Collection number: MC 48
Size: 1 box
(0.33 cu.ft.)
About Kenneth Roberts
Kenneth Roberts (1885-1957) was born in Kennebunk, Maine. He was educated at Cornell University, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Cornell Widow, a humor magazine, for two years prior to his graduation in 1908. From 1909 to 1917, he was a reporter and columnist for the Boston Post. After serving in World War I, Roberts worked as roving correspondent for the Saturday Evening Post, writing on conditions in Europe, the Orient, and the United States. In 1928 he retired to Italy and began his Chronicles of Arundel, a series of novels pertaining to the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Arundel was printed in 1930 and was followed in the next four years by Lively Lady, Rabble in Arms, and Captain Caution. Northwest Passage (1937) was a bestseller and established Roberts as the most popular historical novelist of his day. In 1957 he received a Special Pulitzer Prize.
About the Kenneth Roberts Papers
The Kenneth Roberts collection contains material on the subject of water dowsing, a major interest of Roberts in later life, and includes correspondence, articles, newspaper clippings, and reviews of the three books Roberts’s authored pertaining to water dowsing. Also included in the collection is a typescript copy of the novel Boon Island, copies of Roberts’s work published in the Saturday Evening Post and various articles and clippings about the Maine author.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
This collection is open.
Copyright Notice
Contents of this collection are governed by U.S. copyright law. For questions about publication or reproduction rights, contact Special Collections staff.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], [Folder], [Box], Kenneth Roberts Papers, 1919-1972, MC 48, Milne Special Collections and Archives, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, NH, USA.
Acquisitions Information
Purchases:
- Bert Babcock Bookseller, Mar. 1984 (Accession number: 8351)
- Ampersand Books, Mar. 1981 (Accession number: 8063)
- Current Co., July 1979 (Accession number: 796)
- Paul Richards Autographs, Dec. 1979 (Accession number: 7933)
- Black Sun Books, Dec. 1978 (Accession number: 7822)
- Current Co., Aug. 1977 (Accession number: 778)
- Robert F. Batchelder, Dec. 1977 (Accession number: 7712)
- Robert Ross Books, Sept. 1977 (Accession number: 7625)
Collection Contents
Series 1: Water Dowsing
| Box 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Box 1, Folder 1 | Correspondence, Kenneth Roberts and John Pearson, 1951 | |
| Box 1, Folder 2 | Correspondence, Clancy Publications to John Pearson, 1951 | |
| Box 1, Folder 3 | Correspondence, Horace C. Levinson to W.M. Harlow, 1951 | |
| Box 1, Folder 4 | Notes on water dowsing | |
| Box 1, Folder 5 | Brown, Edward S., Jr. “Water Witching,” Dartmouth College Library Bulletin, Vol. VII No. 2April 1968 | |
| Box 1, Folder 6 | Reed, Verner Z., “Water Dowser,” Vermont Life, n.d. | |
| Box 1, Folder 7 | Vogt, Evon Z. “Water Witching: An Interpretation of a Ritual Pattern in a Rural American Community,” The Scientific Monthly, September 1952 | |
| Box 1, Folder 8 | “Water-Divining,” traced images | |
| Box 1, Folder 9 | Newspaper articles about water dowsing, 1951-1972 | |
| Box 1, Folder 10 | Reviews of Henry Gross, Seventh Sense and Water Unlimited, 1951-1958 | |
Series 2: Miscellaneous
| Box 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Box 1, Folder 11 | Postcard, Kenneth Roberts to Mary E. Greene, 1938 | |
| Box 1, Folder 12 | Oliver Wiswell, manuscript page with corrections, n.d. | |
| Box 1, Folder 13 | Photograph of Kenneth Roberts n.d. | |
Series 3: Publications by Kenneth Roberts
| Box 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Box 1, Folder 14 | “The Brotherhood of Man,” Saturday Evening Post, August 30, 1919 | |
| Box 1, Folder 15 | “Murmuring Michigan,” Saturday Evening Post, March 31, 1934 | |
| Box 1, Folder 16 | “Hitler Youth,” Saturday Evening Post, May 6-June 2, 1934 | |
| Box 1, Folder 17 | “Captain Caution,” Saturday Evening Post , August 18-September 22, 1934 | |
| Box 1, Folder 18 | “It Must Be Your Tonsils,” Saturday Evening Post, October 12, 1935 | |
| Box 1, Folder 19 | "Potato-Poor,” Saturday Evening Post , November 23, 1935 | |
| Box 1, Folder 20 | “I Like Girls With Simple Tastes," Saturday Evening Post, June 27, 1936 | |
| Box 1, Folder 21 | “Too Much Service,” Saturday Evening Post, July 11, 1936 | |
| Box 1, Folder 22 | “Quoddy,”Saturday Evening Post , September 19, 1936 | |
| Box 1, Folder 23 | “Roger’s Rangers,” Saturday Evening Post , December 26, 1936-February 6, 1937 | |
| Box 1, Folder 24 | “New Faces in Old Dress, Portraits by Esta Cosgrave,” 1947 | |
| Box 1, Folder 25 | “Don’t Say That About Maine,” Saturday Evening Post, November 6, 1948 | |
| Box 1, Folder 26 | Boon Island, typescript, introduction-p.104, 1955 | |
| Box 1, Folder 27 | Boon Island, typescript, pp.105-201, 1955 | |
| Box 1, Folder 28 | Boon Island, typescript, pp.202-293, 1955 | |
Series 4: Materials about Kenneth Roberts
| Box 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Box 1, Folder 29 | Correspondence, Booth Tarkington to Margaret Deland, 1934 | |
| Box 1, Folder 30 | “Romancer Kenneth Roberts,” Time, November 25, 1940 | |
| Box 1, Folder 31 | Newspaper articles, 1940 | |
| Box 1, Folder 32 | “Auction Sale at the Estate of the Late Author and Historian Kenneth Roberts”, 1967 | |
Kenneth Roberts
