New School MFA Creative Writing Program Poetry Forum recordings
Abstract
The collection consists of a little over one decade of sound recordings of poetry readings and discussions, titled the Poetry Forum, sponsored by The New School's MFA in Creative Writing Program.
Dates
- 1999-2011
Creator
- New School (New York, N.Y.) (Host institution, Organization)
- New School (New York, N.Y.). Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program (Sponsor, Organization)
Extent
.8 Cubic Feet (67 audio cassettes, 4 DAT tapes, 19 optical discs)
67 1/4 inch Audio Cassette
4 DAT
19 Audio CD
Language of Materials
English
Scope and Contents
The collection predominantly consists of audio cassette and compact disc (CD) sound recordings of poets visiting the Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing Program of The New School. The collection includes a small number of DAT (digital audio tape) recordings. No video recordings are present in the collection.
The overwhelming majority of poetry events are recorded on one audio cassette tape from the earliest recordings in the Spring 1999 semester until the Fall 2009 semester when the recording format switches to compact disc.
The number of recordings represented per semester is inconsistent over the years, although there are never more than six recordings per semester, with the exception of Fall 2010. Additionally, there are no recordings present from the Spring 2002 semester.
The collection does not contain recordings of the Poetry Forum from the earliest years of the MFA in Creative Writing Program; the collection begins with recordings from the Spring 1999 semester. New School Archives staff do not know if the Poetry Forum events from 1996-1998 were recorded and subsequently lost or were never recorded.
Although the MFA in Creative Writing Program continued to host the Poetry Forum into the 2020s, the absence of recordings beyond 2011 is likely indicative of a change in audio recording technologies and formats, as consumers shifted from storing sound and video on removal media, such as tapes and discs, to cloud-based storage or the Internet.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research use. No access copies of the DAT recordings in the collection are currently available. Access to audio cassettes may be available in The New School Archives reading room, depending upon the condition of the cassettes once they are evaluated by Archives staff. Researchers desiring remote access and willing to pay a digitization fee may do so upon consultation with The New School Archives. Please contact archivist@newschool.edu for appointment to listen to audio cassettes and compact discs or for more information about ordering digital files.
Conditions Governing Use
To publish material from this collection, permission must be obtained in writing from the New School Archives and Special Collections. Please contact: archivist@newschool.edu.
Historical note
The New School established a Master's in Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing in 1996, after six decades of offering non-credit writing workshops. The Graduate Writing Program, as it was called in literature produced by The New School, is situated in the Schools of Public Engagement, formerly known as the Adult Division, the "founding" division of the New School for Social Research as it was conceived in 1919. As of 2025, the program offers five concentrations: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, writing for children and young adults, and arts writing.
The Poetry Forum was one of the four literary forum special event series held by The New School Creative Writing MFA program, alongside the Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Writing for Children forums. Forum events were held several times a semester, and featured a single writer presenting a reading, participating in a moderated discussion, and then answering questions from the audience.
While all four programs have been hosted by the Creative Writing Program since its inception in 1996, another event series titled, “Poetry Forum,” was first held at The New School in the Fall 1962 semester, prior to the creation of MFA Writing program. It was not repeated in subsequent years and was not a precursor to the regularly scheduled, ongoing event series initiated in the 1990s by the masters degree program.
Sources:
George Calderado (1996). Fall 1996 Special Programs at The New School [press release]. New School Office of Communications, George Calderaro Records. The New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS030103_000075>
The New School (1962). New School Bulletin Vol. 20, No. 08 [bulletin]. New School Bulletin Collection. The New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS030102_bull2008>
The New School (1997). New School Bulletin 1997 Fall Vol. 55 No. 1 [catalog]. New School Course Catalog Collection. The New School Archives and Special Collections. /digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS050101_ns1997fa>
The New School (2021). “ONLINE | Poetry Forum: Anne Waldman”. newschool.edu. Accessed September 25, 2024. /event.newschool.edu/anne-waldman>
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The staff of The New School Archives and Special Collections initially assembled this collection from a larger set of legacy recordings transferred from The New School's Raymond Fogelman Library following the establishment of The New School Archives, circa 2012. These recordings spanned 1999-2003. Staff added recordings up to 2011 with the accession of recordings directly from the Creative Writing Program in 2024.
Processing Information
New School Archives staff based all description in this finding aid on course catalog and press release text and audio cassette and compact disc container inscriptions. Staff did not listen to the tapes or CDs to verify content.
- American poetry -- 20th century (Subject) (Temporal) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- American poetry -- 21st century (Subject) (Temporal) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Audiocassettes (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Compact discs (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Poets (Occupation) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Sound recordings (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Title
- Guide to the New School MFA Creative Writing Program Poetry Forum recordings
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Jason Adamo and Jenny Swadosh
- Date
- May 16, 2025
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin