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The Collected Poems of Sir Charles G. D. Roberts fonds [textual record]. -- [photocopied 1973-198-?]. -- 96 cm of textual records
Administrative history: The Roberts poetry project was initiated by literary critic and university educator William Cyril Desmond Pacey. Born on 1 May 1917 in Dundedin, New Zealand, Desmond Pacey was educated at Victoria College, University of Toronto, earning a bachelor of arts degree in English and philosophy in 1938. He completed a doctoral degree at Cambridge University in 1941.
Pacey began his university teaching career in 1940 at Brandon College, University of Manitoba. In 1944, he joined the English Department of the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, serving as its head until 1969. At UNB he taught courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels and published a number of scholarly works. Pacey was particularly interested in the works of Fredericton poets, Bliss Carman and Charles G. D. Roberts. About 1955 he edited and published The Selected Poems of Sir Charles G. D. Roberts. A second edition followed in 1980.
His primary intent, however, was to publish complete scholarly editions of both the collected poems and collected letters of Charles G. D. Roberts. Beginning about 1973 and supported by a Canada Council grant, Pacey pursued these projects. He collected photocopies of holograph, typescript and published versions of Roberts's poetry located in repositories and libraries in Canada and the United States and supervised preliminary research. His untimely death, in 1975, brought this work to a halt temporarily. Pacey's colleague at UNB, poet and educator Fred Cogswell, agreed to supervise the final year of research. In 1985 The Wombat Press published The Collected Poems of Sir Charles G. D Roberts: A Critical Edition, edited by Desmond Pacey with editorial assistance from Graham Adams.
Source:
Cogswell, Fred, "Introduction", The Collected Poems of Sir Charles
G. D. Roberts, 1985
More information about Desmond Pacey's life and work can be found in MG L1 - W. C. Desmond Pacey fonds
Scope and content: This fonds documents the activities of Desmond Pacey and his colleagues which resulted in the production of a scholarly volume of collected poems by Charles G. D. Roberts. It contains photocopies of typescript, holograph or published versions of 382 poems by Roberts, many having first appeared in newspapers, magazines, anthologies or in one of his books of verse. The fonds also includes index cards which contain the title and publishing history of each work, research notes and literary comments. Typescript manuscripts, project correspondence, research files and an overview of the poetry project are included.
The collection contains 2 series: 1. poems, 1874-1942 and 2. correspondence, research and publishing records
Title based on the title of the published volume
Deposited by Fred Cogswell in 1978
APPLICATION FOR THE USE OF MANUSCRIPTS FORM