TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive Summary of the Collection
Biography of Dorothy Dow, 1897-1989
Scope and Content of the Collection
Series 1: Correspondence, 1920-1986
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Inventory of the Dorothy Dow Papers, 1920-1988
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Lisa Janssen, 2003, and updated by Alison Hinderliter, 2008. ©2008. |
Descriptive Summary of the Collection |
|
| Creator | Dow, Dorothy, 1897-1989 |
| Title | Dorothy Dow Papers |
| Dates | 1920-1988 |
| Extent | 3.5 cubic ft. (10 boxes) |
| Abstract | Correspondence to Illinois poet and writer Dorothy Dow from poet Edgar Lee Masters, muralist John Warner Norton and other writers and friends, and a large collection of Dow’s works, which includes her vast output of poems, both published and mostly unpublished, some plays, short stories, a novel and several literary studies. Also, an informal autobiography and parts of an early episodic diary, a few photographs, scrapbooks and notebooks containing clippings, drafts and notes relating to her activities and writings, and fragments of memorabilia. |
| Language | Materials are in English. |
| Repository | Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections |
| Collection Call Number | Midwest MS Dow |
| Collection Stack Location | 3a 30 3 |
Administrative Information
Cite As
Dorothy Dow-Edgar Lee Masters Papers, Midwest Manuscript Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago.
Provenance
Gift, Dorothy Dow Fitzgerald, 1951; Peter Keig, 1990-1994.
Processed by
Amy Nyholm, 1951; Virginia H. Smith, 2000, 2008.
Acknowledgements
This inventory was created with the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this inventory do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Access
The Dorothy Dow-Edgar Lee Masters Papers are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).
Ownership and Literary Rights
The Dorothy Dow-Edgar Lee Masters Papers are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.
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Biography of Dorothy Dow, 1897-1989
Illinois poet, playwright, fiction and non-fiction writer.
Dorothy Minerva Dow was born in 1897 in Lockport, Illinois, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Gund Dow. She began writing poems as a child, and although she continued to write a great deal of poetry throughout her long life, she first found success as a writer of pulp fiction and newspaper articles and reviews.
Living in Chicago in the early 1920s, as a youthful poet Dow was encouraged by well-known poet Edgar Lee Masters and prominent artist John Warner Norton, two men among many who found her talented, intelligent and extremely attractive. In 1924, Dow published her first volume of verse entitled Black Babylon, followed by Will-o-the-Wisp in 1925. Both books received only mixed reviews, and Dow never achieved the great fame as a poet that she craved. Her friendship with Masters waned, and in 1925 she married a physician, James E. Fitzgerald.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the scope of Dow’s interests widened, and she wrote plays, novels, short stories, biographies and even a cookbook. The influence of Edgar Lee Masters still inspired her to continue to write poetry and they renewed communication until his death. Dow’s last published work was a novel in 1947. Her health continued to decline in her 60s, a time when she worked on a long biographical poem finally titled Flowers of Time. As she grew older, her many later poems reflect her anger and sadness at the loss of her youthful activities and beauty.
Sometime during the 1960s or 1970s, Dow had bound together typescripts of her most insightful and interesting writings: literary essays entitled titled The American Muse, An Informal Study of American Letters, 1890-1947. Dow’s husband died in 1969, and for the next twenty years she lived in various Chicago locations, continuing to write and also to amass a large and impressive book collection.
Dorothy Dow died in Muscatine, Iowa, in 1989 at the age of 91.
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Scope and Content of the Collection
Mainly correspondence and writings of Dorothy Dow, with some miscellaneous material.
Correspondence from Edgar Lee Masters, Harriet Monroe, other writers and friends, plus letters and sketches from artist John Warner Norton. Mainly, a large collection of Dow’s works, almost all of it in typescript, both bound and unbound, written and saved over a period of nearly sixty-five years. Includes her vast output of poems, some plays, short stories, a novel, an informal autobiography, several versions of a lengthy autobiographical poem (1966-1988), and parts of an early, episodic diary. Also, a study of Lord Byron, and other non-fiction works, such as “Edgar Lee Masters, an Introduction to Some Letters” (1950), and a bound volume titled The American Muse, an Informal Study of American Letters, 1890-1947. Miscellaneous material consists of photo portraits of Masters and Dow, scrapbooks and notebooks containing clippings, drafts, notes, reviews by and about Dow, and a catalog and description of her book collection. Also, a few items relating to Dow’s husband Dr. James E. Fitzgerald and a poet named John Urban Nicolson, which includes a small volume of his poetry, King of the Black Isles (1924), lightly annotated by Dow. Much of the unbound works are fragmented, disorganized and undated.
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Arrangement
Arranged four series: Series I: Correspondence, 1920-1986 (Box 1); Series 2: Works, 1924-1988 (Boxes 1-6); Series 3: Miscellaneous, 1924-1983 (Box 6); Series 4: Bound volumes of works, 1924-1980 (Boxes 7-10).
- Series 1: Correspondence, 1920-1986. Box(es) 1
- Series 2: Works, 1924-1988. Box(es) 1-6
- Series 3: Miscellaneous Material and Memorabilia, 1924-1983. Box(es) 6
- Series 4: Bound Volumes of Works, 1924-1980. Box(es) 7-10
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Selected Search Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Newberry Library's public catalog. Researchers desiring additional materials on a particular topic should search the catalog using these headings.
Names
- Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824
- Dow, Dorothy, 1897-1989
- Masters, Edgar Lee, 1868-1950
- Monroe, Harriet, 1860-1936
- Nicolson, J.U. (John Urban), 1885-
- Norton, John Warner, 1876-1934
Subjects
- American literature -- Illinois -- Chicago
- Authors, American
- Correspondence -- United States -- 1922-1986
- Manuscripts, American -- Illinois -- Chicago
- Novelists, American
- Playwrights, American
- Poets, American
- Women novelists, American -- Illinois -- Chicago
- Women poets, American -- Illinois -- Chicago
- Women writers -- Illinois -- Chicago
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Container List
Series 1: Correspondence, 1920-1986 |
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| The bulk of the letters are from Edgar Lee Masters, 1920-1947. Among other correspondents are Ellen Masters, Harriet Monroe, John Urban Nicolson and John Warner Norton. At the end of the series are letters from unknown persons, letter fragments and undated letters. | |||||||||||
| Arranged alphabetically. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 1 | 1-5 | Masters, Edgar Lee, 1920-1947 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Masters, Edgar Lee (transcripts), 1920-1948 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Masters, Ellen (copies), 1948-1950 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Monroe, Harriet, March 13, 1924; Sept. 11, 1928 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Nicolson, John Urban, 1923 | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Norton, John Warner, ca. 1922 | |||||||||
| 1 | 11-13 | Miscellaneous letters and fragments, 1923-1986 and undated | |||||||||
Series 2: Works, 1924-1988 |
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| Works consist of typescripts of a disorganized autobiography, an early diary, unpublished works of non-fiction, two novels, a play, poems, a short story and a disbound scrapbook. See Series 4, Bound Volumes, for more works by Dow. | |||||||||||
| Arranged alphabetically by title or type of work. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 1 | 14-20 | Autobiographical material, disorganized and undated typescript | |||||||||
| 2 | 21 | Catalog of Dow's book collection. Undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 22 | Introduction to a Catalogue of Books, undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 23-24 | Diary, 1921-1941 | |||||||||
| 2 | 25 | Edgar Lee Masters, an Introduction to Some Letters, 1950 | |||||||||
| 2 | 26 | Lord Byron and his World, undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 27-30 | Mrs. Leigh Goes to Reigate (novel, copy 1), 1947-1948 | |||||||||
| 3 | 31-34 | Mrs. Leigh Goes to Reigate (novel, copy 2), ca. 1948 | |||||||||
| 3 | 35-36 | Stone Fountain Weeping (novel), 1960s | |||||||||
| 3 | 37 | Play, untitled and undated | |||||||||
| 3 | 38 | The Body of Death (poems), ca. 1943-1944 | |||||||||
| 3 | 39-41 | The Flowers of Time (poems), ca. 1966-1988 | |||||||||
| 4 | 42-45 | Landscapes, (poems), 1966-1967 | |||||||||
| 4 | 46-48 | A Long Short Time (poems), 1966-1972 | |||||||||
| 5 | 49-52 | "Work in Progress" (notebook of draft of A Long Short Time), 1966-1972 | |||||||||
| 5 | 53 | Covers of notebook containing Work in Progress" | |||||||||
| 5 | 54-57 | Miscellaneous later poems | |||||||||
| 6 | 58 | Scrapbook: notes, poems, clippings, undated | |||||||||
| 6 | 59 | Scrapbook: drafts and notes relating to Edgar Lee Masters, undated | |||||||||
| 6 | 60 | Covers of scrapbook, undated | |||||||||
| 6 | 61 | "Rendezvous in Hades" (short story), undated | |||||||||
Series 3: Miscellaneous Material and Memorabilia, 1924-1983 |
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| Items relating to husband James E. Fitzgerald and poet John Urban Nicolson, assortment of poetry scraps, clippings, health records and other memorabilia, photographic portraits of Dorothy Dow, (presumably) James E. Fitzgerald, and Edgar Lee Masters, and a sketch of Masters’ New York apartment, plus a small group of snapshots, almost all unidentified. | |||||||||||
| Arranged alphabetically by type of material. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 6 | 62 | Clippings relating to Edgar Lee Masters, 1950 | |||||||||
| 6 | 63 | Clippings: Reviews by and about Dow, 1924-1931 | |||||||||
| 6 | 64 | Fitzgerald, James E. (husband), 1958-1969 | |||||||||
| 6 | 65 | Nicolson, John Urban: Poems and annotated book King of the Black Isles, 1924 | |||||||||
| 6 | 66 | Miscellaneous poetry scraps, clippings, memorabilia, 1936-1983 | |||||||||
| 6 | 67 | Portrait of Dorothy Dow, 1922 | |||||||||
| 6 | 68 | Portraits of James E. Fitzgerald (?), undated | |||||||||
| 6 | 69 | Portraits of Edgar Lee Masters, 1924;1941 | |||||||||
| 6 | 70 | Sketch of Edgar Lee Masters' New York apartment, 1940 | |||||||||
| 6 | 71 | Snapshots, mostly unidentified and undated | |||||||||
Series 4: Bound Volumes of Works, 1924-1980 |
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| Novel, plays, poems, short stories, non-fiction, two small scrapbooks of notes and drafts for poems, and a study of Lord Byron. See Series 2, Works, for additional works by Dow. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 7 | Byron, Malmaison, Poetic Dramas; The Fading Rose and Other Poems; Light Verse and Poems for Children (3 bound volumes), 1937-1947 and undated | ||||||||||
| 8 | Mrs. Leigh Goes to Reigate; Thorn in the Flesh, Hero Come Home and A Fig Tree in Leuca (3 bound volumes), 1947 and undated | ||||||||||
| 9 | The American Muse; Myths and Foibles; The Wake of the Waltz (3 bound volumes), undated | ||||||||||
| 10 | A Byron Catalogue; Poems (2 vols.), 1924-1980 and undated | ||||||||||