SUMMARY OF THE JAMES FAMILY COLLECTION

2016 Summer Research Assistant, Rose Nelson ‘16

The James Family collection at Colby is a collection of correspondences, manuscripts, and published materials from the family of Henry and William James as well as biographies and writings about its members. The James collection offers insight into the personal lives and relations of a Victorian family gifted with literary talent and plagued by mental and physical ailments.

The main family collection is housed in four boxes, with two more boxes listed under ‘Prince’ and two more under ‘Seelye’. Though many letters in the collection have been included in other works, a great part of it remains unpublished and available only through Special Collections here at Colby.

Key figures in the James Family collection include:

William James of Albany (1771-1832) Born in Ireland, came to Albany NY in 1793 and became a wealthy merchant. Father of Rev. William James (b.1797) by his 1^st marriage and of Henry James (b.1811) by his 3^rd.

At Colby: two wooden cabinets in the Special Collections entrance room, donated by his great-great-grandson Julius Seelye Bixler, former president of Colby.

Rev. William James (1797-1868) author of Grace for Grace, Presbyterian pastor. Half-brother to Henry James (b.1811), husband of Marcia L. A. James, father of Anna James Edwards (b.1826), Elizabeth James Seelye (b.1833), and Katharine James Prince (b.1834). Patriarch of what became the Seelye-Bixler part of the James family tree. His letters reveal family conflicts and his own struggle to mediate between his embedded values and his daughters’ wishes. A sickly man, he often talks about travelling to water cures and doctors for his head troubles.

At Colby: more than 70 letters, mostly to family, and an anonymous transcript of his last words.

Marcia Lucretia Ames James (1797-1886) daughter of artist Ezra Ames, wife of Rev. William James, mother of Anna James Edwards (b.1826), Elizabeth James Seelye (b.1833), and Katharine James Prince (b.1834). Deeply religious in her letters, Marcia often wrote to her daughters reminding them to look to God. Her letters show the worry and uncertainty of a mother with children far from home, and often focus on her worries for Katharine in particular.

At Colby: more than 80 letters, many to Elizabeth James Seelye.

Henry James Sr. (1811-1882) author of Substance and Shadow, The Secret of Swedenborg. Father of William James (the philosopher b.1842), Henry James (the novelist b.1843), Alice James (author of several journals b.1848), Garth James, and Robertson James. In a letter to his niece he describes a theological conflict between himself and his half-brother William, and regrets that he had not kept William’s letters, pointing to a divide between the two branches of the family.

At Colby: 7 letters to various recipients.

William James (1842-1910) philosopher, author of Principles of Pschyology, The Will to Believe, and Pragmatism. Brother to Henry James (b.1843) and father of Henry James Jr. (b.1879), William James Jr. (b.1882), Margaret Mary James (b.1887) and Alexander Robertson James (b.1890). Married to Alice Howe Gibbons (b.1849). In many of the letters contained in the Colby collection, James writes to his family- sharing things like his personal views on death and immortality with his sister after her breast cancer diagnosis, his uncertainty in choosing a profession, and his disappointment at his son for not writing.

At Colby: 63 letters, 40 to Katharine B.J. Prince.

Henry James (1843-1916) novelist and critic, author of The Turn of the Screw, Portrait of a Lady etc. Son of Henry James (b.1811), brother to William James (b.1842), unmarried, no children. The bulk of his correspondence housed at Colby is to his friend Thomas Sergeant Perry, to whom he describes his feelings about recent books, social scandals, the deaths of people close to him, and his numerous ailments and depressions. Colby also houses his letters to Vernon Lee that chronicle one half of their ‘international incident’.

At Colby: numerous small portraits; more than 150 letters including 12 letters to Violet Paget (a.k.a. Vernon Lee), approx. 90 to Thomas Sergeant Perry, 16 to Lilla Cabot Perry; several manuscripts of published works, published works, and autographed books.

Elizabeth Tillman James Seelye (1833-1881) Called ‘Libby’ or ‘Libbie’ in many letters. Daughter of Marcia L.A. James, cousin to William (b.1842) and Henry (b.1843), sister and close confidant of Katharine B.J. Prince (b.1834), wife of Julius H. Seelye (b.1824). Mother of William James Seelye (b.1857), Elizabeth James Seelye (b.1862), Anna Hawley Seelye (b.1866), and Mabel Seelye (b. 1871)

At Colby: Listed under ‘James’: recipient of a large body of letters from Marcia (b.1797) and Katharine (b.1834) Listed under ‘Seelye’: two boxes of correspondence to family and friends, Diary 1851-53.

Katharine Barber James Prince (1834-1890) Called ‘Kitty’ or ‘Kittie’ in many letters. Daughter of Marcia L.A. James, sister to Anna (b.1826) and Elizabeth (b.1833), cousin to Henry (b.1843) and William (b.1842). Kitty James was the unexpected hub of James family correspondence for many years. Institutionalized for her mental health and a prodigious writer, Kitty was the recipient of letters from all over the James family. More of her correspondence can be found under ‘Prince’ in the MS collections at Colby

At Colby: Listed under ‘James’: recipient of large body of letters from many James family members. Family photograph album. Listed under ‘Prince’: two boxes of correspondence, several pages of a diary, notebooks, story and journal fragments, one photograph- there are more than 500 letters to and from Kitty in the Colby collections.

 

 

Carroll Atwood Wilson (1887-1947)

By Makhieba Simon, Class of 2018

Carroll A. Wilson, born in 1887 a native of Benton Falls, Maine, grew up with several ties to Colby College. His father, Charles B. Wilson; grandfather, John B. Wilson and great-grandfather, Adam Wilson were graduates of Colby. His great uncles, George A. Wilson and Fred M. Wilson, were also Colby graduates, as well as trustees of the college. Wilson’s family connections had great influence on both his future relations with Colby and his scholarly endeavors.

As a boy, Wilson attended Westfield High School in his hometown of Westfield, MA. His collegiate education began with his enrollment at Williams College, which he attended from 1903 to 1907, graduating among the top five in his class. Upon graduating, Wilson enrolled in Harvard Law School; there he received the Rhodes scholarship, which permitted him three years residence at Oxford and an annual allowance of $1,500. In the fall of 1907, after only one year at Harvard, he continued his study of law at the Worcester College of Oxford. In 1911, Wilson graduated Worcester College with a Bachelor of Civil Law degree. When he returned to the U.S, the nation’s involvement in World War 1 compelled him to serve as a Lieutenant in the Coast Artillery. In the years succeeding his service in World War 1, Wilson promptly established the accredited titles of attorney, businessman, bibliographer and author. Finally utilizing his B.C.L degree, Wilson began his law practice at the Hurlburt, Jones & Hall firm in Boston. He furthered his career as an attorney in 1921 as general counsel for the Guggenheim Brothers firm in New York, where he remained for almost two and a half decades. In conjunction with his law practice, Wilson worked as director of Chilean Nitrate Sales Corporation and Pacific Tin Consolidated, along with several other companies. Later, he was elected vice president of the American Smelting and Refining Company. Apart from his success as an attorney, businessman and former U.S serviceman, Wilson was also a renowned scholar and figure in the realm of higher education.

Prior to 1946 he assumed the roles of trustee of Williams College, director of the Association of American Rhodes Scholars and for many years, trustee of the Guggenheim Foundation. He was also named the vice president of the Bibliographical Society of America and chairman of its committee on publications. Wilson’s well-earned titles were primarily acquired by his collection of scholarly works. He authored several books and papers, completed work in connection with the writings of novelists Anthony Trollope, Thomas Hardy, Samuel Butler and Oliver Wendell Holmes, and composed a bibliography of works by the theatrical partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan. Some of his works “A Descriptive Catalogue of the Grolier Club Centenary” (1940), “Exhibition of the Works of Thomas Hardy” (1946) and “Eight Hundred Years of Fine Printing” (1946), were produced by the Colby Library Quarterly. In addition, he composed “Some Hardy Corrections and Notes” (1941) for the Colby Mercury. Wilson’s high intellect and personal attainments were awarded with honorary degrees from the esteemed colleges Colby (1940), Williams and Wesleyan.

Generous as he was scholarly, Wilson frequently donated books from his personal collection to the Williams and Colby College libraries. In 1939, he gifted Colby with several books from his Thomas Hardy collection. In addition to his donations to Colby, he frequently held lectures at the College. He also contributed to Colby by introducing Colby Professor, Carl Weber to H. Bacon Collamore, an insurance executive at Hartford. The introduction led to the addition of Edwin Arlington Robinson materials and other major collections, to the Special Collections department of Miller Library. Until his death in 1947, Wilson continued to bestow gifts upon the Miller Library. He left behind his second wife, formerly known as Jean C. Shelly, and two sons from his first marriage to the former Doris A. Janes. As a significant figure in the history of Colby, his benevolence will continue to be remembered as a significant portion of the college’s history.

Works Consulted

“Carroll Wilson, Guggenheim aide.” New York Times (1923-Current File) 28 June 1947: 13. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times. Web. 20 July 2015.

Carroll A. Wilson donor file. Colby College Special Collections.

Marriner, Ernest Cummings. “The Library.” The History of Colby College. Waterville: Colby College, 1963. 491. Print.

“Rhodes Scholar.” Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922) 13 Mar. 1908: 3. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Boston Globe. Web. 20 July 2015.

“Viscount Bennett.” Daily Boston Globe (1928-1960) 28 June 1947: 10. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Boston Globe. Web. 20 July 2015.

by Meghan Kelly, Class of 2017

Richard Cary was born on November 18, 1909 in New York City, which he later described as “where I was born and grew up and will never forget but like most of the tourists wouldn’t live there now!” (1, 2). While growing up, he showed talent as a boxer (3). Before becoming an academic, he worked with inner city patients as a social worker (4). During World War II, Cary served in the Military Police on prisoner of war detail (5). In 1948, he received his Bachelor of Arts from New York University (6), graduating Phi Beta Kappa (1). He received a Master of Arts from NYU in 1949 and went on to earn a Ph.D. in American literature from Cornell University (7, 8). During his tenure at Colby, Cary resided in Waterville with his wife, Frances Perkins (1, 5). He enjoyed life in Maine, though he was often dissatisfied with the weather: “Summer, which didn’t come this summer, is still lurking around these parts. But then, anything above absolute zero is summer in Maine” (9).

Cary joined the Colby faculty in September 1952, and taught in the English department for twenty-three years (6, 7). He was a devoted and exacting teacher. Colleague Professor Eileen Curran described his popularity: “Some advisees whom I signed into Dick’s classes with some fear and trembling—not my most disciplined advisees, and Dick honors discipline—returned with their lowest grades and highest praise of any instructor” (4). When he began teaching, English students chose to major in either English or American literature. Cary, as an authority on the study of American literature, “looked out for the interests of his majors (woe betide the comprehensive examination committee that brought in an exam unfairly weighted towards the English lit major) and at the same time insisted that American and English must be parts of one department, with no student neglecting either side” (4).

In 1958, after his predecessor Professor Carl Weber retired, Cary began editing the Colby Library Quarterly and the Colby College Press and serving as curator of rare books and manuscripts, all of which he did for seventeen years (4). As curator, Cary worked to develop Special Collections in depth, breadth, and reputation. He traveled throughout Maine and the eastern United States, making contacts with potential donors and examining valuable items in their libraries (10). Cary also corresponded with donors to express gratitude and encourage further donations, as in this letter to Waldo Pierce: “…I appreciate that the monetary estimate is secondary to you, as it is with us. These documents and association materials are worth infinitely more to us in the sense of (a) friendship, and (b) preservation of significant literary materials” (11). These kinds of letters assured donors that the Colby Library would value and care for their gifts. Exacting attention to detail represented a hallmark of his work in Special Collections, which Professor Curran noted teasingly in her speech: “Dick’s meticulousness can be counted on. He was chagrined to discover this year that (through no fault of his) Special Collections has overspent its allocation by seventeen cents” (4). During his time as curator, the holdings of letters and manuscripts in Special Collections quadrupled. Cary focused on materials by and about Maine writers. His philosophy towards Special Collections focused on highlighting it relevance for scholarship at Colby (4).

Colleagues also praised Cary’s editorship of the Quarterly. Professor Curran commented that during his years as editor, the journal grew in size and circulation, and focused on the materials in Special Collections (4). Reading the Quarterly, one notes this shift in content; within a year or two of Cary’s beginnings as editor, the journal devoted far less space to the reporting of acquisitions that had once been central to its content. Instead, Cary printed many more articles of literary criticism, particularly relating to authors who were prominent in Special Collections. Beginning in June 1959, Cary wrote at least one article for each issue, with Colby’s president Robert Strider describing him as “the mainstay in just about every issue for seventeen years” (4, 10).

Cary was well-known in academic circles of his time, especially for scholarship on Maine authors such as Edwin Arlington Robinson and Sarah Orne Jewett (6, 8). He wrote or edited thirteen books and more than one hundred articles (6). Nine of his books were about Robinson or Jewett; the other four included editions of Hardy’s work and one book each on Bayard Taylor and Mary Murfree. His published articles covered “every major literary figure represented in the Special Collections at Colby,” including Robinson, Jewett, Ben Ames Williams, and Violet Paget (10). Professor Curran noted that Professor Cary’s focus on Robinson and Jewett came from a conscious choice to base his studies on the holdings in Special Collections: “…so long as he was curator, editor, and manager of things entitled ‘Colby’ he conscientiously made the interests of the collections his interests…When we advertised this past year for a Special Collections librarian, it was clear that many applicants wanted nothing better than to come, somehow hide or avoid our present collections, and introduce their hobby horses. We could have had an emphasis on everything from comic books to medieval Italian philosophy. Dick’s way was so different that most of the time we didn’t realize how different it was” (4).

Cary retired from Colby in June 1975 (10). Although his academic career focused on Robinson and Jewett, his greatest interest was in the poetry of Walt Whitman (4). Cary once wrote the following about the poet: “Since I was kneehigh to a leaf of grass I have been under the spell of his resonance and comprehensive vision. As a critic, I consider him the finest poet America has yet produced” (12). Cary planned to return to his research on Whitman during retirement, though he continued studying Jewett (6). Apparently he enjoyed this work, for Reverend Mark Benbow said in Cary’s funeral service that “When I last saw Dick he was quietly excited by his continuing work on Jewett which he thought would lead to an entirely new approach” (3). He passed away in Waterville on June 27, 1990, at the age of 80 (8). His colleagues at Colby remembered him “for his perceptive editorship of the CLQ, for his management of the Press, and for his teaching and scholarship” (10).

Works Cited

1. “Richard Cary dies; author, Colby prof.” Richard Cary Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections. Waterville, Maine.

2. Cary, Richard. Letter to Waldo Pierce. 9 January 1968. Richard Cary Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.

3. Benbow, Mark R. “Memorial Service for Richard Cary.” 5 July 1990. Richard Cary Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections. Waterville, Maine.

4. Curran, Eileen. “Remarks made at Faculty-Trustee Dinner, 31 May 1975, on the occasion of Professor Richard Cary’s retirement.” Richard Cary Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections. Waterville, Maine.

5. Colby College—Faculty Data, Richard Cary. Richard Cary Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections. Waterville, Maine.
6. “Professor Cary Retires.” Colby Alumnus Summer 1975. Richard Cary Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections. Waterville, Maine.

7. “Richard Cary: A Checklist.” Colby Library Quarterly Vol. 11, Iss. 2 (1975). Richard Cary Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections. Waterville, Maine.

8. “Faculty and Staff: English Professor.” January 1991. Richard Cary Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections. Waterville, Maine.

9. Cary, Richard. Letter to Waldo Pierce. 31 October 1967. Richard Cary Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.

10. Strider, Robert E. L., II. “Richard Cary.” Colby Library Quarterly Vol. 11, Iss. 2 (1975). Richard Cary Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections. Waterville, Maine.

11. Cary, Richard. Letter to Waldo Pierce. 19 March 1968. Richard Cary Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.

12. Cary, Richard. Letter to Waldo Pierce. 6 May 1966. Richard Cary Collection,Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.

by Meghan Kelly, Class of 2017

As scholar and professor, curator and editor, Carl Jefferson Weber is prominent in Colby’s history. He served on the faculty at Colby for thirty-nine years, as an English professor (receiving the title Roberts Professor of English Literature in 1928 and the chairmanship of that department for thirty years, until 1953, Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, in which capacity he developed Special Collections into a more prominent archive than it had ever been before, as the editor of the Colby Library Quarterly, and as the founder and editor of the Colby College Press (1, 4). Recognized in scholarly circles beyond the scope of Colby, Professor Weber was known as one of the world’s preeminent experts on the life and writings of British author Thomas Hardy. His devotion to the study of Hardy was so great that according to a story circulating within Maine academic circles, one of his children once told a family friend that “‘We call [the cat] Tess after Tess of the D’Urbervilles…so that papa will let us keep it” (6).

Born in Baltimore in 1894, Weber received his first bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1914 (2). He then received a Rhodes scholarship to study at Queens College at Oxford, England, where he earned a second bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree (2). During the First World War, he served an adjutant officer in the 69th Field Artillery (3). After the war, he returned to the United States and began teaching at Colby in 1918 (2). From 1920 to 1922, he taught at his alma mater Johns Hopkins and the United States Naval Academy; in 1922, he returned to Colby (2). In 1921, he married Clara Carter (Colby ’21) (2). The couple had two children, David in 1924 and Dorothy 1926 (2).

Weber was an unusually prolific scholar; he so regularly published books and articles on Thomas Hardy that he acquired the nickname of “Colby’s Hardy Perennial” (4). Some of his more significant books on Hardy include Hardy of Wessex, a biography originally published in 1940 (4); Hardy and the Lady from Madison Square, a book detailing the relationship between Hardy and a Ms. Rebekah Owen of New York, who became so interested in Hardy’s writing that she traveled to England, developing a close relationship with him (6); Hardy at Colby, a compilation describing all Hardy-related materials in the Colby library to that date (7); Dearest Emmie, a collection of Thomas Hardy’s letters to his first wife, Emma Lavinia Gifford (8); and Hardy’s Love Poems, a compilation of poetry Hardy wrote to Emma Hardy (9).

In addition to these original publications, Weber contributed introductions and annotation to various reprints of many of Hardy’s novels, including Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure (10). In a piece of literary detective work which garnered him much attention, Weber accumulated evidence that a Hardy novella published in the magazine “New Quarterly” was in reality most of Hardy’s first, unpublished and called “lost,” novel, An Indiscretion in the Life of an Heiress, which two publishers rejected in novel form (11). Other significant books by Weber include A Bibliography of the Published Writings of Jacob Abbot (12); A Centennial Bibliography of the Published Writings of Sarah Orne Jewett, which he wrote in collaboration with Clara Weber (4); A Thousand and One Fore-Edge Paintings (13); a Centennial Edition of Edward FitzGerald’s famous translation of “Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam” (14); and The Rise and Fall of James Ripley Osgood (15). At time of his retirement as chair of the English department in 1953, he had authored more publications than anyone associated with Colby (4).

Despite the significance of his scholarship and teaching, Weber’s work as the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts in Special Collections in the library is often considered his most important legacy. While in this position, he worked to build Special Collections’ prominence as an archive, in particular contributing to the accumulation of one of the most complete collections on the life and works of Thomas Hardy in the world. Weber took great personal pride in the quality of the Hardy collection; he wrote in the Colby Alumnus in 1940 that despite “making all due allowances for the superiorities that may justly be claimed by certain specialists among Hardy collectors, we can still feel assured that ours is more varied, more extensive, more complete, in certain fields more exhaustive, than any other” (16). Crucial to this growth was Weber’s skill in attracting donors to the library. As each new donation improved the quality of Special Collections, the archive’s reputation in the realm of academia spread and more donors became motivated to contribute to the library. A friend of Weber’s is reported to have described this ability: “Professor Weber makes you feel he is doing you a favor when he accepts a book, because you know it will have loving treatment and permanent care” (4).

Another contribution of Weber’s was his foundation of the Colby Library Quarterly in 1943 (17), which he continued to edit until his retirement in 1959 (4). The Quarterly printed scholarly articles related to items held in Special Collections in the library and documented expansions of the library, whether through donation or purchase (17). The Quarterly became well known among a variety of American universities and research libraries, a status attained by few publications of small college libraries; many Colby officials attribute this success in part to the editorship of Professor Weber (4). Weber is also known for editing the Colby College Press, which his close relationship with a prominent American printer named Fred Anthoensen helped make successful (4). He served in this capacity for thirteen years, from 1946 until his retirement in 1959 (18). The Press printed primarily publications authored by scholars affiliated with Colby, including many pieces by Weber himself.

In 1959, Carl Weber retired after thirty nine years on the faculty at Colby (1). In the year following his retirement, he traveled over twenty-two thousand miles giving lectures at universities throughout the United States; he also taught a seminar on poetry of the Romantic Revival at the University of Colorado in the spring semester of 1960 (19). In 1964, he won a research grant from the American Council of Learned Societies, which he used to study the letters of Thomas Hardy (20). Weber passed away in December of 1966 at age 72 (21). His death was felt throughout the Colby community as well as within his immediate family.

Works Cited

1. “Carl Jefferson Weber, Prominent Man, Retires,” March 11, 1959. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
2. Weber, Carl Jefferson. Faculty Biographical Information for Colby College Publicity Department. 7 February 1946. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
3. Weber, Carl Jefferson. Faculty Biographical Information for Colby College Publicity Department. 6 November 1950. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
4. “Editor, Teacher, Scholar.” Colby Alumnus April 1953: 6-8. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
5. Telegram Chuckle. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
6. “New Book By Prof. Carl J. Weber Deals With Events in Hardy’s Life.” Waterville Morning Sentinel 7 April, 1952. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
7. Lord, Alice Frost. “Hardyana at Colby College Is Unique in Literary World—Work of Prof. Weber.” Lewiston Journal Illustrated Magazine Section. 1 August 1936. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
8. “Hardy Letters Are Edited by Prof. Carl Weber.” Waterville Morning Sentinel. 23 May 1963. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections
9. “A Selection from Early Reviews: Hardy’s Love Poems.” St. Martin’s Press. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
10. Press Release, Department of Public Relations, Colby College. 12 December 1956. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
11. Morley, Christopher. “An Indiscretion.” Streamliners (1933). Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
12. “Another Book in Colby College Series.” 23 September 1948. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
13. “Books Published Today.” New York Times. 2 May 1949. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
14. “Colby Hails Centenary of a Famous Book.” Colby College Press. 31 March 1959. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
15. Press Release, Department of Public Relations, Colby College. 27 November 1959. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
16. Weber, Prof. Carl J. “The Hardy Collection at Colby.” The Colby Alumnus. April 1940: 5-8. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
17. Introduction. Nineteenth Century English Books. University of Illinois Press, 1952. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
18. “Elder Statesman in the World of Scholarship.” The Colby Alumnus. Fall1959: 16-17. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
19. Press Release, Department of Public Relations, Colby College. 18 December 1959. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
20. Press Release, Department of Public Relations, Colby College. 17 January 1964. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
21. “Dr. Carl J. Weber, Former Colby Professor and Noted Writer, Dies.” Waterville Morning Sentinnel. 20 December 1966. Carl J. Weber Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.

By Jui Shrestha, Class of 2007

James Augustine Healy (1890 – July 22, 1975) was a philanthropist and active proponent of Irish literature. He was one of the first Irish-American success stories. One of four children, Healy was born to John and Catherine Deane Healy in Portland, Maine. Though a minority, the Irish-American immigrant families were growing in number and becoming politically active in this small Yankee port city. John Healy held a coveted job of a purser and steward on steamers running between Portland and New York. James Augustine grew up around this bustling harbor. Young Gus, as the family named him, went to New York at the age of 12 when the family moved there in 1902.

By 1904, he had secured a position as a page boy on the New York Stock Exchange. He made a name as the youngest telephone clerk to be employed on the Exchange floor. He went on to have an illustrious Wall Street career. His experience landed him a position with Shearson, Hammill & Co. as a telephone clerk. The New York Times later reported that Healy handled the sale of 160,000 shares of United States Steel Company in an hour, the largest volume ever sold at the Exchange in such a short time. In 1924, he bought a seat on the Big Board for $82,000 and shortly thereafter was made a partner in Kinkead, Florentino & Co. During WWI when the Exchange was closed, he was the secretary to the Director of the Commission for Relief in Belgium. He became lifelong friends with Texan oil man “Buckskin Joe” Cullinan who provided support to Ireland’s fight for freedom and Herbert Hoover who went on to become a U.S. President.

Although a powerful figure in the finance world, Healy lived a quiet life with his wife Josephine in their New York residence at 350 Central Park West. He also had a summer home on Chebeague Island in Casco Bay. He was dedicated to promoting Irish history and culture. Interest in his father’s homeland prompted him to start collecting books by Irish writers. As his collection grew, he felt it would be more suitably housed in college libraries. Thus, Colby College became the recipient of the James Augustine Healy Collection of 19^th and 20^th Century Literature, which include the Connolly collection, Cuala Press Publications, a personal collection of Irish Renaissance books, manuscripts, a generous endowment and the establishment of the John and Catherine Healy room. In recognition of his work Colby awarded him an honorary degree as doctor of humane letters. He also received the Eire Society gold medal in 1959. Healy built up a collection of modern Irish history at the Hoover Institution in Stanford University, California. He also added on to the libraries of Boston College, Villanova, Cornell, Kansas University and the library of the American Historical Society, New York. His dedication to Irish literature was such that he sent all the first editions of the twenty-five books by James Brendan Connolly, an American-Irish novelist, to the National Library of Ireland, Dublin. His benevolence was not limited to literature. He always felt a special connection with Maine and considered Portland home. In 1947, he and Josephine contributed $115,000 to Portland’s Mercy Hospital fund drive. Later another donation of half-million dollars was made to the hospital. He had a keen interest in the city and would comment on details regarding the possible expansion of the hospital. His donation of early modern paintings to the Portland Museum of Art marked a turning point in the museum’s history as the board members were staunch upholders of the regional landscape tradition. He valued the Maine coastline and wanted to eventually come live in the bay. However, he passed away in his New York home on 22 July 1975, at the age of 84, following his wife Josephine’s death in January.

Sources consulted:
The Colby Alumnus. Summer 1955.
Portland Press Herald. March 23, 1959.
Curtayne, Alice. The Critic. August – September 1961. Vol. XX No.1.The New York Times. Thursday, July 24, 1975.
The Colby Alumnus. Fall 1975.
Barry, William David. Portland Monthly Magazine. May 1976.

by Meghan Kelly, Class of 2017

The Colby Library Quarterly, first printed in 1943 in Portland and edited by Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts Carl J. Weber, served the interests of the Colby library in multiple ways (2). A subscription to the quarterly cost two dollars per year, which today translates to about twenty-six dollars; these funds supported the expansion of the library (1). A variety of content appeared in the Quarterly, ranging from documentation of the library’s growth and efforts at attracting new donations to scholarly articles related to library materials.

One of the Quarterly’s primary functions was to report the growth of the library through both donations and purchases. Over the years, the library acquired a variety of materials, many of which were published manuscripts as diverse as a 1792 first edition of Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Women (2), a Japanese translation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, donated to Colby by a Japanese officer before his government suppressed the translation (3), and a book of biblical commentary by Nicholas de Lyra, Moralia super totam Bibliam, given by Arthur G. Robison of the class of 1906 (4). The library struggled to identify the provenance of de Lyra’s book because several pages listing the publisher’s? information had been destroyed; initially, librarians believed that the book had been printed in Germany in about 1487 (4). An article in a subsequent issue identified the book as printed in Italy in 1481 by Paul von Butzbach, making it the second oldest book in the library at that time (5). Since its publication, this edition of Moralia became rare and valuable; in March 1947, a copy sold for one hundred dollars, which is a little over one thousand dollars today (5).

The Quarterly also documented the acquisition of diverse unpublished materials, often personal writings like letters and diaries, which help to illuminate the lives of both prominent historical figures and persons connected to Colby’s past. For instance, Elijah Parish Lovejoy, a Colby alumnus, was a printer who became a vehement opponent of slavery, and ultimately lost his life defending his printing press from a pro-slavery mob (6). In 1947, one of his descendents donated a diary of his and the letter he wrote to his parents after experiencing a religious conversion, which led him to become a minister and ultimately stimulated his abolitionist work (6). The text of this letter, which appeared in the November 1947 issue, clearly shows Lovejoy’s change of religious perspective and his eagerness to undertake God’s work, which he came to see as involving opposition to slavery. Letters exchanged between a member of the Colby community and Willa Cather, in which Cather debunks previously published rumors that the poet A. E. Housman was rude to her during a visit to him, joined the library’s collection that same year (7). The letters, excerpts of which appear in the November 1947 issue, show Cather’s irritation at those rumors; she writes, “Some day I intend to write a careful and accurate account of that visit for persons who are particularly interested” (7).

The Quarterly did not simply report the growth of the library, but actively facilitated that growth. Issues periodically contained requests for existing members of the Colby Library Associates (an organization which worked to purchase books for and attract donations to the library) to persuade their friends to join as well. For instance, one article mentioning that Publisher’s Weekly had praised the Quarterly also commented that that “…in our own Colby circles you may safely report, without fear of contradiction, that we would flourish much more luxuriantly if each member of the Colby Library Associates would gain another Associate for our membership between now and the time the snow will fly” (11).

The Quarterly also printed specific lists of books wanted by the library. Frequently articles coupled news of a new donation with mention of remaining holes in the collection to which it belonged and pleas to readers to fill them. This strategy proved particularly effective in the building of the collection of books by Jacob Abbot, a nineteenth century Maine author of over 200 books (12). In the January 1946 issue, an article related the donation of copies of nine books in a series about a boy called Little Rollo and a request for the rest, as well as for books missing from his series of biographies of famous historical personages (12). The article reads, “Since many of the books of this prolific Farmington author are of the sort that have sometimes been relegated to the attic, it is quite possible that readers of these lines may be able to find under the eaves copies which will fill some of the gaps in our collection” (12). This strategy apparently worked, as the October 1946 issue relayed donations of many additional volumes for the collection, though not all of those missing, since the reader is still asked if he or she “will look your attic over?” (13).

Yet the Quarterly was not simply a catalogue of library growth but also a scholarly publication, with a particular focus on promoting the reputation of scholarship at Colby College. As such, the magazine occasionally contained reviews of books written by Colby faculty, such as Donald Smalley’s largely complementary evaluation of Hardy in America, written by Carl Jefferson Weber (10). The Quarterly frequently printed scholarly pieces related to collections in the library, such as a history of the provenance of a John Brown letter written shortly before his hanging which Colby initially (and incorrectly) claimed was the original copy; the article describes the process of historical and lithographic detection undergone to determine which of several copies was truly the original letter (9). This emphasis on scholarship significantly contributed to the Quarterly’s prominence beyond the Colby circle—the libraries of many universities and research institutions carried it, a rare achievement for a library journal of an undergraduate school (14).

Works cited:

1. “Series One of the Colby Library Quarterly.” Colby Library Quarterly August 1947.
2. “Untitled Article.” Colby Library Quarterly August 1947: 50-52.
3. “Deep in the Heart of China.” Colby Library Quarterly January 1946: 208-209.
4. “Notes by the Way.” Colby Library Quarterly October 1946: 258-264.
5. “Our Second-Oldest Incunabulum.” Colby Library Quarterly August 1947: 44-46.
6. Palmer, Norman D. “The Conversion of Elijah Parish Lovejoy and its Results.” Colby Library Quarterly November 1947: 53-58.
7. Weber, Carl J. “Willa Cather’s Call on Housman.” Colby Library Quarterly November 1947: 61-64.
8. Stutler, Boyd B. “John Brown’s Letter.” Colby Library Quarterly May 1947: 17-36.
9. Smalley, Donald. “Hardy in America, By Carl J. Weber.” Rev. of Hardy in America by Carl Weber. Colby Library Quarterly October 1946.
10. “The ‘New Colophon’.” Colby Library Quarterly August 1948: 117-120.
11. “Desiderata.” Colby Library Quarterly January 1946: 215-216.
12. “Notes by the Way.” Colby Library Quarterly October 1946: 258-262.
13. “Editor, Teacher, Scholar.” Colby Alumnus April 1953: 6-8. Carl J. Weber Collection,Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.

“The Library Is Inside: The Colby Library Associates” by Meghan Kelly, Class of 2017

In their own words, the organization of the Colby Library Associates “makes possible the purchase of works which often could not be afforded within the library budget (1). Though founded in the midst of the great campus move from downtown Waterville to Mayflower Hill, the Associates focused not on the construction of new buildings but on buying books and materials for the inside of the iconic Miller Library, something which set them apart from the rest of the college. As their founder Frederick Pottle wrote in 1941, “Remember: a library is not a building. The library is inside” (2). The Associates took great pride in this contrast, seeing their work as a contribution to the tradition of scholarship at Colby. They dedicated themselves to the library so single-mindedly that they used membership dues primarily or exclusively for books (3). The Associates balanced the different needs of the collection, buying materials across disciplines and for the general and reference collections, though a significant share of purchases was for the Robinson Treasure Room. Some members wanted to buy books which many students would use, while others favored rare books and manuscripts for the Treasure Room. Pottle insisted that general and reference books should be a priority for the organization: “The curse of Library Associates’ groups is exclusive addiction to…‘Rare-Bookmanism’…I cannot tell you what satisfaction it gives me to see us adding to the Colby collections such…sturdy, useful, unpretentious and not-very-rare work[s]” (4). Yet Pottle suffered from the same “‘Rare-Bookmanism”’ of many Associates, writing that “bread-and-butter books do not inflame us with a passion for learning for its own sake. Old books, rare books, sometimes do—even if we have only seen them displayed in a case” (5). The belief that rare materials would incite scholarship among students became a hallmark of the organization’s collecting philosophy.

Beyond adding to collection, the Associates hoped to create a culture of literary and library engagement on campus. To that end, the organization held regular events accompanied by exhibits from Special Collections, in which speakers addressed members and the Colby community on literary, artistic, and historic topics related to library holdings. Maine author Henry Beston gave a lecture (6), and Colby classics instructor Henry J. Dell discussed advances in the study of the languages of ancient Greece and Crete (7). The Associates hoped that the lectures and displays of rare materials would create enthusiasm for books and the library among students and faculty, motivating future donations. The Associates’ goal of supporting faculty research appears in both the talks given by professors and the organization’s efforts to purchase books that the faculty needed for their research (8). The Associates believed that assisting professors’ research would benefit their students as well, furthering scholarship on multiple levels.

The Associates valued student engagement, which they achieved in several ways. Students periodically delivered the talks, enabling the Associates to support undergraduate scholarship directly. At one meeting, students Barbette Blackington and Arthur Kimball lectured on the paintings of Joseph Turner and John Ruskin (9). According to Pottle, the meetings offered “almost the only opportunity the undergraduates have to meet informally with members of the Faculty to discuss matters of literature and scholarship” (2). In 1948, the Associates established the office of two student vice presidents, who served as a “go-between between students and faculty” and recruited student members (10, 11). To encourage students to join, the Associates discounted the undergraduate membership to fifty cents per year, while regular members paid five dollars (12, 13). Members could either pay dues directly or donate their membership in books, often from desiderata publicized by the Associates (13).

After establishing themselves through the second half of the 1930s, the Associates enjoyed their heyday during the 1940s and 1950s. Despite such tumultuous world events as World War II, membership grew steadily at first, from eighty-eight members in 1939-1940 (14) to one hundred sixty-two regular members and seventy undergraduates in 1946-1947 (1). Pottle and Vice President and Curator of Rare Books Carl Weber facilitated this growth by writing individual solicitation letters (15). But after Pottle left the presidency of the Associates and Weber retired from active employment at Colby in 1959, membership growth began to decline (15). Student membership dwindled as well, which the Associates attributed to “the increased competition of student activities on the campus” (16).  To avoid this reduction, Pottle suggested that “our local group, both by tactful variation of its programs to include speakers on the history of music and the visual arts and by frequent purchase of important books in those fields, might continue to hold its place as the leading organization at Colby for the discussion of the arts in general” (17). Despite their efforts, the Associates were never able to reverse the trend of declining student membership. Since dues provided the Associates’ most reliable funds for book-buying, reductions in membership had significant repercussions for the organization.

The decline during the 1960s and 1970s appears across the spectrum of the organization’s activities. In 1968, the Associates discontinued the position of student vice president “because it was felt that they no longer served a useful function (18),” reflecting reduced student engagement in the organization. The public events, at first well-attended by both undergraduates and members—for example, ninety-five was the average attendance during the academic year of 1947-1948, became less popular with time (15, 19). In response, the Associates scheduled fewer meetings each semester (20) and appropriated funds to buy refreshments for the events (18, 21-28), perhaps hoping to increase attendance. During their decline, the Associates’ purchasing policy shifted between 1965 and 1973 to focus on the Treasure Room (18, 21-27). This development in part represents a change in leadership, as Richard Cary, who replaced Weber as Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, favored purchases for the Treasure Room (30), but may also have led students to believe that the Associates had less relevance to student life, contributing to the decline of the organization.

There was a brief attempt to reestablish the Associates from 1976 into the early 1980s, fueled largely by the energy of the new librarian J. Fraser Cocks, who replaced Cary after his retirement. Cocks was energetic and eager to revitalize the organization; yet he struggled to define what the Associates might look like in the future, and any attempts to modernize met with resistance from Cary. This resistance is clear in Cary’s virulent criticism of Cocks’s draft of a new mission statement for the Associates, which called for purchasing audiovisual materials and video and computer equipment as well as traditional acquisitions for the library and Special Collections (29). Cary called these new objectives “as distant for the founding principles of the group as Earth is from Uranus” (30). This kind of tension between tradition and modernization troubled the Associates throughout Cocks’s attempt to reestablish the organization, which faded by the early 1980s. Placed in its historical context, the downturn in the membership and activity of the Associates emerges as part of the counterculture movement of the 1960s and 1970s. The prevailing spirit of dissention and protest left fewer students interested in organized membership. The Library Associates’ ties to older and more established traditions may have seemed particularly distant to students focused on such current issues as the Vietnam War.

Works Cited
1. Warner, Gilmore. Letter to the Colby Library Associates. 1947. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
2. Pottle, Frederick A. Letter to the Colby Library Associates: “Report to the Members of the Colby Library Associates, 1940-1941. 1941. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
3. Humphry, James III. Meeting Minutes, Colby Library Associates, 10 June 1950. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
4. Pottle, Frederick. Address to the Colby Library Associates (in absentia). 11 June 1949. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
5. Pottle, Frederick. “Presidential Address, Colby Library Associates, 1951.” June 1951. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
6. “Maine Author Will Address Library Assoc.” Waterville Morning Sentinel. 5 October, 1950. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
7. “Colby Library Group to Meet.” Waterville Morning Sentinel. 3 March, 1960. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
8. Weber, Carl J. Letter to Faculty Members of the Colby Library Associates. 20 September 1956. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
9. “Will Discuss Paintings With Library Associates.” Waterville Morning Sentinel. 5 December, 1951. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
10. Libbey, F. Elizabeth. Meeting Minutes, Colby Library Associates, 19 June 1948. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
11. Libbey, F. Elizabeth. Meeting Minutes, Colby Library Associates, 11 June 1949. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
12. “Back Matter.” Colby Library Quarterly: Vol. 1: Iss. 1 (January 1943). Print.
13. Pottle, Frederick A. “The Colby Library Associates, 1937-1938.” The Colby Alumnus Apr. 1938: 7-8. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
14. “1939-1940 Members of the Colby Library Associates.” June 3 1940. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
15. Pottle, Frederick. “Remarks by Dr. Pottle.” 6 June 1959. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
16. Humphry, James III. Meeting Minutes, Colby Library Associates, 9 June 1956. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
17. Pottle, Frederick. Letter to the Colby Library Associates. 19 June 1948. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
18. Blake, Kenneth P., Jr. Secretary-Treasurer’s Report for the Academic Year 1967/68. 1968. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
19. Humphry, James III. Letter to the Colby Library Associates. June 1948. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
20. Weber, Carl J. “A Report to the Annual Meeting of the Colby Library Associates by the Chairman of the Program Committee.” 28 June 1947. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
21. Blake, Kenneth P., Jr. Secretary-Treasurer’s Report for the Academic Year 1972/73.1973. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
22. Blake, Kenneth P., Jr. Secretary-Treasurer’s Report for the Academic Year 1971/72. 1972. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
23. Blake, Kenneth P., Jr. Secretary-Treasurer’s Report for the Academic Year 1970/71. 1971. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
24. Blake, Kenneth P., Jr. Secretary-Treasurer’s Report for the Academic Year 1969/70. 1970. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
25. Blake, Kenneth P., Jr. Secretary-Treasurer’s Report for the Academic Year 1968/69. 1969. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
26. Blake, Kenneth P., Jr. Secretary-Treasurer’s Report for the Academic Year 1965/66. 1966. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
27. Blake, Kenneth P., Jr. Secretary-Treasurer’s Report for the Academic Year 1966/67. 1967. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
28. Blake, Kenneth P., Jr. Secretary-Treasurer’s Report for the academic Year 1964-65. 1965. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
29. Colby Library Associates (2 March 1979). Mission Statement, first draft. Print. Colby Library Associates Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
30. Cary, Richard. Letter to J. Fraser Cocks III. 16 March 1979. Colby Library Associates   Collection, Colbiana Collection, Colby College Special Collections.
31. Smith, Karl. “J. Seelye Bixler at the Library Associates Lecture, March 1965.” Colbiana Photographs Collection, Colby College Special Collections.