Budget Proposal for a Literary Journal (Montana Review, Fall 1956)

The Bowen Papers consist of correspondence and manuscripts of Bowen's writings. The manuscripts include Bowen's published novels, The Weight of the Cross, Bamboo, Sidestreet, and The Truth about Communism, and several unpublished works, as well as of short stories, poems, dramatic works, articles and essays and of miscellaneous material, such as notes for speeches. Contains some material for a campaign against Dallas, Texas, merchants selling goods made in Communist countries, and other materials.

The correspondence consists of academic, literary, and personal correspondence from 1949 to 1967. The bulk of the correspondence is letters received by him, but carbon copies are included for much of his academic and literary correspondence. There are few copies of his personal correspondence. The literary correspondence includes many letters with Alfred A. Knopf, inc., and other publishers, agent Sterling Lord, journal editors, and other people involved with Bowen's book and periodical publications, including Edward Keating, founder and editor of Ramparts, of which Bowen was an associate editor for a short time.

There is also substantial correspondence with personnel at the universities where Bowen taught and other places where he considered employment. His dispute with Leslie A. Fiedler and others at Montana State University, which received national publicity, is aired in both his professional correspondence and in personal correspondence with many of his friends. Some of the personal correspondence received in the early sixties is representative of right-wing political opinion of the period. He maintained a correspondence with several former students throughout the entire span covered. Notable among these are letters from CKG [Charlotte Kelly Gafford] and Cleo [Bordwell]. Other frequent correspondents include writers James B. Hall, Gene Baro, Hudson Strode, Borden Deal, and Ray B. West, his wife Mildred Bowden, Irina Kozhevnikova, editor of Soviet Woman, and Canadian poet Earle Birney.