History of Special Collections @ Colby

Booth Tarkington Collection

by

BT - Kennebunkport - 1938
Booth Tarkington in Kennebunkport, 1938. (Maine Historical Society/Maine Memory Network)

Booth Tarkington (1869-1946) was a novelist and playwright from Indiana, well known for his depiction of life in the Midwest. The Pulitzer Prize was awarded to him for The Magnificent Ambersons (1918) and for Alice Adams (1921), two novels that humorously portray the hypocrisies of upper class families. He attended Purdue University and Princeton, where he was a well-known literary and social figure. In later life he divided his time between Indiana and his estate, Seawood, in Kennebunkport, Maine, where he became friends with neighbor Kenneth Roberts.

“Jewett, Tarkington, and the Maine Line” by Richard Cary (Colby Library Quarterly, February 1956) contains details about Tarkington’s life and work.

COLLECTION DETAILS

Our Booth Tarkington Collection contains letters, manuscripts, memorabilia, photographs and clippings and is described online.

Additional work consulted:

“Booth Tarkington.” American National Biography Online. Web. 19 March 2015.

HIGHLIGHTED DONORS FOR THIS COLLECTION

Florence (Mrs Ben Ames) Williams – primary donor

Colby Library Associates

Thomas Hardy Collection

by

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

 

James Brendan Connolly Collection

by

JBC 1896 #7
Athens, Greece, portrait of James Brendan Connolly during the 1896 Olympic Games. Years later, Connolly wrote about the Olympic experience in a 1936 Collier’s article.

James Brendan Connolly (1868-1957) was an Irish-American author of sea-related stories, novels, and nonfiction such as The Book of the Gloucester Fishermen. Born in South Boston as one of twelve children, he worked as a clerk for an insurance company in Boston and later with the United States Army Corps of Engineers in Savannah, Georgia. He attended Harvard and was a medal-winning athlete in the first modern Olympics, held in Athens in 1896, winning the triple jump, placing second in the high jump, and third in the long jump. Connolly became an authority on maritime writing, after spending years on many different vessels, fishing boats, and military ships all over the world. He participated in the Siege of Santiago (Spanish-American War) as a member of the 9th Regiment, ran for the 12th Congressional District (South Boston) seat as a member of the Progressive Party in 1914, and worked as a correspondent for such publications as Scribner’s, Harper’s and Collier’s.

The November 1948 issue of the Colby Library Quarterly features an article on Connolly’s literary career written by Ernest Marriner.

Additional works consulted:

James Brendan Connolly Collection. Colby College Special Collections.

Shaw, Jonathan. “The Unexpected Olympians.” Harvard Magazine. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, July-August 1996. Web. 19 March 2015.

COLLECTION DETAILS

The extensive James Brendan Connolly Collection, part of our Healy Collection, contains first editions, letters, manuscripts, scrapbooks and memorabilia, as described online.

HIGHLIGHTED DONORS FOR THIS COLLECTION

Brenda Connolly – primary donor

James Augustine Healy – primary donor

Ernest Cummings Marriner ’13

Carl Jefferson Weber

Bern Porter Collection

by

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.

 

 

James Augustine Healy Collection

by

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.