Encountering Elizabeth Bishop’s voice

Grace Hogg holds a BA and MA in English Literature from the University of Sheffield.

 

Working on Elizabeth Bishop’s Postcards under the guidance of Dr Jonathan Ellis was one of the most enriching academic experiences I’ve had. My primary role involved transcribing Bishop’s handwritten postcards for the catalogue that accompanies the exhibition. Having studied Bishop and the art of letter writing with Dr Ellis during my MA, I found it fascinating to encounter her voice in such an intimate, unfiltered form. Her humour, sharp observations, and warm-hearted candidness emerged vividly through these brief and playful correspondences.

 

© Vassar College Libraries

 

Beyond transcription, I was responsible for identifying the artwork, photography, and sculpture featured on the postcards’ reverse sides and compiling these into an artistic bibliography. This task opened an unexpected window into Bishop’s visual imagination: the kinds of images she chose as souvenirs, the places that caught her eye, and the ways she commented—sometimes wryly, sometimes affectionately—on the scenes she sent to friends and confidants. Tracing her travels through these images made the project feel like a conversation across time.

 

What stayed with me most was the emotional texture of her relationships. Reading her postcards offered glimpses of deep friendships, creative alliances, and moments of personal transparency. Being trusted to help bring these materials into public view was a significant honour. The finished catalogue, with my name acknowledged inside, now sits proudly on my bookshelf—a memento of a project that is still revealing the joys of Bishop and her writing at exhibitions across the world.