- Box-folder 1:15
1900 July 24 Booth Tarkington,
Indianapolis, Indiana, to [Robert Underwood] Johnson, apologizes for
his delay in answering his note due to his difficulty with his eyes
and unfamiliarity with dictation; writes he has nothing near
completion that has not already been promised to someone for
publication but he has begun a story that may be ready by late fall
that could possibly suit him; and recalls a very pleasant evening at
his house in '96.
ALS, 2 pages on 1 l.
- Box-folder 1:16
[1906 November 5] Booth Tarkington,
Champigny-sur-Marne, France, to [Frederick A.] Duneka, writes "On
receipt of your letter stating that you thought it better not to use
"His Own People" in the mag. but would print it in the Weekly I cabled you (Harpers) to
return the mss to me. This was
because I felt that to place the story in the Weekly would do neither you & the
Weekly nor the story and me
any good; might work a contrary
effect in fact." Tarkington goes on to explain his reasoning about
the story. He also asks if he is going to reprint James De Mille's
Castle in Spain as he did the
others.
ALS, 3 pages on 2 leaves
- Box-folder 1:17
1928 November 12 Booth Tarkington to
Elizabeth Trotter, thanks her for the article from Scribner's, whose author is an English
professor who appears interested in students in English and who
feels that everyone should read poetry. Tarkington believes that he
knows the reason for this odd thought, "The sight of your house at
Chestnut Hill, or of the one at Kennebunkport would convince anyone
of that. They are secluded without being withdrawn; thoughtful, but
not scholastic; and they seem to say, 'There is time here for
everything worthwhile."
ALS, 2 pages on 1 leaf
- Box-folder 1:18
1930 April 25 Telegram from Fannie Hurst,
New York City, to Booth Tarkington, Indianapolis, Indiana,
concerning the severe accident which placed Robert H. Davis in the
hospital for months, asking Tarkington to submit one thousand words
to appear in a column in The New York
Sun called "Bob Davis Recalls" to help him
out,
1 page
- Box-folder 1:19
[1930] Unsigned draft of a letter to
[William Charles ?] Lengel, in pencil on orange paper with
revisions, written in the hand of Elizabeth Trotter, probably from
dictation by Booth Tarkington, saying "Herewith I am sending you the
third of the stories, which was well toward completion before I went
to S.H. Recalling that "Penrod" had appeared in the Post & Everybody before it moved to
the Cosmopolitan, years ago, I hadn't
realized that the latter might prefer, with the changing times, not
to have "Mr. M" move in with his special baggage, ie. this third
story is a 'Massey' one, having got so far along before your hint of
preference was received." He assures him that the next three do not
have Massey as a character and the fourth "Cider of Normandy" has an
"American in Paris background."
AL, 1 page
- Box-folder 1:19
[1930] Unsigned draft of a letter to
[William Charles ?] Lengel, in pencil on orange paper with
revisions, written in the hand of Elizabeth Trotter, probably from
dictation by Booth Tarkington, encloses the fourth story "Cider of
Normandy" with its Parisian flavor, and notes that the "next story
will revert to New England but not to Mr. Massey." He also plans for
one of the six stories to be serious and not humorous in intent,
with its meaning conveyed by "calamity in the drama."
AL, 1 page
- Box-folder 1:20
1931 February 16 Elizabeth Kerr, Secretary to
Dr. William H. Wilmer, to Booth Tarkington, returning two typed
letters (enclosed) which were sent to Tarkington while he was a
patient at Johns Hopkins Hospital, discussing home remedy treatments
for blindness. Kerr writes that Dr. Wilmer really enjoyed seeing the
letters and she promises to help him secure a photograph of Wilmer
on his next visit. The two letters enclosed were from American
Indian of the Piscataway Treaty Nation, Al Proctor S. Marsh
(1872-?), New York City, January 31, 1931, and an unidentified
correspondent from Modesto, California, January 31,
1931.
- Box-folder 1:21
1935 May 17 Booth Tarkington,
Kennebunkport, Maine, to [Roger Livingston] Scaife, regrets that he
did not have time to call him during his brief pause in Boston but
would very much like to meet Scaife and Mr. Sedgwick for lunch in
Kennebunkport, Maine, if it could be arranged between now and
December.
TLS, 1 page
- Box-folder 1:22
1935 September 4 Booth Tarkington,
Kennebunkport, Maine, to [Roger Livingston] Scaife, informs him that
there is almost no chance of being able to do a book with Mr. Wyeth
within the next two years. Tarkington then suggests they try "one of
the new Maine writers," Isabel Hopestill Carter, who wrote the book
Shipmates and has "the Maine
feeling and a fine literary honesty in the expression of it."
TLS, 1 page
- Box-folder 1:23
1936 September 1 Booth Tarkington,
Kennebunkport, Maine, to Ray Baker Harris, discusses censorship and
the circumstances of the publication of his short story "His Own
People" in the Saturday Evening Post
which had been refused by Harper's
due to the moral objection "that the young man kissed a lady on her
shoulder. That 'wasn't done' in 1906. Nowadays we have "Anthony
Adverse" and complete copulative description - recommended by
educational authorities for high school reading!" Tarkington goes on
to mention his article in the [ Saturday
Evening ] Post "When Is It
Dirt?" explaining "my own generation had really won the struggle for
freedom of expression in print but that after the battle the camp
followers arrived, committing excesses upon the field. The camp
followers are having things their own way now, certainly, collecting
dirt to sell, and of course they're not "daring" - camp followers
never are."
TLS, 2 pages on 2 leaves
- Box-folder 1:24
1937 September 29 Booth Tarkington to Mr.
Silberman, a New York City art dealer, complains that he has not
seen a whale all summer long, regrets that he left before meeting
his English visitors, who soon sail for home. He describes the
activities of one of them, "Mr. Warner, 78, dances wildly every
evening with Betty - tangos, Russian jigs, minuets and maudlin-like
interpretative dancing." Tarkington also encloses the October issue
of the little magazine of the Literary Guild, with advance notices
of his book Rumblin Galleries for
which Silberman supplied some background knowledge, as well as
sending a copy to Mr. Vose in Boston since "they're calling him 'Mr.
Rumblin' in Boston and elsewhere, and your brother circulated the
rumor that I was Vose Galleries 'ideal client.' He also mentions
having to decline an invitation to give an art lecture at the
Minneapolis Museum of Art due to his health where "like your
brother's favorite art lecturer, I could have mentioned my yacht."
ALS, 2 pages on 1 leaf, in pencil on orange paper
- Box-folder 1:25
1938 April 28 Booth Tarkington,
Indianapolis, Indiana, to Lloyd Frankenberg, an enclosure with a
note from Bet to Mussy, dated Thursday, where she describes the
enclosed letter as a "monumental letter Mr. T's just written to the
indignant young Poet of Greenwich Village, N.Y. who wrote in a
restrained rage after he'd read the reprint of Mr. T's letter to Mr.
Coffee in the Herald Tribune ."
Tarkington was responding to Frankenberg's criticism of his letter
to Mr. Coffee which he had not known would be printed. The point of
disagreement appears to be the success and necessity of government
subsidies of artists, good or bad, during the Depression and the
bill sponsored by Representative John Coffee (D-WA) to transform the
Federal Arts Project into a permanent government agency, the Bureau
of Fine Arts.
TL, carbon copy 10 pages on 10 leaves,
- Box-folder 1:26
1938 April 29 Booth Tarkington to
Wellington Roe, Writers' Committee for a Federal Bureau of Fine
Arts, New York, disagrees that he has fifty contemporaries but if he
does at his age he does not wish to enter into controversy with them
and feels physically unable to come personally to the Conference to
defend his position on the proposed Federal Arts Bill. He also
explains how his letter to Mr. Coffee came to be published and
suggests that Roe read Senator Byrd's article from the April Atlantic Monthly to the Conference
instead of his letter to Coffee. He also suggests a better approach
to help painters and sculptors would be to permit the purchase of
works of art to be deducted from income taxes.
TL, carbon copy, 2 pages on 2 leaves,
- Box-folder 1:27
1938 August 5 Booth Tarkington,
Kennebunkport, Maine, to Mr. Norcutt, thanks him for his birthday
wishes and addresses his question about why human beings work at
trying to make things, "I've tried to give hints as to what the
answer may be in a novel of mine called Presenting Lily Mars; but of course it is a question
that must be answered by everyone in a different way."
TLS, 1 page
- Box-folder 1:28
1938 October 6 Booth Tarkington to "Dear
Warrack," [Warrack Wallace?] reviews the history of events in Europe
from 1918 leading up to the rise of Hitler in Germany and the
current status of the Treaty of Versailles. They were apparently
discussing the repercussions of the Munich Agreement signed by Adolf
Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier, and Benito Mussolini,
on September 29, 1938, which transferred the Sudetenland to Germany
and the subsequent march of the German army into the Sudetenland on
October 1, 1938.
TL, carbon copy, 4 pages on 4 leaves,
- Box-folder 1:29
1939 January 30 Booth Tarkington,
Indianapolis, Indiana, to [Abraham?] Silberman, encloses on thousand
dollars payment on the Titian painting, leaving a debt of two
thousand, and expresses his pleasure at seeing Mr. and Mrs. Elkan
Silberman while they were in town, and hopes to see him and Dr. Ganz
soon.
TLS, 1 page
- Box-folder 1:30
1939 May 7 "C. Coolidge, Jr." [Booth
Tarkington] to "From a letter to Fred Kelly," discusses the economic
woes of the times, the limitations of money, the causes of
unemployment, the Works Progress Administration and its use of its
relief recipients to vote in elections, and dangers of the society
family administration who did not understand business,
TL, carbon copy, 6 pages, on 6 leaves,
- Box-folder 1:31
1939 May 29 [Booth Tarkington] to "Letter
to Fred Kelly continued," describes the political characteristics of
the Nazis, communism, and a Republic, concluding, "I say: no liberty
except under a Republic governed by as little Law as enables men to
compete for their own profit without openly robbing one another!"
TL, carbon copy, 2 pages on 2 leaves,
- Box-folder 1:32
1939 May 29 [Booth Tarkington] to "Dear
Mr. Secretary," discusses current economic and labor problems, which
he summarizes as three "egoisms" fighting for power, employers,
labor leaders, and politicians, "3 egoisms working to get Power out
of all us other fellers, the workingman, Which we going to be Fer?
The one that - promises us the
most, of course-if we believe him. Which one had we better be Fer. The one that'll give us the most. We'd better look
into those promises!"
TL, carbon copy, 4 pages on 4 leaves,
- Box-folder 1:33
1939 December 26 Booth Tarkington,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Mr. Silberman, promises to look into
a rumor about the supposed acquisition of a Titian in Indianapolis;
will leave in a week to allow Betty to recover her strength; Mrs.
Tarkington was called suddenly to New York by the violent illness of
Miss Keifer with food poisoning; and writes "I hope you aren't
buying any Picassos; I think there are signs that the whole circus
is beginning to droop - just beginning but the flop will follow.
Father Devine, too, begins to look punctured after a long success,
and, since Pic is the Father Divine of Art, it's appropriate that
they're on their way out together."
ALS, 2 pages on 1l.
- Box-folder 1:34
1940 August 29 [Booth Tarkington] to the
Honorable Senator Edward R. Burke, Committee on the Judiciary,
writes concerning the reasons he supports limiting the tenure of the
office of the Presidency,
TL, carbon copy, 2 pages on 2 leaves,
- Box-folder 1:35
1941 March 5 [Booth Tarkington] to "Most
Honored Guest of Sigma Chi," [Fred], expresses his high regard for
Fred, his fellow Brother of the Delta Delta chapter of Sigma Chi, by
letter since he cannot be present to speak in person,
TL, carbon copy, 2 pages on 2 leaves,
- Box-folder 1:36
1941 December 30 [Booth Tarkington] to A.
Neall, Saturday Evening Post, writes
concerning his character "Ames Lanning" and about serials in
general, "I should keep a reminder-slogan before me on the wall of
my workroom: 'Reader's got to LIKE somebody!' -I'm too much
interested in the yoomanbeins as such, in my stories, making 'em out
of realities that swarm them together from mosaic memory cubes - too
absorbed in that to remember that the reader, too, isn't (in
numbers) of this persuasion. He has to like the important people, as in some measure, replicas
of himself, or else they must seem to be his neighbor (exposed) or
they must be so queer, and
probably monstrous, as to interest him in the fairy story of their
doings, or else one of them must be the reader himself (a perfect being who is also the author)
having wunfle [wonderful?] adventures and love affairs vicariously."
TL, typescript copy, 1 page,
- Oversize
1942 January 19 Booth Tarkington to "Dear
Pratt" [Henry Pratt Smith?] concerning the state of the war, tells a
humorous story of a local enemy plane spotter from Kennebunkport who
saw a black plane overhead and "hurried back to the village and
reported the black plane to Mitchell Field - in a letter." He goes
on to compare the current time to World War I, 1918, after
Ludendorff had thrust through to Amiens, when all the military
authorities, diplomats, and newspapers were gloomy. Even after the
Germans fell behind the Hindenburg Line, they all predicted a long
war ahead.
(oversize)
ALS, in pencil, on orange folio paper, 2 pages,
- Box-folder 1:37
1942 January 24 "Pratt" [Henry Pratt Smith?]
to Booth Tarkington, thanks him for his letter, appreciates that the
coast is well protected and thinks that hunting for subs with depth
bombs would be a more interesting and exciting sport than hunting
whales; he also gives his assessment of the state of the war,
expecting Hitler to revamp and dash off to Africa through Spain and
Portugal, and through Turkey to the Dardanelles to grab the
Mediterranean; discusses the debate about whether it will be more
effective to tackle the Pacific or Europe first; worries if the Axis
powers are able to take control of the Philippines, Singapore and
the Dutch East Indies, since that could prolong the war by at least
five years, concluding: "All that we can do is to hope, keep our
chins up and trust that a reorganization of those in charge of our
production in Washington will bring about a situation where maximum
results may be obtained. I consider it quite an accomplishment for
Mr. Big [F.D. Roosevelt?] to do as he should have done a year or a
year and a half ago, appoint one competent individual at the head of
our defense program, which I think is the most encouraging step that
has been taken, but whether or not he will keep hands off is still
somewhat problematical, and if we could get Mrs. Big to retire
gracefully from her continuous and irritating activities, we would
be still better off."
TLS, 2 pages on 2 leaves
- Box-folder 1:38
1943 March 19 [Walter Moses] to Booth
Tarkington, Indianapolis, Indiana, with news clipping, Moses, a
classmate of Tarkington while at Princeton, in the Class of '95,
thanks him for his letter to the City Council of Indianapolis urging
the rescue of stray dogs by the establishment of a downtown
municipal pet shop where stray dogs will be sold for four dollars.
Tarkington's letter first appeared in The
Indianapolis Star, March 16, 1943, under the caption
"Tribute to Man's Friends."
TLS, carbon copy, 1 page,
- Box-folder 1:39
1943 March 25 Booth Tarkington,
Indianapolis, Indiana, to Walter Moses, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
expresses his obligation to his dogs and those of Mr. and Mrs.
Moses, because his letter about stray dogs has brought a letter from
an old school friend,
TLS, 1 page, with envelope
- Box-folder 1:40
1943 October 14 Booth Tarkington,
Kennebunkport, Maine, to Elizabeth Trotter, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, sends news about Kennebunkport, the C.G. dinner and
celebration, an explanation about the gift of a pair of amber
bottles as tokens of birthday esteem from Booth and his wife,
Susanah Keifer Robinson Tarkington, news of Betty, and a story about
Miss L. Keifer being threatened by boys throwing rocks at his front
terrace and about 75 or 80 gray squirrels "trying nobly to hit her
with acorns."
ALS, in pencil, 2 pages on 1 l., with envelope
- Box-folder 1:41
1944 December 13 Booth Tarkington,
Indianapolis, Indiana, to Elizabeth Trotter, writes about one of the
boys from the area, who was just 19, missing in action; the request
by the Army and Navy for everyone not to travel on the trains during
the holidays to leave space for the servicemen, so Betty just can't
get home if she tried; mentions the gale and great tide and its
effect upon Kennebunkport where part of the seawall is down and
Scott Campbell's lawn and cellar ran deep with salt water.
ALS, in pencil, 2 pages on 1 l., with envelope and a news clipping review on "First Principles of Verse" by Robert Hillyer
- Box-folder 1:42
1945 March 8 Booth Tarkington,
Indianapolis, Indiana, to Elizabeth Trotter, writes concerning her
observations about his book Image of
Josephine, "I'm glad you 'got' the girl in this
book… You're off track,
though, when you say I give
Josephine a mean set of trials; the author doesn't do those things - he's a detached
observer of what happens and this ("what happens") grows out of the basic 'situation'
and the characters therein inter-engaged. Once that 'situation' is
set, the rest is mechanical, can't
be interfered with. The clue to
Josephine comes late in the book when her opponent, old [?] says
'Fine girl!" He also writes about Susanah's proposed trip to New
York in order to accept the Academy's Howells Medal for him for his
work since 1940 on May 18th and Mr. Roberts news that it will take
an Act of Congress to remove the disgusting mural from the village
post office at Kennebunkport.
ALS, in pencil, 2 pages on 1 l., with envelope
and a news clipping of an article by Booth Tarkington "Shall We
Choose Insanity?" from The Indianapolis
Star, March 29, 1945
- Box-folder 1:43
n.d. Booth Tarkington to A.C. Hotel, a
note in pencil, clarifying his reservations at the hotel,
ANS, in
pencil, 1 page
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