TABLE OF CONTENTS

Overview of the Collection

Biography

Scope and Content

Arrangement

Restrictions

Index Terms

Related Material

Administrative Information

Detailed Description

Series I: Correspondence, 1975-1977

Series II: Audio cassettes, 1969-1977

Series III: Publications, undated, 1950-1977

Aram Saroyan Papers

Biography

Aram Saroyan was born 25 September 1943, the son of playwright William Saroyan and Carol (Marcus) Saroyan, later Carol Matthau. He attended high school at the Trinity School in New York City. He attended college at the University of Chicago, New York University, and Columbia University, but never completed a college degree. In the late 1960s Saroyan experimented with marijuana and began to develop a career as a poet. Director Mike Nichols wanted to cast Saroyan in the lead of his movie The Graduate, but Saroyan walked away from the part in order to focus on his writing. His life experiences at this time are described in his novel, The Street.

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Scope and Content

This collection begins Saroyan's incoming correspondence for the years 1975-1977. Note that much of this correspondence consists of returned manuscript submissions, and thus numerous fair copies of Saroyan's own poems and reviews can be found within the correspondence. Notable correspondents include: Donald Allen, Richard Avedon, Ed Dorn, Gerald Hausman, Dick Higgins, David Kherdian, Kenneth Koch, Timothy Leary, Gerard Malanga, Carol and Walter Matthau, Rod McKuen, Joel Oppenheimer, George Plimpton, Charles Plymell, William Saroyan, Gary Snyder, Anne Waldman, and Philip Whalen. Note that a small portion of the personal correspondence is addressed to Saroyan's wife and children rather than to Saroyan himself.

At the end of the correspondence is a set of audio recordings made by Saroyan. One tape consists of a Lew Welch interview (probably copied from someone else) and Saroyan's own tapings of talks with Joanne Kyger, Magda Cregg, Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen.

The second box of the collection includes photocopies of Saroyan's periodical publications from 1975-1977, both prose and poetry. Most of this box is taken up by Saroyan's manuscripts and drafts from this period. Manuscript holdings include a good deal of poetry, and complete drafts of the volume O My Generation and Other Poems. The collection also contains all of Saroyan's materials for his book on Lew Welch, including large excerpts from a typescript of Welch's correspondence. Some of Saroyan's miscellaneous personal papers can be found at the end of the collection.

Original copies of newspapers and periodicals in which Saroyan's work appears were included with the donation, but only copies of Saroyan's articles were preserved. In addition, original copies of a Rolling Stone issue featuring Richard Avedon (RS224, October 21, 1976) and a California Living newspaper supplement (San Francisco Examiner, June 12, 1977) that only briefly mentions Saroyan were removed from the collection.

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Arrangement

Series I: Correspondence, (1975-1977)

Series II: Audio cassettes, (1969-1977)

Series III: Publications, (undated, 1950-1977)

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

There are no access restrictions on this collection.

Restrictions on Use

Permission to publish from these Papers must be obtained in writing from both the University of Connecticut Libraries and the owner(s) of the copyright.

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Related Material

Archives & Special Collections has a substantial collection of literary materials. The Dodd Center holds papers by several of Saroyan's correspondents, including Gerald Hausman, David Kherdian, Joel Oppenheimer, and Donald Allen. Aram Saroyan donated his 1974 archival material to the University of California, Los Angeles, University Research Library, in 1975. For detailed information on these collections please contact the curator or ask at the reference desk.

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Index Terms

This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.

Subjects:

Document Types:

Occupations:

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

[Item description, #:#], Aram Saroyan Papers. Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Libraries.

Acquisition Information

Collection purchased from Aram Saroyan in 1978.

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Detailed Description