The presence of a "Donaldson" collection at the Kent State University Libraries--- and the elaborate care which has been given to the Donaldson manuscripts--- leaves me feeling rather bemused. Having been a graduate student in the English department at KSU, and having enjoyed that as much as I did, I now find it difficult to see myself as a fit subject for study by graduate students in the English department at KSU. The fact that I'm now considered "collectable"--- not to mention "worth studying"--- is a development which I, for one, would never have predicted while I was at Kent.
Nevertheless, I'm delighted by the Kent collection. It resolves what I find to be a delicate dilemma. My problem is that I'm horribly embarrassed by the earlier versions of my published works: I don't want anyone to know I ever wrote that badly. At the same time, I simply can't bear to burn the stuff: burning manuscripts is bad pysche-management; one should love one's mistakes, not immolate them. Finally, it has become impossible for me to store the stuff myself. Well, thanks to Dean Keller and the Kent State University Libraries, my storage problem is solved; I can preserve at least the illusion of loving my mistakes; and no one needs to know how much I really don't want anyone to look at the collection.