Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open for use without restrictions.

Use Restrictions

None.

Preferred Citation

Box/folder, Margaret Freeman Cabell Papers, M 228, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University

Acquisition Information

Donated to the Department by Mrs. Cabell in her will.

Processing Information

Collection processed in April 1992 and revised in June 1996.

Biographical/Historical Information

Margaret Waller Freeman Cabell (1894-1983), an interior decorator and a supporter of the arts in Richmond, Virginia, was the second wife of writer James Branch Cabell (1879-1958). Born in Richmond in 1894, her family lived for a brief time on the 100 block of North Linden Street directly across the street from what would some 70 years later the James Branch Cabell Library at Virginia Commonwealth University.

She was a graduate of Miss Jennie Ellett's School (now St. Catherine's School). In the 1920s she was one of four founding editors of the Richmond based literary magazine the Reviewer where she served mainly as its business manager. She later received training as a nurse and during World War II she helped head the Stage Door Canteen in Washington, D.C. She then went on to operate her own interior-decorating studio in New York City (she had studied interior design briefly in Paris in the 1920s). It was during this time she worked under the name Waller Freeman.

James Branch Cabell, at the suggestion of his son Ballard, began courting Margaret Freeman in 1949, soon after his first wife died.

"The idea of becoming Mrs. James Branch Cabell appealed to Margaret Freeman," wrote Edgar MacDonald in his biography of Cabell published in 1993. "As the wife of a once-famous writer, her niche in history would be assured; for her remaining years she could reign as a social leader in a Richmond that had patronized her."

Margaret married James Branch Cabell in 1950 and did go on to become a cultural presence in Richmond, principally in support of the arts. An example of her involvement in Richmond was her active role in raising funds to restore the late-19th century built Confederate Chapel located behind what is now the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. She was a member of the Woman's Club of Richmond, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the Colonial Dames of America. She was also active in advancing the literary legacy of her husband. She co-edited a volume of Cabell's letters published in 1962 entitled Between Friends: Letters of James Branch Cabell and Others; founded the James Branch Cabell Society; and throughout the 1960s and 1970s she encouraged scholars and academics to write about husband, who had died in 1958. In the late 1960s she agreed to donate his personal library of 3,000 volumes and his remaining literary papers to the Academic Campus library of the newly formed Virginia Commonwealth University (during the 1950s and 1960s, many of his papers were donated to the University of Virginia's Alderman Library). Thanks mainly to her support of VCU and its new library, built 1970-1975, the building was named for James Branch Cabell. Her social connections in Richmond helped bring in other donations of books and manuscript collections which formed the founding core of the library's newly formed Special Collections and Archives department.

Her relationship with Cabell's only offspring, Ballard Hartwell Cabell (1915-1980), was strong and her encouragement of him to pursue art led to several exhibitions in Richmond of his paintings. Ballard died in 1980. Margaret died March 28, 1983.

Scope and Content Information

The Collection consists of the papers, memorabilia, photographs, scrapbooks and miscellania of James Branch Cabell, Margaret Waller Freeman Cabell, Ballard Hartwell Cabell, John Brightwell Freeman and John Middleton Freeman. The majority of the collection is composed of correspondence between Mr. Cabell and his friends. There is some cross-over of correspondence between individuals who were clients of Mrs. Cabell's (Waller Freeman) interior design business who later became friends and individuals who were friends of the Cabell's but also corresponded as representatives of organizations or companies. In such instances, the letter has been placed in the series most closely corresponding to the intent and content of the correspondence and cross references are listed when known.

Arrangement

All series are arranged topically, alphabetically and chronologically therein, excluding oversize and photographic items which are housed separately from the collection.

Series I-- Personal Correspondence [includes letters to James Branch Cabell and both Mrs. Cabells] (n.d., 1866-1978)
Series II--Miscellaneous (n.d., 1950-1975)
Series III--Personal Material (n.d., 1948- 1953)
Series IV--Organizational Correspondence (n.d., 1923-1977)
Series V--World War I Correspondence [MWF] (n.d., 1917-1927)
Series VI--Plays and Creative Writings (n.d., 1920-33)
Series VII-- Margaret Waller Freeman Correpondence (with sub-series Client Correspondence and Confederate Chapel Correspondence) (n.d., 1931-1973)
Series VIII--John Brightwell Freeman Papers (n.d., 1930-1968)
Series XI--John Middleton Freeman Papers (n.d.)
Series X--Miscellaneous and Oversize Materials (n.d.)
Series XI--Artifacts (n.d.)
Series XII--Publications and Miscellaneous Printed Matter.