About the Project

This project began with a conversation as most projects do. Eastern Michigan University Archivist Alexis Braun Marks and English Professor Elisabeth Däumer sat for coffee on Cross Street in Ypsilanti, Michigan to discuss the future of the The Muriel Rukeyser Living Archive project that Professor Däumer spearheaded to honor the legacy of Muriel Rukeyser.

Däumer's passion has connected her to scholars all over the world and some very close to home. One such scholar, Louise Kertesz, was in possession of materials related to Rukeyser that she had collected during her research, including taped conversations and correspondence with Rukeyser. Kertesz visited the University Archives and determined that they would be an ideal home for her papers and could be used to supplement the Living Archives.

There have been countless hopes and dreams of what this site could become. A visual guide to Rukeyser's travels, a timeline of her work, a repository of linked data, and the list goes on. What was paramount was creating access to the documents in Kertesz's collection, and so, throughout the course of the project Däumer along with students from Eastern Michigan University worked to transcribe many of the documents, and at minimum offer an indepth description of the documents. That is what you will find here in this digital collection. For now.

Thank Yous

This website was made possible through the work of Eastern Michigan University students Micaha Zerod and Latitude Brown.

Gratitude to Professor Elisabeth Däumer and Louise Kertesz for their passion to preserve this work.