Terms of Access and Use:
This collection is open for use without restriction beyond the standard terms and conditions of Smith College Special Collections.
Smith College retains copyright of materials created as part of its business operations; however, copyright in other items in this collection may be held by their respective creators. For reproductions of materials that are governed by fair use as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission to cite or publish is required. For instances which may regard materials in the collection not created by Smith College, researchers are responsible for determining who may hold materials' copyrights and obtaining approval from them. Researchers do not need anything further from Smith College Special Collections to move forward with their use.
The scholar and author Marjorie Hope Nicolson was born on February 18, 1894 in Yonkers, New York. She went on to study and teach at some of the United States' most prestigious institutions before returning to New York City, where she died at the age of 87, on March 9, 1981.
She first began to teach high school students in 1914, while working in Saginaw, Michigan and later Detroit. Her love of teaching lead her to receive her both her B.A. with Phi Beta honors in 1914 and her M.A. in 1918, from the University of Michigan. She continued her pursuit of higher education with her Ph.D. from Yale in 1920. At Yale, she was the first woman to receive the John Addison Porter prize. Marjorie Nicolson taught first at the University of Michigan and was granted an assistant professorship before continuing her graduate study at Johns Hopkins College from 1923-1926. While at Johns Hopkins, Nicolson continued to teach at Goucher College. In 1926, she left for England to study as one of the early Guggenheim fellows.
After her studies in Europe, Marjorie Nicolson returned to the United States to continue her research and to teach at Smith College. She was first an associate professor from 1926-1929, before becoming a professor of English literature and Dean from 1929 until 1941. During her time at Smith College, Nicolson was a strong ally of President Neilson and defender of women's right to have a real academic education. She left Smith College for Columbia, in order to become the first woman to hold a full professorship at a prestigious graduate school. She became the chair of the English and Comparative literature department. Nicolson, or Miss Nicky ,as she was intimately know by a few special students, became a much admired professor and scholar, who inspired many doctoral candidates while at Columbia. She was awarded the Columbia Bicentennial Silver Medallion in 1954. She left Columbia in 1962 as the Peter Field Trent Professor Emeritus, but still did not retire from the academic arena.
In 1963, she spent one year as the Francis Bacon chair at Claremont Graduate school. Following this year, she traveled to Princeton where she became the visiting scholar at the National Institute for Advanced Study. Throughout her busy career in academia, Marjorie Nicolson found time to publish many short essays and books. She wrote throughout her life, and was awarded the British Academy Crawshay prize in 1947, for one of her early works, Newton Demands the Muse. She also wrote noted works like A World in the Moon, The Microscope and the English Imagination, and Voyages to the Moon.
Beyond even Nicolson's active life as a writer, she was also honored in her many other fields of interest. She became president of the Modern Language Society of America, an active member of the American Philosophical Society, consulting editor of the publication the "American Scholar", and the first person to serve multiple terms as the president of the National Phi Beta Kappa association. Before the end of Miss Nicky's career spanning over fifty years, she garnered accolades and honorary degrees from over 17 colleges.
The Marjorie Hope Nicolson Papers document the career of Nicolson as educator, dean of Smith College, and writer. The materials range from biographical information and correspondence, to published and unpublished writings, and cover her work at Smith College as well as Columbia University.
This collection is organized into four series:
This collection is open for use without restriction beyond the standard terms and conditions of Smith College Special Collections.
Smith College retains copyright of materials created as part of its business operations; however, copyright in other items in this collection may be held by their respective creators. For reproductions of materials that are governed by fair use as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission to cite or publish is required. For instances which may regard materials in the collection not created by Smith College, researchers are responsible for determining who may hold materials' copyrights and obtaining approval from them. Researchers do not need anything further from Smith College Special Collections to move forward with their use.
Marjorie Hope Nicolson Papers, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-00049, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts.
The majority of the Marjorie Hope Nicolson papers were donated by Nicolson during the 1960s and 1970s. She supplemented the original donations over the years, until her death in 1981. Additional materials were donated by Eberhart LeShin in 1991.
Contact Information |
Smith College Special Collections Young Library 4 Tyler Drive Northampton, MA 01063 Phone: (413) 585-2970 Fax: (413) 585-2886 Email: specialcollections@smith.edu URL: https://www.smith.edu/libraries/special-collections |
Series I, Biographical Material | 1892-1981 | ||
Contains correspondence, honorary degree citations, newspaper clippings, photographs, press releases and programs of ceremonies. It also contains genealogical material of the Morris and Nicolson families. | |||
General | 1934-1981 | Box 952: folder 1 | |
General (see also scrapbooks) | |||
Autograph Book | 1908-1909 | Box 952: folder 2 | |
Awards | |||
Miscellaneous | 1947-1967 | Box 952: folder 3 | |
Chi Omega | 1934 | Box 952: folder 4 | |
Honorary Degrees | |||
General (diplomas in Oversize Map case) | |||
Miscellaneous | 1937-1953 | Box 952: folder 5 | |
Colby College | 1953 | Box 952: folder 6 | |
Columbia University | 1963 | Box 952: folder 7 | |
George Washington University | 1962 | Box 952: folder 8 | |
Michigan, University of | 1937 | Box 952: folder 9 | |
Mt. Holyoke College | 1933 | Box 952: folder 10 | |
Princeton University | 1946 | Box 952: folder 11 | |
Rutgers University | 1964 | Box 952: folder 12 | |
Smith College | 1941 | Box 952: folder 13 | |
Wesleyan University | 1943 | Box 952: folder 14 | |
Yale University | 1963 | Box 952: folder 15 | |
Correspondence | 1938-1950 | Box 952: folder 16 | |
Correspondence re: Voyages to the Moon | 1948 | Box 952: folder 16a | |
Education | Box 952: folder 17 | ||
General (see also Memorabilia Book) | |||
Michigan | 1914 | Box
952 | |
Yale | 1920 | Box
952 | |
Family | |||
General | 1931-1951 | Box 952: folder 18 | |
Lissie Morris Nicolson (mother) | |||
Autograph Book | 1880-1881 | Box 952: folder 19 | |
Journal/Account Book | 1927Jan-1933Aug | Box 952: folder 19a-d | |
Genealogy | 1903 undated | Box 953: folder 20 | |
Memorial Services | 1981 | Box 953: folder 21 | |
Photographs | |||
General | 1894-1968 | Box 953: folder 22 | |
Sarah Powell Haardt Menken | Box
OV Mapcase | ||
Sarah P.H. Menken and H.L. Menken | Box
958.1 | ||
Stahlberg Portraits | 1930-1933 | Box 953: folder 23 | |
Family | |||
General | undated | Box 953: folder 24 | |
Lissie Morris Nicolson | undated | Box 953: folder 25 | |
Charles B. and Lissie Morris | undated | Box 953: folder 25a | |
Marjorie with family | undated | Box 953: folder 25b | |
Marjorie with Clyde Wallace | Box 953: folder 26 | ||
Morris (brother) | 1892-1900 | Box
953 | |
Charles, John, Kathryn and Wallace Nicolson | 1942-1950 | Box 953: folder 26b | |
Snapshots | undated | Box 953: folder 26c | |
Retirements Tributes | 1962 | Box 953: folder 27 | |
Series II, Professional Life | 1926-1956 | ||
Contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, press releases and syllabi from courses she taught at Smith College and Columbia University. | |||
Columbia University | 1940-1941 1975 undated | Box 953: folder 28 | |
Guggenheim Foundation Committee | 1926-1935 | Box 953: folder 29 | |
Phi Beta Kappa | 1937-1956 | Box 953: folder 30 | |
Smith College | 1929-1941 | Box 953: folder 31 | |
Smith College--Lecture Notes English 33b "Milton" | undated | Box 953: folder 31a | |
Series III, Speeches | 1929-1964 | ||
Contains newspaper clippings, press releases, programs, and copies of speeches Nicolson gave during her careers. | |||
Alumnae Council, Smith College | 1934Feb | Box 954: folder 32 | |
"The Battle of the Books" Graduate Convocation, Brown University | 1964Jun 1 | Box 954: folder 33 | |
Chapel Talks | 1929-1940 | Box 954: folder 34-37 | |
"The Grammarian's Funeral", Northampton Book Festival | 1939Apr 19 | Box 954: folder 38 | |
"Liberals of the Future", Vassar College 75th Anniversary | 1940Jun | Box 954: folder 39 | |
"Pepys" | undated | Box 954: folder 39a | |
"Science and Imagination," Alumnae Weekend | 1935Oct 19 | Box 954: folder 40 | |
News clippings, press releases and programs | 1930-1937 | Box 954: folder 41 | |
News clippings, press releases and programs | 1938-1964 | Box 954: folder 42 | |
Series IV, Writings | 1925-1978 | ||
Contains manuscripts, newspaper clippings, press releases, reprints, reviews and typescripts of her writings. Books produced by Marjorie Hope Nicolson are located in off-site storage and access may not be immediate to these materials. | |||
Bibliography | Box 954: folder 43 | ||
Miscellaneous, unidentified | undated | Box 954: folder 44 | |
News clippings, press releases, reviews | 1929-1959 | Box 954: folder 45 | |
"A.O. Lovejoy as a Teacher," Journal of the History of Ideas | 1948Oct | Box 954: folder 46 | |
"The Cave or the Market Place?" Journal of the AAUW | 1930Jan | Box 954: folder 47 | |
"A Child Without A Country" | undated | Box 954: folder 48 | |
"Christian Gauss: True Wayfaring Christian" The American Scholar, vol 17 | 1948 | Box 954: folder 49 | |
"Cosmic Voyages" Journal of English Literary History, vol 17 | 1940Jun | Box 954: folder 50 | |
"The Discovery of Space" typescript | undated | Box 954: folder 51 | |
"The Early Stage of Cartesianism in England" in Studies in Philology, vol 25 | 1929Jul | Box 954: folder 52 | |
"English Almanacs and the 'New Astronomy'" Annuals of Science | 1939Jan | Box 954: folder 53 | |
"The first electrical flying machine" with Nora May Mohler Smith College Studies in the Modern Languages | 1939Oct-1940Jul | Box 954: folder 54 | |
"George Keith and the Cambridge Platonists" Philosophical Review, vol 39 | 1930Jan | Box 954: folder 55 | |
"Ici on parle" American Speech, vol 1, No. 5 | 1926Feb | Box 954: folder 56 | |
"Kepler, the Somnium and John Donne" Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol 1, No. 3 | 1940Jun | Box 954: folder 57 | |
"The Last [Lost] Generation," typescript | undated | Box 954: folder 58 | |
"Learning, Light and Liberty," Association of American Colleges Bulletin Vol 27, No.4 | 1942Dec | Box 954: folder 59 | |
"Marius Bewley and 'Debbie' at Columbia" typescript | undated | Box 954: folder 60 | |
"Merchants of Light:Scholarship in Arts and Letters" Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol 87, No.4 | 1944 | Box 954: folder 61 | |
"The Microscope and English Imagination" Smith College Studies in the Modern Languages Vol 16, No. 4 | 1935Jul | Box 955: folder 62 | |
"Milton and Hobbes," Studies in Philology, Vol 23, No 4 | 1926Oct | Box 955: folder 63 | |
"Milton and the Telescope," A Journal of English Literary History, Vol 2, No 1 | 1935Apr | Box 955: folder 64 | |
"Milton's Hell and the Phlegraen Fields," A Journal of English Literary History, Vol 2, No 1 | 1935Apr | Box 955: folder 65 | |
"Milton's 'Old Damoetas'," MLN, Vol 41, No 5. | 1926May | Box 955: folder 66 | |
"The 'New Astronomy' and English Literary Imagination," Studies in Philology, Vol 32, No. 3 | 1935Jul | Box 955: folder 67 | |
"New Philosophy Calls All in Doubt," Scripps College Papers, No. 9 | 1947 | Box 955: folder 68 | |
"Neilson of Smith" American Scholar, Vol 15, No. 4 | 1946 Autumn | Box 955: folder 69 | |
"One Room Schoolhouse," mss. Draft | undated | Box 955: folder 70 | |
"One Room Schoolhouse," typescript | undated | Box 955: folder 71 | |
"One War Generation to Another," Goucher Alumnae Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 4 | 1940Jul | Box 955: folder 72 | |
"Phattie Morris," Dalhousie Review, Vol. 57, No. 4 | 1977-1978 Winter | Box 955: folder 73 | |
"The Professor and the Detective," Atlantic Monthly | 1929Apr | Box 955: folder 74 | |
"Resource Letter SL-1 on Science and Literature," American Journal of Physics, Vol. 33, No. 3 | 1965Mar | Box 955: folder 75 | |
"Richard Foster Jones," The Seventeenth Century (Stanford Univ. Press) | 1951 | Box 955: folder 76 | |
"The Rights and privileges pertaining thereto...," Hampshire Bookshop | 1939 | Box 956: folder 77 | |
"The Rights and privileges...;" draft | undated | Box 956: folder 78 | |
"Scholars and Ladies" Yale Review pp. 775-795 | Summer 1930 | Box 956: folder 78a | |
"The Scientific Background of Swift's 'Voyage to Laputa," Annals of Science, Vol. 2, No 4 | 1937Oct | Box 956: folder 79 | |
"The Spirit World of Milton and More," Studies in Philology, Vol 22, No. 4 | 1939Oct | Box 956: folder 80 | |
"Swift's 'Flying Island' in the Voyage to Laputa" with Nora May Mohler, Annals of Science, Vol. 2, No. 4 | 1937Oct | Box 956: folder 81 | |
"The Telescope and Imagination," Modern Philology, Vol 32, No 3 | 1935Feb | Box 956: folder 82 | |
Thank you, God | 1946 | Box 956: folder 83 | |
"Thomas Paine, Edward Nares, and Mrs. Piozzi Marginalia," Huntington Library Bulletin | 1936Oct | Box 956: folder 84 | |
"A Two Cent Stamp," typescript | undated | Box 956: folder 85 | |
"Two Voices: Science and Literature," Rockefeller Institute Review, Vol 1, No 3 | 1963Jun | Box 956: folder 86 | |
"A World in the Moon," Smith College Studies in the Modern Languages Vol 27, No 2 | 1936Jan | Box 956: folder 87 | |
Publications | |||
The Art of Description (FS Crofts & Co., NY) | 1928 | Box
956 | |
Conway Letters:The Correspondence of Anne, Viscount Conway, Henry More, and their Friends, 1642-1684. (Yale University Press, New Haven) | 1930 | Box
956 | |
Newton Demands the Muse: Newton's 'Opticks' and the Eighteenth Century Poets | 1946 | Box
956 | |
(Princeton University Press: NJ) reprint | 1979 | Box
956 | |
Selections from Shelley and Keats (Harper & Bros., NY) | 1924 | Box
956 | |
Voyages to the Moon (Macmillan & Co.:NY) | 1948 | Box
956 | |
The Breaking of the Circle (Northwest University) | 1950 | Box
956 | |
Mountain Gloom and Mountain Glory: the Development of the Aesthetics of the Infinite (Norton:NY) | 1959 | Box
956 | |
Science and Imagination (Great Seal Books:NY) | 1956 | Box
956 | |
John Milton: A Reader's Guide to his Poetry (Farrar & Strauss: NY) | 1963 | Box
956 | |
Columbia University Oral History interviews #2-8 | Box
957 | ||
Columbia University Oral History interviews #9-16 | Box
958 | ||
2 Scrapbooks | c1913-1949 | Box
958.1 | |
University of Michigan Scrapbook | 1914 | Box
958.2 | |
Michigan Songs | Box
958.3 | ||
2 Scrapbooks re: theatre | c1880-1939 | Box
958.4 | |