Philo Clarke Calhoun (1889-1964), of Bridgeport and Fairfield, Connecticut, was a lawyer and author. He graduated from Williams College in 1910 and received a law degree from Harvard in 1913. He authored biographies on legal and literary figures and also wrote short stories and humorous verse.
Calhoun and his wife first met the Richards family in 1936, soon after completion of the family’s summer home, Roscahegan, at Indian Point in Georgetown, Maine. Calhoun later acquired the property.
PHILO C CALHOUN AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
Philo Calhoun contributed articles to the Colby Library Quarterly on Laura E Richards, also the work of Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy. He addressed the Colby Library Associates in 1947 on the subject of book collecting and when the Treasure Room was officially opened that December, Calhoun spoke on and read from Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”
In 1951, he gave 25 books of Americana to Special Collections including a first edition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In 1954, he presented a first edition of Thoreau’s Walden. In 1963, he gave his collection of first editions of works by Laura E Richards.
Works consulted:
Colby Library Quarterly. Waterville, ME: Colby College Library. Print and web.
“Philo Clarke Calhoun.” New York Times obituary. 20 December 1964. Web. 21 April 2015.
ASSOCIATED COLLECTIONS
Laura E Richards – primary collection