American Studies Commons^™

An Unpublished Reminiscence Of James Fenimore Cooper, Constantine Evans

The Courier

A reminiscence of James Fenimore Cooper, written in 1889, lies among the papers of William Mather (1802-1890) in the George Arents Research Library at Syracuse University. It is written in pencil on two sheets of paper, one of which is the blank back of a Herkimer County newspaper supplement of 1889. Each sheet is folded to form a sort of booklet. Mather's text, as it stands, is disjointed and marred by occasionally confused syntax, illegible words, and repetitions. A series of false starts, of beginnings not decided upon, occurs before something of a narrative coherence is achieved. Material obviously intended …

Audubon's "The Birds Of America": A Sesquicentennial Appreciation, David Frederic Tatham

The Courier

This article details the unique copy of John James Audubon's The Birds of America which now resides in Syracuse University's Special Collections. The author describes the backstory and traces the journey of this extremely rare work. Audubon's work continues to stimulate interest in diverse fields in academia, from art history and science to literature.

Past And Present In Hope Emily Allen's Essay "Relics", John C. Hirsh

The Courier

This article sheds light on the American medievalist Hope Emily Allen, specifically the period when she was writing the essay "Relics." Allen Hope Allen probably began work on the essay after she returned to Oneida from Britain in 1912. In the subsequent period, familial obligations, health, and the advent of the First WorId War kept her away from the European libraries on which her work depended, and she turned to material already in hand, or to essays based upon her Oneida home. It was in this period too that, as "an antiquary bred in the bone", she began to record …

Dorothy Thompson: Withstanding The Storm, Michael J. Kirkhorn

The Courier

The "unremitting terror" of totalitarianism was Dorothy Thompson's nightmare. She witnessed the atrocities of Nazism, and later, after the Second World War, the cruelty of Soviet communism. The violent will to power that she described for her millions of readers was for her the nemesis of all hope and goodness. It could not be appeased, it could not be satisfied; it had to be resisted. Her profound recognition of that single necessity, and her frustration with the complacency with which this great threat was met at home drew her, one of the great political journalists of the century, into misjudments …

Ted Key, Creator Of "Hazel", George L. Beiswinger

The Courier

This article highlights the life and works of the cartoonist and author Ted Key, researched through his extensive collection in the Syracuse University Special Collections. Key is best known for his cartoon "Hazel," whose personality endeared her to generations of readers.

Dear Kit, Dear Skinny: The Letters Of Erskine Caldwell And Margaret Bourke-White, William L. Howard

The Courier

This article highlights some of the material found in the Margaret Bourke-White Papers in the Syracuse University Special Collections. The collection contains a good deal of correspondence between Margaret, a journalist for Life magazine and her husband, the American author Erskine Caldwell. The collection provides indispensable documentation of the artists' personal lives in the years 1936 through 1942.

The Radiant Core: Family, Village, Neighborhood, And Region In Literature, Eugene P. Nassar

Syracuse Scholar (1979-1991)

No abstract provided.

James Fenimore Cooper: Young Man To Author, Constantine Evans

The Courier

This article provides a biographical look at the American author James Fenimore Cooper. It traces his roots from his youth in Cooperstown—named after his father William—to his ill-timed naval career, and on to his time as a self-conscious novelist.

Alistair Cooke: A Response To Granville Hicks' I Like America, Kathleen Manwaring

The Courier

Written at the urging of his friend Louis Birk, managing editor of Modern Age Books, I Like America was Granville Hicks' attempt to present to a middle-class audience "the official line of the Communist Party in the Popular Front period". Published when the slogan 'Communism is Twentieth-Century Americanism' identified the interests of the mass of the American population, which was suffering from the Depression and the inadequate response of the New Deal for relief, with the aims of the Party, the book was later described by Hicks as "a venture in propaganda". The Granville Hicks Papers in the George Arents …

Benjamin Spock And The Spock Papers At Syracuse University, Robert S. Pickett

The Courier

This article gives a portrait of the controversial pediatrician and popular author Benjamin Spock, much of it gleaned from his personal papers located at Syracuse University's Special Collections. Among some of the insights into his life worth noting are his wife Jane's contributions to his personal attitudes and even his books.

"A Citizen Of No Mean City": Jermain W. Loguen And The Antislavery Reputation Of Syracuse, Milton Charles Sernett

The Courier

This article describes the life and struggles of Jermain W. Loguen (originally named Jarm Logue), born a slave, who escaped to Syracuse, New York. Once in Syracuse, he became active in the Underground Railroad, the abolition movement, and even entered politics as a public speaker. His letters can be found in the Syracuse University Special Collections, as part of the Gerrit Smith papers. Smith was also a leading abolitionist who corresponded with major figures in the antislavery movement and influential freed slaves such as Frederick Douglass.

The Imperishable Perishable Press, Terrance Keenan

The Courier

When art and meaning come together so effectively, when craft and purpose meld so well, something precious emerges. Of the many one-of-a-kind things in the world, few have a memorable identity. In the work of Walter Hamady the art of bookmaking explores new terrain. The finished product is not a candidate for the museum or the gallery. It holds something for the eye and the mind both, something that was created by human hands to be held by human hands. Often beautiful, always different and provocative, the books of the Perishable Press are durable reminders of the creative spirit at …

The William A. Hinds American Communities Collection, Mark F. Weimer

The Courier

This article discusses the life and contributions of William A. Hinds, who in his book American Communities, tried to document communistic societies within America, such as the Oneida Community. The article includes a list of the communities and associations that Hinds documented.

Freak Show Images From The Ron Becker Collection, Robert Bogdan

The Courier

This article details the rise of freak shows from 1840 to 1940 in America, drawing from the extensive collection found in the Ron Becker Collection in the Syracuse University Special Collections. The exhibits played upon the superstitions and prejudices of popular American culture, and every exhibit was a fraud of some sort. The photographs of these "human curiosities" fascinated Ron Becker, who amassed a collection of the photos, mostly from the photographers Charles Eisenmann and Frank Wendt.

The Albert Schweitzer Papers At Syracuse University, Ursula Berkling

The Courier

This article highlights some of the documents contained in the Albert Schweitzer Papers located in the Syrcause University Special Collections. They contain a variety of materials, such as notebooks, letters, manuscripts, miscellanea, and books from Schweitzer's library. The article gives a synopsis of each of these categories, and includes some photos of Schweitzer's life.

Common Cause: The Antislavery Alliance Of Gerrit Smith And Beriah Green, Milton C. Sernett

The Courier

The Gerrit Smith Papers in the manuscript collections of the George Arents Research Library at Syracuse University are an indispensable resource for scholars interested in American social reform. Given to the University in 1928 by Gerrit Smith Miller, a grandson, the col

lection reveals that the abolition of slavery dominated the Madison County philanthropist's reform interests from the mid-1830s to the Civil War. Of Gerrit Smith's numerous antislavery correspondents, including such prominent reformers as William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Theodore Dwight Weld, none maintained a more regular and extensive epistolary relationship than Beriah Green, upstate New York's most radical …

Newly Discovered Writings Of Mary Helen Peck Crane And Agnes Elizabeth Crane, Paul Sorrentino

The Courier

Although several members of Stephen Crane's immediate family were writers, scholars know little about their work. Thomas A. Gullason

published writings by Crane's parents and brother Jonathan Townley, but other items remain to be studied and possibly printed. Fortunately, Melvin H. Schoberlin preserved holographs and transcripts of documents by Crane's sister, Agnes, and mother, Mary Helen, that further reveal the family's interest in writing. Because the transcripts, which Schoberlin copied from materials once owned by Crane's niece Edith, are unique to the Schoberlin Collection, researchers cannot verify their accuracy. As scholars examine the Collection, though, they will find that he …

The Stephen Crane Collection At Syracuse University, Edward Lyon

The Courier

This article gives a general overview of the items contained in the Stephen Crane collections at the Syracuse University Libraries. The article divides the collection into letters, manuscripts, presentation inscriptions and annotations, books from Crane's library, and memorabilia. A large portion of the collection is drawn from the Schoberlin collection.

Searching For Stephen Crane: The Schoberlin Collection, James B. Colvert

The Courier

This article meticulously recounts the building of the Schoberlin collection, which sought to gather material written by the American novelist Stephen Crane. The task was quite formidable, as competing collectors tried to beat each other to primary sources. The article also points out facts and discrepencies that the sources contain, giving a complex but interesting story about the ill-fated author.

Schoberlin's Annotated Copy Of War Is Kind, Donald P. Vanouse

The Courier

This article explains the controversy that surrounds one of the copies (the Schoberlin copy to be exact) of War Is Kind by Stephen Crane that is contained in Syracuse University's Special Collections. Inaccurate dates, strange annotations, and odd formatting are some of the features that make the copy unique.

The "Lost" Newspaper Writings Of Stephen Crane, Thomas A. Gullason

The Courier

This article details some of the little-known articles written by Stephen Crane when he was a journalist. He often wrote stories about the local New York society that got him fired from several papers, but served him in creating material for his novels, especially Maggie. The stories are infused with Crane's wit and uncanny sense of irony.

New Stephen Crane Letters In The Schoberlin Collection, Paul Sorrentino, Stanley Wertheim

The Courier

This article recreates several letters written by American novelist Stephen Crane, unique to the Schoberlin Collection. By themselves the letters and inscriptions that are reproduced here do not form a coherent narrative; consequently, brief headnotes and footnotes supply the reader with sufficient detail to understand the context of each document.

Delmore Schwartz: Two Lost Poems, Robert Phillips

The Courier

This article details the discovery of two unpublished poems by Delmore Schwartz, written during his youth. The author critically analyzes both, and puts them into the context of Schwartz's life. A collection of Delmore Schwartz's poems can be found in the Syracuse University Special Collections.

The "Black Dream" Of Gerrit Smith, New York Abolitionist, John R. Mckivigan, Madeleine Leveille

The Courier

This article tells the story of Gerrit Smith, a New York abolitionist who had been loosely linked to the raid on Haper's Ferry by John Brown. Shortly after the insurrection Smith was committed to an insane asylum by his family, and the scandal faded after John Brown's execution. Through their research in the Syracuse University Special Collections, the authors have uncovered much evidence affirming the financial link between Smith and John Brown. The authors also determined that the mental state of Smith seemed rather genuine, and he might have suffered from bipolar disorder. The fallout of the Smith scandal received …

Granville Hicks And The Small Town, Leah Levenson, Jerry Natterstad

The Courier

This article tells the story of Granville Hicks' life, especially his life during the 1940s, revealed through journals that are now held in Syracuse University's Special Collections. The author was famously a Marxist critic and member of the Communist party during the 1930s, before defecting in 1939 due to the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact. He then somewhat retreated from intellectual life to become a member of a small community in Grafton, New York, closer to his rural upbringing. He struggled to try to better the small community in areas of civic institutions and racial prejudice, seeing Grafton as a microcosm of …

Benson Lossing: His Life And Work, 1830-1860, Diane M. Casey

The Courier

Benson J. Lossing's interest in reaching a popular rather than an elite audience, his journalistic style, and the changing methods of historical research, which began to develop at the end of the nineteenth century, have all led to the current opinion of him-that he was a popularizer of history, and not a historian. However, an examination of his long and varied career suggests that his work deserves consideration in the study of antebellum American life.

Lady Chatterly's Lover: The Grove Press Publication Of The Unexpurgated Text, Raymond T. Caffrey

The Courier

This article details the excruciating process that author D. H. Lawrence went through to get his novel Lady Chatterly's Lover published in the United States. It was censored multiple times, cited as being obscene and offensive, while Lawrence and his lawyers tried to build the case that the novel possessed literary merit. The research used to write this article was based on findings in the Syracuse Univeristy Special Collections.

A Reminiscence Of Stephen Crane, Paul Sorrentino

The Courier

John S. Mayfield (1904-1983), a curator of rare books and manuscripts at Syracuse University from 1961 to 1971, assembled a small, but noteworthy, collection of material by and about Stephen Crane (1871-1900), one of the University's most famous students. Mayfield himself published several articles on Crane, including three in the Syracuse Library Associates Courier, which he edited from 1962 to 1970. Judging from Mayfield's own notes, one can conclude that he intended to publish, perhaps in the Courier, the following brief reminiscence of Crane.

William Lescaze And Hart Crane: A Bridge Between Architecture And Poetry, Lindsay Stamm Shapiro

The Courier

This article expounds upon the unique relationship between the architect William Lescaze and poet Hart Crane after Lescaze's emigration to the United States during the early twentieth century. Lescaze's knowledge of European modernism influenced Crane's poems, which sought to counteract the pessimism of modern poets (for example T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland"), and provide affirmation of the Machine Age.

The Letters Of Charlotte Browning Page, Donna Burns

The Courier

Charlotte Page was not eminent in state or national life and politics, but for that very reason her papers are an important primary source. The focus of history traditionally centers on prominent people in society: monarchs, presidents, and statesmen. Recently some historians have shifted their interest to obscure individuals: the peasant, the housewife, and the factory-worker. We can gain an intimate view of history by considering Charlotte Page, an ordinary schoolmistress whose collected letters span five decades, from 1878 to 1941. Charlotte's letters provide excellent written records from which to see her as an individual and to study the society …