Box/folder, Mary Sinton Leitch Papers, M 52, Special
Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library,
Virginia Commonwealth University
Acquisition Information
Barbara Murphy, a granddaughter of Mrs. Leitch, gave the
papers to Randolph-Macon Women's College, where they were
in the custody of Roberta Cornelius, a faculty member. Ms.
Cornelius retired in 1968 and sent the collection to Mrs.
Emma Gray Trigg. Mrs. Trigg gave the Leitch papers to the
Department in November 1968, along with the papers of
Marietta Minnegerode Andrews (M189).
Processing Information
Collection processed in March 1984 and revised in June
1990.
Mary Sinton (Lewis) Leitch was born 8 September 1876 in New
York City, the daughter of Carlton Thomas and Nancy Dunlap
(McKeen) Lewis. She received her early education in private
prepatory schools and then attended Smith College, Columbia
University and schools in France and Germany.
In New York, she served as an inspector of women's prisons
and later became a contributing editor to Harper's Monthly,
the New York Herald, and the New York Evening Post. On leaving
these positions, she began a world tour on sailing ships and
tramp steamers in order to gain insight into native languages
and customs.
She married John David Leitch on 17 October 1907 and
settled in Lynnhaven, Virginia. She became one of the founding
members of the Poetry Society of Virginia, served as its
president in 1933 and its co- President in 1944-1945. In 1932,
Mrs. Leitch edited the highly praised Lyric Virginia Today
(vol. 1). She spent the remainder of her life at "Wycherly" in
Lynnhaven, Virginia. Mrs. Leitch died 20 August 1954.
Leitch's works include The Wagon and the Star (1922), The
Unrisen Morrow (1926), The Black Moon (1929), Spider Architect
(1937), From Invisible Mountains (1943), Himself and I (1950),
and Nightingales on the Moon (1952).
The Papers of Mary Sinton Leitch consist of various
materials of and by this Virginia author. Conatined in the
collection are a large number of manuscript poems and short
stories by Leitch, her correspondence with other authors
(including Carl Sandberg and T.S. Eliot) and a good deal of
miscellaneous material. The collection spans the years 1930
through 1968.
Collection is arranged by series and chronological
therein.
Organization
Series I--Short Stories (n.d., 1929, 1941, 1947)
Series II--Poems (n.d., 1944)
Series III--Correspondence (n.d., Mary Sinton Leitch
Papers 1937-1954)
Series IV--Miscellaneous and Clippings (n.d.,
1939-1954)
Series V--Publications, Workbooks and Notebooks
(n.d., 1936-1954)