American Literature Commons^™

Read, Opie Percival, 1852-1939 (Sc 2844), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2844. Letter, 16 May 1884, of journalist and humorist Opie P. Read, written from Little Rock, Arkansas, to an unnamed addressee. Read accepts an offer to exchange magazines (probably his Arkansas Traveler) for a publication called the Voice, congratulates the addressee on a story published in Chicago’s The Current, and acknowledges knowing his name although they have never met.

Don’T Bow Down, Andrew B. Gibbs

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Perpetuating African ancestral customs, Mardi Gras Indians in New Orleans avoid the African American identity crises illuminated by the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance. The poetry of Langston Hughes, Claude McKay and Waring Cuney incorporate W.E.B. DuBois’ double-consciousness theory to reveal the identity issues and ancestral alienation plaguing African Americans at the turn of the twentieth-century. In comparison, unique political and social circumstances in New Orleans allowed enslaved Africans to practice their ancestral customs weekly. The preservation of this heritage fostered a black community in New Orleans rich in traditions, pride and self-conviction. The development of Mardi Gras Indian culture …

Behind His Father's Saying: Robert Frost's Wisdom Tradition, James H. Altman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

It is no coincidence that Robert Frost draws on the European/American aphoristic wisdom tradition. From the fables of Aesop, to the esotericism of pre-Socratic Greek philosophers such as Pythagoras and Empedocles, to the works of moralists like Blaise Pascal and Michel De Montaigne, to Erasmus, Frederick Nietzsche and others, Robert Frost weaves diverse wisdom into his work. He does not, however, as much take verbatim the words or sentiments of those who inspire him. Rather he adapts the spirit of their thoughts for his own purposes. Why and how does he do this? What are those purposes, and their subsequent …

Rice, Alice Caldwell (Hegan), 1870-1942 (Sc 2817), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text of letter (Click on "Additional Files") for Manuscripts Small Collection 2817. Letter, 28 October 1905, of author Alice (Hegan) Rice, Louisville, Kentucky, to Helen Keller. She praises Keller’s recent autobiography and reports on its popularity with the girls at a Japanese boarding school Rice visited the past summer. Rice encloses a composition of one of the students (not included in this collection) in which she writes that “the eyes of [Keller’s] heart are open.”

Seeing The Rebel: Or, How To Do Things With Dictionaries In Nineteenth-Century America, Tim Cassedy

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Hippie Caulfield: The Catcher In The Rye's Influence On 1960s American Counterculture, Richard Neffinger

Masters Theses

This study covers the influence of The Catcher in the Rye on the 1960s youth counterculture in America. Drawing heavily from postmodern and new historicist theory, The Catcher in the Rye has developed a unique connection with the American public, most notably youth culture. This study examines why youth are so attracted to the character of Holden Caulfield and what implications their connection has meant and will mean for future generations of young Americans.

Giles, Janice (Holt), 1905-1979 (Sc 1284), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1284. Letters and greeting cards, 1963-1976, written by author Janice Holt Giles, Knifley, Kentucky, to young Memphis, Texas admirer Mike Hughes. Mike initiated the correspondence, which developed into a friendship. Includes three of Mike’s letters, 2000.

Annie Proulx's Wyoming: Subversive Storytelling From The Bunchgrass Edge Of The World, Elizabeth P. Tyson

Scripps Senior Theses

Annie Proulx’s three Wyoming short story collections, Close Range, Bad Dirt, and Fine Just the Way It Is, tell regional stories that push against the myths surrounding the American West. Elements of Naturalism in her work reverse the paradigm of man’s dominance over the frontier. The cyclical nature of time in her stories shows the unfulfilling nature of nostalgia. She uses folk storytelling techniques to take an insider’s perspective and to utilize the subversive nature of dark humor.

"Hunger Is The Best Sauce": Frontier Food Ways In Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House Books, Erin E. Pedigo

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis examines Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House book series for the frontier food ways described in it. Studying the series for its food ways edifies a 19th century American frontier of subsistence/companionate families practicing both old and new ways of obtaining food. The character Laura in Wilder's books is an engaging narrator who moves through childhood and adolescence, assuming the role of housewife. An overview of the century's norms about food in America, the strength of domesticity as an ideal, food and race relations, and the frontier as a physical place round out this unexplored area of Little House …

Stuart, Jesse Hilton, 1907-1984 (Sc 1221), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1221. Letter, 25 January 1959, from Jesse H. Stuart to Mrs. Higgason explaining that his poem "Kentucky is My Land" is out of print and regretting that he cannot provide a copy.

Giles, Janice Meredith (Holt), 1905-1979 - Relating To (Sc 1172), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1172. Photographs taken at the Giles House, Spout Springs, Adair County, Kentucky, on the occasion of the first autographing event by Dianne W. Stuart for Janice Holt Giles: A Writer’s Life.

Bland, Katherine "Kittie" (Sublett), 1860-1941 (Mss 485), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 485. Scrapbook of Katherine “Kittie” (Sublett) Bland, a resident of Simpson, Logan and Warren counties in Kentucky, containing mostly clippings of poems (a few composed by her), articles and obituaries.

Montell, William Lynwood, 1931-2023 - Collector (Sc 2765), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2765. Program of The Sixth Annual Gathering of Authors, presented by the Paul Sawyier Public Library and held in Frankfort, Kentucky, on 24 August 2013. The program is autographed by the attending authors, some of whom include inscriptions to Dr. Lynwood Montell.

Brown, Phil (Mrs.) - Letter To (Sc 2759), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2759. Letter, 24 September 1927, to Mrs. Phil Brown, Kansas City, Missouri, describing a trip to Pewee Valley, Kentucky. The unnamed writer describes visiting sites associated with Annie Fellows Johnston’s Little Colonel series and conversing with residents familiar with its characters. Includes photographs of the approach road to “The Locust,” home of the “Little Colonel,” and the Pewee Valley railroad station.

Meers, Nora Florence, 1888-1951 (Sc 1040), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1040. Two poems in Southern dialect by Nora Meers, former Western Kentucky State Normal School student, titled “Southern Lullaby,” and “Li’l Lizy Jane.” In 1912 Miss Meers was a member of the junior class.

Stuart, Jesse Hilton, 1907-1984 (Sc 1043), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1043. Letter, 30 October 1974, from Jesse Stuart, Greenup, Kentucky, to English professor O.J. Wilson, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky, regarding Stuart’s recent talk at WKU; Christmas card, 1975, from Stuart to WKU Library Director, Sara Tyler; and poetry magazine Seven, containing one of Stuart’s poems, 1968. The magazine is autographed by Stuart.

William Beer: An Englishman's Role In Libraries, Literature And Society In New Orleans, 1891-1927, Remesia Shields

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In 1891, an Englishman named William Beer arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana, to take up the position as librarian of Tulane University's Howard Library. Beer quickly gained a reputation as a competent and knowledgeable librarian by bolstering the Louisiana collection at the Howard Library with maps, rare books and Louisiana historical documents. In 1896, Beer played a central role in the organization and opening of the first free and public library in New Orleans, the Fisk Free and Public Library. Beer befriended many well-known authors of New Orleans literature including George Washington Cable, Grace King, Mollie Moore Davis and Mary …

The Akron Offering: A Ladies' Literary Magazine, 1849-1850, Jon Miller

University of Akron Press Publications

FREE FULL-TEXT PDF DOWNLOAD

From 1849 to 1850, Calista Cummings edited and published Akron's first literary magazine, The Akron Offering. At the time, Akron was a booming canal town on the verge of even greater prosperity. By turns religious, comic, romantic, and political, this extraordinary collection of early midwestern creative literature expresses a wide range of sometimes contradictory opinions on both the important questions of its day and the important questions of today: historical events such as the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the 1848 revolutions in Europe are considered alongside more timeless contemplations on truth, justice, and …

Noe, James Thomas Cotton, 1864-1953 (Sc 1021), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1021. Published copy of James Thomas Cotton Noe’s poem, “Tip Sams of Kentucky, Patriot,” with added comments by Noe. Noe was honored as a Poet Laureate of Kentucky.

Marquess, Kathleen Caroline (Perkins), 1895-1973 (Sc 1018), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1018. Booklet (39 pages) of poems and brief prose, Moments of Gladness, Madness and Sadness, published by Kathleen Caroline Perkins Marquess, Hopkinsville, Kentucky. She records comments about many of her writings and includes letter written to Allan Trout, 1961. In letter she discusses the details of getting the booklet published.

Penn, Anna Ruth (Sc 1013), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1013. Receipt signed by school teacher (Anna) Ruth Penn, Gracy, Kentucky, and given to M.S. Hopson, a member of the School Board of Trustees, for payment. She requested payment of $4.50 for three months’ tuition. Penn was the mother of noted author, Robert Penn Warren. Also associated data.

Murdoch, Louise Saunders, 1872-1918 - Letters To (Sc 937), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 937. Congratulatory letters, 1918, written to Louise Saunders Murdoch, Buckhorn, Kentucky, concerning her recently published book, Almetta of Gabriel’s Run.

Speed, John Orville, 1871-1970 (Sc 933), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 933. Two poems; excerpt from Who’s Who in Poetry that included one of John Orville Speed’s poems; 1970 newspaper clipping about Speed, all found in an autographed copy of his 1962 book Anecdotes and Tall Tale in Rhyme. Speed was originally from Madisonville, Hopkins County, Kentucky, and was called the “Pennyrile Poet Laureate.”

Rice, Alice Caldwell (Hegan), 1870-1942 (Sc 943), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 943. Unsigned picture postcard, postmarked Cumberland, Maryland, and addressed to Rose Mehler, Lexington, Kentucky. The writer relates that their carnival was very successful and that their production of Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch was quite a “unique feature.” Picture on postcard is of the cast and scenery of the play.

Thornton, James Bankhead, 1806-1867 (Sc 2696), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2696. Letter, 9 February 1847, of lawyer James B. Thornton, Memphis, Tennessee, to John M. Thornton, Newport, Kentucky. He asks John to deliver a circular and notice about a book he has written to a bookseller in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also provides an update on the search for an estate heir and mentions his poor health.

Roberts, Elizabeth Madox, 1881-1941 (Sc 959), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below" for Manuscripts Small Collection 959. Letter, 9 September 1920, written by Elizabeth Madox Roberts, Springfield, Kentucky, to "Marjorie," evidently a fellow student at the University of Chicago. Roberts mentions the Poetry Club, the problem of finding suitable housing, and comments about fellow students Janet Loxley Lewis and Maurice Lesemann.

Connecting Literature And History: Fitzgerald’S The Great Gatsby Museum Project, Adam Kotlarczyk

The Great Gatsby Unit

Despite mixed reviews at the time of its 1925 publication, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby has come to be one of the most widely taught American books and has become a popular candidate for the title of the “Great American Novel.” Uniquely intertwining social history, biography, and literature, the text challenges readers to understand the culture and history of the Jazz Age and to see its interrelationship with the lives and motivations of the characters, as well as with the author himself. This project encourages students to engage and work closely with one of the historical elements that influenced …

Stuart, Jesse Hilton, 1907-1984 (Sc 2686), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2686. Letter of Jesse Stuart, 16 April 1960, to Elizabeth Coombs, librarian at the Kentucky Library, Western Kentucky University (then Western Kentucky State College). He recalls his first meeting with the college’s late president, Paul L. Garrett, and praises Garrett’s personal qualities and the breadth of his reading.

Giles, Janice (Holt), 1905-1979 (Sc 988), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 988. Wills of Janice (Holt) and Henry Giles, Knifley (Adair County), Kentucky, including rights to Janice's books, royalties, papers, etc.

Caudill, Rebecca, 1899-1985 (Sc 991), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 991. Letters (2), written to Evelyn Thurman, Bowling Green, Kentucky, from Rebecca Caudill, Urbana, Illinois, discussing her and her husband’s writings and day-to-day activities and showing her friendship with Thurman, who later wrote a biography of Caudill.