History of Special Collections @ Colby

Ben Ames Williams Collection

by

Writer Ben Ames Williams (1889-1953) was born in Mississippi. His family moved to Ohio when he was a few months old. His father owned and edited a newspaper, served in the Ohio state senate. At age 15, the family move to Massachusetts and then, in 1905, to Cardiff, Wales where his father was appointed U S Consul. In 1906, Williams entered Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. After graduation, he became a reporter for the Boston American. Eventually mastering the formulas for writing popular fiction, Williams sold his first story in 1915 to Smith’s Magazine and then began to publish regularly in popular journals.

BAW with his dogs ca.1940
Ben Ames Williams with his dogs, circa 1940. (Maine Historical Society/Maine Memory Network)

Williams left his newspaper job in 1916 to write fiction full time. The Saturday Evening Post serialized “The Making of Susie Oakes” in 1917. By 1919 he was one of the most prolific and successful short story writers in the country. Many of his stories were set in rural Maine, where he and his family spent summers at their farm in Searsmont, a place tied to William’s writing. His Maine stories feature Chet McAusland, a character based on Williams” Maine friend, Bert McCorrison. When McCorrison died in 1931, he bequeathed his Searsmont farm, Hardscrabble, to Williams, who came to use it as a retreat.

Splendor, published in 1929, was the first of Williams’ many historical novels. By the 1940s, he had moved away from short stories to longer pieces of fiction. House Divided (1947), set in the Civil War, was among the best received of his historical novels. Leave Her to Heaven (1944) is considered his most popular novel. Williams died in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1953 while competing in a curling tournament and he is buried in Maine.

A biographical sketch of Ben Ames Williams, written by his wife Florence Tapley Williams, is included in the September 1963 issue of the Colby Library Quarterly.

BEN AMES WILLIAMS AS DONOR

Williams received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Colby in 1942. His close association with the Saturday Evening Post, edited by George Horace Lorimer, was another tie with the college. Lorimer was the benefactor of Colby’s Lorimer Chapel on Mayflower Hill, completed in the early 1940s. Williams’ long time personal and professional friendship with Kenneth Roberts, honorary degree recipient in 1935, is also relevant. Roberts donated to the Treasure Room his editions of Williams’ novels, inscribed to Roberts and his wife.

In 1943, Curator Weber exhibited first editions of William’s books along with a manuscript of his novel, Time of Peace, that was given by the author. After Williams’ death, his wife Florence began sizable donations to Special Collections that continued through the 1960s.

Our extensive Ben Ames Williams collection contains letters, manuscripts and galley proofs, notebook, scrapbooks, and photographs. Published materials  include clippings, first appearances and the contents of Williams’ personal reference library.

Additional works consulted:

“Ben Ames Williams.” American National Biography Online. Web. 19 March 2015.

Ben Ames Williams donor file. Colby College Special Collections.

HIGHLIGHTED DONORS FOR THIS COLLECTION

In addition to primary donors Ben Ames Williams and Florence (Mrs Ben Ames) Williams:

Julius Seelye Bixler

Colby Library Associates

James Augustine Healy

Carl Jefferson Weber

Kenneth Roberts Collection

by

Author Kenneth Lewis Roberts (1885-1957) was born in Kennebunk, Maine. Most of his boyhood was spent in suburban Boston. Roberts graduated from Cornell University in 1908, editing the Cornell Widow during his undergraduate years. Within a year, he joined the Boston Post, specializing in humor pieces. Eventual contributions to major humor magazines – Puck, Life and Judge – led to longer pieces for Collier’s and the Saturday Evening Post and Robert’s return to the Kennebunk area.

KR 1939
Kenneth Roberts and his dogs at Rocky Pasture in Kennebunkport, 1939. (Maine Historical Society/Maine Memory Network)

Roberts enlisted in the army in 1917 and wrote articles as part the American Expeditionary Force in Siberia. George Horace Lorimer, editor of the Saturday Evening Post, hired Roberts to report postwar conditions in Europe. The roving postwar assignment ignited Robert’s interest in his English forebears in Maine and his artistic aim to render them in fiction grounded in history. Booth Tarkington, who summered in nearby Kennebunkport, tutored Roberts in the art of fiction writing. His most acclaimed novel is Northwest Passage (1937), which was serialized by Lorimer in the Saturday Evening Post beginning in 1936. In 1938, Roberts bought a large farm, Rocky Pasture, bordering on Tarkington’s estate.

Roberts developed a strong interest in dowsing in later years and founded a company, Water Unlimited, as a paid service for locating reliable groundwater in Maine and elsewhere. His late-career writings featured the topic of dowsing as a response to skeptics. Roberts died at Rock Acres on 21 July 1957 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Columbia University awarded him, posthumously, a special Pulitzer Prize citation for excellence in historical fiction.

The September 1962 issue of the Colby Library Quarterly features articles on Kenneth Roberts’ life and work.

KENNETH ROBERTS AS DONOR

Roberts received an honorary degree from Colby College in 1935. Another tie to the college was through George Horace Lorimer, the benefactor of Colby’s Lorimer Chapel on Mayflower Hill, the construction of which was begun in 1939. Roberts presented manuscripts of his 1931 novel The Lively Lady to Curator Carl Weber in 1950, following with several more gifts until his death in 1957. The Colby College Press printed Don’t Say That About Maine! in 1951. Roberts’ wife Anna donated additional materials in 1960.

Our collection contains letters, manuscripts and books by or about Kenneth Roberts. Inscribed copies of Robert’s novels are located in our James Brendan Connolly, Booth Tarkington and Ben Ames Williams collections.

Additional works consulted:

“Kenneth Lewis Roberts.” American National Biography Online. Web. 19 March 2015.

Maine Memory Network. Web. 19 March 2015.

HIGHLIGHTED DONORS FOR THIS COLLECTION

In addition to primary donors Kenneth Roberts and Anna (Mrs Kenneth) Roberts:

Richard Cary

Colby Library Associates

James Augustine Healy

Margaret Perry

Nixon Orwin Rush

Carl Jefferson Weber

Florence (Mrs Ben Ames) Williams

Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer Collection

by

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

Mary Ellen Chase Collection

by

Mary Ellen Chase (1887-1973) was born in Blue Hill, Maine. She received a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Minnesota and taught at Smith College from 1926 to 1955. Chase wrote more than 30 books, many using her cherished Maine heritage as the setting. Her most famous of these works include Mary Peters, Silas Crockett, Windswept, and Edge of Darkness. She is regarded as one of the most important regional literary figures of the early twentieth century.

See “Mary Ellen Chase; Teacher, Writer, Lecturer” (Colby Library Quarterly, March 1962) for details on Chase’s career.

Our collection contains letters, manuscripts, notebooks, journals, photographs, and published works.

MARY ELLEN CHASE AS DONOR

Mary Ellen Chase -1958
Mary Ellen Chase giving the 1958 Commencement Address at Colby.

The relationship between Mary Ellen Chase and Colby College began formally when she received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters at Commencement in 1937. Subsequently, she gave addresses at the college including the 1958 Commencement Address.

Curator Carl Weber developed a professional relationship with Chase in the 1950s as he built a rare book and manuscript repository that complemented the cornerstone collections of Thomas Hardy and Edwin Arlington Robinson. Their shared interest in Hardy facilitated this relationship, which was continued by Curator Richard Cary. Correspondence with Cary in the 1960s reveals a personal and professional friendship based on mutual academic respect and a shared interest in Maine literature, especially that of Sarah Orne Jewett. Cary indicates that Chase is well-represented in the Rare Book Room by 1960, through her gifts of books and manuscripts. She continued to give published and unpublished materials for the collection through the 1960s.

Cary’s proposal to devote the March 1962 issue of the Colby Library Quarterly to Chase’s life and work, commemorating her Diamond Jubilee (75th anniversary), was gratefully accepted. Chase contributed a reflection on her Maine-based writings. Cary completed a bibliography of Chase’s published writings for the issue with her assistance, although she confesses she has not kept accurate records. He consulted the Smith College archives to complete the lists. The correspondence leading up to the March 1962 issue is a mix of bibliographic corrections and discussion of additional gifts of unpublished materials and memorabilia for the collection. Chase returned Cary’s interest in her work by reviewing his volume on letters of Sarah Orne Jewett, published by the Colby College Press. In 1968, Cary expressed interest in editing a volume of Chase’s letters and was given permission.

Additional works consulted:

The Colby Echo. Waterville, ME: Colby University/Colby College. Web. 19 March 2015.

Mary Ellen Chase donor file. Colby College Special Collections.

HIGHLIGHTED DONORS FOR THIS COLLECTION

In addition to primary donor Mary Ellen Chase:

Julius Seelye Bixler

Richard Cary

Colby Library Associates

Robert Edward Lee Strider II

 

Willa Cather Collection

by

Willa_Cather_in_Jaffrey_New_Hampshire 1920s
Willa Cather in Jaffrey, NH, 1920s. (Willa Cather Archive, University of Nebraska-Lincoln)

Willa Sibert Cather (1873-1947) was an acclaimed  novelist and short story writer. Born in Virginia, she grew up in Nebraska and returned to her childhood experiences through her depiction of Plains life in later novels such as O Pioneers! (1913) and My Antonia (1918). She graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1895 and worked initially in journalism, moving first to Pittsburgh and then, in 1906, to New York City, her permanent home. She lived and traveled with her lifelong companion, Edith Lewis. One of Ours (1922), which takes place in World War I, won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize. Her passion for the American Southwest is captured in Death Comes to the Archbishop (1927). She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1938. In later years, she summered on Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy and spent part of each autumn in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, where she is buried.

Cather considered Sarah Orne Jewett her primary mentor and carried out Jewett’s example of being completely dedicated to the art of writing and to one’s material.

COLLECTION DETAILS

Our collection contains letters and manuscripts as well as published works and bibliographies, first appearances in periodicals, and books, articles and letters about Cather. The core collection was received from Patrick J Ferry of Valhalla, New York, beginning in 1960. Curator Richard Cary welcomed the Cather Collection due to its ties to the New England region and, stylistically, to Sarah Orne Jewett. Ferry continued to build the collection through the 1960s, also donating items for the Thomas Hardy, A E Housman, Sarah Orne Jewett, Mosher Press and Rubaiyat collections.

Works consulted:

Cary, Richard. “A Willa Cather Collection.” Colby Library Quarterly. Waterville, ME: Colby College Library, June 1968. Print and web.

Patrick J Ferry donor file. Colby College Special Collections.

Willa Cather Archive. University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Web. 19 March 2015.

“Willa Sibert Cather.” American National Biography Online. Web. 19 March 2015.

HIGHLIGHTED DONORS FOR THIS COLLECTION

Patrick J Ferry – primary donor

Colby Library Associates

Carl Jefferson Weber

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

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.

Waldo Peirce Collection

by

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