Introduction | Biographical Sketch | Scope and Content | Series Description | Inventory

Introduction

The Robert Beum Papers were purchased by the Center for Archival Collections in September 1998, from Robert Beum. The collection is open to all researchers. Researchers are responsible for securing permission to reproduce unpublished materials.

Biographical Sketch

Robert Lawrence Beum was born August 20, 1929 in Mount Vernon, Ohio. He received his education at the Ohio State University (B.A., 1952; M.A., 1958) and did postgraduate work at the University of Nebraska (1958-1962). During his career, he has been a member of the English faculty at a number of colleges in the midwest and Canada. Beum has continued to publish poetry (sometimes under the pseudonym Robert Lawrence) as well as literary criticism. His poetry includes The Ninth Hour (1949), Orpheus and Other Poems (1959), and Ten for the Light (1971). His critical works have included Edmund Spenser: Epithalamion (1968), The Poetic Art of William Butler Yeats (1969), A Prosody Handbook (1965, with Karl Shapiro), and Nineteenth Century French Poets (2000).

While a student at the Ohio State University, he became an assistant editor of the Golden Goose Press, where he was acquainted with Richard Wirz Emerson and Frederick Eckman (MS 775). The correspondence in this collection documents the renewal of his acquaintance with Frederick Eckman and focuses not only on contemporary life and work, but also reminiscences of writers and academics known to both men during the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Scope and Content

The Robert Beum Collection includes correspondence between Frederick Eckman from 1992-1996, and a memoir by Robert Beum on his relationship with Frederick Eckman and the Golden Goose Press.

The correspondence between Beum and Eckman begins in 1992 when, after a silence of some thirty years, the two renewed their friendship and began to share reminiscences about old friends as well as describe life around retirement age. Their exchanges on the poets and writers they knew provides an interesting look at the personal lives of some well-known mid-twentieth century writers including Karl Shapiro and Richard Wirz Emerson. Researchers will also want to consult the Frederick Eckman Collection (MS 775) for additional material, especially dealing with the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Series Description

CORRESPONDENCE

CORRESPONDENCE
1992-1996
Arranged chronologically
Correspondence between Robert Beum and Frederick Eckman, renewing their acquaintance and reminiscing about friends, careers, and life.

LITERARY PRODUCTIONS

MANUSCRIPTS-ROBERT BEUM
1997
Frederick Eckman and the Golden Goose--A Memoir by Robert Beum.

Inventory

Box 1

Folders

1. Correspondence from Frederick Eckman to Robert Beum, 1992
2. Correspondence from Frederick Eckman to Robert Beum, 1993
3. Correspondence from Frederick Eckman to Robert Beum, 1994-1996
4. Correspondence from Robert Beum to Frederick Eckman, 1992-1993
5. Correspondence from Robert Beum to Paul Yon, 1998
6. Manuscript: Frederick Eckman and the Golden Goose Press, by Robert Beum, 1997

Manuscripts by Subject | Rare Books & Special Collections