The University of Manitoba campuses are located on original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Ojibwe-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on the National Homeland of the Red River Métis. More
Call Number: Mss 74 (A.90-30, A.93-05, A.95-14, A.96-50, A.97-17, A.98-18, A.99-29, A.00-18, A.01-58, A.08-69)
Title: Kenneth McRobbie fonds.
Dates: 1952-2008.
Extent: 3.75 m of textual records.
Biographical sketch: Born in London, England in 1929, Kenneth McRobbie attended Liverpool University where he won the Felicia Hermans medal for Poetry in 1952. In 1953, he immigrated to Canada, moving initially to Toronto, then to Winnipeg, and lastly to Vancouver. McRobbie's poetry has appeared in Canadian and American magazines and been aired on CBC Radio. Among his earlier publications, Jupiter C-4: Poems For the Missile Age (1958) and Eyes Without a Face (1960) were very well received. He later became involved in writing on the Canadian environment which he considered his more serious work. He was co-director of a private publishing house and a Toronto poetry readings centre for poets from Canada and the United States. McRobbie retired from the University of Manitoba as a Professor of History in 1991. He has a long standing interest in Hungarian literature and has published books of Hungarian translation including The Plough and the Pen: Writings from Hungary (1930-1956) (1963), The Penguin Book of Modern Verse Translation (1966), Anthology of Modern Hungarian Poetry (1977), and Under the Sign of Gemini: Prose and Poetry of Miklos Radnoti (1977).
Custodial history: The fonds was donated by Kenneth McRobbie in multiple instalments between 1990 and 2008.
Scope and content: The fonds consists of a significant amount of poems in draft form from 1950 onward, reviews from papers and magazines, radio scripts, manuscripts of plays, a manuscript of a novel, Willing the Good in Budapest, correspondence, papers, and lecture outlines, articles, reviews by McRobbie of other literary works, personal and business correspondence including letters to and from Charles Olson, and work sheets, drafts, and related materials on the translation of Hungarian prose and verse.
Restrictions: There are no restrictions on this material.
Accruals: Further accruals are expected.
Finding aid: Preliminary inventories are available for accruals received after 1990. A printed finding aid is available in the Archives reading room for the 1990 accrual. An on-line finding aid for the 1990 and 2008 accruals is available at the link below: