This collection is located on-site.
This collection has no restrictions.
The Ted Berrigan collection is divided into two distinct series. The first consists of letters from him to his first wife Sandy during her time in a mental institution in Miami in 1962. Her parents had her committed and had Ted run out of town after learning of their marriage. Most of these letters are typed, but a few are handwritten. Berrigan includes drawings, photographs, and a few newspaper/magazine clippings. The letters describe his work and travels during the two months they are apart as well as his efforts to convince her parents to change their minds. Most of the letters are dated, and there are several envelopes with postmarks. The second part of the collection consists of thirteen of Berrigan's journals dating from January 1961 to March 1975. The journals include both professional and personal aspects of Berrigan's life. He writes of relationships, including his tumultuous marriage to Sandy and his second marriage to Alice Notley. He writes of the influence of other poets and artists, specifically Frank O'Hara and Andy Warhol, both of whom he met. Many of the entries include his poetry and lists of his daily activities. Also included are numerous lists of poems/poets, books, and films of interest to Berrigan. There are many photographs, newspaper/magazine clippings, letters, and drawings (several of which are by Joe Brainard) affixed to the pages of the journals. Friends Dick Gallup, Ron Padgett, Joe Brainard, and Robert Creeley are mentioned frequently. In several of the later volumes, he begins writing from both sides of the journal, leaving several of the middle pages blank.
Series II: Journals, 1961-1975
Each of the thirteen journals cover a range of time from three months to three years within a single volume. A few of the volumes overlap in year covered. Also included in this series is a folder of miscellaneous clippings and letters which were removed from the first two volumes of the journals, 1961 and 1962.
This collection is arranged in two series.
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection is located on-site.
This collection has no restrictions.
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Ted Berrigan Papers, 1961-1975; Box and Folder (if known); Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Ted Berrigan Papers, Thomas J. Dodd Research Center of the University of Connecticut
C: A Journal of Poetry Archive, Fales Library and Special Collections of New York University
Joe Brainard Archive, Mandeville Special Collections Library of the University of California, San Diego
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
697736 (1978); 297 - 1982: Date of acquisition--1978. Accession number--M78-12.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
697736 (1978); 297 - 1982 Cataloged Christina Hilton Fenn 04/05/89.
Papers processed Christina N. Manzella, Pratt SILS 2011 07/--/2010.
Finding aid written Christina N. Manzella, Pratt SILS 2011 07/--/2010.
2010-09-29 xml documeent instance created by Carrie Hintz
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
Ted Berrigan, born Edmund Joseph Michael Berrigan, Jr. in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1934, was a member of the second generation of the New York School of Poets. After a year at Providence College, Berrigan enlisted in the army. He served in Korea, and, upon his return, enrolled at the University of Tulsa where he received his bachelor's degree in English in 1959 and his master's in 1962.
Considering himself a late Beat poet, Berrigan drew inspiration from American Expressionism. He also embraced the Beat lifestyle, hitchhiking across the United States and experimenting with drugs. His work is most often compared to that of Frank O'Hara, a poet whom he greatly admired and mentioned in his earlier journals.
In 1962, Berrigan met and married Sandra Alpers who was eight years his junior and considered a minor in her home state of Florida. Sandy, as he called her, spent the first two months of their marriage in a mental institution in Miami where her parents had her committed because of the marriage. The two went on to have two children, David and Kate, before separating in 1965, due in large part to Berrigan's infidelities. In 1972 he married poet Alice Notley, and they had two sons, Anselm and Edmund.
Berrigan published his most significant work, The Sonnets, in 1964. That same year he, along with Ron Padgett and Joe Brainard, founded C: A Journal of Poetry. Berrigan also met with success in the classroom, gaining student followings at the various schools where he taught courses in poetry.
Berrigan was in poor health and essentially homebound his final few years after decades of drug use and diet pill abuse. Ted Berrigan died in July 1983 at the age of 48.
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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