]
]
This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
Expand/collapse
Collection Overview
| Size | 63.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 34,000 items) |
| Abstract | Jeffery Scott Beam is a white North Carolina poet. The collection includes papers, correspondence, poetry notebooks, publications, event programs and recordings, and other related materials of Jeffery Beam. Correspondence documents his role as an active member in the literary and gay communities. Also included are drafts and publication materials for his published books and files pertaining to his unpublished collections of poetry. There is also correspondence with poets Jonathan Williams, Thomas Meyer, James Broughton, Damon Sauve, editor of Oyster Boy Review, and others. |
| Creator | Beam, Jeffery, 1953- |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
| Language | English. |
Expand/collapse
Information For Users
Expand/collapse
Processing Information
Processed by: Library Staff, 1998-2005; Meaghan Alston, Jessica Venlet, and Nancy Kaiser, November 2021-May 2022
Encoded by: Jackie Dean
Updated by: Laura Hart, March 2021; Nancy Kaiser, June 2021; Laura Smith, June 2023
Diacritics and other special characters have been omitted from this finding aid to facilitate keyword searching in web browsers.
Since August 2017, we have added ethnic identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine ethnic identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for ethnicity to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@email.unc.edu.
Back to Top
Expand/collapse
Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
Expand/collapse
Related Collections
Expand/collapse
Biographical Information
Jeffery Beam's lyrical, metaphysical work fuses the physical and spiritual worlds, creating a conversation between the natural world, the body, and the spirit. Beam is a white author of nine books of poems, The Golden Legend (Floating Island, 1981), Two Preludes for the Beautiful (Universal, 1981, limited edition), Midwinter Fires (French Broad, 1990, nominated for a 1991-1992 Pushcart Prize), The Fountain (North Carolina Wesleyan College Press, 1992, nominated as a Notable Book by the American Library Association), Visions of Dame Kind (The Jargon Society, 1995), Submergences (Off the Cuff Books, 1997, nominated for an American Library Association Gay/Lesbian Book Award), little (diminishing books, Green Finch Press, 1997), Light & Shadow: The Photographs of Claire Yaffa (Aperture Books, 1997), and An Elizabethan Bestiary: Retold (Horse & Buggy Press, 1999, awarded an 2000 IPPY Award as one of the Ten Best Books of the Year--with a special notation for Best Book Arts Craftsmanship from Independent Publisher magazine, awarded one of the 50 Books 2000 Awards from the American Institute for the Graphic Arts).
Two recently completed volumes seek publishers: "The Beautiful Tendons: Uncollected Queer Poems, 1977-2000," and "The Broken Flower." He is currently at work on a enhanced compact disk of new and selected poems entitled "What We Have Lost," the libretto for an opera on the myth of Demeter and Persephone, a poem sequence "The Seven Deadly Sins and Seven Virtues," "They Say: A Commonplace Book on Poetry and the Spirit," and a manuscript "The Life of the Bee." The distinguished composer Lee Hoiby has recently accepted a commission to set five of the "Life of the Bee" poems to music. This work will premier in late spring 2002 at the opening celebrations of the new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Institute for the Arts and Humanities building.
Beam has published widely in small magazines and anthologies, including Word and Witness: 100 Years of North Carolina Poetry, The Son of the Male Muse, Earth and Soul: A Russion/English Anthology of North Carolina Poetry, The Asheville Poetry Review, Brightleaf A Southern Review of Books, North Carolina Literary Review, Pembroke Magazine, Sparks of fire: Blake in a New Age, The Double Dealer Redux, Cardinal, The Carolina Quarterly, The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review, modern words, Evergreen Chronicles, Oyster Boy Review, The James White Review, Gay Roots: 20 Years of Gay Sunshine, The Worcester Review, Dreamworks, Black Men/White Men, Kiss of the Whip, and Yellow Silk (first ten year anthology). In 1998, his short poems were subject of a special issue of Hummingbird: The Magazine of the Short Poem. In late 2000, his work will be featured in Charlotte, North Carolina's Main Street Rag. His book reviews and criticism have appeared in The Advocate, Smithsonian, The Front Page, Garden Design, The North Carolina Literary Review, The American Book Review, The Christian Science Monitor, Lambda Book Report, The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review, The Independent Weekly, Small Press Review, Yellow Silk, and loblolly.
Beam has been a judge in the Poetry Division of the Lambda Book Awards for ten years, and, in 1996, served as preliminary judge in The Independent Weekly's annual poetry contest. In the spring 1996, he began teaching workshops, among them "The Dog of Art in the Garden of Toads," and "Fossil Poetry: Seeing the Word, Hearing the World," sponsored by the North Carolina Writers Network. With grants and other support from the Durham and Orange County Arts Council, the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, the Duke Museum of Art, the North Carolina Zoological Park, and private contributions, the publication of An Elizabethan Bestiary: Retold included exhibitions at DUMA, the North Carolina Zoological Park, and readings and interactive presentations across North Carolina during 1999. The Duke University student newspaper, The Chronicle, chose the Bestiary exhibit as the best exhibit on campus during the academic year 1998-1999. Beam was recently interviewed for the Duke Triangle Rainbow Oral History Project.
Beam is the recipient of a 1991 Orange County Emerging Artist Grant from the Durham Arts Council, a 1998-1999 Grant from the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, and a 2000 Office of the Provost Public Service Award from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for Public Service. In 2000, he served as one of ten notable Parade Masters for the North Carolina Gay Pride Parade. He and his poetry are the subject of North Carolina filmmaker Tom Whiteside's experimental film, PoemBeam. The author, born and raised in Kannapolis, N.C., earned his Bachelor of Creative Arts from University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1975. At UNCC, he served as first poetry editor, then editor of the arts magazine Sanskrit.
Poetry editor of Oyster Boy Review (www.oysterboyreview.com), and an occasional contributor to Lambda Book Review, Beam is also known for readings that bring together music, poetry, and theater. Beam oftentimes sings his own poems as well as the poetry of others, incorporating Afro-American and Bluegrass gospel, show tunes, and folk songs into his performances. 2000 marks the eighth year he will perform "Winter Stories for Children of All Ages" at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives in Hillsborough, N.C., and works as the assistant to the biology librarian in the Botany Library at the UNC-Chapel Hill.
(Biographical note supplied by Jeffery Beam, February 2001.)
Back to Top
Expand/collapse
Scope and Content
The collection includes papers, correspondence, poetry notebooks, publications, event programs and recordings, and other related materials of white writer Jeffery Beam. Correspondence documents his role as an active member in the literary and gay communities. Also included are drafts and publication materials for his published books and files pertaining to his unpublished collections of poetry. There is also correspondence with poets Jonathan Williams, Thomas Meyer, James Broughton, and Damon Sauve, editor of Oyster Boy Review.
NOTE: box 33 of correspondence is CLOSED to researchers until 2075; correspondence with Tom Ray and Damon Sauve is CLOSED until 2048; and box 61 is CLOSED until 50 years after the death of Jeffery Beam. Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.
Back to Top
Expand/collapse
Series Quick Links
Expand/collapse
Series 1. Processed Materials.
Expand/collapse
Subseries 1.1 Correspondence
Expand/collapse
Subseries 1.2 Project Files.
Expand/collapse
Subseries 1.3 Poems, Poetry Notebooks, and Diaries.
Expand/collapse
Subseries 1.4 Writings: Manuscripts and Related Materials.
Expand/collapse
Subseries 1.5 Publications.
Expand/collapse
Subseries 1.6 Other Papers.
Awards 1970-1978 |
|
High School Diploma 1971 |
|
Scrapbook 1981-1982 |
|
Printed Matter |
|
| Box 32 |
Printed Matter |
| Box 33 |
RESTRICTED CORRESPONDENCERESTRICTED |
Expand/collapse
Subseries 1.7 Pictures.
Expand/collapse
Subseries 1.8 Audiocassette Tapes.
Expand/collapse
Subseries 1.9 Videotapes.
| Videotape VT-4888/1 |
Jeffery Beam reading his poems at Bread and Board Cafe, Durham, N.C., 6 November 1989 |
| Videotape VT-4888/2 |
POEMBEAM, camera rolls May 1990 |
| Videotape VT-4888/3 |
Garden at Golgonooza, 1991 |
| Videotape VT-4888/4 |
Confetti reading filmed at Maple View Farm, Orange County, N. C., August 1993 |
| Videotape VT-4888/5 |
Raw footage, Confetti reading, August 1993 |
| Videotape VT-4888/6 |
Friday Noon Poets, Chapel Hill Cable, July 1995 |
| Videotape VT-4888/7 |
Friday Noon Poets, Chapel Hill Cable, 5 February 1997 |
| Videotape VT-4888/8 |
Jeffery Beam Reading, undated |
| Videotape VT-4888/9 |
3 Poems by Jeffery Beam, Friday Noon Poets, The Art of Self Discovery, Two half hour interviews and two poems, undated |
Expand/collapse
Unprocessed Addition of June 1998
Acquisitions Information: Accession 98146
RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.
Files relating to writers, events, and other items. Also included is a gardening notebook and a few computer floppy disks.
| Box 34 |
Unprocessed Addition of June 1998RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials. |
Expand/collapse
Unprocessed Addition of October 1998
Acquisitions Information: Accession 98209
RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.
Files relating to The Broken Flower and other files. Included is a videotape marked "Friday Noon Poets, May 1998."
| Box 35 |
Unprocessed Addition of October 1998RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials. |
Expand/collapse
Unprocessed Addition of June 1999
Acquisitions Information: Accession 98397
RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.
Computer zip disks containing files relating to An Elizabethan Bestiary .
| Box 35 |
Unprocessed Addition of June 1999RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials. |
Expand/collapse
Unprocessed Addition of September 1999
Acquisitions Information: Accession 98458
RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.
Files relating to An Elizabethan Bestiary and other files.
Box 35-36
Box 35Box 36 |
Unprocessed Addition of September 1999RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials. |
Expand/collapse
Unprocessed Addition of November 1999
Acquisitions Information: Accession 98514
RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.
Mostly correspondence with some materials relating to the The Oyster Boy Review and to an exhibit on Oscar Wilde.
Box 36-37
Box 36Box 37 |
Unprocessed Addition of November 1999RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials. |
Expand/collapse
Unprocessed Addition of February 2000
Acquisitions Information: Accession 98568
RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.
Videotape of "Elizabethan Bestiary Retold."
| Box 37 |
Unprocessed Addition of February 2000RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials. |
Expand/collapse
Unprocessed Addition of January 2001
Acquisitions Information: Accession 98839
RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.
Correspondence, "Elizabethan Bestiary Retold" materials, etc.
| Box 38 |
Unprocessed Addition of January 2001RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials. |
Expand/collapse
Unprocessed Additions of February 2001
Acquisitions Information: Accession 98844, 98861
RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.
Correspondence, writings, files, note cards, computer disks.
Box 38-40
Box 38Box 39Box 40 |
Unprocessed Addition of February 2001RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials. |
Expand/collapse
Unprocessed Addition of May 2002
Acquisitions Information: Accession 99259
RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.
Correspondence filed by correspondent or organization.
Box 41-42
Box 41Box 42 |
Unprocessed Addition of May 2002RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials. |
Expand/collapse
Unprocessed Additions of March and September 2003
Acquisitions Information: Accession 99463, 99621
RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.
Correspondence filed by correspondent or organization, writings, notes.
Box 43-44
Box 43Box 44 |
Unprocessed Additions of March and September 2003RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials. |
Expand/collapse
Unprocessed Addition of June 2004
Acquisitions Information: Accession 99815
RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.
Correspondence filed by correspondent or organization, writings, notes, computer disks, and other material. One box contains papers relating to What We Have Lost , New Growth, and Life of the Bee.
Box 45-48
Box 45Box 46Box 47Box 48 |
Unprocessed Addition of June 2004RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials. |
Expand/collapse
Unprocessed Addition of May 2005
Acquisitions Information: Accession 100048
RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.
Kevin Bezner addition: Correspondence, press clippings, audiotape interview for Main Street Rag, and photographs of Beam.
| Box 49 |
Unprocessed Addition of May 2005RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials. |
Expand/collapse
Unprocessed Addition of October 2006
Acquisitions Information: Accession 100520
RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.
Correspondence filed by correspondent or organization.
Box 50-52
Box 50Box 51Box 52 |
Unprocessed Addition of October 2006RESTRICTED: Unprocessed additions are CLOSED pending review and are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials. |
Expand/collapse
Papers, 1990-2004 (Addition of January 2008).
Acquisitions Information: Accession 100845
Correspondence filed by correspondent or organization, writing notes, video tapes, and other material.
| Box 53 |
Correspondence, 2004-2007 |
Videotape of anniversary party, 1990-1991 |
|
| Box 54 |
Correspondence, 2004-2007 |
| Box 55 |
Correspondence, 2004-2007 |
West House |
|
UNC Landscape Task Force |
|
Floppy discs of manuscripts |
|
| Box 56 |
West House Coalition materials |
| Box 57 |
West House Coalition materials |
Friends of the Library Committee |
|
Library job related material |
|
Chancellor's Task Force on Heritage Landscape and Plant Diversity materials |
|
| Box 58 |
Papers |
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-4888/1-3
OPF-4888/1OPF-4888/2OPF-4888/3 |
Oversize papers |
Expand/collapse
Papers, 1990s-2000s (Addition of May 2008).
Acquisitions Information: Accession 100941
Chiefly correspondence, writing drafts, and scripts for Winter Stories, an annual program hosted by the UNC Friends of the Library.
| Box 59 |
Listen |
Greenmen drafts |
|
Gospel Earth Papers |
|
Beautiful Tendons Papers |
|
Beautiful Tendons |
|
| Box 60 |
Birthdays, 2008 |
Gen friends |
|
Gay City consent to publish contract, 2007 |
|
Beat Conference |
|
Benz, Mandy |
|
Lightning Brown |
|
Corless, Roger |
|
Dunphey, Didi |
|
Gildzen, Alex |
|
Green, Paul |
|
Harris, Reginald |
|
Heiur, John |
|
Ickes, Scott |
|
Kempton, Karl |
|
Kinnaird, Ellie |
|
Levi, Louise Landis |
|
Leyland, Winson (Will Inman failed project) |
|
Massey, Jimmy |
|
Nash, Frederica |
|
Pollett, Sylvester (deceased Backwards Broadsides) |
|
Richardson, Connie and Bill |
|
Sexton, Molly |
|
Shepherd, Reginals |
|
Tabacynski, Michael |
|
Tree Task Force inventory |
|
Winter Stories, 1993-2004Includes photographs and born digital. |
|
| Box 61 |
PapersCLOSED by Jeffery Beam until 50 years after his death. |
Expand/collapse
Papers, 1990s-2011 (Addition of November 2011)
Acquisitions Information: Accession 101519
Chiefly correspondence; writing drafts, projects, and publications; and event programs and recordings. Also includes evaluations of Jeffery Beam as a library employee.