Harry Bacon Collamore (1891-1975) was a steel company executive based in Hartford, Connecticut. He was an examiner for the National Fire Insurance Company, 1912-1916, later advancing to Chairman of the Board before retiring in 1956. Collamore was Chairman of the Board and CEO for the Pittsburgh Steel Company from 1956 until his final retirement. He spent his last years in West Hartford. He served as a Trustee for the Watkinson Library, Trinity College, and for Colby College (1946-1958). He died in West Hartford on 28 September 1975.
Collamore was a noted book collector with particular interests in American and British poetry and literature. He was an important benefactor for numerous academic and cultural institutions including Yale University, Trinity College, the Free Library of Philadephia and, of course, Colby College.
A close friend and admirer of Edwin Arlington Robinson, he published a book on the poet’s work soon after the poet’s death in 1935.
H BACON COLLAMORE AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
Carl Weber met Collamore at Wesleyan University in 1937 and discovered that Collamore was a founding member of the Edwin Arlington Robinson Birthplace, Inc. Weber’s vision for the forthcoming Treasure Room in Miller Library impressed Collamore, who was instrumental in arranging the Ruth Robinson Nivison deposit of Robinson materials at Colby several years later. Collamore donated his own Robinson materials, notably several hundred letters written by the poet to Edith Brower and other correspondents. He also donated materials related to other major writers represented in the Treasure Room.
Collamore served on the Advisory Board of the Colby Library Quarterly from its inception in 1943 and contributed articles on Robinson to several issues.
Works consulted:
Colby Library Quarterly. Waterville, ME: Colby College Library. Print and web.
“Harry Bacon Collamore.” New York Times obituary. 30 September 1975. Web. 31 March 2015.
“Harry Bacon Collamore Collection.” Watkinson Library, Trinity College finding aid. Web. 31 March 2015.
Marriner, Ernest Cummings. The History of Colby College. Waterville, ME: Colby College Press, 1963. Print and web.
ASSOCIATED COLLECTIONS
Edwin Arlington Robinson – primary collection