TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive Summary of the Collection
Biographies of John E. Hart and Floyd Dell
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Inventory of the John E. Hart-Floyd Dell Papers, 1958-1985
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Lisa Janssen, 2003. ©2000. |
Descriptive Summary of the Collection |
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| Creator | Hart, John Edward, 1917- |
| Title | John E. Hart-Floyd Dell Papers |
| Dates | 1958-1985 |
| Extent | 0.2 linear feet (1 box) |
| Abstract | Correspondence, works, photographs and miscellaneous material relating to the writing of John E. Hart's biography, Floyd Dell, for the Twayne's United States Authors Series, published in 1971. |
| Language | Materials are in English. |
| Repository | Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections |
| Collection Call Number | Midwest MS Hart-Dell |
| Collection Stack Location | 3a 38 11 |
Administrative Information
Cite As
John E. Hart-Floyd Dell Papers, The Newberry Library, Chicago.
Provenance
Gift of John E. Hart, 1999
Processed by
Diana Haskell, 1999; Virginia H. Smith, 2000
Acknowledgements
This inventory was created with the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this inventory do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Access
The John E. Hart-Floyd Dell Papers are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 5 folders at a time maximum (Priority II).
Ownership and Literary Rights
The John E. Hart-Floyd Dell Papers are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.
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Biographies of John E. Hart and Floyd Dell
John E. Hart was professor English at Albion College (Albion, Michigan) from 1954 to 1982. Professor Hart, a graduate of Kansas Wesleyan University and Syracuse University, where he received his Ph.D. in 1954, was especially interested in American writers of the 1920's and 1930's. His published works include critical studies of authors Albert Halper and Floyd Dell, and he produced numerous scholarly articles.
Floyd Dell, American poet, novelist, playwright, newspaperman and literary editor, was born in Iowa in 1887. Dell found success in Chicago as the editor of and chief contributor to the well-known Friday Literary Review before moving to New York where he settled into the Bohemian literary and artistic world of Greenwich Village.
In 1914 Dell, an avowed Socialist, became editor of Masses and later the Liberator and the New Masses. In 1919, he published his first novel, Moon-Calf, and then continued to write fiction and poetry, plus a critical work on Upton Sinclair and a number of books and articles based on themes of sex, love, marriage, psychoanalysis, education and other topics which interested him.
By 1935 his work had ceased selling, and Dell accepted a job with the WPA, as editor and ghostwriter. In his later years, this "romantic rebel" maintained a copious correspondence until his death in 1969.
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Scope and Content of the Collection
This small collection consists almost entirely of correspondence to and from John E. Hart relating to the writing of his biography of Floyd Dell, which was published in 1971 as part of the Twayne United States Authors Series. The bulk of the correspondence between Hart and Floyd Dell reflects the creative - and sometimes difficult - process of Hart's project of writing the biography. In addition there are letters of Hart's to and from Dell's wife, B. Marie Dell, the Newberry Library, and a number of publishers. Also, two photographs, two short excerpts from Hart's manuscript, and a few miscellaneous items regarding Hart's academic career.
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Arrangement
The papers are organized alphabetically by type of material: correspondence, photographs, works and miscellaneous.
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Selected Search Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Newberry Library's public catalog. Researchers desiring additional materials on a particular topic should search the catalog using these headings.
Names
- Dell, Floyd, 1887-1969
- Dell, Floyd, 1887-1969 -- Portraits
- Hart, John Edward, 1917-
- Hart, John Edward, 1917-. Floyd Dell
Subjects
- Biographers -- United States -- Correspondence
- College teachers as authors -- Michigan
- Correspondence -- United States -- 1951-2000
- Journalists -- New York (State) -- New York
- Manuscripts, American
- New York (N.Y.) -- Intellectual life -- 20th century
- Novelists, American -- New York (State) -- New York
- Periodical editors -- Illinois -- Chicago
- Periodical editors -- New York (State) -- New York
- Socialists -- New York (State) -- New York
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Container List |
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| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Dell, Floyd to John Hart, 1958-1966 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Dell, Floyd to John Hart, 1967-1968 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Hart, John E. to Floyd Dell, 1958-1968 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Hart, John E. to/from B. Marie Dell and Christopher Dell, 1970-1976 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Hart, John E. to/from The Newberry Library, 1968-1986 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Hart, John E. to/from Publishers et al, 1962-1971 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Dell, Floyd, Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Hart, John E., Works | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Hart, John E., Miscellaneous | |||||||||