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The papers of British and American poet, historian, editor, literary critic, and novelist
Robert Conquest consist of research material, notes, book proposals, handwritten and
typescript drafts, proofs, reviews, letters to editors, personal and professional
correspondence, reports, lectures, clippings, photographs, and family papers primarily
documenting Conquest's careers as a poet and historian as well as his personal life.
The
papers are arranged in five series: I. Works, 1925-2020; II. Correspondence, 1921-2015,
undated; III. Professional and Career-Related Material, 1951-2018; IV. Personal and
Family
Papers, 1857-2019; and V. Works by Others, 1934-2014. |
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The arrangement of materials within folders retains the organization of the papers
made by
Conquest, his wife Elizabeth Conquest, and assistant(s), and their file labels are
indicated
in the container list by single quotation marks. Paperclips, binder clips, and rusty
staples
on groupings of papers were removed during processing by Ransom Center staff, but
these
groupings are maintained using paper sleeves. Many papers, especially early poetry
manuscripts, were folded or crumpled; during processing these were flattened, and
fragile or
torn pages were placed in mylar sleeves. |
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Series I. Works forms the bulk of the papers and consists of 91
document boxes, one oversize box, two notecard boxes, and twelve galley files of book
proposals, research material, notes, handwritten and typescript drafts, proofs,
correspondence, reviews, and other materials relating mostly to Conquest's published
and
unpublished poetry and historical works, but also to his novels, plays, science fiction
stories, essays, articles, book reviews, lectures, and other writings. The works are
arranged in six subseries: A. Nonfiction Books, 1958-2016, undated; B. Novels, 1925-1968,
undated; C. Plays, 1960, undated; D. Poetry and Limericks, 1931-2020; E. Science Fiction,
1938-1979, undated; and F. Short Works, 1954-2007. Short works include articles, essays,
book reviews, contributions to works by other authors, letters to editors, and talks
and
lectures. |
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Works represented within each of the subseries are generally in alphabetical order
by
published title, although poetry is grouped by collections, individual poems, and
limericks.
For unpublished, unfinished, or incomplete works, the title listed is taken directly
from
any title that appears on a draft; if no drafts of that work have a title, then the
title
listed is taken from any label written on the file folder and is enclosed in single
quotation marks. Conquest often marked draft pages with the initials of the work's
title;
for example, Spring Interior manuscript pages are marked with 'S.I.' Manuscript pages
for
nonfiction books frequently have initials indicating the chapter or section of the
book. |
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While some files of correspondence relating to a work are located with those works,
most
letters documenting the writing and publication process are found in Conquest's
correspondence files in Series II. Conquest's activity reports for the Hoover Institution,
located in Series III, also provide information about his writing projects. |
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Subseries A. Nonfiction Books is comprised principally of works on Soviet history,
politics, and foreign policy but also includes published and unpublished works of
literary
criticism and other writings. |
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Conquest's first book of political history documenting abuses of totalitarianism,
The Soviet Deportation of Nationalities (1960), is represented by
a revised typescript and reviews. Also present is a copy of the published book that
Conquest
disassembled and used to revise the work as The Nation Killers: The
Soviet Deportation of Nationalities (1970) by heavily editing pages and inserting
new typescript pages. Research pages and reviews of the 1970 work are also present.
Power and Policy in the U.S.S.R.: The Study of Soviet Dynastics
(1961), a book of historical Kremlinology that examined the power struggle behind
the scenes
in the Kremlin, is represented by typescripts and heavily corrected proofs. Materials
relating to Inside Stalin's Secret Police: NKVD Politics,
1936-1939 (1985) include index cards of research notes on individuals and the
"original manuscript." Conquest's biography of Vladimir Lenin, V. I.
Lenin (1972), is represented by research material, notes and draft fragments, a
revised typescript, Conquest's notes on its editing, and reviews. Among materials
relating
to Reflections on a Ravaged Century (1999), a collection of
essays on the rise and impact of totalitarian ideologies in the twentieth century,
are an
incomplete typescript, correspondence, and reviews. Additional manuscripts for individual
essays in that work and other collections may be found in Subseries F, because many
were
previously published in periodicals. |
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Conquest's seminal work, The Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the
Thirties (1968), and its update as The Great Terror: A
Reassessment (1990) are well-documented in the papers. His original book proposal,
research notes, and drafts for the first edition fill ten document boxes. The materials
reflect Conquest's writing process: after compiling his citations and research notes,
he
then expanded his text around them so that they are incorporated into the drafts.
As a
result, there are many fragments of notes and draft pages in addition to numerous
drafts of
chapters and sections. A setting copy and multiple sets of galley proofs and page
proofs for
the 1968 edition are also present. Reviews and articles about The
Great Terror and its later editions date from 1968 to 2016. Twenty-five boxes
contain Conquest's files of research materials for editions of The
Great Terror: A Reassessment, and there are also notes, drafts, a setting copy,
and corrected page proofs for the Reassessment. Whole issues
of Neva dating from 1989-1990 contain the serialization of
the Russian translation of The Great Terror. A typescript of
Conquest's afterword for the Russian serialization is present, as is a typescript
of his
introduction to a Bulgarian edition. |
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The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the
Terror-Famine (1986), a book about dekulakization, the collectivization of
agriculture, and the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine, is represented by research material,
notes
and draft fragments, a book proposal, printed excerpts of the Russian translation,
typescripts of introductions to various foreign language editions, and reviews and
articles.
A folder titled "Correspondence - (Wheatcroft) - Famine Figures" contains correspondence,
letters to editors, responses to reviews, and other materials related to Conquest's
scholarly debate with Stephen Wheatcroft, J. Arch Getty, and other historians about
famine
and other statistics. Additional correspondence and letters to editors debating Soviet
figures can be found with Conquest's letters to editors in Subseries F, his correspondence
files in Series II, and in printouts of Conquest's computer files in Series III. Conquest
also provided congressional testimony about the famine, and typescripts and transcripts
of
his testimony are located in Series III. |
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Other nonfiction books represented in the papers include several works of literary
criticism and proposed works about the United States, the Anglosphere, and historical
research. A published book of literary criticism, The Abomination of
Moab (1979) contained essays, reviews, and poetry; draft fragments, mainly of
poems, are present. Unpublished collections of literary criticism include an untitled
work
written while "on active service during World War II," a proposed work titled The
Art of the
Enemy dating from the early 1960s, and a collection of essays on poetry titled The
Science
of Poetry, also written around 1960. Similar essays of criticism and thoughts on literature
and poetry can be found in Subseries F, including fragments in a folder titled "Odd
Critical
Bits," and in Subseries D as drafts of Conquest's introductions to the New Lines anthologies. A planned "U.S. Book" of essays reflecting
on Conquest's experiences and observations after moving to the United States in 1959
also
included essays on the American Civil War and on anti-Americanism, while another proposed
book focused on the Civil War. Drafts for a book project on the Anglosphere proposing
a
Western confederation of English-speaking peoples date from 1983. A collection of
essays
about historical research was to be titled History: How and Why; a 1990 draft of the
title
essay is present, while other essays meant to be included are filed with individual
essays
in Subseries F. |
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Subseries B. Novels includes the published novel The
Egyptologists (1965), co-written with Kingsley Amis, as well as an unpublished
sequel titled Peach Key and other unpublished works by Conquest. Revised typescript
drafts
and reviews of The Egyptologists are present, as are draft
fragments of the unfinished and unpublished works. Material relating to Conquest's
science
fiction novel, A World of Difference: A Modern Novel of Science and
Imagination (1955), is located with his other works of science fiction in
Subseries E. |
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Subseries C. Plays consists only of two works. The Death of Dimitrov, which dates
from
around 1960, was a short dramatic verse that was also included in a proposed collection
of
poetry titled Trajectory and is represented by notes and drafts. Revised typescripts
of an
undated play titled Never Mind the Nightingale are also present. |
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Subseries D. Poetry and Limericks is comprised primarily of drafts, notes, proofs,
printed
texts, and reviews representing Conquest's published and unpublished collections of
poetry
along with additional individual poems, all dating from 1931-2020. These are grouped
by
collections, individual poems, and limericks. |
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Drafts of poems are sometimes dated, and a few are annotated with the periodical and
year
in which the manuscript was accepted or published. Many of the manuscripts appear
to have
been sorted at a later date than their publication, some possibly after Conquest's
death.
Manuscripts of individual poems are usually filed with drafts for the poetry collections
in
which they were published, regardless of the date of the manuscript, as are clippings
of
poems previously published in periodicals. In keeping with that arrangement, during
processing drafts of poems in a folder of unsorted poetry manuscripts were placed
at the end
of drafts for the collections in which they were published, with their provenance
noted on
their folders. Book drafts of collections sometimes include poems that were not part
of the
final published text. Some poems were published in more than one book, so the drafts
of
those may be located with the drafts for one or more collections. For example, many
poems
published in Demons Don't (1999) were also included in Penultimata (2009), and folders containing drafts of those poems
may be filed under either collection, in some cases erroneously according to their
dates. |
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Among the drafts of individual poems are numerous manuscripts dating from the 1930s,
some
in notebooks. Many of Conquest's early poems were sonnets, and they are scattered
throughout
the poetry notebooks, individual drafts (sometimes as titled sequences), and an unpublished
early poetry collection that preceded his first published collection, Poems. A few of these early works were included in Conquest's science fiction
novel, A World of Difference (1955), and some are early
versions of poems that were later published in Arias from a Love
Opera and Other Poems (1969) and elsewhere. Conquest frequently retitled or
reconfigured poems, sometimes separating a longer work into shorter poems or combining
multiple poems into a single long poem. |
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Manuscripts of Conquest's limericks, including a collection titled A
Garden of Erses (2010), are grouped together. Because Conquest often shared
"bawdy" light verse and limericks with his friends, they can also be found in his
files of
correspondence with John Blakeway, Philip Larkin, Anthony Powell, and others. |
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Of note among Conquest's poetry manuscripts are an unpublished early poetry collection
dating from 1937 and early versions of his first published collection, Poems (1955). Early drafts of "For the
Death of a Poet", Conquest's prize-winning war poem about poet Drummond Allison,
are also present. In 1956, Conquest edited New Lines, an
anthology of poetry by himself and eight other British poets (Kingsley Amis, Donald
Davie,
D. J. Enright, Thom Gunn, Elizabeth Jennings, John Holloway, Philip Larkin, and John
Wain)
who came to be loosely grouped as "The Movement." Drafts of Conquest's introduction
to
New Lines, proofs, and reviews are located with Conquest's
other poetry manuscripts, but correspondence documenting the anthology's publication
is
found in his files of correspondence with those poets in Series III. Also notable
is a
revised transcript of a 1965 radio program, The Living Poet: Robert
Conquest, in which Conquest read and discussed poems from Poems (1955) and Between Mars and Venus
(1962). |
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Additional manuscripts of Conquest's poems are scattered throughout the papers, especially
in his correspondence. Conquest also included poetry in his published books The Abomination of Moab (1979) and A World
of Difference (1955), and in the unpublished "U.S.
Book". |
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Subseries E. Science Fiction contains notes, drafts, and draft fragments for Conquest's
published novel A World of Difference: A Modern Novel of Science and
Imagination (1955); an unpublished novel titled The Martians; published short
stories "The Veteran" (1965), "A Long Way to Go" (1965), and "No Planet Like
Home" (1970); and unpublished short stories. In addition, a setting copy, layout
pages, corrected bound proofs, insertions and corrections, reviews, and advertisements
for
A World of Difference are present. However, materials
relating to the five Spectrum anthologies that Conquest
edited with Kingsley Amis from 1961 to 1966 are absent, apart from review clippings
for the
fourth volume. Manuscripts of poems related to science fiction, including Conquest's
published poems "For the 1956 Opposition of Mars", "Far Out", and "The Golden
Age", are located with drafts for The Abomination of
Moab (1979) in Subseries A and with drafts of individual poetry in Subseries D.
Drafts of an essay for Critical Quarterly on "Science Fiction and Literature" and a review of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1979) are filed with
Conquest's short works in Subseries F, although a fragment of his introduction to
Hal
Clement's Mission of Gravity is located with Conquest's other
science fiction works in Subseries E. |
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Subseries F. Short Works is comprised of Conquest's articles and essays; book reviews
and
blurbs; contributions to books edited or written by others; letters to editors; and
talks
and lectures. Because Conquest included some of these in his books, there is overlap
with
the manuscripts in Series A. Many of the articles and essays relate to foreign policy,
current events, the Soviet Union, and the Anglosphere, or a proposed union of
English-speaking peoples. In the "Saturday Column" that he wrote for the Daily Telegraph in the 1970s and 1980s, Conquest discussed
wide-ranging topics, such as political events, social trends, and anti-Americanism.
Among
letters to editors are Conquest's responses to reviews of The Harvest
of Sorrow and other works as well as his arguments over Soviet statistics and
interpretations of Stalin's role in state terror with Sheila Fitzpatrick, J. Arch
Getty,
Gabor Rittersporn, Stephen Wheatcroft, and other historians referred to as "the
revisionists." |
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Series II. Correspondence includes both personal and
professional correspondence and is primarily but not limited to incoming letters received
by
Conquest from the age of four until his death at age 98. Among the numerous correspondents
are his mother, friends, literary figures, publishers, and historians. |
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Correspondence files are in two groups, chronological by year and alphabetical by
correspondent. Although chronological files tend to be professional correspondence,
while
alphabetical files are usually more personal or literary-related, professional and
personal
letters can be found in both groupings. |
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The chronological correspondence files are sorted by year from 1960 to 2013 and include
both incoming and outgoing letters. Of note are publication correspondence, requests
for and
blurbs or comments on books by other authors, and correspondence about Pavel Sudoplatov's
memoir Special Tasks and atomic spy rings. Letters from
Jennifer Law Young trace her documentary project about the Soviet gulag, Stolen Years (1999). Correspondence with Conquest's literary
agent, Anthea Morton-Saner of Curtis Brown Ltd., is present, as are many letters from
Anne
Applebaum, Arnold Beichman, Vladimir Bukovsky, Stephen Chicoine, Stephen F. Cohen,
Vitaly
Korotich, Arnold Kramish, Stephen Alfred Schwartz, and Robert C. Tucker. |
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The alphabetical correspondence files are arranged by correspondent. Within the files,
postcards, greeting cards, and letters from the correspondent are separated and in
rough
chronological order, followed by any postcards and letters from Conquest to that person
and
then any clippings, memorial service bulletins, or other ephemera relating to the
person.
Sometimes letters from a surviving spouse or relative also are present, so file dates
can
extend beyond the subject's death. Labels on the folders are in Elizabeth Conquest's
hand. A
few letters have explanatory annotations by Robert Conquest. |
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In their letters, Conquest and friends such as Kingsley Amis, John Blakeway, D. J.
Enright,
Gavin Ewart, Thom Gunn, Philip Larkin, Anthony Powell, Vernon Scannell, and Julian
Symons
freely discussed their personal lives, their work, other authors, critics, social
gossip,
and political events. Among the many other literary figures represented are Martin
Amis,
Wendy Cope, Donald Davie, Selina Hastings, Elizabeth Jennings, Carolyn Kizer, Ian
McEwan,
Violet Powell, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Stephen Spender, and John Wain. In a letter
to
William Van O'Connor, Conquest recounted the ways he first met the other Movement
poets
included in his New Lines anthology. Contact with Donald
Davie, D. J. Enright, Philip Larkin, and John Holloway began in 1955 with Conquest's
letters
requesting contributions to the anthology. Those initial letters and their subsequent
correspondence are present. |
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Conquest's correspondence with his mother, Rosamund Acworth Conquest, dates from 1921
to
1972 and includes postcards from Conquest's travel in Germany, Italy, Albania, and
other
countries in the late 1930s. Among other early correspondents are Conquest's friends
John
Blakeway, Maurice Langlois, and Julian Symons. Conquest's poetry was first published
in
Symons's Twentieth Century Verse, and Symons's letters
included critiques of Conquest's poems from 1938 to his last letter just before his
death in
1994. |
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The Index of Correspondents at the end of this finding aid contains box and folder
locations for the correspondence in the collection. |
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Series III. Professional and Career-Related Material consists
mostly of articles, interviews, and other clippings about Conquest and his work; awards
and
honors; materials from conferences and seminars; materials related to Conquest's work
at the
Hoover Institution; policy briefs; and testimony for congressional hearings, along
with
various other files. Of note are chronological lists and printouts of Conquest's computer
files (''Documents''); many of these are the final drafts of book reviews, letters
to
editors, and other short works by Conquest. The activity reports that Conquest submitted
to
the Hoover Institution from 1982 to 2000 document his writing projects, lectures,
conference
attendance, interviews, and other activities. Conquest advised both Margaret Thatcher
and
Ronald Reagan on Cold War policy, and he also wrote drafts for Thatcher's speeches,
including her "Britain Awake" ("Iron Lady") speech. While many manuscripts of Conquest's policy briefs (some in
the form of speech drafts) and letters to Thatcher are filed together, others are
scattered
among his computer printouts. Although Conquest served as an editor of both The Spectator (1962-1963) and Soviet
Analyst (1971-1973), those roles are not reflected in the papers. |
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Series IV. Personal and Family Papers include maternal (Acworth)
family photograph albums dating from the nineteenth century, Conquest's father's estate
documents, materials from the Anthony Powell Society, and other items. One folder
contains
papers for Conquest's basset hound, Bluebell. Conquest wrote about his dog in poems,
his
Saturday Column, correspondence with friends, and his unpublished novel The Tit Man. |
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Series V. Works by Others is comprised mostly of manuscripts,
proofs, and chapbooks by authors such as Kingsley Amis, Gavin Ewart, Vernon Scannell,
and
Julian Symons. Artwork by Paul Johnson, Maurice Langlois, and Patrick Leigh Fermor
is also
present. Some of these works are filed at the end of correspondence from that individual.
Although chapbooks remain with the papers, full-length books by other authors have
been
removed from the Papers and are housed separately. |
