330, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
Schlesinger Library, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

Sickroom Tulips (Houghton Library)
Jean Valentine Papers, 1952-2004 (Schlesinger Library)
Sylvia Plath reading from her own works (Woodberry Poetry Room, Lamont Library)
Photographs of Sylvia Plath & Ted Hughes with Frieda Hughes (Woodberry Poetry Room, Lamont Library)
Typescripts of her poetry (Woodberry Poetry Room, Lamont Library)

Massachusetts Historical Society (website)
1154 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA

Atlantic Monthly Magazine records 1969-1974
Edward Weeks papers, ca. 1934-1989

The Morgan Library and Museum (website)
225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016 USA

Autograph transcript of 40 juvenile poems
The Morgan also has a large collection of first and limited editions

Mt. Holyoke College - Williston Library - Archives & Special Collections
Mount Holyoke College, 50 College Street, South Hadley, Massachusetts 01075, USA

Kathryn Irene Glascock Poetry Prize Records, 1923-

New York Public Library - Manuscripts and Archives Division
Room 328, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788, USA

New Yorker Records, ca. 1924-1984
Yaddo Records, 1870-1980

Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature: The Berg holds poetry and prose manuscripts, a photograph, a postcard, and books from Plath's library. Read more here.

Northern Illinois University - Rare Books & Special Collections Department
DeKalb, Illinois 60115, USA

The Review Collection, 1962-1970

Oriel College - Library
The Library, Oriel College, Oriel Square , Oxford, OX1 4EW, UK

Typescript of 'Mayflower'

Stanford University - Green Library - Department of Special Collections
Stanford University, Department of Special Collections, Green Library, Stanford, California 94305-6004, USA

Nathaniel Tarn papers, ca. 1939-2000 (M1132)

University College Dublin - James Joyce Library
James Joyce Library, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

Papers of Jack and Máire Sweeney, Collection Code: LA52/166
Correspondence between Jack Sweeney and Ted Hughes & Sylvia Plath, 1957-1985
Photographs of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes with Frieda Hughes

University of Cambridge - King's College - Archives Centre
Archive Centre, King's College, Cambridge, CB2 1ST, UK

Letters to J. M. Wober

University of Delaware - Special Collections
Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware 19717-5267, USA

BBC Third Programme Radio Scripts, 1940-1969 (Manuscript Collection Number 332)

University of Edinburgh - Special Collections
Centre for Research Collections, Edinburgh University Library, George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LJ, UK

Norman MacCaig papers (MS.3208.10-11)

University of Liverpool - The Sydney Jones Library - Special Collections
Sydney Jones Library, The University of Liverpool, PO Box 123, Liverpool L69 3DA, UK

Sylvia Plath typescripts (Reference Number: GB 141 Plath)

University of Manchester - The John Rylands University Library - Special Collections
150 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 3EH, England UK

Critical Quarterly Archive [1957]-1989, (Reference number GB 133 CQA)

University of Maryland at College Park - Hornbake Library
Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA

Frances McCullough Papers, 1915-1994
Archives of Turret Books, 1965-1975
Turret Press Collection, 1965-1975

University of Minnesota - Elmer L. Anderson Library - Children's Literature Research Center
222 21st Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA

Emily Arnold McCully papers

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Wilson Library
Rare Book Collection, CB# 3936 Wilson Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890, USA

Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes Collection

University of Reading (England) - Library
Special Collections Services, The University of Reading, Redlands Road, Reading, Berkshire RG1 5EX, UK

Records of Chatto & Windus Ltd.
Correspondence concerning Sylvia Plath by Linda Wagner-Martin, 1985-1986
1 folder, 193 items. Call number: CHATTO & WINDUS--CW 428/2
Correspondence concerning Sylvia Plath by Linda Wagner-Martin, 1987-1989
3 folders, 391 items. Call number CHATTO & WINDUS--CW 479/4

University of Texas at Austin - Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin, P.O. Drawer 7219, Austin, Texas 78713-7219, USA

Alfred A. Knopf Inc Records, 1873-1996
Anne Sexton Papers, 1912-1996 (Bulk 1953-1974)

University of Victoria (British Columbia) - McPherson Library
University of Victoria Libraries, PO Box 1800 STN CSC, Victoria, BC V8W 3H5, Canada

Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath collection

University of Virginia - Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia Libraries, PO Box 400113, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4113

Eight Books from Sylvia Plath's Library

Washington University at St. Louis - John M. Olin Library
Department of Special Collections, Campus Box 1061, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA

Lee Anderson papers (WTU00004)
Hughes Collection (WTU00230)
Elizabeth Bishop papers (WTU00012)
Eric Pankey papers (WTU00092)
William Jay Smith papers (WTU00104)

Yale University - Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Public Services Department, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, P.O. Box 208240, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8240, USA

Two manuscript poems
Peter Davison papers, ca. 1940-2005
Living Theatre records, ca. 1947-2007