Vachel Lindsay Collection, 1924-1933 (Bulk: 1924-1925)
1 half archives box, 1 flat box, 1 map drawer folder (1.5 linear ft.)
Terms of Access and Use:
There is no restriction on access to the Vachel Lindsay Collection for research use. Particularly fragile items may be restricted for preservation purposes.
Requests for permission to publish material from the Vachel Lindsay Collection should be directed to the Archives and Special Collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.
Vachel Nicholas Lindsay was born in Springfield in 1879. In Central Illinois tradition, Lindsay was schooled in the virtues of Abraham Lincoln, and like Lincoln developed a fascination with the lives of the common people.
Lindsay attended Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio, for three years before studying art in Chicago and New York City. He later turned to poetry, a medium in which he found much greater success. After college, Lindsay spent much of his life walking across the country, performing and distributing copies of his poetry in exchange for bed and board.
Lindsay's verse is characterized by its lyric quality and its simple, forceful rhythms; his performances were remarkable for their animation. Among his volumes of poetry are The Congo and Other Poems (1914) and Every Soul Is a Circus (1929).
Excerpted from: http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/lindsay
The papers include correspondence, cards, newspaper and magazine clippings, programs, and a photograph, detailing the life of poet Vachel Lindsay, mostly sent to Eugenia Graham, who later became Mrs. R.F. Leftwich.
This collection is organized into five series:
There is no restriction on access to the Vachel Lindsay Collection for research use. Particularly fragile items may be restricted for preservation purposes.
Requests for permission to publish material from the Vachel Lindsay Collection should be directed to the Archives and Special Collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.
Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
[Identification of item], in Vachel Lindsay Collection [Box #, Folder #], Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library
The Vachel Lindsay collection was the gift of Frank Leftwich (AC 1958). The letters were written to Eugenia Graham, his mother, who met the poet while a student at Gulf Park Girls School and Junior College in Gulfport, Mississippi in the early 1920s. Lindsay was "touring" cities and schools in the south, reading his poetry at the time. Lindsay wrote to Eugenia Graham, who married R. Frank Leftwich in October 1924, over the course of several years. The letters were presented to Amherst College in June 2003.
| Processed: | 2003 June |
| By: | Alicia Yang Cao (AC 2006), Student Assistant |
| Finding Aid: | 2003 June |
| Edited by: | Daria D'Arienzo, Head of Archives and Special Collections |
| Listed by: | Alicia Yang Cao (AC 2006), Student Assistant Graham Leach-Krouse (AC 2005), Student Encoding Assistant |
| Contact Information |
Amherst College Archives and Special Collections Robert Frost Library
PO Box 5000 Amherst, MA 01002-5000 Phone: (413) 542-2299 Fax: (413) 542-2692 Email Reference Form: http://www.amherst.edu/library/archives/askus URL: http://www.amherst.edu/library/archives |
Series 1: LETTERS,
| 1924-1931 (bulk 1924-1925) | ||
Series 1, LETTERS, contains correspondence, chiefly between Vachel Lindsay and Miss Eugenia Graham from 1924 to 1931. Over the course of correspondence, Miss Eugenia Graham became Mrs. R.F. Leftwich, by marriage. | |||
Letter from Vachel Lindsay to Eugenia Graham (Mrs. R.F. Leftwich). 4 pages, blue ink.
| 1924 Jul 11 | Box 1: folder 1 | |
Letter from Vachel Lindsay to Eugenia Graham (Mrs. R.F. Leftwich). 3 pages, black ink on Hotel St. Francis letterhead. Envelope included.
| 1924 Aug 5 | Box 1: folder 2 | |
Letter from Vachel Lindsay to Eugenia Graham (Mrs. R.F. Leftwich). 5 folded sheets written on both sides, blue ink on Southern Pacific Lines letterhead. Envelope included.
| 1924 Aug 5 | Box 1: folder 3 | |
Letter from Vachel Lindsay to Eugenia Graham (Mrs. R.F. Leftwich). 4 pages, black ink on University Club letterhead. Envelope included.
| 1924 Aug 17 | Box 1: folder 4 | |
Letter from Vachel Lindsay to Mrs. R.F. Leftwich (the former Eugenia Graham). 6 pages, black ink. Envelope included.
| 1924 Nov 10 | Box 1: folder 5 | |
Letter from Vachel Lindsay to Mrs. R.F. Leftwich (the former Eugenia Graham). 11 pages, black ink on Davenport Hotel letterhead. Envelope included.
| 1924 Dec 12 | Box 1: folder 6 | |
Letter from Vachel Lindsay to Mrs. R.F. Leftwich (the former Eugenia Graham). 18 pages, black ink on Davenport Hotel letterhead. Envelope included.
| 1925 Mar 8 | Box 1: folder 7 | |
Letter from Harriet Monroe to Mrs. R.F. Leftwich (the former Eugenia Graham). 2 pages, black ink on blue paper. Envelope included.
| 1925 Mar 12 | Box 1: folder 8 | |
Letter from Vachel Lindsay to Mr. and Mrs. R.F. Leftwich. 4 pages, black ink on Davenport Hotel paper. Envelope included.
| 1925 Apr 2 | Box 1: folder 9 | |
Letter from Elisabeth Lindsay (Mrs. Vachel Lindsay) to Mrs. R.F. Leftwich. 1 page, typed. Envelope included.
| 1931 Mar 14 | Box 1: folder 10 | |
Series 2: POEMS,
| 1931, n.d. | ||
Series 2, POEMS, contains three poems; one printed on a Christmas card, one clipped from a magazine, and one handwritten, perhaps by Mrs. R.F. Leftwich. | |||
"The Ezekiel Chant," printed Christmas card, poem by Vachel Lindsay, from the Lindsay family, inscribed on the back in Elisabeth Lindsay's hand.
| n.d. | Box 1: folder 11 | |
"The Jazz Age," printed poem by Vachel Lindsay, published in Liberty newspaper; clipping.
| 1931 Feb 21 | Box 1: folder 12 | |
Untitled, poem [in the hand of Mrs. R.F. Leftwich?]
| n.d. | Box 1: folder 13 | |
Series 3: PROGRAMS,
| 1924-1925, n.d. | ||
Series 3, PROGRAMS, contains three programs, two listing Vachel Lindsay as reciting. | |||
Summer Program for Pacific Palisades Summer Schools and Assembly where Vachel Lindsay recited. Includes two postcards of Pacific Palisades, California.
| 1924 | Box 1: folder 14 | |
Program for Sunday Service at the First Unitarian Society, where Vachel Lindsay recited.
| 1925 Mar 8 | Box 1: folder 15 | |
Program for the play The Thief of Baghdad.
| n.d. | Box 1: folder 16 | |
Series 4: PHOTOGRAPHS,
| n.d. | ||
Series 4, PHOTOGRAPHS, contains a single mounted and framed photograph, credited to Gullicson, depicting Vachel Lindsay autographing a poem for the H.W. Fays collection, in DeKalb, Illinois. | |||
Gullicson, [?] , Photographer. "Nicholas Vachel Lindsay at Lincoln Monument Autographing for H.W. Fays Collection the poem - 'Abraham Walks At Midnight'". Taken in DeKalb, Illinois.
| n.d. | Box 2: folder 1 | |
Series 5: NEWS CLIPPINGS,
| n.d. | ||
Series 5, NEWS CLIPPINGS, contains a few photocopies of newspaper clippings that relate to Vachel Lindsay in various ways. Additionally, a longer article is included, written after Vachel Lindsay's death in praise of his poetry. | |||
Spencer, Hazelton "The Life and Death of a Bard" in The American Mercury in remembrance of Vachel Lindsay
| n.d. | Box 1: folder 16 | |
Miscellaneous newspaper clippings, some or all sent by Lindsay to Mrs. R.F. Leftwich, including:
| 1924-1925, n.d. | Box 1: folder 17 | |
"A Challenge to Young Men" in: San Francisco Call and Post, 1924 Aug 5 (annotated by Lindsay)
| 1924 | Box
1 | |
Hardy, Lulu Daniel. "A little house" | Box
1 | ||
Hinso, Hannah. "He Does Two Things With Distinction" in: The Spokesman-Review, 1925 Mar 8 (annotated by Lindsay)
| 1925 | Box
1 | |
King, Stoddard, "Facetious Fragments: 'Verses for the Recovering Congress' and 'Butterfly Hieroglyphics and the Voyage'" in: The Spokesman Review, 1924 Dec 1 and 3
| 1924 | Box
1 | |
Strunsky, Simeon "About Books, More or Less: Mr.Shaw Has a Heart" in: The New York Times Book Review, 1924 Aug 10
| 1924 | Box
1 | |
Originals of the clippings listed above
| 1924, 1925, n.d. | Map case
1, drawer 12 | |