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Collection Overview

Creator:
Van Doren, Carl, 1885-1950
Title:
Carl Van Doren Papers
Repository:
Manuscripts Division
Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/9g54xh68g
Dates:
1900-1950
Size:
48 boxes, 110 items, and 17.85 linear feet
Storage Note:
Firestone Library (scamss): Box 1-48
Language:
English

Abstract

The collection illustrates the literary career of American author and professor Carl Van Doren, including typescripts and research notes for his Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Benjamin Franklin. The collection also contains various documents, including Van Doren's will, souvenirs, memorabilia, photographs, clippings, and printed material, as well as legal papers and correspondence dealing with his participation in several lawsuits involving copyright infringement.

Collection Description & Creator Information

Description:

The collection illustrates the literary career of Van Doren in typescripts, some with author's corrections, and research notes for his biography of Benjamin Franklin (New York: The Viking Press, 1938) (for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in American biography), The Devil's Lane, The Great Rehearsal (New York: The Viking Press, 1948), Jane Mecom, the Favorite Sister of Benjamin Franklin (New York: The Viking Press, 1950), Mutiny in January, Secret History of the American Revolution (New York: The Viking Press, 1941), Sinclair Lewis (Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday Doran & Company, Inc., 1933), Swift (New York: The Viking Press, 1930), and the Letters and Papers of Benjmain Franklin and Richard Jackson, 1753-1785 (Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1947) (which he edited), and in typescripts for some of his short stories, articles, lectures, poetry, and radio programs ("Words at War") based on his material. In addition, there are 35 volumes of notebooks and diaries (1901-1950) and 17 boxes of correspondence (1905-1950), 4.5 boxes of which are letters (1909-1950) to his brother, Mark Van Doren. Correspondents include Fred Allen, John Erskine, Robert Frost, Zona Gale, Jean Jersholt, Sinclair Lewis, H. L. Mencken, and William P. Trent.

The collection also contains various documents, including Van Doren's will, souvenirs, memorabilia, photographs, clippings, and printed material, as well as legal papers and correspondence dealing with his participation in several lawsuits involving copyright infringement. Included in papers of other persons are a self-portrait in pencil by Sinclair Lewis, William P. Trent's "Sexagenarian Verses" in holograph, and other poetry and plays by lesser known contemporaries. Photographs of Carl Van Doren, Bennett Cerf, Lillian Hellman, Mrs. Roosevelt, John Foster Dulles, Maude Howe Elliott, and others are also included.

Collection Creator Biography:

Van Doren, Carl, 1885-1950

1885 Born in Hope, Illinois 1907 A.B. Illinois 1911 Ph.D. Columbia 1911-1930 professor, English Dept., Columbia University 1917-1921 managing editor of The Cambridge History of American Literature 1919-1922 literary editor of The Nation 1922-1925 literary editor of The Century Magazine 1926-1934 editor of The Literary Guild 1921 The American Novel 1922 Contemporary American Novelists, 1900-1920 1923 The Roving Critic 1924 Many Minds 1925 Other Provinces and American and British Literature Since 1890 (with Mark Van Doren) 1926 The Ninth Wave 1930 Swift 1933 Sinclair Lewis and American Literature: An Introduction undated American Literature: An Introduction 1935 And Anthology of World Prose (editor) 1936 Three Worlds (autobiography) 1938 Benjamin Franklin (Pulitzer Prize for American biography, 1939) 1939 An Illinois Boyhood 1941 Secret History of the American Revolution 1943 Mutiny in January 1946 American Scriptures (with Carl Carmer) 1948 The Great Rehearsal 1950 Jane Mecom, the Favorite Sister of Benjamin Franklin Van Doren Family

Parents: Dr. and Mrs. C. L. Van Doren

Brothers: Frank, Guy, Mark, Paul

Marriages: Irita

daughters: Anne (Mrs. Jerome D. Ross), Barbara (Mrs. Spencer Klaw), Margaret (Mrs. Tom Bevans), Jean (Wright)

Collection History

Acquisition:

Additions (manuscripts, letters) were the gift of Donna Hirsh in March 2010 .

Appraisal

No appraisal information is available.

Access & Use

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

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. Inquiries regarding publishing material from the collection should be directed to RBSC Public Services staff through the Ask Us! form. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.

Credit this material:

Carl Van Doren Papers; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/9g54xh68g
Location:
Firestone Library
One Washington Road
Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
(609) 258-3184
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Storage Note:
Firestone Library (scamss): Box 1-48