File consists of correspondence from The Canada Council, 1982-1983.

Box 13 contains copies of several important Montreal periodicals from the 1960s to 1980s. Most of these literary magazines were produced on a limited budget, but there is a democratic spirit and openness to new writers in the magazines.

The subseries contains literary correspondence, including exchanges of letters between Morrissey and, among others, Louis Dudek, Northrop Frye, George Johnston, Cid Corman, Clayton Eshleman, Barry Dempster, Guy Birchard, Ken Norris, Endre Farkas, Beth Jankola, Keitha MacIntosh and others. Also included are Morrissey’s correspondence with The Canada Council; C.B.C. radio; The Public Lending Rights; CanCopy (AccessCanada); literary presses and literary magazines. Correspondence pertaining to the two literary magazines Morrissey edited, what is (1973-1976) and The Montreal Journal of Poetics (1978-1985) are also included. Some folders contain original manuscripts of poetry submissions, manuscripts of book reviews (for instance, to Poetry Canada Review and Canadian Literature), essays by Morrissey, and letters organizing poetry-reading tours to Memorial University of Newfoundland, University of Ottawa, University of British Columbia, and Simon Fraser University.

The fonds consists of manuscripts and drafts of literary compositions and other working documents, as well as professional and personal correspondence.

There is one box of files for two magazines that Stephen Morrissey edited and published, what is and The Montreal Journal of Poetics, between 1973-1985. There are also three boxes of documents and literary archives relating mostly to the Montreal poetry scene. These boxes contain audio and video tape recordings of poetry readings; photographs by Stephen Morrissey including colour slides and black and white photographs of poets giving readings and colour photographs of poets; a collection of poetry magazines; posters for poetry readings, and information on poets handed out at their readings; and broadsides of poems, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. There are also items from the 1990s.

The eleven boxes of papers in series A contain original manuscripts, including working drafts and final drafts of texts from 1966 to 1998. These manuscripts, working drafts, and notebooks of Morrissey’s writings have resulted in seven published books of poetry; these are The Trees of Unknowing (Montreal : Vehicule Press, 1978), Divisions (Toronto : Coach House Press, 1983), Family Album (Vancouver : Caitlin Press, 1989), The Compass (Montreal : Empyreal Press, 1993), The Yoni Rocks, (Montreal : Empyreal Press, 1995), The Mystic Beast (Montreal : Empyreal Press, 1997), and Mapping the Soul, New and Selected Poems 1978-1998 (Winnipeg : The Muses' Company, 1998). As well, there are five chapbooks; these are Poems of a Period (Montreal, 1971), The Divining Rod (Edmonton : Greensleeve Editions, 1993), The Beauty of Love (Vancouver : The Poem Factory, 1993), The Carolyn Poems (Vancouver : The Poem Factory, 1994), 1950 (Vancouver : The Poem Factory, 1996), and several broadsides. Copies of the poetry books are included in the respective boxes.

Includes Morrissey’s earliest poems; juvenilia; the manuscript for Morrissey’s first publication, a chapbook entitled Poems of a Period (Montreal, 1971); other early unpublished manuscripts. A copy of Poems of a Period is enclosed.

The primary emphasis of Stephen Morrissey’s correspondence is literary; however, family, friends, and business correspondence is also included. The letters in this accrual were written between 1963 and 2003. The scope of the correspondence is national and international and includes both incoming and carbon copies of outgoing letters. Correspondence in the form of emails begins around 1998. The correspondence is comprehensive and scholars can, in most cases, read the complete exchange of a specific correspondence.

The personal correspondence subseries includes letters of a non-literary nature with Morrissey’s family and friends. Included here are letters from Morrissey’s brother, John R. Morrissey; correspondence between Morrissey and his mother, Hilda Nichols; a correspondence between Morrissey and Pat McCarty and Sally McKenzie; a twenty-four year correspondence between Morrissey and R.R. Skinner; a correspondence between Morrissey and Hilde and Dennis Johnson; greeting cards and other letters. Box 22 contains business correspondence and miscellaneous letters.

Box 14 contains posters for poetry readings and art exhibitions held at Vehicule Art Gallery and Powerhouse Gallery, the two important alternative or "parallel" art galleries in Montreal in the 1970s and 1980s. Duplicates of posters are included. Included with the posters are flyers for readings held at Sir George Williams University in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including an Aislin (Terry Mosher) poster for Allen Ginsberg's reading at Sir George Williams University in the early 1970s. Other items of a similar nature also included.

Series B contains a collection of documents, poetry archives, and memorabilia from the Montreal poetry scene of the late 1960s to the early 1980s, photographs and documents up to 1996, and records related to two poetry magazines. The three boxes of documents and literary archives relating to the Montreal poetry scene contain: audio and video tape recordings of poetry readings; photographs by Stephen Morrissey including colour slides and black and white photographs of poets giving readings and colour photographs of poets; a collection of poetry magazines; posters for poetry readings, and information on poets handed out at their readings; broadsides of poems, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s; and items from the 1990s. There is one box of files for two magazines that Stephen Morrissey edited and published, what is and The Montreal Journal of Poetics, between 1973-1985.