Viola Baxter Jordan

Viola Baxter Jordan was born on March 15, 1887 in Utica, New York. In 1905 her mother urged her to attend a dance at Hamilton College, suggesting that she "might meet her Prince Charming." At that dance, the eighteen year old Viola was introduced to Ezra Pound and began a fifty-year friendship with him, mostly conducted via correspondence. Pound, in turn, introduced her to his former sweetheart Hilda Doolittle (H.D.), and later to the poet William Carlos Williams, whom she dated for a time in 1907-08 and who also became a lifelong friend and correspondent.

Jordan continued to send letters and parcels to these poets and their families throughout her adult life. The correspondence therefore includes letters from Bryher, Florence Williams, Dorothy Pound, Olga Rudge, and Mary de Rachewiltz (Pound’s daughter).

The Collection

The Viola Baxter Jordan Papers document Jordan's friendships with the poets Ezra Pound, H.D., and William Carlos Williams. The papers span the dates 1905-1951. Currently, only Series I. Correspondence, of the Viola Jordan Papers are available online.

Related Collections

Ezra Pound Papers, YCAL MSS 43
William Carlos Williams papers, YCAL MSS 116
H. D. Papers, YCAL MSS 24
Bryher papers, GEN MSS 97