Call Number: MSS 74

Title: Kenneth McRobbie fonds.

Dates: 3.75 m of textual records.

Biographical sketch: Born in London, England in 1929, McRobbie attended Liverpool University where he won the Felicia Hermans medal for Poetry in 1952. In 1954 he immigrated to Canada moving initially to Toronto, then to Winnipeg and, lastly, to Vancouver. McRobbie's poetry has appeared in Canadian and American magazines and been aired on CBC radio. Among his earlier publications, Jupiter C-4: Poems For the Missile Age (1958) and Eyes Without a Face (1960) were very well received. He later became involved in writing on the Canadian environment which he considered his more serious work. He was co-director of a private publishing house and a Toronto poetry readings centre for poets from Canada and the United States. McRobbie was fouding editor of the literary journal Mosaic while at the University of Manitoba. He retired from the University as a professor of History in 1991. After his move to Vancouver he taught history on a part-time basis. He has a long standing interest in Hungarian literature and has published books of Hungarian translation including The Plough and the Pen: Writings from Hungary (1930-1956) (1963), The Penguin Book of Modern Verse Translation (1966), Anthology of Modern Hungarian Poetry (1977), and Under the Sign of Gemini: Prose and Poetry of Miklos Radnoti (1977).

Custodial history: Donated by Prof. McRobbie in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 & 2008.

Scope and content: The collection consists of the following: a significant amount of poems in draft form from 1950 onward; reviews from papers and magazines; radio scripts; manuscripts of plays; a manuscript of a novel, Willing the Good in Budapest; correspondence, papers, and lecture outlines; articles; reviews by McRobbie of other literary works; correspondence (personal and business) including letters to and from Charles Olson; and work sheets, drafts and related materials on the translation of Hungarian prose and verse.

Accruals: Nine further accruals have been received since the first accrual in 1991. These include: A.93-05, A.95-14, A.96-50, A.97-17, A.98-18, A.99-29, A.00-18, A.01-58 and A.08-69. Further accruals are expected.

Preliminary inventories are available for accruals received after 1991.

Finding aid available for the 1991 and 2008 accession.