Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- [1949-1984] (Creation)
Level of description
Series
Extent and medium
12,020 items
Context area
Name of creator
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Correspondence with family, friends, admirers, editors, publishers, authors, poets, educators, politicians, government officials and others in the literary, theatrical, publishing and educational fields. Files arranged alphabetically by correspondent with exception of the first file, which contains correspondence with unidentified correspondents. A. Nowlan's outgoing letters interfiled with incoming letters. Items within files arranged chronologically. A number of subject-related files - for example, correspondence with readers, correspondence with students requesting interpretation of A. Nowlan's literary works and letters expressing sympathy at A. Nowlan's death - are filed under Alden or Claudine Nowlan. Items within subject-related files are arranged alphabetically by correspondent. Legal documents, royalty statements and contracts, when present, are included in correspondence files.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
- Manuscripts and research material enclosed with letters have been moved to the appropriate manuscript series. Repository photocopies of letters of enclosure replace originals with the manuscripts. It should be noted, however, that manuscripts were not always included with letters which purported to enclose them. This is especially true for drama manuscripts sent between Nowlan and Walter J. Learning.
- Poems by other authors written about or dedicated to Nowlan have been collected in a file in the Works on Nowlan series. When these poems were enclosed with correspondence, the originals have been left with the letters of enclosure and repository photocopies filed in the Works on Nowlan series. Poetry or fiction sent to Nowlan for literary criticism or for the author's pleasure remain with letters of enclosure.
- Researchers should be aware of a number of interrelated correspondence files and read such files in conjunction with one another. An example of interrelated files is that of companies owned by Irving Press, namely, Atlantic Advocate, Brunswick Press, Telegraph Journal, Daily Gleaner, Evening Times-Globe, Unipress and University of New Brunswick Press. Employees of these corporations often hold positions in more than one company and letter contents tend to spill over from one company to another. For example, correspondence relating to publication and promotion of Double Exposure is found in both Brunswick Press and Daily Gleaner files. Similarly, correspondence relating to publication of Shaped by This Land is present in correspondence of several Irving Press companies. Another set of interrelated files is that of The Fiddlehead, the University of New Brunswick Department of English and various editors of The Fiddlehead, such as Fred Cogswell and Robert Gibbs.