David Cope Papers, 1907-2023 (majority within 1980s-2000s)

Start Over Collection David Cope Papers, 1907-2023 (majority within 1980s-2000s)

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David Cope Papers, 1907-2023 (majority within 1980s-2000s)

26.5 Linear Feet — 26 records center boxes and 1 oversize flat file

David Cope is a poet in the Objectivist tradition and the founder of Nada Press, a small press which publishes the literary magazine and other poetry. Cope, a University of Michigan graduate and lifelong Michigan resident, taught literature and writing at Grand Rapids Community College and Western Michigan University. The collection documents Cope's writing, editing, and to some extent teaching and other spheres of Cope's life, through correspondence, manuscripts, notes, printed material, photographs, and videotapes.

David Cope made his first donation of papers to the Special Collections Research Center in 1987. Since then he has continued to make frequent contributions. The David Cope Papers cover Cope's writing and correspondence from the 1970s to the present, as well as his editing and teaching activities. In addition to offering insight into Cope's work, the collection details some of the activities and thoughts of friends and fellow writers and poets; in particular, Allen Ginsberg, Jim Cohn, Antler, and Jeff Poniewaz. Not currently well-documented are the more personal aspects of Cope's life--especially his family life--except for those details made available through his writings and correspondence.

The David Cope Papers are divided into eight series: Correspondence and Name Files, Writings, Editing Materials, Teaching and Education Materials, Publicity Materials, Personal, Photographs, and Audio/Visual. A small selection of books from Cope's library have been removed from the collection and have been cataloged individually. They are shelved by call number in Special Collections and can be requested through the Library's catalog.

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Correspondence and Name Files

The Correspondence and Name File series consists of correspondence and writings from those in David Cope's circle. Writings range from handwritten drafts to typescripts to photocopies of published work. Materials in this series are arranged alphabetically. Although the bulk of the material in the series is correspondence, manuscripts and other material created by or related to the person listed may also be found in the files. In cases where large amounts of material related to a person exist in the collection, the type of material has been grouped by genre and is indicated separately in the finding aid. In cases where the type of material is not listed separately, the file contains mainly correspondence, but may also include small amounts of other material, most likely manuscripts. Much of the correspondence, in fact, includes manuscript enclosures. This is particularly the case for the files of frequent correspondents such as Antler, Jeff Poniewaz, Jim Cohn, Bob Rixon, and to a lesser extent, Allen Ginsberg. The researcher should note that some manuscripts submitted to Cope, plus a small amount of correspondence related to Cope's editing and publishing activities, are to be found in the Writing series and Editing Materials series.