The Department of Special Collections hosted a two-day symposium on the life and literary career of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet James Merrill featuring talks, readings and discussions all related to Merrill’s life and work.

The symposium, hosted Oct. 22 and 23, also exhibited some of the more interesting artifacts of his life, including the poet’s “death mask,” bronze baby shoes and home-made Ouija board.

One of the more notable features of the symposium was the exhibition of the complete Merrill archive, which he donated to the Modern Literature Collection of the University’s library. It is now the largest collection in the world dedicated to Merrill’s work.

Along with transcripts of alleged conversations with ghosts, contacted through a Ouija board, Merrill’s journals, photo albums, poem drafts and correspondences—plus his baby cup and spoon—are part of the extensive archive.

“My mother has added to the archive my christening gown,” Merrill said in his speech during the first James Merrill symposium in 1994. “You must suppose that my inner infant is still wearing it.”

Merrill was known for his lyrical poetry, though his departure into occult literature became a prominent part of his career. Using a Ouija board, Merrill claimed to have communicated with dead poets as well as friends of his who had passed away. A 560-page poem, titled “The Changing Light at Sandover,” was the product of his Ouija seances. Transcripts of his alleged conversations with the deceased, particularly a spirit named Ephraim, are also part of the library’s archive.

“[We have] a Ouija board transcript in which Merrill is asking Ephraim for some relationship advice and asking if therapy would be a good idea for Peter, which Ephraim says it would be, for the record,” Joel Minor, curator of Modern Literature Collection, said about Merrill’s relationship with his partner, Peter Holton.

During the archive exhibition, Minor played other audio clips of Merrill’s narration of his poems and speeches which highlighted the extensiveness of the digital archives as well.

“In addition to Merrill’s papers, we have [David] Jackson’s papers, including all of his notebooks and journals and drafts,” Minor said about the length of the collection which Jackson, Merrill’s partner for many years, is also a part of. Jackson is credited as a big influence and supporter of Merrill’s work with occultism.

Merrill, who passed away in 1995, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for “Divine Comedies,” the first installment of his Ouija poetry. His relationship with the Washington University community was extensive: He had three residencies throughout his career and became one of the first poets whose work was included in the Modern Literature Collection.

A new biography, “James Merrill: Life and Art,” written by Langdon Hammer, professor of English at Yale University, inspired the archival display of the exhibition. Hammer was also the keynote speaker of the symposium.