The Archives & Special Collections Library at Vassar College will present Elizabeth Bishop’s Postcards, an exhibition of the beloved poet’s extensive postcard correspondence dating from her early life to her final years, from September 18–December 15, 2023.

Spearheaded by Ronald Patkus, Head of Special Collections and College Historian at Vassar, and guest curated by Jonathan Ellis of the University of Sheffield and Susan Rosenbaum of the University of Georgia, the exhibition is composed of 55 postcards drawn from Vassar’s collection of more than 500.

An official opening will be Saturday, Sept 23, 2:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m., in the Library’s Class of ’51 Reading Room, featuring talks by Patkus, Ellis, and Rosenbaum. The free event is open to all. 

“One of the most valuable and heavily used collections in the Archives & Special Collections Library at Vassar College is the Elizabeth Bishop Papers,” said Patkus. “Elizabeth Bishop’s Postcards draws attention to this neglected portion of Bishop’s correspondence as, through Ellis’s and Rosenbaum’s collaborative research, we consider both the literary and visual aspects of the postcards and place them within Bishop’s larger oeuvre.”

Elizabeth Bishop, among the most important and influential American poets of the 20th century and a 1934 Vassar graduate, was a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner. She also served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1949 to 1950.

The exhibition has been financially supported by the Willson Center for Humanities & Arts at the University of Georgia, a Knowledge Exchange Grant from the University of Sheffield, and sponsorship from Vassar’s Archives & Special Collections Library, the Media Studies Program, the English Department, and Women, Feminist, and Queer Studies Program.

Contact: Alison Hendrie, ahendrie1@vassar.edu, (914) 450-3340

About the Libraries

The Vassar College Libraries include the Main Library, the Catherine Pelton Durrell ’25 Archives and Special Collections Library, and the Digital Library, all housed in Thompson Library, the Art Library in Van Ingen Hall, and the George Sherman Dickinson Music Library, located in Skinner Hall. Vassar’s collections include over 1,000,000 volumes and vast online offerings. The libraries fuse these rich collections with expert help, inspiring spaces, and facilities that support a wide range of activities, from quiet study to small group projects and collaborative work.

About Vassar College

Vassar College, based in Poughkeepsie, New York, is a coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college where perspectives cross, ideas intersect, and passion burns bright. Originally founded to provide women an education equal to that once available only to men, Vassar was the first all-women’s college in the nation to become coeducational when it opened its doors to men in 1969. Vassar fosters an intellectual openness and independence in students, who meet each other as equals, and are encouraged to absorb diverse thought and impassioned dialogue that give them the insight and confidence they will need in a complex world where they will make important contributions. Consistently ranked among the top liberal arts colleges in the country, Vassar is renowned for pioneering achievements in education, for its long history of curricular innovation, and for the beauty of its campus.