University Libraries

Collection Guide

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Administrative Information

Access and Restrictions: This collection is open for research.

Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections Department.

Copyright:  Please read The University of Iowa Libraries' statement on "Property Rights, Copyright Law, and Permissions to Use Unpublished Materials"

Use of Collections:  The University of Iowa Libraries supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by their fragile condition or by contractual agreement with donors, and it may not be possible at all times to provide appropriate machinery for reading, viewing or accessing non-paper-based materials. Please read our Use of Manuscripts Statement.

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Biographical Note

Calvin Kentfield was born in 1924 in Keokuk, Iowa. Brought up near the Mississippi River, he developed a feeling for "going somewhere else" early in life. He attended the University of Iowa, but interrupted his studies to ship out as ordinary seaman and able seaman on freighters and tugs. He wrote stories and earned enough money to travel for a year in Europe. In 1948 he returned to the University of Iowa and earned a B.A. His first novel, The Alchemist's Voyage, appeared in 1955, The Angel and the Sailor in 1957, All Men Are Mariners in 1962, and The Great Wandering Goony Bird in 1963, among others. As well as writing novels and short stories, he frequently wrote essays for Holiday, the New Yorker, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Kentfield died September 4, 1975.

C. Pummer and J. Roethler, August 2004

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Scope and Contents

This collection consists of the original drafts and manuscripts of Kentfield's novel The Alchemist's Voyage.

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Acquisition and Processing Information

These papers were given to the University of Iowa Libraries by Calvin Kentfield.

Guide posted to Internet: August 2004

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Inventory

Clippings

Essays

" State University of Iowa." Holiday, November 1953, pp. 88 -- 90, 140 -- 151

Manuscripts

The Alchemist's Voyage

Partial Draft (apparently not used) [2 folders]

First Draft (with corrections) [2 folders]

Second Draft (with corrections) [2 folders]

Third Draft (with corrections)

Drafts and proofs of beginning material and original jacket design

Page proofs [2 folders]

Printer's proofs [2 folders]

Galley proofs [4 folders]

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