Ellen Aug Lytle Papers
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Abstract
Ellen "Windy" Aug Lytle (born 1941, Long Island, NY) is a poet, fiction writer, journalist, and painter. She is known for leading young adult writing workshops at the New York Public Library and introducing students to poetry and expressive writing at various institutions including the Frederick Douglass Literacy Center in Brooklyn and the Hebrew Hospital Home in the Bronx. This collection consists primarily of Lytle's journals and calendars, which document her daily life; and issues of the various publications that featured her writing including poetry, essays, and columns about issues as diverse as the Downtown poetry scene and pet care. This collection also includes essay drafts, poetry event brochures, and slides and negatives from her 1993 book party celebrating the publication of VTC Players, an anthology of the works of her students in her Vocational Training Center (VTC) classroom at Hebrew Hospital Home. The materials in the collection span from 1977-2014.
Biographical note
Ellen "Windy" Aug Lytle (born 1941, Long Island, NY) is a poet, fiction writer, journalist, and painter. She is known for leading young adult writing workshops at the New York Public Library and introducing students to poetry and expressive writing at various institutions including the Frederick Douglass Literacy Center in Brooklyn and the Hebrew Hospital Home in the Bronx. Over her career, she also contributed her poetry, short stories, and op-ed pieces to many New York City publications such as City Beat, Downtown, and Poets and Writers.
Arrangement
This collection has not been arranged by an archivist.
Scope and Contents
The Ellen Aug Lytle Papers document the personal and professional life of Ellen Aug Lytle and span from 1977-2014. The materials included document her career as a poet, fiction writer, journalist, and educator. The collection consists of Lytle's journals and calendars, which document her daily life; and, issues of the various publications featuring her writing including poetry, essays, and columns about issues as diverse as the Downtown poetry scene and pet care. This collection also includes essay drafts, poetry event brochures, and slides and negatives from her 1993 book party celebrating the publication of VTC Players, an anthology of the works of her students in her Vocational Training Center (VTC) classroom at Hebrew Hospital Home.
Lytle's journals, which date from 1977 to 2011, are filled with entries she wrote about her activities, personal life and relationships, career, and her reflections on current events. Many journals also include drafts of poems and doodles. Her calendars, which date from 2001 to 2011, list events that she attended over the course of her life and career.
Over the course of her career, Lytle published poems, essays, articles, and fiction in a variety of newspapers, journals, magazines, and zines. The publications included in this collection include her regular columns such as "Writing Around Town" in Downtown newspaper and "Best Friends" in The Pet House magazine as well as a number of other newspapers, magazines, and journals where Lytle published work. These publications include Signs of Intelligent Life, Poets and Writers, Home Planet News, Salonika, Tamarind, and What Happens Next?. Most of Lytle's published work in this collection is about writers and other artists operating in New York City and arts-related current events.
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, special.collections@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Ellen Aug Lytle Papers; MSS 424; box number; folder number or item identifier; Fales Library and Special Collections; New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Ron Kolm facilitated the donation of these materials in 2015 but no donor agreement was signed at that time. The accession number associated with that gift is 2015-424. Ellen Aug Lytle signed a donor agreement in 2021.
About this Guide
Processing Information
A graduate student in the Fall 2019 session of Advanced Archival Description HIST-GA.2031 surveyed and wrote a processing plan for this collection. This collection was described by an archivist in the summer of 2021. Materials were placed in new acid-free folders and boxes. Some newspapers were humidified, flattened, and stored in oversize flat boxes.
