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.
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
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
Sylvia Plath's Library
- Sylvia Plath's Library Catalogued on LibraryThing using information from Emory University, Indiana University, Smith College, and other sources.
Smaller Collections
British Broadcasting Corporation Written Archives Centre
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
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
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
1154 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
The Morgan Library and Museum
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
New York Public Library - Manuscripts and Archives Division
Room 328, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788, USA
Oriel College - Library
The Library, Oriel College, Oriel Square , Oxford, OX1 4EW, UK
Stanford University - Green Library - Department of Special Collections
Stanford University, Department of Special Collections, Green Library, Stanford, California 94305-6004, USA
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
University of Delaware - Special Collections
Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware 19717-5267, USA
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
University of Minnesota - Elmer L. Anderson Library - Children's Literature Research Center
222 21st Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
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
University of Victoria (British Columbia) - McPherson Library
University of Victoria Libraries, PO Box 1800 STN CSC, Victoria, BC V8W 3H5, Canada
University of Virginia - Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia Libraries, PO Box 400113, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4113 |
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