Marsden Hartley, Papers, 1908-1965

Inventory

Prepared for the Web by Kevin Ferst, March 22, 2002
1 document case, .33 cubic feet, 11th floor

Biographical Note

Marsden Hartley, one of the early modernist painters and also a poet, was born in Lewiston, Maine, in 1877. After his mother's death, he moved to Cleveland to live with his father and stepmother, attending the Cleveland Institute of Art. He then moved on to study at the New York School of Art, where he found inspiration in the works of the American transcendentalists, particularly Emerson and Whitman. Among his other influences were Emily Dickinson, his friend and contemporary Hart Crane, and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Although he was better received as a painter, Hartley the poet is perhaps best remembered for his anthology, Androscoggin (1940), a poetic portrait of the region in Maine where he grew up. Some of his other works include Adventures in the Arts: Informal Chapters on Painters, Vaudeville and Poets (1921), 25 Poems (1923), and Sea Burial (1941). Hartley died in 1943.

Scope and Content

This collection consists of 8 postcards and 2 letters to Arthur Plummer (1908-1912), 2 typewritten poems, 4 autograph poems, and Hartley's copy of Leaves of Grass, which is housed with the monographs in Special Collections and Archives.

Box 1

  1. Postcard: Hartley, Marsden to Arthur Plummer, December 18, 1908
  2. Postcard: Hartley, Marsden to Arthur Plummer, December 25, 1908
  3. Postcard: Hartley, Marsden to Arthur Plummer, February 23, 1909
  4. Postcard: Hartley, Marsden to Arthur Plummer, March 16, 1909
  5. Postcard: Hartley, Marsden to Arthur Plummer, November 12, 1910
  6. Postcard: Hartley, Marsden to Arthur Plummer, June 1, 1911
  7. Postcard: Hartley, Marsden to Arthur Plummer, July 10, 1911
  8. Postcard: Hartley, Marsden to Arthur Plummer, June 18, 1918
  9. Correspondence: Hartley, Marsden to Arthur Plummer, July 10, 1918
  10. Poem: "Family Album in Red Plush," n.d.
  11. Poem: "The Foolishly Querulous," n.d.
  12. Poem: "Lewiston is a Pleasant Place," n.d.
  13. Correspondence: Hartley, Marsden to Arthur Plummer, n.d.
  14. Poem: "Vilanelle for Hattie," n.d.
  15. Poem: "Vilanelle of Rejections," n.d.
  16. Poem: "Vilanelle on Learning," n.d.
  17. Miscellaneous, July 2, 1965

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