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Theodore Dreiser collection

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 4604

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

Consists mainly of letters by, to, or about Theodore Dreiser, as well as printed material, photographs, interviews and speeches of Dreiser, research notes of Dreiser scholar Robert Elias, clippings, microfilms, 1 audio tape, and 2 vols. of bound manuscripts. Includes copies of Dreiser's extensive correspondence with H.L. Mencken, and originals of many letters from Mencken to Elias; printed articles and stories which Dreiser published in The Bookman, Daily Worker, The Delineator, Famous Stories, Forum, The New York Herald Tribune, The New York Times, Pravda, Tass, and Vanity Fair, including articles in support of communism and organized labor; manuscripts of Dreiser's works The Bulwark and My Creator, and the outline of a play, Revolt; and correspondence (mainly typed copies of letters) with other writers. Includes phonograph records, and a short film of Dreiser in Westchester County, 1938.

Correspondents include Sherwood Anderson, Argus Book Shop, Louise Campbell, Sergei Dinamov, George Douglas, Helen Dreiser, James T. Farrell, Charles Fort, Frank Harris, Arthur Garfield Hays, Maude Wood Henry, Harold Hersey, John Huth, Alfred A. Knopf, William C. Lengel, Donald P. McCord, Esther McCoy, H.L. Mencken, Albert Mordell, George Jean Nathan, Grant Richards, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Simon & Schuster, Upton Sinclair, Thelma Cudlipp Whitman, and Huan Wilson.

The collection also includes one 7" reel sound recording (tape) and two CD's (one master and one use copy) of radio broadcasts. Also included is a videotape of Dreiser and Harriet Bissell at Mt. Kisco, N.Y., in May 1938, filmed by Robert Elias.

Dates

  • 1897 - 1983

Creator

Language of Materials

Collection material in English

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

American author of the naturalist school, who began as a journalist and was also active in support of communism.

Extent

24.8 cubic feet.

1 videocassettes.

1 audiocassettes.

2 CDs.

Abstract

Consists mainly of letters by, to, or about Theodore Dreiser, as well as printed material, photographs, interviews and speeches of Dreiser and research notes of Dreiser scholar Robert Elias.

COLLECTION ARRANGEMENT

Printed material by Dreiser, printed material by other writers, and Dreiser's letters to others arranged in chronological order; letters and manuscripts by others arranged alphabetically by author; letters received by Elias arranged in chronological order.

NOTES

Related collection, including originals of Dreiser's letters, at: University of Pennsylvania.

Sound recordings are cataloged individually.

Bound manuscripts, which include two volumes of correspondence and clippings concerning the suppression of Dreiser's novel "The Genius" under censorship pressure from the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, are cataloged individually.

Physical Description

Correspondence, printed material, photographs, interviews, speeches, research notes, clippings, microfilms, an audiotape, manuscripts, phonograph records, and a film.

General

Contact Information:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections 2B Carl A. Kroch Library Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 (607) 255-3530 Fax: (607) 255-9524 rareref@cornell.edu http://rmc.library.cornell.edu
EAD encoding:
Martin Heggestad, January 2003
Date modified
Marcie Farwell, February 2018
Status
Completed
Date
January 2003
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Part of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections Repository

Contact:
2B Carl A. Kroch Library
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853
607-255-3530
607-255-9524 (Fax)