American Literature

Nineteenth-Century Authors

Sidney Lanier

The group of manuscripts by Sidney Lanier, which consist chiefly of his correspondence with his family, also includes drafts of poems and a novel. Lanier taught English at Hopkins from 1879 to 1881, and some of his lecture notes are at Evergreen with his music manuscripts. The manuscripts at the Eisenhower Library are included in: Centennial Edition of the Works of Sidney Lanier. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1945, edited by Professor Charles M. Anderson.

Edgar Allan Poe

There is an extensive collection of research material about Poe consisting of clippings, pamphlets, prints and research notes assembled by members of the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore. Drafts, correspondence, and research of Society members and Poe biographers Kenneth Rede, Mary E. Phillips, and May Garrettson Evans are included. There is also a collection of Poe poems set to music.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

An alumnus, Lawrason Brown, collected works by Oliver Wendell Holmes and in the 1930s gave the Library about two hundred early editions and periodical publications, as well as a few letters.

Henry James

In 1955, Raymond Dexter Havens left the Library his Henry James collection of a large group of first and early editions, and several letters.

Edith Wharton

The novelist Edith Wharton was a friend of John and Alice Garrett, and sixty of her letters, almost all written to Alice Garrett during the First World War, are part of the Garrett Library along with copies of Wharton's published works.

Twentieth-Century Authors

Louis Zukofsky

In 1975 the Friends gave the Library a collection of the works of Louis Zukofsky (1904-1978), an important poet of the objectivist school whose writings have never been widely known and are consequently scarce. All his works through 1969 are represented. The nearly two hundred items, acquired from the poet's wife, include first and later editions. Many poems appeared first in little magazines, others in separately published books, some as broadsides or postcards. Every item is signed by Zukofsky and some have his holographic corrections. The collection has great value for the study of the poet's works and is also interesting for the view it gives of the publication of twentieth century avant-garde poetry.

Elliott Coleman

Coleman, a distinguished literary critic and poet, taught at Hopkins for many years. His papers include notebooks, manuscript poems, and a small number of letters with distinguished authors such as André Gide and Anaïs Nin.

Stephen Dixon

Dixon has been nominated for the National Book Award several times. His collection includes drafts of his novels and short stories including Garbage, Frog, Interstate, and 30.

Victoria Lincoln

Lincoln (1904-81), the author of several historical novels and works of non-fiction including February Hill also published widely in popular American magazines including Vogue, Good Housekeeping, and Glamour. Her book Private Disgrace: Lizzie Borden by Daylight (1967) won an "Edgar" from the Mystery Writers Association of America.

Edward Lucas White

White (1866-1934) was an author of historical romances and short stories as well as a poet. He is best known for his romances El Supremo (1916), The Unwilling Vestal (1918), and Andivius Hedulio (1921). His unpublished magnum opus "Plus Ultra" a utopian novel, is part of the collection.