History of Special Collections @ Colby

  • INTRO
    • Goals
    • Student Scholars Wanted
    • Acknowledgments
    • Contact Us
  • CHRONOLOGY & CONTEXT
    • What Happened (early on)
      • The First Library & Edward Hall
      • The “Rare Book” Section (early 1930s)
    • Our Chronology (1935-1975)
    • Some Context
  • THE PEOPLE
    • Curators
      • Carl Jefferson Weber (Curator 1940-1958)
      • Richard Cary (Curator 1958-1975)
    • Librarians
      • N Orwin Rush (Librarian 1936-1945)
      • Gilmore Warner (Librarian 1945-1947)
      • James Humphry III (Librarian 1947-1957)
      • John R McKenna (Librarian 1957-1964)
      • Kenneth P Blake, Jr (Librarian 1964-1973)
      • Eileen M Curran (Acting Librarian, 1973-1976)
    • Other Colby People
      • Ernest C Marriner ’13
      • Frederick A Pottle ’17
      • Carroll A Wilson ’40 LLD
      • Franklin Winslow Johnson (President 1929-1942)
      • Julius Seelye Bixler (President 1942-1960)
      • Robert Edward Lee Strider II (President 1960-1979)
    • The Colby Library Associates
    • Highlighted Donors
  • HIGHLIGHTED COLLECTIONS
    • Rare Book Collections
      • Early Books
      • Thomas Hardy
      • Book Arts
      • The Rubáiyát
    • Personal Libraries
      • Library of Edwin Arlington Robinson
      • Library of Thomas Sergeant Perry
      • Library of Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer
      • Library of James Augustine Healy
      • Library of Ben Ames Williams
    • Manuscript Collections
    • “A Recent Accession”: The Colby Library Quarterly

Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer Collection

March 19, 2015 by Patricia Burdick

Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer (1886-1948) was born in Manchester, Connecticut where his father owned a mill. Formative childhood experiences occurred at Houghton Farm in upper New York State, the summer home of his grandfather, Lawson Valentine. Personal relationships were formed with visitors such as artist Winslow Homer and theologian Lyman Abbott, editor of the Outlook, a weekly owned by Valentine. Early loyalties and passions formed at Houghton Farm – including his renowned love of trout fishing – remained dominant forces throughout his life.

HTP ex-libris plate
Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer’s personal bookplate illustrates his lifelong passions for literature, solitude and the natural world.

Pulsifer began writing prose and verse in his adolescent years and attended the Pomfret School in eastern Connecticut to prepare for Harvard University. Long walks in the countryside developed his appreciation for and knowledge about the natural world. He wrote for and edited Pomfret’s school paper. The editors of the Outlook published his verses. He was unanimously named valedictorian of his graduating class.

At Harvard, Pulsifer succeeded in graduating but was not a stellar student. He benefited from President Eliot’s new system of electives, which permitted his many English courses to be combined with a wide array of others into a body of work acceptable to the faculty. He continued to be published in the Outlook and helped to edit the Harvard Advocate with classmate Conrad Aiken. He was elected Class Poet.

After graduation, Pulsifer dabbled in dairy farming for two years while being drawn by personal and family ties into the inner workings of The Outlook, which had become an influential public affairs journal with an esteemed editorial staff. In addition to Abbott and his sons, former President Theodore Roosevelt joined as a contributing editor in 1909 to further his progressive principles. Pulsifer joined the Outlook staff in 1913. One of his first contributions was a review of Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poetry, which changed critical opinion about that poet’s work and helped bring about a revival of public interest in poetry. Ultimately conservative in his poetic tastes, Pulsifer was receptive to new poets breaking with tradition. He also contributed articles and editorials on timely issues, including calls for military preparedness during the approach of World War One. Pulsifer acquired the controlling interest in the Outlook in 1923. His reputation as a cordial and gracious editor grew among new generations of poets and writers. He formed the now-famous group, The Poets, who met regularly in Greenwich Village.

In 1924, Pulsifer married Susan Farley Nichols of Oyster Bay, Long island, who was herself a published author and poet. In the mid 1920s, the Outlook was facing serious competition and financial liabilities. The decline and fall of the Outlook, a family legacy, was for Pulsifer a scene of tragedy and defeat. The Pulsifers moved to Maine, a place fondly remembered from his boyhood, buying a coastal farm near Cundy’s Harbor, Harpswell, where he dedicated his efforts to reclaiming a salt marsh for the wild fowl and renaming the farm “Little Ponds.”

Friends in New York approached the administration of Bowdoin College with an offer to establish a special chair in English for Pulsifer, who would serve as poet-in-residence. The offer was declined after months of negotiation, to his great despair. However, the Pulsifer house rented in Brunswick came to be a beacon for aspiring students of literature and members of the English department. He wrote steadily, a novel  and some plays as well as poems, which were published as a well-received collection titled The Harvest of Time (1932). A devastating fire at Houghton Farm, which destroyed the beloved homestead, channeled his poetic voice into the sonnet form, epitomized by his poem Elegy for a House, published in 1935. He served as president of the Poetry Society of America 1931-1932. He became active in the Harpswell and Brunswick communities, bringing to break down barriers between factions through his generous and sympathetic nature.

During World War Two, Susan led a movement to bring British children to America. Three boys and three girls came to live in the Pulsifer house. While the presence of the children was accepted by Harold, it brought stress to his ailing health. He became increasingly devoted to his Maine friend, Laura E Richard, which buoyed them both in their final years. He died in Sarasota, Florida, and buried at “Little Ponds,” in April 1948.

Our Pulsifer Collections contains letters, manuscripts, photographs and Pulsifer’s personal library.

Works consulted:

Packard, Alice and Frederick Packard. Poems 1912-1947 by Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer. Waterville, ME: Colby College Press, 1954. Print.

Susan Nichols Pulsifer donor file. Colby College Special Collections.

“Two Friends of Robinson.” Colby Library Quarterly. Waterville, ME: Colby College Library, February 1949. Print and web.

HIGHLIGHTED DONORS FOR THIS COLLECTION

Susan Nichols Pulsifer – primary donor

Clara (Mrs Carl Jefferson) Weber

Filed Under: 20th Century: 1900s-1930s, 20th Century: 1940s-1970s, Correspondence, Manuscripts, Nonfiction, Poetry

Laura E Richards Collection

March 19, 2015 by Patricia Burdick

Laura-E-Richardsl-picture-only-web
Author Laura E Richards.

Laura Elizabeth Richards (1859-1943) was born in Boston, the daughter of Julia Ward Howe. She moved to Gardiner, Maine with her family in 1876, where she mostly wrote children’s books such as Captain January, the Hildegarde series, and the Margaret Series, although she also published books of poetry and biographies. She and her sister Maud Howe Elliot received a Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1917 for Julia Ward Howe 1819-1910.

The December 1961 issue of the Colby Library Quarterly contains articles on Richards’ life and work, including a personal recollection by her friend and neighbor Philo Calhoun. Richards’ autobiography is titled Stepping Westward (1931). She was a personal friend and correspondent of the poet Edwin Arlington Robinson.

The Laura E Richards Collection includes letters, manuscripts, and photographs, in addition to published works.

LAURA E RICHARDS AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

In 1942, Laura E Richards gave selected books, inscribed by herself, and unpublished materials related to Edwin Arlington Robinson and Sarah Orne Jewett. These gifts are detailed in “Some Recent Acquisitions” in the January 1943 issue of the Colby Library Quarterly.

Additonal work consulted:

Richards, Laura E. E.A.R. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1936. Print.

HIGHLIGHTED DONORS FOR THIS COLLECTION

Philo C Calhoun – primary donor

Susan Nichols Pulsifer – primary donor

Colby Library Associates

Ruth Robinson Nivison/Robinson Birthplace, Inc

Margaret Perry

Clara (Mrs Carl Jefferson) Weber

Florence (Mrs Ben Ames) Williams

 

Filed Under: 19th Century: 1860s-1890s, 20th Century: 1900s-1930s, Correspondence, Fiction, Manuscripts, Nonfiction, Photographs, Poetry

Thomas Hardy Collection

March 19, 2015 by Patricia Burdick

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) was the son of a builder from Dorchester, England. He went to school for architecture. He worked as an architect in addition to writing poetry until 1874, when he became a full time writer, publishing the novel Far From the Madding Crowd. Other well known works include The Return of the Native, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, and The Dynasts, a three-volume epic poem about the Napoleonic Wars. He returned to exclusively publishing poetry and short stories after 1895, when his novel Jude the Obscure met with harsh criticism. After Hardy’s death, his executors burnt many of his letters and notebooks, however our collection includes over 400 letters written by Hardy and his first and second wives, Emma and Florence.

The Thomas Hardy Society web site contains a biographical sketch.

TH in chair - from CLQ Nov 1950
1927 photograph of Thomas Hardy and his cat at Max Gate, seated in the chair that now graces our main reading room.

COLLECTION DETAILS

The Hardy Collection at Colby contains first editions, books about Hardy and volumes from his personal library, manuscripts, numerous first appearances from periodicals, sheet music, and artifacts, including a chair from his study at Max Gate. Our Hardy Collection is one of the largest collections of Hardy materials in the United States.

Read more details about the Hardy Collection online.

HIGHLIGHTED DONORS FOR THIS COLLECTION

Colby Library Associates – primary donor

Carl Jefferson Weber – primary donor

Patrick Ferry

Waldo Peirce

 

Filed Under: 19th Century: 1860s-1890s, 20th Century: 1900s-1930s, Correspondence, Drama, Fiction, Manuscripts, Nonfiction, Photographs, Poetry

Bern Porter Collection

March 19, 2015 by Patricia Burdick

Joyceana
Porter created conceptual maps in addition to working in other art forms. He also experimented with photography, poetry, prose and publication techniques.

Bernard Harden Porter, Colby class of 1932, was a physicist, poet, artist, publisher, innovator and – throughout his life – a provocateur. Born in Houlton, Maine in 1911, he died in Belfast, Maine in 2004, ending a life filled with artistic and intellectual journeys and world travels. The June 1970 issue of the Colby Library Quarterly contains articles on Porter’s life and work up to that point.

Details about our Bern Porter Collection of Contemporary Letters are available online.

 PORTER AS DONOR

Porter offered copies of his various book publications to Curator Richard Cary in 1959. Cary opened a discussion with Porter about adding unpublished materials to his collection. Although Porter originally envisioned UCLA as the primary repository for his manuscripts and other materials, and he deposited a large quantity there, he chose Special Collections at Colby as the home for his later donations.

Additional works consulted:

Bern Porter Collection. Colby College Special Collections.

Bern Porter donor file. Colby College Special Collections.

 

 

Filed Under: 20th Century: 1900s-1930s, 20th Century: 1940s-1970s, Correspondence, Drama, Fiction, Manuscripts, Nonfiction, Photographs, Poetry, Works of Art

James Augustine Healy Collection

March 19, 2015 by Patricia Burdick

Honorary degree recipients 1955 Healy front left-resized
Colby’s 1955 honorary degree recipients. James Augustine Healy is seated, far left.

Born in Portland, Maine, James Augustine Healy was a great philanthropist and one of our major benefactors. He began his gifts to Colby in 1948. The college awarded him an honorary degree in 1955.

Student scholarship: Read a brief biography of James Augustine Healy written by Jui Shrestha, Class of 2007, Special Collections Assistant.

JAMES AUGUSTINE HEALY AS DONOR

Healy’s initial gifts to Special Collections were part of his Cuala Press collection and his first editions of novels by Irish-American James Brendan Connolly. Throughout the ’50s, he continued to add to his collection and also gave items for the Miller Library reference and circulating collections. In addition to his own gifts, Healy facilitated donations from other benefactors.

In 1954, Curator Carl Weber announced that Healy had decided to donate his entire personal library of modern Irish literature. The vast extent of this gift necessitated the building of a new reading room, which was funded by Healy and designed by Colby’s preferred architect, Jens Frederick Larson. The Healy Room was dedicated, in 1962, to Healy’s parents.

Healy became increasing dissatisfied with the curatorial decisions made by Curator Weber’s successor, Richard Cary, concerning his collection, especially the Connolly materials. President Strider noted to Cary in March 1965 that Healy had become embittered at having devoted so much of his life to a collection that he thinks is unappreciated and will not be used. In August 1965, Healy wrote angrily to Strider that Cary had buried the Connolly Collection within the contents of the Robinson Room.

In 1975, he repeated his wishes to revoke his 1955 honorary degree and to have the names of his parents removed from the Healy Room plaque. He made arrangements to relocate selected materials from his collection to the Hoover Institute at Stanford University and urged Brenda Connolly, daughter of James Brendan Connolly, to consider removing the materials from her father she had donated. Healy died in July 1975 feeling deep bitterness and outrage toward Colby for its apparent lack of regard for his wishes.

Following Healy’s death, several significant changes resolved major points of contention. Richard Cary retired as Curator in 1975 and was replaced by Special Collections Librarian Fraser Cocks. In 1976, Cocks relocated the Connolly materials from the Robinson Room to the Healy Room. Also in 1976, the college granted funds to produce an analytical guide for the Healy Collection. It was published in 1978.

Works consulted:

Annual Report of the Curator of Rare Books. Colbiana Collection. Colby College Special Collections.

Annual Report of the Librarian. Colbiana Collection. Colby College Special Collections.

James Augustine Healy donor file. Colby College Special Collections.

Report of the Special Collections Librarian, 1975-1976. Colbiana Collection. Colby College Special Collections.

COLLECTION DETAILS

The personal library of James Augustine Healy documents in rich detail the Irish Literary Renaissance. The Healy Collection also contains many unpublished materials – letters, manuscripts, notebooks and artwork – which are described online.

Filed Under: 20th Century: 1900s-1930s, 20th Century: 1940s-1970s, Correspondence, Drama, Fiction, Manuscripts, Nonfiction, Poetry, Works of Art

Waldo Peirce Collection

March 19, 2015 by Patricia Burdick

Waldo Peirce (1884-1970) was born in Bangor, Maine, and educated at Phillips Academy in Andover and Harvard University. He later studied at the Art Students League in New York City and at the Julian Academy in Paris.

Waldo Peirce sketching female students - 1944
Waldo Peirce sketching Colby coeds on the steps of the Women’s Union during a visit to Mayflower Hill in April 1944.

As an expatriate American, he drove ambulances for the French Army in World War I and led a bohemian life with notable companions such as Ernest Hemingway and John Reed. His later life was spent in Searsport, Maine, and Newburyport, Massachusetts, where he died at age 85.

His paintings and writings relate strongly to his travels and to the state of Maine.

Our Waldo Peirce Collection includes correspondence, manuscripts, and photographs related to Peirce’s life and work. Notable items are his personal scrapbooks from 1927 and 1928 in Pamplona, Spain, and Key West, Florida, documenting Peirce’s close friendship with Hemingway. The collection is described online.

WALDO PEIRCE AS DONOR

Colby College awarded Peirce an honorary degree in 1957. However, Peirce’s relationship with Special Collections began in 1966 when Peirce’s friend Gus D’Amico met Curator Richard Cary at a Colby event. Cary expressed interest in Peirce’s correspondence with Ernest Hemingway and contact between Peirce and Cary was established. Peirce donated letters of Hemingway and other correspondents beginning in April 1967, followed by other materials including his 1927-1928 scrapbooks.

Works consulted:

Cary, Richard. Letters to Waldo Peirce. 1966-1969. Colby College Special Collections.

Gallagher, William. “Waldo Peirce and Ernest Hemingway: Mirror Images.” Hemingway Review. Fall 2003.

Peirce, Waldo. Letters to Richard Cary. 1966-1969. Colby College Special Collections.

HIGHLIGHTED DONORS FOR THIS COLLECTION

In addition to primary donor Waldo Peirce:

Julius Seelye Bixler

Richard Cary

Bern Porter ’32

Filed Under: 20th Century: 1900s-1930s, 20th Century: 1940s-1970s, Correspondence, Manuscripts, Nonfiction, Photographs, Poetry, Works of Art

Edwin Arlington Robinson Collection

March 15, 2015 by Patricia Burdick

Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935) was born in Head Tide, Maine, but grew up in Gardiner.  Although his literary aspirations were discouraged by his family, he eventually attended Harvard but early on had little success in getting his work published. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt read and publicly admired Robinson’s 1897 book The Children of the Night, getting the book reprinted by a major publishing company and finding Robinson a job in the New York Customs House.  Starting in 1910, Robinson started to receive recognition as a poet and he won the Pulitzer Prize three times, in 1922 for Collected Poems, in 1924 for The Man Who Died Twice, and in 1927 for Tristram.  He died in 1935 just hours after finishing his last book, King Jasper.

The Gardiner Library Associates maintain a web site dedicated to Robinson’s life and work.

COLLECTION DETAILS

The Edwin Arlington Robinson Collection – one of our largest — contains nine linear feet of unpublished material, including over 1,200 unpublished letters by Robinson, as well as over 100 linear feet of published works; first and subsequent editions of Robinson’s works; related criticism; and many books from his personal library.  The collection also contains: photographs; writings and printed items created by family members, peers, other individuals, and organizations; Robinson’s personal items and academic regalia; and, artwork.

We have a finding aid and other descriptive information about the Robinson Collection online.

HIGHLIGHTED DONORS FOR THIS COLLECTION

H Bacon Collamore – primary donor

Ruth Robinson Nivison/Robinson Birthplace, Inc – primary donor

Margaret Perry – primary donor

Colby Library Associates

Susan Nichols Pulsifer

Laura E Richards

Clara (Mrs Carl Jefferson) Weber

 

Filed Under: 19th Century: 1860s-1890s, 20th Century: 1900s-1930s, Correspondence, Manuscripts, Photographs, Poetry, Works of Art

Lilla Cabot Perry Collection

March 3, 2015 by Patricia Burdick

Lilla Cabot Perry (1848-1933) was born in Boston and was a member of the prominent Cabot family. In 1874, she married Thomas Sergeant Perry, who taught briefly at Harvard and contributed literary criticism to prominent periodicals such as the Atlantic Monthly and North American Review. Through her husband, she became friends with writers such as Henry James and William Dean Howells. Primarily known as an artist, Perry was mentored by Claude Monet and helped introduce his impressionist techniques to the United States. The Perrys traveled throughout Europe and Japan. Increasingly, the family – Thomas, Lilla and daughters Margaret, Edith and Alice – relied financially on the income from Lilla’s paintings.

Read a biographical sketch on the National Museum of Women in the Arts web site.

COLLECTION DETAILS

William Dean Howells - LCP portrait - 1912
A rare portrait of William Dean Howells painted by Lilla Cabot Perry in 1912. Gift of her daughter, Margaret Perry.

As a poet, Lilla was a close friend and correspondent of Edwin Arlington Robinson. In 1916, she painted what is probably the best-known portrait of him, which is on permanent display in our Robinson Room. Our collection also includes her 1912 portrait of Howells.

In addition to the aforementioned portraits, our Lilla Cabot Perry Collection contains many letters as well as manuscripts, diaries, articles and memorabilia.

HIGHLIGHTED DONORS FOR THIS COLLECTION

Margaret Perry – primary donor

Ruth Robinson Nivison

Susan Nichols Pulsifer

Clara (Mrs Carl Jefferson) Weber

 

Filed Under: 19th Century: 1860s-1890s, 20th Century: 1900s-1930s, Correspondence, Fiction, Manuscripts, Nonfiction, Photographs, Poetry, Works of Art

Thomas Sergeant Perry Collection

March 3, 2015 by Patricia Burdick

Thomas Sergeant Perry (1845-1928) was born in Newport, Rhode Island into an illustrious family that included Commodore Oliver Perry (grandfather) and Commodore Matthew Perry (great-uncle). Benjamin Franklin was his great-great-grandfather on his mother’s side. He graduated from Harvard in 1866, studied abroad and tutored in French and German at Harvard before becoming editor of the North American Review. He was instructor in English at Harvard for five years.

In 1874, Perry married Lilla Cabot of Boston, who became a noted painter. The Perrys lived abroad for several years before he accepted an invitation in 1897 to teach at Keiogijiku University as Professor of English Literature. Returning home in 1901, the Perrys lived at their Boston home on Marlborough Street and at their summer residence, Flagstones, in Hancock, New Hampshire.

Perry was a respected, astute reader and a prolific translator and literary critic. He was lifelong friends with notable writers such as Henry James and William Dean Howells and poets Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer and Edwin Arlington Robinson. Perry died of complications from pneumonia at his Boston home in 1928.

Our collection contains letters, manuscripts and Perry’s personal library.

Works consulted:

Cocks, J Fraser. Report on Special Collections.. 1985. Colbiana Collection. Colby College Special Collections.

Robinson, Edwin Arlington. Selections from the Letters of Thomas Sergeant Perry. New York: Macmillan. 1929. Print.

HIGHLIGHTED DONORS FOR THIS COLLECTION

Margaret Perry – primary donor

Julius Seelye Bixler

Ruth Robinson Nivison

Susan Nichols Pulsifer

Clara (Mrs Carl Jefferson) Weber

Filed Under: 19th Century: 1860s-1890s, 20th Century: 1900s-1930s, Correspondence, Fiction, Manuscripts, Nonfiction, Photographs, Poetry, Works of Art

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