Identity elements
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Joseph Auslander and Audrey Wurdemann papers
Date(s)
- 1916-1957 (Creation)
Extent
7 Boxes
Name of creator
Biographical history
Joseph Auslander was born on October 11, 1897 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A graduate of Harvard College, He was a poet, anthologist, translator of poems, editor, and novelist. Auslander was appointed as the first Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, from 1937 to 1941. Auslander was noted for his war poems, and his best-known work is "The Unconquerables" (1943), a collection of poems addressed to the German-occupied countries of Europe.
Audrey Wurdemann was born January 1, 1911 in Seattle, Washington. Wurdemann was the youngest winner of the Pulitzer Price for Poetry at the age of 24, for her collection Bright Ambush. She married Joseph Auslander in 1932. Wurdemann and Auslander collaborated on the novels My Uncle Jan and The Islanders.
They spent their last years living in Coral Gables, Florida. Wurdemann died on May 20, 1960 and Auslander died on June 22, 1965.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
The Joseph Auslander and Audrey Wurdemann Collection consists predominantly of correspondence, programs, and scripts relating to their involvement with the CBS radio program Housewives' Protective League. The Housewives' Protectice League, airing from 1948 to 1962, was a daily CBS radio feature which explored a variety of issues from childrearing and health to fidelity and marriage troubles. The letters are either from publishers confirming the Auslander's permission to review or discuss their books on air, or from CBS executives discussing their scripts. Included also are several scripts not by Auslander or Wurdemann, and an untitled typescript. Finally, the collection contains a leasing agreement from the Auslanders for a house in New York City. several periodicals, 15 research notebooks, and 28 photographs (with French inscriptions) depicting trench warfare in Belgium during World War I.
System of arrangement
Collection is organized into three series: I. Correspondence, II. Radio Programs and Scripts, and III. General Files.
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
This collection is open for research.
Physical access
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Joseph Auslander and Audrey Wurdemann Papers Finding Aid © 2009 University of Miami. All rights reserved. Requests to reproduce or publish materials from this collection should be directed to asc.library@miami.edu.
Languages of the material
- English
- French
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Generated finding aid
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
See also the following book held in Special Collections:
Auslander, Joseph and Audrey Wurdemann. The Islanders. New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1951.
Spec Coll Florida PS3501 .U67 18 1951
Information about related materials is available at http://ibisweb.miami.edu/record=b1766818~S11
Related descriptions
Notes element
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- CBS Radio Network (Subject)
- Housewives' Protective League (Subject)
- Auslander, Joseph, 1897-1965 (Subject)
- Malone, Ted, 1908-1989 (Subject)
- Wurdemann, Audrey, 1911-1960 (Subject)