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© 2009 University of Chicago Library
The David Ray Papers were processed and preserved as part of the "Uncovering New Chicago Archives Project," funded with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Series V, Audio-Visual, does not include access copies for part of the material in this series. Researchers will need to consult with staff before requesting material from this series.
The collection is open for research.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Ray, David. Papers, [Box#, Folder#], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
David Eugene Ray was born on May 20, 1932 in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. He was the son of Dowell Adolphus and Katherine (Jennings) Ray. He had a daughter, Winifred, with his first wife, Florence. He married his second wife, Ruth, in 1964 and had a son, Samuel. In 1970 Ray married his third wife, Judy, who is also a poet and editor.
Ray received a B.A. in 1952 and an M.A. in 1957 from the University of Chicago. He was as a lecturer and professor in English at several academic institutions, including Wright Junior College (1957-1958), Northern Illinois University (1958-1960), Cornell University (1960-1964), Reed College (1964-1966), the Writer's Workshop at University of Iowa (1969-1970), Bowling Green State University (1970-1971), and the University of Missouri at Kansas City (1971-1995). Ray was also a visiting professor at universities in India, New Zealand, and Australia.
Ray served as a fiction editor, editor-in-chief (1956-1957), and as an advisory editor of Chicago Review. Under his tenure, he published works by Henry Miller, Paul Carroll, George Starbuck, Thomas Mann, Philip Roth, Robert S. Sward, Irving Rosenthal, Margaret Danner, John Logan, Philip Booth, and Robert A. Perlongo. He also served as an associate editor for Epoch from 1960-1964. In 1971, Ray took over the editorship of the The University of Kansas City Review from the 33-year tenure of Alexander P. Cappon. Ray changed the name to New Letters and published authors including Robert Bly, Cyrus Colter, Anselm Hollo, Joyce Carol Oates, Richard Hugo, and Josephine Jacobsen. He served as editor until 1986. With his wife Judy, Ray was also founding editor and producer of the weekly radio program New Letters on the Air, which invites authors to read and discuss their work.
Ray has written over twenty books of poetry, including X-Rays: A Book of Poems (1965), A Hill in Oklahoma (1972), Enough of Flying: Poems Inspired by the Ghazals of Ghalib (1977), On Wednesday I Cleaned Out My Wallet (1985), Elysium in the Halls of Hell: Poems about India (1986), Letter from Arizona to Dave Ignatow (1988), The Maharani's New Wall and Other Poems (1989), Wool Highways and Other Poems (1993), and Demons in the Diner (1999). After his son Samuel died as a teenager, Ray wrote Sam's Book (1987), which won him the Maurice English Poetry Award in 1988. Ray edited or co-edited several books, including The Chicago Review Anthology (1959), A Poetry Reading Against the Vietnam War with Robert Bly (1966), The Life and Work of Richard Wright with Robert M. Farnsworth (1973), New Asian Writing: A New Letters Anthology with Judy Ray (1979), India: An Anthology of Contemporary Writing with Amritjit Singh (1983), and Fathers: A Collection of Poems (1997).
Ray's poetry, fiction, essays, criticism, and reviews appear in numerous periodicals including Harper's, New Yorker, New American Review, Yale Review, London Magazine, Paris Review, Poetry, New Republic, Saturday Review, and Atlantic Monthly. He also contributed to several anthologies, including Where Is Vietnam?: American Poets Respond (1967), Fifty Contemporary Poets (1977), Norton Introduction to Literature (1981), and The Best American Poetry of 1999 (2000).
Ray has received numerous awards and fellowships including Academy of American Poets honorable mention (1955 and 1956), Abraham Woursell fellowship at the University of Vienna (1966-1971), William Carlos Williams prize from the Poetry Society of America (1979), National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Creative Writing (1983), Thorpe Menn Award for Literary Achievement from the American Association of University Women (1983), Emily Dickinson Award from the Poetry Society of America (1988), H.G. Roberts Foundation Award (1993), Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award at the Poetry Center of the Passaic County Community College (1997), Explorations magazine prize for poetry (1997), and the Richard Snyder Memorial Award from Ashland Poetry Press (1999).
Ray currently lives in Tucson, Arizona and teaches at Arizona Senior Academy, University of Arizona.
The David Ray Papers are organized into six series: Series I: Correspondence; Series II: The University of Kansas Review; Series III; Writings of David Ray; Series IV: Books; Series V: Audio-Visual; and Series VI: Oversize. The David Ray Papers contain correspondence, manuscripts, audio-visual material, articles, photographs, and books. The papers primarily document Ray’s writing career and editorship of New Letters.
Series I, Correspondence, contains correspondence arranged alphabetically by last name to both David and his wife Judy, primarily submissions for New Letters as well as personal letters. Some letters are from individuals authorizing use of their poetry for radio broadcasts and recordings. Correspondence may include artwork, poems, manuscripts, photographs, fliers, articles, and announcements of poetry readings and book releases, and reviews. A few letters are in other languages, including French and Hungarian. See Series II, III and VI for additional correspondence. See Series III and VI for additional manuscripts.
Series II, The University of Kansas Review, is organized into two subseries and contains material from the editorship of Alexander P. Cappon. Subseries 1, Administrative, contains administrative material of operation costs and payments. Also included are newspaper articles and publicity for The University of Kansas Review, some of which concerns a controversy about the journal publishing work by J.D. Salinger.
Subseries 2, Correspondence, contains letters between authors, poets, and the staff of The University of Kansas Review and are primarily about submissions for publication. See Series I, III and VI for additional correspondence.
Series III, Writings of David Ray, is organized into two subseries. Subseries 1, Correspondence, contains letters between Ray and editors of various publications and publishers and may include contracts, permission forms, and manuscripts. Some correspondence is about Ray's poetry readings and lectures. See Series I, II and VI for additional correspondence.
Subseries 2, Manuscripts, contains manuscripts, drafts, and proofs for Ray’s poetry books. Some folders may include correspondence pertaining to a specific manuscript. There is also a draft of an interview of Ray. See Series VI for additional manuscripts.
Series IV, Books, contains novels and books of poetry, some of which are signed and/or inscribed, and are documented by author(s), title, publisher, and date. There is also an issue of City Lights.
Series V, Audio-Visual, contains audio and video cassettes, reel-to-reel tapes, and a compact disc. These are poetry readings and interviews of poets and authors, and are arranged alphabetically by last name and documented by name(s), place, and date when available.
Series VI, Oversize, contains manuscripts and page proofs by Cyrus Coulter and David Ray. The correspondence folder contains correspondence, posters, page proofs, poetry and a musical score arranged alphabetically by last name. See Series I, II and III for additional correspondence. See Series I and III for additional manuscripts.
The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:
Series V, Audio-Visual, contains audio and video cassettes, reel-to-reel tapes, and a compact disc. These are poetry readings and interviews of poets and authors, and are arranged alphabetically by last name and documented by name(s), place, and date when available.
This series does not include access copies for part or all of the material in this series. Researchers will need to consult with staff before requesting material from this series.