The Ingram Merrill Foundation was a private foundation established in the mid-1950s by poet

James Merrill James Ingram Merrill (March 3, 1926 – February 6, 1995) was an American poet. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1977 for '' Divine Comedies.'' His poetry falls into two distinct bodies of work: the polished and formalist ly ...

(1926-1995), using funds from his substantial family inheritance.J. D. McClatchy
Braving the Elements
''The New Yorker'', 27 March 1995. Retrieved 27 May 2013. Over the course of four decades, the foundation would provide financial support to hundreds of writers and artists, many of them in the early stages of promising but not yet remunerative careers. Dissolved in 1996 (a year after Merrill's death), the Ingram Merrill Foundation was at that point disbursing approximately $300,000 a year.Swansburg, John

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, 28 January 2001. " the 1950s he established the Ingram Merrill Foundation, which until it ceased to exist in 1996, gave grants to writers, artists and other foundations. By the mid-90s, Merrill was donating around $300,000 a year through the foundation." Retrieved 27 May 2013. Support from the Ingram Merrill Foundation could be variously described as an "Award", a "Fellowship", a "Prize", or a "Grant". Recipients themselves often used these terms interchangeably, and it is unclear whether there was ever a meaningful distinction between them reflecting the degree or amount of financial support (stipends could vary widely among Ingram Merrill recipients). By reapplying, it was possible to win an Award more than once in a career; at least one writer received three separate grants, and The Little Players puppet troupe was subsidized largely by the foundation for over twenty years.Hammer, Langdon. ''James Merrill: Life and Art.'' New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2015. 491. Although Merrill could lobby his own Board—not always with success—on behalf of writers and artists whose work and circumstances he felt particularly compelling, his interference in the grant-giving process was officially discouraged. This was by Merrill's own design: a measure of formal disengagement from his namesake foundation helped immunize him from " the friends of the friends" who might feel tempted to "put in a good word with Jimmy" on a pending application. In the event, Merrill could truthfully reply that decisions were out of his hands. The Foundation supported specific public television programming in the early 1970s and gave occasional grants to arts organizations.

Recipients

Visual artists known to have received Ingram Merrill Foundation financial support include Edward Dugmore, Yvonne Jacquette,

Gabriel Laderman Gabriel Laderman (December 26, 1929 – March 10, 2011) was a New York painter and an early and important exponent of the Figurative revival of the 1950s and 1960s. He studied with a number of leading American painters, including Hans Hofmann, ...

, Eric Pankey, Patrick Webb,

Jane Wilson Jane Wilson (April 29, 1924 – January 13, 2015) was an American painter associated with both landscape painting and expressionism. She lived and worked in New York City and Water Mill, New York. Early influences Wilson was born in Seymour, ...

, and Marcia Marcus.

Max Kozloff Max Kozloff (born 1933) is an American art historian, art critic of modern art and photographer. He has been art editor at '' The Nation'', and Executive Editor of '' Artforum''. His essay "American Painting During the Cold War" is of particular i ...

, a noted art historian, editor, and art critic, received an award.

Jean Erdman Jean Erdman (February 20, 1916 – May 4, 2020) was an American dancer and choreographer of modern dance as well as an avant-garde theater director. Biography Early years and background Erdman was born in Honolulu. Erdman's father, John Pine ...

, a dancer and choreographer, also received funding. Composers known to have received Ingram Merrill funding include Bruce Saylor, Claudio Spies, and

Charles Wuorinen Charles Peter Wuorinen (; June 9, 1938 – March 11, 2020) was an American composer of contemporary classical music based in New York City. He performed his works and other 20th-century music as pianist and conductor. He composed more than ...

. Writers (including essayists, novelists, short story writers, translators, poets, and playwrights, among others) known to have received Ingram Merrill support include Walter Abish,

Ellen Akins Ellen Akins is an American novelist from South Bend, Indiana. Early life and education After graduating from LaSalle Intermediate Academy in 1977, Akins earned a Bachelor of Arts in film production at the University of Southern California. As ...

, Agha Shahid Ali,

Dick Allen Richard Anthony Allen (March 8, 1942 – December 7, 2020) was an American professional baseball player. During his fifteen-year-long Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he played as a first baseman, third baseman, and outfielder, most not ...

, Julia Alvarez, John Ash,

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

Russell Banks Russell Banks (born March 28, 1940) is an American writer of fiction and poetry. As a novelist, Banks is best known for his "detailed accounts of domestic strife and the daily struggles of ordinary often-marginalized characters". His stories usua ...

Wendy Battin Wendy Battin (May 27, 1953 - December 21, 2015) was an American poet. Life Wendy Battin was born in Wilmington, Delaware and graduated from Cornell University and the University of Washington. She taught at MIT, Smith College, Syracuse Unive ...

, Gina Berriault, Linda Bierds,

Elizabeth Bishop Elizabeth Bishop (February 8, 1911 – October 6, 1979) was an American poet and short-story writer. She was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, the National Book Awar ...

, Thomas Bolt, David Bosworth,

David Bottoms David Bottoms (born 1949 in Canton, Georgia) is an American poet. Biography Bottoms' first book, ''Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump'', was selected by Robert Penn Warren as winner of the 1979 Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of Americ ...

Jane Bowles Jane Bowles (; born Jane Sydney Auer; February 22, 1917 – May 4, 1973) was an American writer and playwright. Early life Born into a Jewish family in New York City on February 22, 1917, to Sydney Auer (father) and Claire Stajer (mother), Jane ...

Rosellen Brown Rosellen Brown (born May 12, 1939) is an American author, and has been an instructor of English and creative writing at several universities, including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Houston. She has won several ...

, Victor Bumbalo, Frederick Busch, Ethan Canin, Turner Cassity, Henri Cole, Martha Collins, Jane Cooper,

John Crowley John Crowley may refer to: *John Crowley (Irish revolutionary) (1891-1942), Irish revolutionary and hunger striker *John Crowley (author) (born 1942), American author *John Crowley (baseball) (1862–1896), American Major League catcher *John Crowl ...

Deborah Digges Deborah Digges (February 6, 1950 – April 10, 2009) was an American poet and teacher. Biography She was born Deborah Leah Sugarbaker in Jefferson City, Missouri, on February 6, 1950. Her father was a physician and her mother was a nurse; she ...

W. S. Di Piero William Simone Di Piero is an American poet, translator, essayist, and educator. He has published ten collections of poetry and five collections of essays in addition to his translations. In 2012 Di Piero received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for ...

Mark Doty Mark Doty (born August 10, 1953) is an American poet and memoirist best known for his work ''My Alexandria.'' He was the winner of the National Book Award for Poetry in 2008. Early life Mark Doty was born in Maryville, Tennessee to Lawrence a ...

, Norman Dubie, Deborah Eisenberg, Tony Eprile,

Kathy Fagan Kathy Fagan Grandinetti is an American poet. Biography Kathy Fagan earned a B.A. in English from California State University, Fresno in 1980. She holds an M.F.A. from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from the University of Utah. She teaches at ...

Irving Feldman Irving Feldman (born September 22, 1928) is an American poet and professor of English. Academic career Born and raised in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York, Feldman worked as a merchant seaman, farm hand, and factory worker through his univers ...

Donald Finkel Donald Alexander Finkel (October 21, 1929 – November 15, 2008) was an American poet best known for his unorthodox styles and "curious juxtapositions". Life Finkel was born in New York City on October 21, 1929. He grew up in the Bronx, and aspir ...

Alice Fulton Alice Fulton (born 1952) is an American author of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Fulton is the Ann S. Bowers Professor of English Emerita at Cornell University. Her awards include the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, ...

, James Galvin,

Jorie Graham Jorie Graham (; born May 9, 1950) is an American poet. The Poetry Foundation called Graham "one of the most celebrated poets of the American post-war generation." She replaced poet Seamus Heaney as Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at ...

, Debora Greger, Allan Gurganus, Marilyn Hacker, Rachel Hadas,

John Haines John Meade Haines (June 29, 1924 – March 2, 2011) was an American poet and educator who had served as the poet laureate of Alaska. Early life John Mead Haines was born in Norfolk, Virginia. He was the son of a career Navy officer and moved fro ...

, Daniel Hall, Judith Hall, Jeffrey Harrison, Shelby Hearon, Oscar Hijuelos,

Geoffrey Hill Sir Geoffrey William Hill, FRSL (18 June 1932 – 30 June 2016) was an English poet, professor emeritus of English literature and religion, and former co-director of the Editorial Institute, at Boston University. Hill has been considered to b ...

, Daryl Hine, David Hinton, Edward Hirsch,

Daniel Hoffman Daniel Gerard Hoffman (April 3, 1923 – March 30, 2013) was an American poet, essayist, and academic. He was appointed the twenty-second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1973. Early life and education Hoffman w ...

, A. D. Hope,

Maureen Howard Maureen Theresa Howard ( Kearns; June 28, 1930 – March 13, 2022) was an American novelist, memoirist, and editor. Her award-winning novels feature women protagonists and are known for formal innovation and a focus on the Irish-American experie ...

, Andrew Hudgins, Wojciech Karpiński,

Galway Kinnell Galway Mills Kinnell (February 1, 1927 – October 28, 2014) was an American poet. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 1982 collection, ''Selected Poems'' and split the National Book Award for Poetry with Charles Wright. From 1989 to 19 ...

, Karl Kirchwey, Peter Klappert,

Caroline Knox Caroline Knox (born 1938) is an American poet based in Massachusetts. She is the author of six collections of poetry, most recently, ''Quaker Guns'' ( Wave Books, 2008), and ''Nine Worthies'' (Wave Books, 2010). Her poems have been published in li ...

Ann Lauterbach Ann Lauterbach (born 1942) is an American poet, essayist, art critic, and professor. Selected bibliography Full-length poetry collections * ''Spell'' (Penguin Books, 2018) * ''Under the Sign'' (Penguin Books, 2013) * ''Or to Begin Again'' (Peng ...

David Lehman David Lehman (born June 11, 1948David Lehman
at poets.org) is an American poet, non-fiction writer, and li ...

Brad Leithauser Brad E. Leithauser (born February 27, 1953) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and teacher. After serving as the Emily Dickinson Lecturer in the Humanities at Mount Holyoke College and visiting professor at the MFA Program for Poets & Wri ...

, Phillis Levin,

Elizabeth Macklin Elizabeth Macklin (born 1952 in Poughkeepsie, New York) is an American poet. Life She read Spanish literature at SUNY Potsdam, and Complutense University of Madrid. In 1974 to 1999, worked at ''The New Yorker'', living in New York City. She spent ...

Thomas Mallon Thomas Mallon (born November 2, 1951) is an American novelist, essayist, and critic. His novels are renowned for their attention to historical detail and context and for the author's crisp wit and interest in the "bystanders" to larger historical ...

Cormac McCarthy Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy Jr., July 20, 1933) is an American writer who has written twelve novels, two plays, five screenplays and three short stories, spanning the Western fiction, Western and Apocalyptic and post-apocalypt ...

, Mary McCarthy, J. D. McClatchy,

Joseph McElroy Joseph Prince McElroy (born August 21, 1930) is an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. He is noted for his long postmodern novels such as ''Women and Men''. Personal background McElroy was born on August 21, 1930, in Brookl ...

Lynne McMahon Lynne McMahon is an American poet. She graduated from University of Utah with a PhD in 1982. She teaches at University of Missouri, Her work has appeared in ''The New York Times Book Review, New Virginia Review, American Poetry Review, The South ...

Sandra McPherson Sandra Jean McPherson (born August 2, 1943) is an American poet. Born in San Jose, California, McPherson received her B.A. at San José State University, and studied at the University of Washington, with Elizabeth Bishop and David Wagoner. S ...

, Christopher Merrill, Judith Moffett,

Ted Mooney Edward Comstock Mooney (October 19, 1951March 25, 2022) was an American novelist and short story writer. He published four novels: ''Easy Travel to Other Planets'' (1981), ''Traffic and Laughter'' (1990), ''Singing into the Piano'' (1998), and ' ...

, Julian Moynahan,

Carol Muske-Dukes Carol Muske-Dukes (born 1945 in St. Paul, Minnesota) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, critic, and professor, and the former poet laureate of California (2008–2011). Her most recent book of poetry, ''Sparrow'' (Random House, 2003), chro ...

, Josip Novakovich, Jacqueline Osherow, Molly Peacock, Walter Perrie, Robert Polito, Stanley Plumly, Jeremy Reed, Donald Revell,

Michael J. Rosen Michael J. Rosen (born September 20, 1954), is an American people, American writer, ranging from children's literature, children's picture books to adult poetry and to novels, and editor of anthologies ranging almost as broadly. He has acted as e ...

Mark Rudman Mark Rudman (born 1948 New York City) is an American poet. He is a former professor at Columbia University and New York University. He graduated from The New School with a BA, and from Columbia University with an MFA. His work has appeared in ''S ...

, Kay Ryan, David St. John, Mary Jo Salter, Stephen Sandy, Sherod Santos, James Scully, David Shapiro,

Robert Siegel Robert Charles Siegel (born June 26, 1947) is an American retired radio journalist. He was one of the co-hosts of the National Public Radio evening news broadcast ''All Things Considered'' from 1987 until his retirement in January 2018. Early ...

Charles Simic Dušan Simić ( sr-cyr, Душан Симић, ; born May 9, 1938), known as Charles Simic, is a Serbian American poet and former co-poetry editor of the '' Paris Review''. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990 for ''The World Does ...

, Jeffrey Skinner,

William Jay Smith William Jay Smith (April 22, 1918 – August 18, 2015) was an American poet. He was appointed the nineteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1968 to 1970. Life William Jay Smith was born in Winnfield, Louis ...

W. D. Snodgrass William De Witt Snodgrass (January 5, 1926 – January 13, 2009) was an American poet who also wrote under the pseudonym S. S. Gardons. He won the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Life Snodgrass was born on January 5, 1926, in Beaver Falls, ...

Roberta Spear Roberta Spear (1948 in Hanford, California – 2003) was an American poet. Life Her work appeared in ''Field'', ''Ploughshares'', ''Poetry'', and ''The Missouri Review.'' She lived in Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San ...

Mark Strand Mark Strand (April 11, 1934 – November 29, 2014) was a Canadian-born American poet, essayist and translator. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1990 and received the Wallace Stevens Award in 2004 ...

Christopher Tilghman Christopher Tilghman is an American novelist and short story writer. Life He graduated from Yale University. He served three years in the Navy. He worked at a sawmill in New Hampshire, moved back to Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was a corp ...

Tony Towle Tony Towle (born 1939) is an American poet. He began writing poetry in 1960. John Ashbery has referred to him as "one of the New York School's best-kept secrets." Personal life Towle currently lives in New York City with actress Diane Tyler. He ha ...

, Paul Violi,

Alice Walker Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker (born February 9, 1944) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was awa ...

, Theodore Weiss,

Rachel Wetzsteon Rachel Todd Wetzsteon (; November 25, 1967 – December 24/25?, 2009) was an American poet. Life Born in New York City, New York, the daughter of editor and critic Ross Wetzsteon, she graduated from Yale University in 1989 where she studied with ...

Edmund White Edmund Valentine White III (born 1940) is an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer and an essayist on literary and social topics. Since 1999 he has been a professor at Princeton University. France made him (and later ) de l'Ordr ...

Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in Fr ...

, Charles Wright, John Yau and

Stephen Yenser Stephen Yenser (born 1941, Wichita, Kansas, United States) is an American poet and literary critic who has published three acclaimed volumes of verse, as well as books on James Merrill, Robert Lowell, and an assortment of contemporary poets. Wi ...

, among others.

References

{{reflist Arts foundations based in the United States Organizations disestablished in 1996 Merrill family