History of Special Collections @ Colby

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  • CHRONOLOGY & CONTEXT
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      • The First Library & Edward Hall
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  • THE PEOPLE
    • Curators
      • Carl Jefferson Weber (Curator 1940-1958)
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      • Ernest C Marriner ’13
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  • HIGHLIGHTED COLLECTIONS
    • Rare Book Collections
      • Early Books
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      • The Rubáiyát
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      • Library of Edwin Arlington Robinson
      • Library of Thomas Sergeant Perry
      • Library of Harold Trowbridge Pulsifer
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      • Library of Ben Ames Williams
    • Manuscript Collections
    • “A Recent Accession”: The Colby Library Quarterly

Laura E Richards Collection

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

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

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

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

LAURA E RICHARDS AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

In 1942, Laura E Richards gave selected books, inscribed by herself, and unpublished materials related to Edwin Arlington Robinson and Sarah Orne Jewett.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

Additonal work consulted:

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

HIGHLIGHTED DONORS FOR THIS COLLECTION

Philo C Calhoun – primary donor

Susan Nichols Pulsifer – primary donor

Colby Library Associates

Ruth Robinson Nivison/Robinson Birthplace, Inc

Margaret Perry

Clara (Mrs Carl Jefferson) Weber

Florence (Mrs Ben Ames) Williams

 

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