Major Collections
Major collections of Lorine Niedecker materials are held by the Hoard Historical Museum and the Dwight Foster Public Library in her home town of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Other major collections are listed below.
Hoard Historical Museum in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin
Researchers are welcome to consult the Niedecker collection in the museum’s Knox Research Library. There is no publicly available finding aid for the collection although materials can be accessed at the Knox Research Library upon request. An inventory of the Niedecker materials returned to the museum in 2016 is available. The Hoard Historical Museum also has a permanent exhibit dedicated to Niedecker in an upstairs room.
Dwight Foster Public Library in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin
Visitors are welcome to use the Lorine Niedecker Reading Room at the Dwight Foster Public Library during regular hours, although researchers are advised to schedule their research visit in advance, as the library’s archive is maintained by volunteers. Email contact@lorineniedecker.org to schedule a visit.
The Reading Room contains all the surviving books from Niedecker’s personal library. A searchable database of her personal library includes bibliographic information as well as her notes and marginalia — transcribed by Tom Montag. The Reading Room collection also includes many papers relating to Niedecker’s writings and to her life in the community.
The Digital Archive
Much of the material held by the Hoard Museum and the Dwight Foster Public Library was digitized by University of Wisconsin-Digital Collections in 2007 with support from a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant and is available on the UWDCC’s website as the “Historical Fort Atkinson” collection. This online collection includes 125 individually catalogued documents, 80 photographs, and roughly 20 audio/video recordings. The Digital Public Library of America has a better interface for working with this archive. It allows the collection results to be refined and sorted. To access the archive through the DPLA click here.
Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas-Austin
The letters exchanged between Lorine Niedecker and Louis Zukofsky (1933-1970) are included in the Zukofsky collection held at the Harry Ransom Center [HRC] at the University of Texas, Austin. Many of the letters from Niedecker to Zukofsky in this collection were published by Jenny Penberthy in her Niedecker and the Correspondence with Zukofsky 1931-1970. The Zukofsky collection also includes a large number of Niedecker manuscripts. The HRC has other Niedecker items too. Finding Aid: search “Niedecker” in the Harry Ransom Center search box.
Berg Collection at the New York Public Library
The letters from Lorine Niedecker to Cid Corman (1960-1970) are held in the New York Public Library’s Berg Collection. These were edited and annotated by Lisa Pater Faranda and published in “Between Your House and Mine”: The Letters of Lorine Niedecker to Cid Corman, 1960 to 1970. Finding Aid: search “Niedecker” in the Cid Corman collection of papers.
Poetry Collection at SUNY-Buffalo
Letters from Lorine Niedecker to Jonathan Williams (1956-1970) are included in the Jargon Society Collection, 1950-2008. Letters from Lorine Niedecker to the English literary critic Kenneth Cox are included in the Kenneth Cox Collection, 1965-2005.
Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University
Three of Niedecker’s late manuscripts are included in the Niedecker Collection at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.