TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive Summary of the Collection
Biographies of Edgar Lee Masters, 1869-1950, and Agnes Lee
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Agnes Lee-Edgar Lee Masters Papers, 1919-1933
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Lisa Janssen, 2003. ©2000. |
Descriptive Summary of the Collection |
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| Creator | Lee, Agnes, 1868-1939 |
| Title | Agnes Lee-Edgar Lee Masters Papers |
| Dates | 1919-1933 |
| Extent | .5 cubic ft. (1 box) |
| Abstract | 35 letters from Edgar Lee Masters to Agnes Lee (Mrs. Otto Freer), one typed poem and one galley sheet. |
| Language | Materials are in English. |
| Repository | Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections |
| Collection Call Number | Midwest MS Lee |
| Collection Stack Location | 3a 41 6 |
Administrative Information
Papers are also available on microfilm at the Newberry Library.
Cite As
Agnes Lee-Edgar Lee Masters Papers, Midwest Manuscript Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago.
Provenance
Donated to the Newberry Library, ca. 1955.
Processed by
Amy Nyholm, 1955; Virginia H. Smith, 2000
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 Agnes Lee-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 Agnes Lee-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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Biographies of Edgar Lee Masters, 1869-1950, and Agnes Lee
Edgar Lee Masters was born in Kansas and reared in Petersburg and Lewiston, Illinois, the "Spoon River country" which he later made famous in his collection of apocryphal epitaphs written in colloquial free verse entitled Spoon River Anthology, published in 1914. In 1892 he moved to Chicago, where he practiced law and began to develop his interest and skill in writing. In 1920 he turned to literature as a full-time career, leaving Chicago and settling in New York City in 1921. Masters wrote a great deal of poetry, as well as novels, plays, and historical and biographical studies, including works on Lincoln (1931), Vachel Lindsay (1935), Walt Whitman (1937), and Mark Twain (1938). His autobiography, Across Spoon River, was published in 1936.
Agnes Lee (married Otto Freer in 1911) was a published Chicago poet apparently admired by Masters, for he wrote in his autobiography: "Such excellent and gifted women as Harriet Monroe, Eunice Tietjens, Agnes Freer, though for many years I have seen little of them, still go in their orbits with something of a sustaining magnetism in my life... ."
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Scope and Content of the Collection
Collection consists of thirty-seven items: thirty-five letters from Edgar Lee Masters to Agnes Lee (Freer), 1919-1933; one typed poem "The Jewess" and one printed galley sheet, "The Return." Masters' letters discuss Harriet Monroe, Carl Sandburg, Amy Lowell, Clarence Darrow and Vachel Lindsay. They also comment on Chicago's inability to hang on to literary figures and the stifling influence of Chicago newspapers on the literary scene.
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Arrangement
Materials are arranged chronologically.
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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
- Darrow, Clarence, 1857-1938
- Lee, Agnes, 1868-1939
- Lindsay, Vachel, 1879-1931
- Lowell, Amy, 1874-1925
- Masters, Edgar Lee, 1868-1950
- Monroe, Harriet, 1860-1936
- Sandburg, Carl, 1878-1967
Subjects
- Chicago (Ill.)--Intellectual life--20th century
- Correspondence-1919-1933
- Poets, American--History--20th century--Sources
- Women poets, American--Illinois--Chicago--History--20th century-Sources
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Container List |
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| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Masters, Edgar Lee - Letters to Agnes Lee, 1919-1922 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Masters, Edgar Lee - Letters to Agnes Lee, 1923-1924 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Masters, Edgar Lee - Letters to Agnes Lee, 1925 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Masters, Edgar Lee - Letters to Agnes Lee, 1926-1931 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Masters, Edgar Lee - Letters to Agnes Lee, 1932-1933 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Poem, "A Jewess" | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Poem, "The Return" | |||||||||