Writers' Conference Files, 1935-1962

Collection number: UA 17/6
Size: 2 boxes (0.66 cu.ft.)

About University of New Hampshire Writers' Conference

This is Carroll S. Towle's collection of materials relating to the University of New Hampshire Writers' Conference, held each summer from 1938 to 1961 in Durham, New Hampshire. Towle was instrumental in establishing the Writers' Conference and continued as its director until his death in 1962. In fact, the conference was never re-scheduled after the cancellation of the summer 1962 session due to Dr. Towle's poor health.

Carroll S. Towle, a native of Maine, was graduated summa cum laude from Bowdoin College in 1922. He attended Yale University, then taught at the University of Texas. Later he returned to Yale, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1933. He taught at the University of Texas for three years before joining the UNH staff in 1931 as an assistant professor of English where he remained until his untimely death. Dr. Towle's special interest was the short story. He was co-editor, with John Holmes, of A COMPLETE COLLEGE READER and co-authored WRITERS ON WRITING, a by-product of the conferences.

The Writers' Conference of the University of New Hampshire was initiated in 1938 because of the interest in and success of undergraduate writing at the University and the growing prominence of several young graduates. The conference was held each August on the University campus. It was one of the first popular university writers' conferences, attracting a large number of distinguished authors each summer. Eventually it became one of the important centers of literary development in the East. In 1962 a review of summer writing conferences in SATURDAY REVIEW rated the New Hampshire Writers' Conference as one of the Big Four of such conferences, and regretted its cancellation that summer.

The conference was intended for writers of all ages and degrees of experience. It was not a formal school, but rather intensive discussion groups for the exchange of opinions and information on good and bad writing, problems of publications and criticism, current opportunities in publishing, and the problems of the individual writer. A wide range of writing types was considered: the short story, novel, poetry, book length non-fiction, article writing, drama, and radio. The program included lectures, informal gatherings, manuscript readings, and personal conferences.

About the Writers' Conference Files

The collection contains letters, pamphlets, brochures, newspaper clippings, and photographs which relate to and document the history of the Writers' Conference.

The letters in the collection are both personal and business letters to Carroll Towle, many from the practicing writers-novelists, biographers and poets who staffed the conference during its twenty-four year history. These have been arranged alphabetically according to the sender, and where more than one letter exists, they are arranged chronologically. Undated letters are placed at the end, after the dated material. One folder (Number ll) of correspondence of others was found among Dr. Towle's papers. These too have been arranged alphabetically by sender.

Excluding the correspondence, the bulk of the collection has been subdivided according to form - clippings, news releases, schedules, brochures - and arranged chronologically with undated material at the end of each folder. See also UV 17/6 for photographs of the conference.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

This collection is open.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the University of New Hampshire.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Writers' Conference Files, 1935-1962, UA 17/6, Milne Special Collections and Archives, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, NH, USA.

Acquisitions Information

These records were transferred to the University Library for storage prior to the establishment of the University Archives in 1992.

Collection Contents

Series 1: Correspondence, 1935-1962

(1 box)

Subseries A: Letters to Carroll S. Towle, 1935-1962

(10 folders)

Box 1
Box 1, Folder 1	Mar 26, 1938 - Aug 31, 1941	Carroll, Gladys Hasty
Box 1, Folder 2	Jan 30, 1940 - Mar 7, 1940	Coffin, Robert P. Tristram
Box 1, Folder 3	May 3, 1951, Undated	Coit, Margaret
Box 1, Folder 4	Jul 19, 1944 - Feb 8, 1945, Undated	Eaton, Walter Prichard
Box 1, Folder 5	Undated	Forbes, Esther
Box 1, Folder 6	Aug 13, 1938 - Feb 2, 1957, Undated	Holmes, John
Box 1, Folder 7	Aug 29, 1940 - Aug 25, 1948	Humphries, Rolfe
Box 1, Folder 8	Oct 31, 1941 - Jul 31, 1957	Jones, Frangcon
Box 1, Folder 9	Aug 4, 1941 - Apr 12, 1948, Undated	Kelly, Eric P.
Box 1, Folder 10	Oct 14, 1935 - Jul 30, 1957, Undated	Brown, Herbert, Burnett, Whit, Coatsworth, Elizabeth, Edgerly, John H., Ellis, William D., President, Editorial Service, Inc., Gould, John, Gregg, Marion, Hitchcock, Alfred M., Holbrook, Stewart, McKaye, Percy, Packard, Ted, Page, Curtis, Richards, Laura, Roberts, Kenneth (postcard), Sagendorph, Robb (postcard), Schwarz, Felix Conrad, Shute, Henry A., Stowe, David, Widdemer, Margaret, Williams, Loring, Wilson, Robley C., Jr., Woodbury, David
Box 1, Folder 11	Sept. 24 1949	Einstein, Albert

Subseries B: Letters to Others, 1948-1962

(1 folder)

Box 1, Folder 12

Nov 25, 1948 - May 7, 1962

Robert Frost to Robert Chase, (unsigned carbon copy), Rolfe Humphries to Arthur Adams, President of UNH, (unsigned carbon copy), Elizabeth Yates McGreal to ??, James H. Rinker to Edmond A. Cortez (with enclosure "News Notes Never to be used in the Durham Bull"), James H. Rinker to Margery and Lorus Milne (with enclosure "News Notes Never to be Used in the Durham Bull" and envelope with pen and ink drawing and note), Carroll S. Towle to Ted Packard (See also folder 10), Margery and Lorus Milne to V.M. Talley

Series 2: Programs and Schedules, 1938-1961

(1 folder)

Box 1, Folder 13

1938-1961

Programs and Schedules Includes daily and weekly programs, annual evening lecture schedules, staff memo, biographical sketches of the conference staff and members. All material is in chronological order with undated material at the end of the folder.

Series 3: News Releases and Clippings, 1938-1976

(2 folders)

Box 1, Folder 14	1938,1946,1950	News Releases Chronological arrangement of new releases and a radio script publicizing the Writers' Conference.
Box 1, Folder 15	1942 - (1945-46) - 1976	Clippings he 32 clippings are in chronological order; material for which no date could be determined has been filed at the end. The majority of the clippings are from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine newspapers.

Series 4: Brochures, 1938-1961

(3 folders)

Box 1, Folder 16	1938 - 1945	Brochures Brochures, and some circulars for all the Writers' Conferences from 1938 (First Session) to 1945 (Eighth Session).
Box 1, Folder 17	1946 - 1961	Brochures The brochures and/or circulars for the other sessions are in chronological order.
Box 1, Folder 18	1941	Brochure - Paste-ups and Proofs The original galley proofs and paste ups used in preparing the brochure for the 4th Session, the 1941 Writers' Conference.

Series 5: Lectures, Speeches, and Manuscripts, 1935-1962

(9 folders)

Subseries A: Lectures and Speeches,, 1935-1962

(1 folder)

Box 1, Folder 19

1942-1944

Lectures and Speeches Towle, Carroll S. 1942 Aug 6. "Letters and Education." Digest of discussion., Towle, Carroll S. Seminar in Milton. 3 typed pages, Humphries, Rolfe and Holmes, John. 1942 Aug 12. "Poetry is Tough." Digest of lecture, Coffin, Robert P. T. 1944. "Carroll S. Towle Scholarship of the New Hampshire Writers' Conference." Original typescript of speech establishing the scholarship, with pen and ink drawing on cover.

Subseries B: Manuscripts, 1939/1954

(3 folder)

The manuscripts are primarily typescripts of original manuscripts found among Dr. Towle's papers. They have been arranged alphabetically by author with the anonymous material placed last.

Box 1, Folder 20	October 1954	Barker, Shirley "Satan's Instruments." 27pp. Submitted to the Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine Short Story Contest.
Box 1, Folder 21	Undated	Mulstay, Walter H. "The Elm." 100pp. Submitted to the DeRochemont Contest.
Box 1, Folder 22	May 1939, Undated	Staples, Linnea Standig "New Sweden, Maine, Its Birth and Settlement." Published in NATIONAL HISTORICAL MAGAZINE, "Tale of a Grist Mill." Published in the AMERICAN SWEDISH MONTHLY.
Box 1, Folder 23	Undated	Anonymous "How Plead Ye Now?" 17pp, "They had their Cake." 55pp, Milton's Areopagitica. lp.

Series 6: Chapbooks, 1944-1951

(2 folders)

For 17 years, starting in 1944, the American Weave Press, annually published the Durham Chapbook of poetry. The selection was made from manuscript folios submitted by those attending the current session of the Writers' Conference

Box 1, Folder 24	1944	Durham Chapbook Number One
Box 1, Folder 25	1946	Durham Chapbook Number Two
Box 1, Folder 26	1947	Babcock, Donald. "For Those I Taught"
Box 1, Folder 27	1949	Jewett, Sarah Orne. "Verses"
Box 1, Folder 28	1951	Babcock, Donald. "For Those I Taught and The Friendly Commonplace"
Box 1, Folder 29	1951	Durham Chapbook Number Seven
Box 1, Folder 30	Undated	"Two Poets": Pearl Lunt Robinson and Blanche Gile.
Box 2
Box 2, Folder 1	1958	Weil, James S. "Quarrel with the Rose"
Box 2, Folder 1	1958	Hinchey, Barbara D'Arcey. "Syllabus."
Box 2, Folder 1	1960	Durham Chapbook XV: Kneeland, Isobel "Room of Shadows."
Box 2, Folder 1	1961	American Weave Award Chapbook: Parsons, Kitty "People and People"

Series 7: Miscellaneous Pamphlets, Mimeographed Pages, 1935-1961

(1 folder)

Folder 2

1935-1961

Miscellaneous Pamphlets, Mimeographed Pages Holmes, John. "The World is One.", Holmes, John. "Along the Row at Tufts College", Malan, C. "The Watchmaker and His Family.", Nash, Ray, ed. "Fifty Years of Robert Frost, A Catalogue of Exhibition.", Parsons, Kitty. "People and People", A Winter Work, The Cradle. 2pp.

Series 8: Durham Bull, 1953-1960

(5 folders)

The DURHAM BULL was an informal, mimeographed newssheet, Newsletter) for, by, and about the conference, the staff and the conferees. It commenced publication in 1953 and ceased in 1961 with the closing of the conference.

Folder 3	August 1953	Vol. 1
Folder 3	August 1954	Vol. 2
Folder 4	August 1955	Vol. 3
Folder 5	August 1956	Vol. 4
Folder 6	August 1957
Folder 7	August 1959
Folder 8	August 1960