Dreiser on the Web

by Roger W. Smith

2. Inventories of Dreiser Archives

a. Library Collections

[See also above, 1. Web Sites Dedicated to Dreiser: DreiserWebSource.]

Papers of Theodore Dreiser. Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.

http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/uva-sc/vivadoc.pl?file=viu02724.xml . Next to the University of Pennsylvania’s collection, this is the largest repository of Dreiser papers. A detailed and searchable finding aid to the collection is available on line; noteworthy items include manuscripts of Jennie Gerhardt and galley proofs of An American Tragedy.

Lilly Library. Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.

http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/collections.shtml . Dreiser-related collections of the Lilly Library are divided into several subgroups that can be accessed via links—namely, Dreiser Mss.; Dreiser Mss. II; Dreiser Mss. III; Dreiser Mss. IV; Dresser Mss. (Paul Dresser materials). Materials include drafts of Dawn, correspondence with Dreiser’s first wife, Sara Osborne White, Dreiser’s correspondence as editor of The Delineator, and other correspondence and manuscripts. Brief descriptions of each collection are provided.

Manuscripts and Archives Division. New York Public Library, New York, NY.

http://digilib.nypl.org/dynaweb/williams/williams/@Generic__BookTextView/12642 . Provides a brief description of the library’s holdings of Dreiser material, which consist of the holographs of Sister Carrie and The Hand of the Potter.

Theodore Dreiser Collection. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY.

     http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/RMM04604.html . The collection consists chiefly of letters by, to, or about Dreiser, as well as the papers of Dreiser biographer Robert H. Elias. A description and container list are online.

Theodore Dreiser Collection. Special Collections & Archives, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.

http://web.library.emory.edu/libraries/speccolls/guides-lit-am.html . The collection consists mainly of materials collected by Dreiser’s niece, Vera Dreiser, for her book My Uncle Theodore (1976). The web site provides a brief description of the collection.

b. Historical Societies

 Theodore Dreiser Papers. Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, IN.

     http://www.indianahistory.org/library/manuscripts/collection_guides/tddreis.html . The collection comprises three folders of correspondence between 1935 and 1937 and an address book. A detailed finding aid is available online.

Theodore Dreiser/Paul Dresser Collection. Special Collections, Vigo County Public Library, Terre Haute, IN.

     http://www.vigo.lib.in.us/vcplspc/ . The library has two collections related to Dreiser and his brother Paul: (1) a repository of newspaper clippings about Theodore Dreiser and Paul Dresser; (2) a restricted archive containing materials about the Dreiser family. Existence of collection noted; no details. (At links to “Community Archives” and “Guide to Archival Collections—Authors.”)

c. Persons Connected with Dreiser

Robert H. Elias Papers. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY.

http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/RMA01848.html . At present, the container list is under development.

Marguerite Tjader Harris Papers. Special Collections Division, Lauinger Library, Georgetown University, Washington, DC.

http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/tjader.htm . Harris was the author of Theodore Dreiser: A New Dimension (1965) and a posthumously published memoir, Love That Will Not Let Me Go: My Time with Theodore Dreiser (1998), and coeditor of Dreiser’s Notes on Life. The site contains a folder listing.

Dorothy Dudley Harvey Papers. River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY.

http://www.lib.rochester.edu/rbk/harvey.stm . Dorothy Dudley was the author of a biography and appréciaton of Dreiser, Forgotten Frontiers: Dreiser and the Land of the Free (1932). Many of the letters in this collection contain the reactions of her correspondents to the book. The largest segment of the correspondence in the collection is from Dreiser. Also included are typescripts of four Dreiser poems. An inventory of letters in the collection is provided.

Ruth Epperson Kennell Papers. University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, OR.

http://libweb.uoregon.edu/speccoll/mss/women/childau.html . Includes manuscripts, photographs, and correspondence of Dreiser secretary and author of Theodore Dreiser and the Soviet Union (1969). A brief summary is provided.

John Howard Lawson Papers. Morris Library, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

http://www.lib.siu.edu/spcol/inventory/SC016.html . Includes correspondence from Dreiser, a copy of Dreiser’s memorial service, copies of two papers by Dreiser (“My Creator” and “Why I Became a Communist”), letters of Helen Dreiser, and clippings about Dreiser. A folder-by-folder inventory is provided

Esther McCoy Papers. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

 http://artarchives.si.edu/findaids/mccoesth/mccoesth.htm . Collection includes two folders of material related to Dreiser and contains significant correspondence with Dreiser, with his second wife Helen Dreiser, and with Dreiser biographer W. A. Swanberg. The finding aid lists complete contents of the collection.

d. Dreiser Correspondence

The main repository of Dreiser correspondence is the University of Pennsylvania Library; see above. Dreiser correspondence can be also found in the repositories listed below. The amount of correspondence ranges from a single letter in some instances to substantial correspondence to and from Dreiser. Some collections also contain other Dreiser-related materials of biographical interest. In most cases, the web site provides some information about the location and terms of access to the collection and a brief description of contents, including mention of Dreiser. Text of correspondence is not available unless otherwise noted.

Charles F. Adams Collection. Special Collections and Archives, Reed College Library, Portland, OR.

http://simeon.library.reed.edu/collections/special.html . The library’s Charles F. Adams Collection (not mentioned at this site) contains letters of Dreiser. See also “Best Holographic Discovery,” Reed Magazine, Nov. 2000. http://web.reed.edu/community/newsandpub/Nov2000/a_quiet_gems_abound/2.html .

American Publishing History at Princeton. Publishing Archives, John Day Publishing Co. Princeton University Library, Princeton, NJ.

http://libweb2.princeton.edu/rbsc2/aids/subject/publish.htm .

Karle Wilson Baker Papers. East Texas Research Center (ETRC), Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX.

http://libweb.sfasu.edu/etrc/collect/manscrpt/personal/BakerKarle/Bakmain.htm .

Poultney Bigelow Papers. New York Public Library, New York, NY.

http://www.ulster.net/~rdragon/pbinv.htm .

Agnes Boulton Collection of Eugene O’Neill. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.

http://www.eoneill.com/yale/ab_collection/series_i.htm .

Margaret Bourke-White Papers. Department of Special Collections, Syracuse University Library, Syracuse, NY.

 http://libwww.syr.edu/digital/guides/m/MargaretBourkeWhitePapers-Inv.htm .

“Briefings.” The University Record (University of Michigan), 23 Sept. 1998. http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/9899/Sep23_98/brief.htm . Article notes existence of Clarence Darrow Family Archive, on loan to Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. The collection includes correspondence from Dreiser.

James Branch Cabell Papers. Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/vcu-cab/vivadoc.pl?file=vircu00065.xml .

Stuart Chase Papers. American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

http://memory.loc.gov . The papers include correspondence between Dreiser and economist Stuart Chase occasioned by Chase’s critical review of Dreiser’s Tragic America. Includes page images. (Follow “Collection Finder” link to “Business and Economics” to “Coolidge Era ~ Multiformat ~ 1924–1929” to “Guide to People, Organizations, and Topics in Prosperity and Thrift.”)

Nancy Cunard Collection. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.

http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/fa/cunard.n.subject.html .

William R. Davey Papers, 1894–1963. Syracuse University Library Archives, Syracuse, NY. http://www-distance.syr.edu/wrd.html . Includes correspondence with Dreiser and Helen Richardson Dreiser. William R. Davey was Professor of Classics at Syracuse University.

Floyd Dell Papers. Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections, Newberry Library, Chicago, IL.

http://www.newberry.org/nl/collections/Dell2.html .

Deshon Mss. Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.

http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/lilly/mss/html/deshon.html . Includes correspondence of the actress Florence Deshon (1894–1922) with Dreiser.

Madeleine Zabriskie Doty Papers. Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, MA.

 http://fivecolleges.edu/h-guide/Fnlsoph.htm .

Theodore Dreiser Collection. Cushing Memorial Library and Archives, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.

     http://library.tamu.edu/ . Contains five letters to various correspondents.

Eastman Mss. Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.

http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/lilly/mss/html/eastman.html . Includes correspondence of Max Forrester Eastman (1883–1969) with Dreiser.

Max Ehrmann Papers. Archives of DePauw University and Indiana United Methodism, Greencastle, IN.

     http://www.depauw.edu/library/archives/inventories/ehrmann_max%20.htm . Collection includes correspondence with Theodore Dreiser and his brother Paul Dresser.

Burton Emmett Papers. Southern Historical Collection, Manuscript Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library.

http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/e/Emmett,Burton.html .

Morris Ernst Papers. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.

 http://www.law.utexas.edu/rare/hrc.htm .

Selected Papers of Wilson Farrand. Princeton University Library, Princeton, NJ.

 http://libserv3.princeton.edu/rbsc2/aids/msslist/maindex.htm .

Ford Madox Ford Collection. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, NY. http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/RMM04605.html .

Correspondence, Charles Fort to Theodore Dreiser. Pluckerbooks.

http://dave.pluckerbooks.com:81/works/fortc/dreiser/ . This site offers stripped-down HTML versions of popular public domain literary works, suitable for viewing on handheld computing devices. Includes text of 23 Fort letters to Dreiser. (See also below under 4.b: E-Texts, Other.)

The Correspondence of Charles Hoy Fort. The Fortean Web Site of Mr. X.

http://www.resologist.net/corres00.htm . Contains links to the texts of several letters from Fort to Dreiser.

Alice Gerstenberg Papers. Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections, Midwest Manuscript Collection, Newberry Library, Chicago, IL.

 http://www.newberry.org/nl/collections/Gertenberg.html .

Emma Goldman Papers. Berkeley Digital Library, SunSITE.

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Goldman/Guide/correspondencecg.html . Correspondence on microfilm.

Emma Goldman Papers. International Institute of Social History, Berkeley, CA. http://www.iisg.nl/archives/gias/g/10749603.html .

Douglas Goldring Fonds. Special Collections, University of Victoria Libraries, Victoria, BC, Canada.

http://gateway1.uvic.ca/spcoll/Lit/Eng/Goldring.html .

Albert H. Gross, 1924–1946. Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.

http://www.lib.umd.edu/ARCV/litmss/onepagers/gross.html . Albert H. (Pete) Gross (1895–1948) worked in publishing for more than two decades with firms including Boni & Liveright. The collection includes correspondence from Dreiser.

Flora May Holly Papers. New York Public Library, New York, NY.

http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/rbk/faids/holly.html . Correspondence and papers of Flora May Holly (1868–1960), a literary agent who represented many prominent authors, including Dreiser.

Spud Johnson Collection. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.

http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/fa/spud.corr.html .

Grant C. Knight Papers. Division of Special Collections and Archives, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington, KY.

http://digilib.uky.edu/dynaweb/oak/kukead/kukmead/gsmans/@Generic__BookTextView/2834 .

Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Records, 1873–1996. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.

http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/fa/aakhist.html .

Letters to James Korges, 1926–1975. Fondren Library, Woodson Research Center, Rice University, Houston, TX.

http://www.rice.edu/fondren/woodson/mss/ms16.html .

Ring Lardner Papers. Midwest Manuscript Collection, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections, Newberry Library, Chicago, IL.

 http://www.newberry.org/nl/collections/Lardiner.html .

Letters and Documents Collection. Special Collections Department, Bryn Mawr College Library, Bryn Mawr, PA.

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Library/SpecColl/Guides/letterboxD.html .

George Horace Lorimer Papers. Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

 http://www.hsp.org/collections/manuscripts/1600.htm .

Manuscripts Collection/Literature. Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections, William S. Carlson Library, The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH.

 http://www.cl.utoledo.edu/canaday/mssguide/lit.html .

Dora Marsden Collection. Manuscript Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library, Princeton, NJ.

http://libweb.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/marsden.html .

George N. Meissner Collection. Washington University Libraries, St. Louis, MO.

 http://library.wustl.edu/units/spec/manuscripts/meissner.html .

The New Yorker Records, c.1924–1984. Manuscript and Archives Division, New York Public Library, New York, NY.

http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/rbk/faids/NYhtml/appendixa.html . Collection includes correspondence of William C. Lengel with Dreiser.

Fulton Oursler Sr. Papers. Special Collections Division, Lauinger Library, Georgetown University, Washington, DC.

http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/clt4.htm 

W. Hugh Peal Manuscripts Collection. Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington, KY.

http://www.uky.edu/Libraries/Special/peal/ . Contains letters of Dreiser from his days at Smith’s Magazine. See also “Catalog of an Exhibition from the W. Hugh Peal Collection,” Special Collections and Archives, University of Kentucky Libraries. http://digilib.kyvl.org/dynaweb/oak/kukead/kukmead/whpeal .

G. Harry Pouder Collection. Maryland Historical Society Library, Baltimore, MD. 

 http://www.mdhs.org/library/Mss/ms001888.html .

William Marion Reedy Mss Survey. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.

 http://webtext.library.yale.edu/beinflat/surveys.reedy.htm . A survey of materials in the Yale Collection of American Literature. Includes correspondence with Dreiser.

Margaret Sanger Papers, Microfilm Edition. Sponsored by New York University in association with the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College.

http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/guides/womens_studies/margaret_sanger/sanger1.htm . Microfilm edition of the Margaret Sanger Papers. Web page provides microfilm reel descriptions. Correspondents include Dreiser.

Upton Sinclair Collection. The John Rylands University Library, Manchester, UK.

 http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/data2/spcoll/upton/ .

Gloria Swanson Papers. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.

http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/fa/swanson.index.html .

Watkins Loomis, Inc. Records, 1883–1987. Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York, NY.

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/indiv/rare/guides/WatkinsLoomis/index.html . Ann Watkins (1885–1967) was a literary agent and knew Dreiser during the early 1910s. Contains correspondence with Dreiser.

Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

http://www.wam.umd.edu/~stwright/WrBr/wright_papers/WP_general.html .

e. Miscellaneous and Unclassified Material

American Newspaper Repository, Rollinsford, NH.

http://home.gwi.net/~dnb/newsrep.html . The American Newspaper Repository is a nonprofit corporation founded by Nicholson Baker, a writer. The repository has original issues of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and Pittsburgh Dispatch during the years Dreiser worked there. “Theodore Dreiser wrote a column called ‘Heard in the Corridors’ for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. There are pages missing from the microfilm that contain Dreiser’s column; we have them.”

Hugh Atkinson, Collector. Theodore Dreiser Collection. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL.

http://gateway.library.uiuc.edu/collections/collections.htm#Collections . “Hugh Atkinson was University Librarian for ten years. His extensive collection includes at least 223 first and later editions of Dreiser’s novels and other works. Among the most notable items in the collection is one of only twelve copies of the original text for Tragic America.” See “Major-Golden Guide to Specialized Collections” link.

Chapin Library Collections. Williams College, Williamstown, MA.

http://www.williams.edu/resources/chapin/collect/collect.html#Amlit . Collection contains some unspecified Dreiser material.

Helen Baker Cushman Business Papers. Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE.

http://www.hagley.lib.de.us/2175.htm . Helen Baker Cushman operated a business history consulting firm. Her extensive files on the Butterick Company include company histories and a file on Dreiser’s years as a Butterick editor.

Donald Sergey Friede Papers. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

http://www.loc.gov/rr/mss/text/friede.html . Donald Sergey Friede (1901–1965), publisher and literary agent, represented several well-known authors, including Dreiser.

George McCrossen Papers. University of New Mexico, General Center for Southwest Research, Albuquerque, NM.

http://elibrary.unm.edu/oanm/NmU/nmu1%23mss356bc/ . Contains minor Dreiser-related materials which appear to be in the form of a newspaper clipping and a telegram addressed to Dreiser.

Mary Fanton Roberts Papers. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

http://artarchives.si.edu/exhibits/piano/roberts.htm . Literary and musical files of New York writer, editor, and critic Mary Fanton Roberts (1871–1956). Includes unspecified material related to Theodore and Helen Dreiser.

Street and Smith’s Preservation and Access Project. Syracuse University Library, Syracuse, NY.

http://libwww.syr.edu/digital/guides/s/StreetAndSmith/ . While not devoted to Dreiser, this web site would be of interest to anyone interested in the dime novel publishing world and dime novel publisher Street and Smith, where Dreiser was employed as an editor.

Department of Special Collections, UCLA Library, Los Angeles, CA.

http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/lit.htm . Contains “books and papers” of writers including Dreiser. No details provided.

University of Chicago Presidents’ Papers 1889–1925. University of Chicago Archives, Department of Special Collections, University of Chicago Library, Chicago, IL.

http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/spcl/findaid/presidentspapers/1889-1925/ . Contains some unspecified material relating to Dreiser.

f. Dreiser Correspondence and Other Material Offered for Sale

 Postings by private dealers and auction houses on the Internet occasionally provide details and/or texts or facsimiles of Dreiser letters. Note: because these items are offered for sale, they may disappear from the web.

Gemini Fine Books & Arts, Ltd., Hinsdale, IL.

http://www.geminibooks.com/FEPage2.html . Theodore Dreiser autograph letter. (Look under “First Editions” link.)

Kaller Historical Documents, Inc., Marlboro, NJ.

http://www.americagallery.com/cgi-bin/catalog.cgi?category=thearts . Theodore Dreiser autograph letter. Text provided.

Visible Ink Incorporated, Roslyn Heights, NY.

http://www.visink.com/detail.asp?Cat_ID=187&Prod_ID=239 . Theodore Dreiser autograph letter. Site contains facsimile.

John Wilson Manuscripts Limited, Cheltenham, UK.

http://manuscripts.co.uk/index.htm . Theodore Dreiser autograph letter.

John Wilson Manuscripts Limited, Cheltenham, UK.

http://www.manuscripts.co.uk/stock/2229.HTM . William John Locke (1863–1930), novelist; collection of 30 autograph letters, one of which concerns Dreiser.