Writers & Publishers

  • Special Collections
    Shaker of Enfield, N.H., musician, and poet. Composer of the popular Shaker song "Millenial Praise". Music book kept by James Russell of Enfield, N.H. The first 56 pages of the book contain a 12 section lesson on the principles of music. Pages 58-145 contain hymns and poems Russell wrote for the…
  • Special Collections
    American Poet, whose most famous poem was "The Man With The Hoe" which highlighted laborer's hardships. Two broadsides inscribed in 1929 by Edwin Markham to the Book and Scroll Club of U.N.H.: “Lincoln, the Man of the People” – a poem read at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in 1922 – and “…
  • Special Collections
    Son of Thomas Bailey Aldrich who was a New Hampshire-born author and poet. His mother was Mary Elizabeth "Lillian" Woodman. Three page letter from Talbot Bailey Aldrich to Pauline Robinson regarding photos Robinson took of Thomas Bailey Aldrich. Of one photo in particular Talbot Bailey Aldrich…
  • Special Collections
    Lemcke was an author and resident of New York City. Two letters and a map from Ernest G. Lemcke, which accompany handwritten manuscripts of his three works: Tribal Hidage, or the First English Census; The Early History of the Gervisse, later called West Saxons (494-597); and The Burghal Hidage and…
  • Special Collections
    N.H. printer and poet. Three page letter from Bela Chapin, Claremont, N.H. to George Wadleigh in which Chapin, the compiler of The Poets of New Hampshire, inquires about the life histories of several N.H. poets. He asks Wadleigh about Jeremy Belknap’s hymns, mentions his contact with Thomas Bailey…
  • Special Collections
    Prolific author of children's books who lived in Peterborough, NH. Letter from Elizabeth Yates to Mrs. Prugh informing her that she and Nora Spicer Unwin are unable to speak at a PTA meeting due to prior commitments.
  • Special Collections
    Frances Parkinson Keyes was an author, poet and wife of Henry W. Keyes who was Governor of New Hampshire 1917-1919. Three letters from Frances Parkinson Keyes. The first, written in 1917 to Judge von Mosckzisher mentions Robert Frost and Frost’s book Mountain Interval. The second letter, addressed…
  • Special Collections
    Poet and author buried in the Stark Cemetery, Dunbarton, NH. A Postcard sent by Robert Lowell [1964-1977] to Arnold Grade, State University of N.Y. at Brockport. Lowell states that he was “never a student of Robert Frost’s, except in times of conversation.”
  • Special Collections
    Author and poet who was born in Henniker, N.H. and wrote "Mountain Maid and other Poems of New Hampshire" A letter sent from Framingham, MA to Amos R. Wells in which Proctor expresses appreciation for Wells’ work in the Authors Club and promises to attend the Club’s meeting whenever she is in…
  • Special Collections
    Poet and novelist who lived in Warner, New Hampshire. Four letters between Maxine Kumin and William B. Ewert in 1973 that document the publication of Kumin’s poem “On Digging Out Old Lilacs” in the Friends of the University of New Hampshire Library Newsletter (Dec. 1973). Also included is a…
  • Special Collections
    New Hampshire author who wrote Let Me Show You New Hampshire. A 9 page typescript of The Witch's Cavern, a story about three children who explore a dangerous cave.
  • Special Collections
    Author, poet, and composer. Personal letter to Edmund in Jaffrey, NH on Aug. 16, 1918 in which Aiken mentions the delayed delivery of “papers for T.C.R.” and a review of The Jig of Forshlin.
  • Special Collections
    Professor of Fine Arts at Reading University and biographer of English Art Critic John Ruskin. Letter written Sept. 20, 1911 to Alfred E. Richards by Collingwood in which he describes his general health, and criticizes those “people who give their opinions on Ruskin,” so soon after his death. Also…
  • Special Collections
    Betsey Kaime lived at Canterbury Shaker Village. A 120 page leather-bound book filled with occasional poems written over a period of two years (August 1846-October 1848) at Canterbury Shaker Village.
  • Special Collections
    Author, Irish poet and collector of folklore A letter written in New York City by Colum on Jan. 19, 1921 in which he discusses meeting Mr. and Mrs. Kershaw in Peterborough, N.H., while visiting the MacDowell Colony.
  • Special Collections
    Professor of English and Director of the Center for New England Culture, University of New Hampshire, Durham. Includes correspondence from Carolyn Chute and Maxine Kumin. The Chute letters talk about the logistics of readings at the University of New Hampshire and thanks Watters for his favorable…
  • Special Collections
    A Children’s book author who wrote "Courage of Sarah Noble" and "Bears of Hemlock Mountain." Both won Newbury Honors. Letter written by Alice Dalgliesh from Salt Box, Brookfield, CT on July 8, 1952 to Thelma Brackett, U.N.H. Librarian. In the letter, Dalgliesh thanks Brackett for her kind words…
  • Special Collections
    American poet, New Hampshire resident and teacher Two-page letter and accompanying poem, “Forest Flowers,” from Robert Frost to Miss Myrtle Raitt at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire, where Frost had previously taught. There is also a fourteen-page typed transcription of an untitled essay…
  • Special Collections
    Author and illustrator of children’s books. Sketch of Big Anthony, Bambolona, the baker’s daughter, and Strega Nona from the book Big Anthony and the Magic Ring.
  • Special Collections
    A Republican member of the NH State Legislature from Rollinsford, N.H., elected in 1920 via a write-in campaign by newly enfranchised women voters, Jessie Doe was an outspoken advocate for women’s rights. She was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1932, and from 1934 until 1943…
  • Special Collections
    Author, printer, and illustrator Letter with envelope written June 4, 1945 by W.A. Dwiggins to Thelma Brackett, U.N.H. Librarian. In the letter Dwiggins thanks Brackett for mentioning his book, Millenium I, in one of her radio…
  • Special Collections
    Susan Wilbur Jones, wife of Llewellyn Jones, a former literary editor of the Chicago Evening Post and later editor of the Christian Register, a magazine associated with the Unitarian Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, took short-story writing courses from May Sarton at Radcliffe College. The…
  • Special Collections
    Thomas Bailey Aldrich was a New Hampshire-born author, poet and editor. His most noteable works are The Story of a Bad Boy and An Old Town By The Sea. Four letters written by Thomas Bailey Aldrich to his good friend and his wife’s obstetrician, Dr…
  • Special Collections
    Herbert David Croly, 1869-1930, founder and editor of the "New Republic". Five letters written by Herbert Croly to Charlotte Rudyard. The letters are personal in nature, and in them Croly frequently mentions affairs at the New Republic. There is also a postcard from Louise Croly to Rudyard, as well…
  • Special Collections
    W.S. Braithwaite (1878-1962) was a writer, poet and literary critic. From 1906 to 1931 he contributed to The Boston Evening Transcript, eventually becoming its literary editor. He also wrote articles, reviews and poetry for many other periodicals and journals, including Atlantic Monthly, the New…
  • Special Collections
    Amy Lowell (1874-1925) was a poet, biographer, and essayist who owned a summer home in Dublin, N.H. near the MacDowell Artist's Colony. One page letter (1917) written by Amy Lowell to poet and editor, William Stanley Braithwaite. Lowell describes her lecturing and speaking engagements in N.Y. City…
  • Special Collections
    Annie Adams Fields, author and wife of James T. Fields, was born in Boston, MA in 1834. She traveled extensively with her husband and formed intimate friendships with some of America’s most well-known 19th century writers and intellectuals. She died in 1915, having outlived many of her…
  • Special Collections
    Edwin Francis Edgett (1867-1946) was an author, literary editor of the Boston Evening Transcript and a journalist. Thirteen letters (1918-1934) and published materials sent to Edwin Francis Edgett from various N.H. authors and educators, including Charles Townsend Copeland, Bertha…
  • Special Collections
    James T. Fields (1817-1881), author, poet, and publisher, was born in Portsmouth, NH in 1817. At the age of fourteen, he became a clerk in a bookstore in Boston, MA and later a partner in the publishing house of Ticknor and Fields. He edited the Atlantic Monthly, which was published by his firm,…
  • Special Collections
    Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber, humorist, newspaperman, and poet, was born in Portsmouth, NH in 1814. He moved to Boston, MA in 1833, where he became a journeyman printer. He worked as a printer and editor of several papers, including the Carpet Bag, a…
  • Special Collections
    Sarah Josepha Buell Hale, author and editor, was born in Newport, N.H. in 1788. She married in 1813, and when her husband died suddenly in 1822, she began writing to make a living. Her stories and poems attracted a large audience, and in 1828 she…
  • Special Collections
    Lewis Gaylord Clark (1808-1873), editor and publisher of the Knickerbocker magazine. Two letters written by Lewis Gaylord Clark of the Knickerbocker magazine to M.S. Beach inquiring about the possibility of publishing some accounts of the life of the…
  • Special Collections
    American author best known for her depictions of frontier life on the Great Plains in such novels as O Pioneers, My Antonia and The Song of the Lark. A May 2, 1922 letter to George N. Whipple of Boston, MA, which describes some of Cather’s travels and views on lecturing.
  • Special Collections
    Louis V. Ledoux, author and poet, was born in New York City in 1880. He wrote several books of poetry and prose and was a recognized authority on Japanese prints. Ledoux died in New York in 1948. Letter written Jan. 27, 1911 by Louis Ledoux which both…
  • Special Collections
    Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982) was an American poet, writer and the Librarian of Congress. He is associated with the modernist school of poetry. He received three Pulitzer Prizes for his work. Two letters written in 1970 by Archibald MacLeish from…
  • Special Collections
    Henry Wilson, author, United States Senator and Vice-President was born in Farmington, NH in 1812. In 1855 he was elected to the United States Senate, and in 1872 he was nominated for Vice-President on the Republican ticket – a position he held until his death in 1875. Wilson devoted his career to…
  • Special Collections
    Author and literary critic. Known for the Christmas story Christmas Every Day. Letter written by William Dean Howells that thanks Dr. Perkins for sending medicine and asks him to send more. Photograph included.
  • Special Collections
    Daniel Berkeley Updike, printer and publisher, worked for the Merrymount Press of Boston, Mass. He was a recognized authority on the history and use of print types, and he played an important role in the development and improvement of typography in…
  • Special Collections
    Frederic Ogden Nash, 1902-1971 was an American Poet well known for his humorous poetry. He was born in Rye, N.Y. and lived most of his life in Baltimore but he spent summers with his family in a house at Little Boar's Head in North Hampton, N.H. and is buried in the town's East Side Cemetery. Three…
  • Special Collections
    Elizabeth F. Ellet, (1818-1877), the first American historian of women, was born in upstate New York in October 1818. She became well-known for her collective biographies of women, most notably The Women of the American Revolution (1848). A two page…
  • Special Collections
    John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892) was an influential American Quaker poet and ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States A four page letter to Sarah Orne Jewett, London, England, July 3, 1882 in which Whittier expresses delight at the fact that…
  • Special Collections
    E. E. Cummings, 1894-1962, Harvard-educated poet, prose writer, and critic. Seventeen signed letters and postcards from E. E. Cummings, mostly to Seymour Lawrence of the Atlantic Monthly Press. All of the letters and most of the postcards are…
  • Special Collections
    Winston Churchill (1871-1947) was an American novelist who moved to Canaan, New Hampshire in 1899. Churchill's early novels were historical but his later works were set in contemporary America. He often sought to include his political ideas into his novels. Churchill wrote in the naturalist style…
  • Special Collections
    R.T. (Terry) Risk, author and printer, began operating the Typographeum Press in Francestown, New Hampshire in 1974. He uses a 10 x 15 Chandler and Price treadle platen press. Hand-set and printed letterpress books of literary interest, including…
  • Special Collections
    Emil and Mary Tonieri were caretaker managers of The MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire for many years. The MacDowell Colony, the nation’s oldest and largest artists’ retreat, was founded in 1908. Over the hundred years of its existence, the Colony has gained national and international…
  • Special Collections
    Henry Augustus Shute (1856-1943) was a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy (1875) and Harvard University (1879). He was born and lived in Exeter, New Hampshire, where he worked as a lawyer and a judge of the municipal court. In 1902 his publication of…
  • Special Collections
    Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935), American poet, was born in Head Tide, Maine. He attended Harvard University without taking a degree and later moved to New York. He gained national recognition when President Theodore Roosevelt reviewed the second…
  • Special Collections
    Author 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…
  • Special Collections
    Mekeel McBride (1950-) is a writer who studied under Samuel Yellen, as well as going on to teach at Harvard, Princeton, Wheaton, and UNH (1979-present). Her books include A Change in the Weather (Chowder Chapbooks, 1979), No Ordinary World (1979), The…
  • Special Collections
    Dudley Laufman (b. 1930) is a folk dance caller, band leader, musician, composer, author, and poet from Canterbury, NH. He was heavily influenced by the late caller Ralph Page, and was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship Award in 2009. Without…