Browse Items (151 total)

Newspaper clippings related to Charles Merrill's and Hellen Ingram Merrill's divorce. The "broken home" had a profound effect on James Merrill remembering his childhood as a lonely one.

During the October 8 and 10, 1979 séances, Merrill finds out about and communicates with the recently deceased Elizabeth Bishop, an esteemed poet who influenced his own work and a close friend.

Painting of a bust of James Merrill as a child on the rooftop terrace of Athinaion Efivon 44 house in Athens, Greece, by David Jackson.

A photo of Peter Hooten, James Merrill's last partner. Their relationship started in 1983, when Hooten declared his love for Merrill "on Valentine's Eve," in Key West, Florida.

A photograph of Peter Tourville, James Merrill's friend from the early 1960s onward, who was "country-lean from outdoor labor, with a gravelly voice and easy laugh, [and] a stoner's squint[.]" Merrill purchased Tourville a small apple orchard, where…

A portrait of James Merrill as a child from the Mary Boatwright Collection of James Merrill Papers.

Portraits of David Jackson and James Merrill by Larry Rivers, an artist, musician and filmmaker who was an early beneficiary of the Ingram Merrill Foundation.

Program for "The Artists Theater," including "The Bait," a one-act play in which James Merrill incorporates psychoanalysis. Merrill first met David Jackson after a performance.

Program for the "Jimmy Merrill Marionettes" during which he performed "The Magic Fish-bone" in an ambitious production of the Charles Dickens children's story, which Merrill staged at age 11. Puppets always fascinated Merrill, and he created his own…

Richard & Charlee Wilbur, Merrill's Key West neighbors. Richard Wilbur was a fellow Amherst grad and accomplished poet, as well as a longtime friend and supporter of Merrill's work. Charlee Wilbur played matchmaker with Merrill and Peter Hooten.…