Scope and Content Note
The papers of Pelorhankhe Ai L'Heah Ogawa (1947-2010) span the years 1820-2010, with the bulk of the material dating from 1989 to 2009. Born Florence Leah Anthony, Ai legally changed her name in 1973 and preferred to use only the name Ai. The collection documents Ai's career as a poet, author, and educator. The papers are in English. The collection is arranged into six series: Correspondence, Subject File, Oklahoma State University File, Research File, Writings File, and Oversize.
The collection is not comprehensive. In a 1996 PEN America application for financial assistance, Ai commented that she had been unable to find a job since 1989, which forced her to sell her papers and other valuables to offset financial difficulties. This collection documents primarily Ai's work as a writer and professor. Ai was known for using dramatic monologues to explore topics such as poverty, rape, incest, sex, and murder. By focusing on these topics and giving voice to the marginalized, Ai changed American poetry by making it a more realistic depiction of the harsher aspects of American culture and society. The bulk of the papers relate to Ai's writings, including poetry, novels, memoirs, and research material for a memoir/family history about her multi-racial heritage, particularly her Native American ancestry. Also represented are files relating to Ai's academic teaching career with the largest group of files pertaining to her tenured professorship at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma (1999-2010). The collection features Ai's relationships and collaborations with poets, authors, academics, editors, publishers, and celebrities, among them Charles Apfelbaum, Sandra Cisneros, Willem Dafoe, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Galway Kinnell, Annie Leibovitz, Chip Livingston, Edward Putzar, and W.W. Norton & Company.
The collection's series are listed and briefly described below. A fuller description of each series and a list of its contents can be accessed in the series descriptions within the container list.
The Correspondence series chronicles Ai's activities and interests chiefly between 1989 and 2009 and consists mainly of incoming letters and printed emails from editors, publishers, academics, poets, authors, friends, acquaintances, and the public.
The Subject File series documents Ai’s varied interests and activities.
The Oklahoma State University File series focuses on Ai's tenure as a professor of creative writing from 1999 to 2010 and her role as vice president and later president of the Native American Faculty and Staff Association while at Oklahoma State University at Stillwater.
The Research File series contains Ai's research for a memoir and historical study about her Native American, white, and African American ancestry.
The Writings File series makes up almost one third of the collection and documents Ai's writings in various forms, including poetry, novels, memoirs, plays and teleplays, and editorial work for magazines.
The Oversize series is comprised of posters, calendars, magazines, broadsides, and a photograph portrait of Ai.