View XML QR Code

Patricia Goedicke and Leonard Wallace Robinson papers, 1910-2006

Overview of the Collection

Title
Patricia Goedicke and Leonard Wallace Robinson papers
Dates
1910-2006 (inclusive)
Quantity
77.2 linear feet
2,437 electronic files, (197.5 megabytes of digital materials)
Collection Number
Mss 739
Summary
The Patricia Goedicke and Leonard Wallace Robinson Papers primarily consists of correspondence, notebooks, and drafts of poetry and fiction by Goedicke and Robinson. Also included are lecture notes for classes taught at The University of Montana-Missoula, personal records, photographs, and audio and video recordings related to the literary work of Goedicke and Robinson. This collection documents in detail Goedicke and Robinson's writing careers.
Repository
University of Montana, Mansfield Library, Archives and Special Collections
Archives and Special Collections
Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library
University of Montana
32 Campus Dr. #9936
59812-9936
Missoula, MT
Telephone: 406-243-2053
library.archives@umontana.edu
Access Restrictions

Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of Archives and Special Collections, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, and The University of Montana-Missoula. Some materials have been restricted to protect the privacy of living individuals. This includes privacy of third parties and former students of The University of Montana.

Languages
English, Spanish
Return to Top

Biographical Note

Patricia Goedicke (1931-2006) and Leonard Wallace Robinson (1912-1999) met at the MacDowell Colony in the summer of 1968. According to an article in the February 6, 2000 issue of the Missoulian, the attraction between Goedicke and Robinson was immediate. Shortly after their initial meeting, Goedicke moved in with Robinson, who lived in New York City at the time. In 1971, they moved to San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico, and in 1981 they moved to Missoula, Montana, which became their permanent residence until Robinson’s passing in 1999 and Goedicke’s in 2006.

Leonard Wallace Robinson was born in Malden, Massachusetts, to Henry M. Robinson, Sr. and Ellen Flynn. The religious affiliations of Leonard’s parents (Henry, a Jewish immigrant, and Ellen, a Catholic) would play prominently in his unpublished biographical works. Amongst Leonard’s ten siblings is novelist Henry Morton Robinson (married to Gertrude), author of The Cardinal. In 1935, Leonard graduated from Columbia University. Amongst his classmates were Robert Giroux (of Farrar, Straus and Giroux) and Robert Lax.

Over the next three decades, Robinson held a number of editorial positions, including editor-in-chief of Colliers magazine from 1956-1957 and executive editor for Rinehart, Holt, and Winston. Robinson also published a number of journalistic pieces for The New Yorker and The New York Times, as well as short stories appearing in Harper’s and The New Yorker. In 1950 his short story “Ruin of the Soul” appeared in Prize Stories, the annual collection of O. Henry Award winning stories. Amongst his early book length works are The Secret Service Chief, for which Robinson was a ghost writer, and The Assassin.

Before meeting Goedicke, Leonard married four times. In 1937, Robinson married Frances Fox, a friend of Anais Nin. Robinson’s second wife was Roseanne Smith, to whom he was married from 1943-1954. During his second marriage Robinson’s only child, Roderick, was born in 1946. After divorcing Smith, Robinson married Marie Nyswander, a noted psychiatrist. Nyswander published The Power of Sexual Surrender in 1959 under the name Marie N. Robinson. The two divorced in 1965. Robinson’s fourth wife was Elizabeth Barrett, to whom he was married from 1965 until their divorce in 1971.

Patricia Goedicke was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Helen Mulvey and John McKenna, professor of Neuroanatomy and Psychiatry at Dartmouth College. Patricia had one sibling, Jean-Marie, who served as a professor of English at the American University in Beirut for many years. In high school, Patricia was a highly competitive amateur skier and a contributor to her local newspaper in Hanover, New Hampshire. Patricia published her first poem in Seventeen in 1947 before attending Middlebury College from 1949-1953. There she studied under Robert Frost and other Middlebury faculty. Immediately after college, Patricia worked for Harcourt, Brace and World in New York. While in New York, she continued to sharpen her craft, attending a series of lectures given by W.H. Auden at the YM-YWHA (Young Men’s-Young Women’s Hebrew Association).

In 1956, Patricia married Victor Goedicke, a professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Ohio University, and moved to Athens, Ohio shortly thereafter. In 1958, John Crowe Ransom accepted three of her poems for the Kenyon Review: “Proudflesh,” “Calypso,” and “Circumnavigation.” Patricia attained her Masters of Arts at Ohio University in 1965. While living in Athens, Patricia befriended poet Hollis Summers, as well as Pat Grean, with whom she edited a local literary journal titled Page One. In 1968, Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc. published her first book of poetry, Between Oceans.

After moving in with Robinson, Goedicke taught English at Hunter College. Robinson taught Journalism at Columbia University. In their brief time in New York, Goedicke and Robinson befriended a number of writers and academics including writers Rosellen Brown, Erica Jong, and Nancy Klein, journalist Paul Brodeur, Professor of Journalism Larry Pinkham, Professor of Dramatic Arts Bert O. States, and editor Rust Hills. As stated in an unpublished interview by Marcia Corbino in 1980, Goedicke and Robinson planned to teach and write in New York before deciding to move to Mexico where they could live on their savings and dedicate more time to writing.

During their years in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuanto, Goedicke and Robinson produced a number of works. From 1971-1981, Robinson wrote a novel titled The Man Who Loved Beauty, which was published in 1976, as well as a number of poems that would appear in his first book of poetry In the Whale. Goedicke wrote four books of poetry during that time: For the Four Corners (1976), The Trail that Turns on Itself (1978), The Dog that Was Barking Yesterday (1980), and Crossing the Same River (1980). For Goedicke and Robinson, San Miguel de Allende provided them with a rich artistic and literary community that consisted of both permanent residents and visiting writers from the United States, including Robert Phillips, Constance Urdang, Donald Finkel, Patricia Hampl, James Moore, C.D. Wright, Forrest Gander, and David and Judy Ray.

By 1980, Goedicke and Robinson sought teaching appointments in the United States in order to have access to better health care in light of Robinson’s cardiovascular condition. During the 1980-1981 academic year, Goedicke taught Creative Writing at Sarah Lawrence College. While Goedicke pursued an extension of her contract at Sarah Lawrence, she ultimately accepted a temporary position for the 1981-1982 academic year at The University of Montana in Missoula, filling a position previously occupied by Naomi Lazard. In the fall 1982, Goedicke, along with Paul Zarazyski, helped fill in for the ailing Richard Hugo, teaching his graduate-level workshop that semester. By 1983, Goedicke began a tenure track position at The University of Montana that ended with her retirement in 2003.

As professors at The University of Montana, Robinson served as an adjunct in 1989, filling in for Bill Kittredge as leader of a graduate workshop that included David Allan Cates, while Goedicke’s career was highlighted by a Distinguished Scholar Award in 1991 and the 2003 H.G. Merriam Award for distinguished contributions to Montana literature. Goedicke’s students included Sandra Alcosser, Greg Glazner, Jon Davis, Derick Burleson, Debra Kang Dean, Melissa Kwasny, Sarah Gridley, and Chris Dombrowski.

One notable influence on Goedicke’s writing was the Rattlesnake Ladies’ Salon. This group, which convened for a number of years over the eighties and nineties included Goedicke, Deirdre McNamer, Kate Gadbow, Caroline Patterson, Connie Poten, Sandra Alcosser, Beth Ferris, and Marnie Prange. According to Lois Welch, in her history of The University of Montana Creative Writing program entitled All Our Stories are Here, “The Rattlesnake Ladies’ Writing Salon (deliberately so named) met regularly during the 1990s to give Missoula’s women writers a community of camaraderie and criticism away from students and faculty, from stalwart husbands—and from fishing stories.”

During their years in Missoula, Goedicke and Robinson published several works. Robinson published two books of poetry, In the Whale in 1983 and Now and Zen, which was published posthumously in 2005. Goedicke published eight books of poetry: King of Childhood (1984), The Wind of Our Going (1985), Listen Love (1986), The Tongues We Speak (1989), Paul Bunyan’s Bearskin (1992), Invisible Horses (1996), As Earth Begins to End (2001), and Baseball Field at Night (published posthumously in 2009). Goedicke’s selected volume of poems The Tongues We Speak was named a notable book by The New York Times Book Review in 1990 and As Earth Begins to End was named by Booklist as one of the top 10 books of the year.

Leonard Wallace Robinson, who had been suffering from dementia, passed away in his sleep on April 30, 1999. Patricia Goedicke passed away on July 14, 2006. In the days leading up to her death, Goedicke was working on her final book while undergoing cancer treatment.

Return to Top

Content Description

This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Patricia Goedicke and Leonard Wallace Robinson. The majority of the collection is comprised of correspondence and materials related to Goedicke’s and Robinson’s works. These materials include drafts, notebooks, and business files documenting the publication of their many works. Other materials include teaching files, personal records, previously published works collected either for research or as personal mementos, Patricia Goedicke’s juvenilia, photographs, audio and visual recordings, and computer files. The computer files mostly comprise of Goedicke's poems and correspondence related to Goedicke's writing and work as a professor at the University of Montana.

The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence and drafts of works by Goedicke and Robinson. Series I (Works by Patricia Goedicke) and Series II (Works by Leonard Wallace Robinson) document the development of poems, stories, and novels by Goedicke and Robinson, including business files regarding publication. The correspondence includes both professional and personal correspondence. In addition to correspondence with several literary figures such as Rosellen Brown and Robert S. Phillips, the correspondence also contains files also notable for their depth, such as the correspondence between Goedicke and her sister, Jean-Marie Cook.

Notable amongst the remainder of the collection is the documentation of Goedicke’s career at The University of Montana in Series IV (Teaching Files), the evidence of several major medical operations impacting Robinson and Goedicke in Series VII (Personal Records), and the works by Robert Lax collected by Robinson in Series IX (Published Materials).

Return to Top

Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. and any other applicable statutes. Copyright transferred to The University of Montana.

Preferred Citation

[Name of document or photograph number], Patricia Goedicke and Leonard Wallace Robinson Papers, Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana-Missoula.

Return to Top

Administrative Information

Arrangement

The Patricia Goedicke and Leonard Wallace Robinson papers consists of 16 series:

Series I: Works by Patricia Goedicke, 1945-2006, 26.1 linear feet

Subseries 1: Individual Works, 1958-2006, 12.1 linear feet

Subseries 2: Gathered Works, 1945-2006, 1.2 linear feet

Subseries 3: General Business Files, 1952-2004, 1.2 linear feet

Subseries 4: Reading Files, 1977-circa 2006, 0.6 linear feet

Subseries 5: Notebooks, 1955-2006, 11.0 linear feet

Series II: Works by Leonard Wallace Robinson, 1931-2006, 16.5 linear feet

Subseries 1: Individual Works, 1931-2006, 10.2 linear feet

Subseries 2: Gathered Works, 1931-1999, 1.2 linear feet

Subseries 3: General Business Files, 1962-1990, 0.3 linear feet

Subseries 4: Reading Files, 1984-1996, 2 folders

Subseries 5: Notes, 1976-1996 and undated, 0.3 linear feet

Subseries 6: Notebooks, 1931-1999, 4.0 linear feet

Series III: Correspondence, 1926-2006, 16.2 linear feet, 267 electronic files

Subseries 1: Correspondence between Patricia Goedicke and Leonard Wallace Robinson, 1968-1999, 1.4 linear feet

Subseries 2: Alphabetically Arranged Correspondence, 1926-2006, 8.0 linear feet

Subseries 3: General Correspondence, circa 1952-2006, 6.6 linear feet

Subseries 4: University of Montana Faculty Correspondence, 1982-2003, 0.2 linear feet

Subseries 5: Email, 2000-2010, 267 electronic files

Series IV: Teaching Files, circa 1965-2003, 4.0 linear feet

Subseries 1: Patricia Goedicke Class Notes, 1971-2003, 2.4 linear feet

Subseries 2: Patricia Goedicke Administrative Files, 1968-1999, 0.6 linear feet

Subseries 3: Leonard Wallace Robinson Teaching Files, circa 1965-1996, 1.0 linear feet

Series V: Conference Files, 1983-2005, 0.9 linear feet

Series VI: Subject Files, 1939-2006, 1.1 linear feet

Subseries 1: Patricia Goedicke Subject Files, 1983-2006, 0.4 linear feet

Subseries 2: Leonard Wallace Robinson Subject Files, circa 1970-1990 and undated, 0.2 linear feet

Subseries 3: Leonard Wallace Robinson Memorial Service Files, 1939-1999, 0.4 linear feet

Subseries 4: Wedding Files, circa 1987, 2 folders

Series VII: Personal Records, 1910-2006, 2.4 linear feet

Subseries 1: Financial Records, circa 1920-1999, 1.1. linear feet

Subseries 2: Medical Records, 1978-2006, 0.9 linear feet

Subseries 3: General Records, 1910-2006, 0.4 linear feet

Series VIII: Works by Others, circa 1960-2006, 1.4 linear feet

Series IX: Ephemera, 1958-2003 and undated, 0.5 linear feet

Series X: Published Materials, 1934-1988, 1.1 linear feet

Subseries 1: General Works, 1934-1988, 0.7 linear feet

Subseries 2: Works by Robert Lax, 1961-1984, 0.4 linear feet

Series XI: Juvenilia, 1938-1966, 0.2 linear feet

Series XII: Photographic Materials, circa 1910-2005, 4.7 linear feet

Subseries 1: Photographs, circa 1918-2005, 1.4 linear feet

Subseries 2: Negatives, slides, and disks, 1976-2003 and undated, 0.8 linear feet

Subseries 3: Albums, circa 1910-2002, 2.5 linear feet

Series XIII: Audio Visual Materials, 1929-2006, 4.0 linear feet

Subseries 1: Audio Recordings of Patricia Goedicke, 1975-2005, 0.6 linear feet

Subseries 2: Audio Recordings of Leonard Wallace Robinson, 1975-1993 and undated, 0.2 linear feet

Subseries 3: General Audio Recordings, 1973-2000 and undated, 0.4 linear feet

Subseries 4: Video Recordings, 1929-2006, 2.8 linear feet and 33 video cassettes and 6 DVDs

Series XIV: Awards, 1991, 2002-2003, 1 folder

Series XV: Computer Files, 1988-2010, 2,170 electronic files

Series XVI: Art Works, circa 1999, 1 item

Acquisition Information

The collection was acquired in 2007 from Deirdre McNamer and Connie Poten, the executors of Patricia Goedicke's estate. Additional materials were submitted independently by Kate Gadbow and Deirdre McNamer in 2008, including recordings of Goedicke's memorial service, a compact disk containing documents from Goedicke's hard drive, and materials from Goedicke's safe deposit box, which contained copies of Goedicke's and Robinson's will, personal effects, and a letter from Robert Frost.

Processing Note

This collection has been organized into series intended to reflect the literary and academic careers of Patricia Goedicke and Leonard Wallace Robinson. While certain parts of the collection largely reflect original order (such as Series IV: Teaching Files), much of the collection has been reorganized at individually arranged at the file level by the processing archivist. More specific statements regarding the arrangement of the collection may be found in the series level content notes.

Materials were appraised by the processing archivist according to their research value in relation to the study of literature at a national or regional level, to the study of The University of Montana, and to the lives of Patricia Goedicke and Leonard Wallace Robinson as writers and academics. Materials of little value in these regards, such as routine financial records and mass produced audio recordings, were generally not retained. More detailed appraisal notes may be found in the series level content notes.

Separated Materials

Patricia Goedicke's poetry library was donated to the Mansfield Library and placed in the Poetry Corner. Personal copies of works by Robinson and Goedicke are housed in Mansfield Library's Special Collections.

Bibliography

The following are issues of literary journals containing tributes to Patricia Goedicke after her passing:

Neo 7, 2007

Cutbank 67, Spring, 2007

Related Materials

The Marcia Corbino Photographs at the Mansfield Library Archives and Special Collections consist of photographs, proofs and negatives of Patricia Goedicke and Leonard Wallace Robinson at their home in San Miguel de Allende, Guanojuanto, Mexico in 1980. This collection is currently unprocessed and has an accession number of 2010-46.

Return to Top

Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • American literature--20th century
  • American poetry--20th century
  • Creative writing (Higher education)--Montana--Missoula

Personal Names

  • Brown, Rosellen--Correspondence.
  • Cook, Jean-Marie--Correspondence
  • Goedicke, Patricia--Archives
  • Lax, Robert
  • Phillips, Robert S.--Correspondence
  • Robinson, Leonard Wallace, 1912-1999--Archives

Corporate Names

  • University of Montana--Missoula--Faculty

Occupations

  • Authors, American
  • Women authors, American
  • Women college teachers--Montana--Missoula
  • Women poets, American

Other Creators

  • Personal Names

    • Goedicke, Patricia
    • Lax, Robert
    • Robinson, Leonard Wallace, 1912-1999.

Finding aid prepared by Steven Bingo and Erin Baucom
2010

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

About Creative Commons Licenses in Archives West

Loading...
Loading...