Richard Eugene Lyons was born June 19, 1920 at Detroit, Michigan.  After graduating from high school he attended the University of Dayton for two years.  He then went to Miami University at Oxford, Ohio where he earned a B.A. degree in 1942.  After several years working in Dayton and recovering from tuberculosis, he returned in 1946 to Miami University to work on a master's degree which he received in 1947.  Mr. Lyons came to North Dakota Agricultural College where he held a dual position as order librarian and instructor in English.  In 1959 Mr. Lyons returned full time to the English Department, and that same year took a sabbatical leave to attend the University of Minnesota where he completed his course work towards a degree in American Studies.  Mr. Lyons returned to North Dakota State University to teach English until his retirement in 1981.

These papers supplement those donated to the Institute in 1972 and 1976 (which are processed as Mss 10.  See the finding aid for a description of this collection.)  The focus of these papers are his poems.  The poems are collected and filed according to decades.  There are also manuscript versions of many of the longer poems or books, and a collection of periodicals and books containing published poems and articles.  An important source of information for interpreting and evaluating the poems is the correspondence with other poets, editors, and agents about his work.  Among Lyons correspondents are poets Thomas McGrath, Robert Bly and W. H Auden. 
 

Links to finding aids for other Richard Lyons papers:
Mss 10
Mss 259

Literary, Music and Theater