Summary
Overview
Walter Houk Collection of Ernest Hemingway
3.25 linear feet, in 3 archival boxes, 2 flat binder boxes
Princeton University. Library. Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections
Manuscripts Division
One Washington Road
Princeton, New Jersey 08544 USA
Abstract
Consists of manuscripts, correspondence, stenographer's notebooks, photographs, and nautical charts associated with Walter and Juanita Houk's years in Havana, Cuba, documenting their friendship with the Noble prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway and his wife, Mary.
Description
Description
The collection is devoted to Ernest Hemingway in Cuba, where he lived a third of his life. It consists of manuscripts, correspondence, stenography notebooks, photographs, maps of Cuba at mid-century, and memorabilia associated with the Houks' years in Havana, documenting their friendship and interaction with the author. The material, from both the Houks' contributions, provides a robust view of the writer when producing his last major works, Across the River and into the Trees (1950) and The Old Man and the Sea(1952). Their story is told in Houk's essays over the years from the perspective of one who was there and in his manuscript memoir Havana and Hemingway, and "Nita" Jensen's half includes anecdotes and her prized letters from Ernest and Mary Hemingway, along with original shorthand notebooks and typed transcriptions of Hemingway's dictated letters (1949, in the year or so before the couple met, and 1952). Also included are photographs, described in detail by Houk, of major Hemingway landmarks in Cuba taken by his friend David Nuffer in December 2004.
Collection Creator
Biography
Walter Houk, an officer of the American Embassy in Havana, Cuba, from 1949 to 1952, married Juanita Jensen, another embassy employee and part-time secretary to writer Ernest Hemingway, in Havana in 1952, with the Hemingways holding the wedding reception at their estate, Finca Vigía. It was through his future wife that Houk first became friends with both Ernest and Mary Hemingway. The couple were frequent visitors at the Finca, used the library, swam in the pool, stayed for lunch or dinner, went fishing on the Pilar, and drank daiquiris with Papa at the Floridita bar.
Collection History
Acquisition
The collection was a gift to the Manuscripts Division by Walter Houk in November 2010 (AM2011-54).
Processing Information
This collection was processed by John Delaney in November 2010. Finding aid written by John Delaney in November 2010.
Access and Use
Access Restrictions
Original Ernest Hemingway letters are restricted. Color photocopies have replaced the originals in the collection.
Use Restrictions
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Associate University Librarian for Rare Books and Special Collections. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
Preferred Citation
Walter Houk Collection of Ernest Hemingway; 1946-2010, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
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