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James Merrill and David Jackson at Ouija board in Stonington. The photo was taken by Harry Pemberton, who took a roll of the mediums in action.

James Merrill and David Jackson's second séance (and the first that Merrill transcribed and preserved), in which they reached the spirit of "Kabel Barnes," a colonial farmer.

James Merrill and Kimon Friar, Merrill's Amherst teacher and lover. "Short, wiry, and dark, he was a high-minded, charismatic man of letters and an unabashed self-promoter."

Merrill discusses his relationship with the Modern Literature Collection and Mona Van Duyn at Washington University's Simon Hall in 1994.

James Merrill as a baby with his parents, Charles and Hellen. After three weeks in the hospital, Hellen recorded James's weight weekly, through December.

James Merrill as a boy on a slide. "As a child, Jimmy was always attended by someone...So it's striking that, as an adult, he remembered his childhood as painfully lonely...the loneliness of a young mind engaged with private thoughts of mortality,…

James Merrill as a cadet. Merrill was designated for "limited service only" because of poor eyesight.

James Merrill reads "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop and his own poem dedicated to Bishop, "Developers at Crystal River" on April 11, 1980 at the Poetry Center and American Poetry Archives, San Francisco