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

Edwin Arlington Robinson Collection

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

 

Explore Common Threads – and Student Scholarship – in our Manuscript Collections