Inventory of the Joel E. Spingarn Papers 1934-1938
Collection Number Mss. Sm. Coll. Spingarn
A Collection in the
Manuscripts and Rare Books Department

Contact Information:
Earl Gregg Swem Library
College of William and Mary
Williamsburg, Virginia 23187-8794
USA
Phone: (757) 253-4841
Fax: (757) 566-3493
Email: spcoll@mail.wm.edu
URL: http://www.swem.wm.edu/SpColl/index.html

Processed by: Special Collections Staff
Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

© 2001 By the College of William and Mary

Conditions of Use

Administrative Information

Restrictions on Access

Collection is open to all researchers.

Publication Rights/Restrictions on Use

Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from the Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.

Preferred Citation

Joel E. Spingarn Papers, Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Acquisition Information

Gift: 17 items, 1964.

Descriptive Summary

Repository: Special Collections, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary
Collection Number: Small Collections Spingarn
Title: Joel E. Spingarn Papers, 1934-1938.
Extent: 17 items.
Language: English
Creator: Joel E. Spingarn
Abstract: Letters written to Joel E. Spingarn.

Scope and Content Information

Includes letters to Spingarn, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from Lowell Thomas, Sumner Welles, Edward Steichen, Charles A. Beard, Henry F. Du Pont, H. L. Menchen and Owen Roberts concerning horticultural matters. Also includes correspondence, 1938, of Congressman Hamilton Fish, Jr., Walter White, and Springarn concerning remarks made by William E. Borah concerning lynching.

Biographical/Historical Information

Joel E. Spingarn was born May 17, 1875 in New York City. He received a doctorate from Columbia University. He was a professor at Columbia but left academic life in 1911. He was a poet, editor and critic as well as a social reformer. He was an early member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and he established the Spingarn Medal. He served as NAACP president in the 1930's. He died July 26, 1939.

Arrangement

The collection is mostly chronological.

Additional Descriptive Data

Related Materials

The main collections of Joel E. Spingarn papers are in the New York Public Library, Howard University, and in the James Weldon Johnson Collection at Yale University.There are also materials at the Library of Congress.

Index Terms

Subjects:
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Lynching--United States--History.
Horticulture.
Afro-Americans.

Persons
Borah, William Edgar, 1865-1940.
Thomas, Lowell, 1892-1981.
Welles, Sumner, 1892-1961
Steichen, Edward, 1879-1973.
Beard, Charles Austin, 1874-1948.
Du Pont, Henry Francis, 1880-1969.
Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880- 1956.
Roberts, Owen J. (Owen Josephus), 1875-1955.
Fish, Hamilton, 1888
White, Walter Francis, 1893- 1955.

Contents List

• Hendrik Willem van Loon in New York City and Guinea to Spingarn, January-March 1934. Folder: 1
  2 items.
• May Eastman at Croton-on-Hudson, New York to Spingarn, 19 January 1934. Folder: 2
  TLS.
• Lowell Thomas, New York City, to Spingarn, 7 May 1935. Folder: 3
  TLS.
• Sumner Welles in Washington, D.C., to J.E. Spingarn in Amenia, Duchess County, New York, 9 April 1936. Folder: 4
  
• Edward Steichen of the Amer. Delphinium Soc. in New York City, to J.E. Spingarn, Amenia, New York, 26 May 1936. Folder: 5
  
• M. A. LeHand, private Secretary to the President, the White House, Washington, D.C. to J.E. Spingarn, Pres. of the Natl. Assn. for Advancem. of Col. People in New York City, 4 Nov[ember]1937. Folder: 6
  TLS.
• Charles Beard to Spingarn, 3 Nov. [?] Folder: 7
  ALS.
• Phylis Moore, Willbrook House, Rathfarnham County, Dublin [Ireland] to [J.E.] Springarn 13 Feb[ruary] 1934 Folder: 8
  ALS.
• Lord Aberconway, Bodanant Tal-y-Cafn, N. Wales, to J.E. S[pingarn], Troutbeck, Amenia, New York, U.S.A., 21 Oct. 1935. Folder: 9
  TLS.
• Hamilton Fish, Jr., Congress of the U. S. to J.E.S[pingarn], New York City, 3 Mar. 1936. Folder: 10
  4 items. Attached are copies of letters from Fish to Walter White, Nat[io]n[a]l Assn. for Advancem[ent] of Col[ored] People, the reply of White and printed copy of remarks of Fish on "Senator Borah and the AntiLynching Bill"
• Owen Roberts to [J.E.Spingarn], 6 Apr[il] 1937. Folder: 11
  
• Henry F. DuPont, Winterthur, Delaware, to J.E.S[pingarn], Troutbeck, Amenia, New York, 9 April 1937 Folder: 12
  TLS.
• H. L. Mencken, Baltimore, Maryland, to [J.E.] Spingarn, 3 Nov[ember] 1937. Folder: 13
  TLS.