Scope and Content Note
The papers of Anne Porter (1911-2011) span the years 1911-2014, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1931-2006. Correpondence, poems, notebooks, photographs, articles, legal papers, and other miscellany pertain chiefly to the life and career of Porter. The papers are in English. The collection is arranged alphabetically by topic or type of material and therein chronologically or alphabetically.
The papers primarily consist of Porter's correspondence and poems that were assembled and inventoried by her son, Laurence M. Porter. Correspondents include Laurence M. Porter, Fairfield Porter, Katharine Minot Channing, and other Porter family members. Topics include family, friends, faith, poetry, and members of the New York School of poets and painters.
Porter published a few poems in the 1930s, and after the death of her husband, artist Fairfield Porter, she again began publishing poems in journals and books. The papers include drafts and copies of published and unpublished poems on loose pages and in notebooks. Porter's love of nature and Christian faith permeate the poems, and several include variant drafts with edits. Many of the poems appeared in Porter's books An Altogether Different Language, Poems 1938-1994 and Living Things: Collected Poems. Articles in the collection document Porter's career and nomination for the National Book Award for Poetry in 1994.