Spencer Brown Papers

Spencer Brown was born in 1909 in Hartford, Connecticut, graduated from Harvard University with an A.B in 1930 and an A.M. in 1932, and taught at the Loomis School (1930-1931), Taft School (1932-1934), and Fieldston School (1938-1971), where he also served as principal (1965-1971). His published collections of poetry include: My Father’s Business and Other Poems (1956), Looking into the Fire (1967), and Child’s Game, On a Journey (1979). Brown died in Croton-on-Hudson, New York in 1989.

The collection consists of writings, correspondence, printed material, scattered business records, and personal papers relating to aspects of Spencer’s Brown career as an educator and poet. Writings include typescripts of articles, lectures, and poems, some of which are annotated. Correspondence includes letters from friends, family, writers, editors, and admirers, as well as copies of outgoing correspondence and letters to Margaret Brown. Correspondents include Felix Stefanile, The Sewanee Review, Jack Stillinger, Dana Gioia, and Howard Moss, among others. (JM)

A compete record for the collection is available online: Spencer Brown Papers. Records for Brown’s books can be found in the Yale Library catalog: Orbis. Related collections in the Yale Collection of American Literature include the James Weil Papers.