Manuscript Collection MS COLL 00004 - Al Purdy Papers

Identity area

Reference code

CA OTUTF MS COLL 00004

Title

Al Purdy Papers

Date(s)

  • 1956-1967 (Creation)

Level of description

Manuscript Collection

Extent and medium

5 boxes (1 metre)

Context area

Name of creator

(1918-2000)

Biographical history

Al Purdy was born in Wooler, Ontario in 1918. A Canadian free verse poet and writer, Purdy published his first collection of poetry, The Enchanted Echo, in 1944. After riding the rails to Vancouver during the Depression, serving with the RCAF during WWII and working a wide variety of jobs, he settled in Ameliasburgh, Ontario in 1957. There he built an A-Frame house where he lived with his wife Eurithe Purdy, which quickly became a meeting place for Canadian literary figures. He traveled widely and frequently based his poetry on his travels. He was awarded an Officer of the Order of Canada, and won the Governor General's award for poetry in 1965 for the Cariboo Horses, then again in 1986 for Collected Poems. The most successful of Purdy’s volumes are Poems For All the Annettes (1962), Sex & Death (1973), the Stone Bird (1981), and Pilings Blood (1984). His last book was published posthumously, Beyond Remembering: The Collected Poems of Al Purdy in 2000. Al Purdy died in North Saanich, BC on April 21, 2000.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Gift of Al Purdy, 1967

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Includes 28 tapes of Purdy reading his poetry (Cariboo horses; Pressed on sand). Typescripts and drafts of poems. Typescripts and mimeographs of articles and plays for television and radio).

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://aeon.library.utoronto.ca

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

    Language and script notes

    Physical characteristics and technical requirements

    Finding aids

    Uploaded finding aid

    Allied materials area

    Existence and location of originals

    Existence and location of copies

    Related units of description

    Related descriptions

    Notes area

    Alternative identifier(s)

    Access points

    Subject access points

    Place access points

    Name access points

    Genre access points

    Description control area

    Description identifier

    CA OTUTF MS COLL00004

    Institution identifier

    Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto

    Rules and/or conventions used

    Dates of creation revision deletion

    Language(s)

      Script(s)

        Sources

        Accession area