TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive Summary of the Collection
History of the Round Table and Biography of Renier Otto Wyers
 |
Inventory of the Round Table Sketchbooks, 1931-1933
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Lisa Janssen, 2005. ©2005. |
Descriptive Summary of the Collection |
|
| Creator | Wyers, Renier Otto, 1897-1950 |
| Title | Round Table Sketchbooks |
| Dates | 1931-1933 |
| Extent | 0.3 cubic ft. (1 box) |
| Abstract | Two manuscript sketchbooks created by artists, commentators, poets, newspapermen, and other writers who were members of a small and informal Chicago club, the Round Table, documenting the social and political climates in Chicago and the United States during the Great Depression. In addition to Renier Wyers, club members included James A. Barnes, Finney Briggs, William L. Griffin, Henry Hammer, Edmond Hayes, Eugene Murdock, Edwin Prehm, Kurt Stein, Lowell H. Truettner, and E. C. Woodward. |
| Language | Materials are in English. |
| Repository | Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections |
| Collection Call Number | Midwest MS Wyers |
| Collection Stack Location | 3a 44 3 |
Administrative Information
Cite As
Round Table Sketchbooks, Midwest Manuscript Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago.
Provenance
Gift of Alice W. von Neumann and Frances Wyers, 2004.
Processed by
Leigh Ann Ripley, 2005.
Access
The Round Table Sketchbooks are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).
Ownership and Literary Rights
The Round Table Sketchbooks 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.
Return to the Table of Contents
History of the Round Table and Biography of Renier Otto Wyers
Small informal club of Chicago poets, writers, and businessmen who met weekly to discuss social and political issues affecting Chicago and the nation.
According to a note in the beginning of the first volume, the Round Table was "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created unequal, and what the Hell can you do about it? And furthermore - that this nation, under Hoover, and under cover, shall perish from the earth, unless us Democrats do something damn quick!" Throughout its existence the Round Table lunched at the Press Club of Chicago and Café de Alex. Members of the Round Table included: James A. Barnes, Finney Briggs, William L. Griffin, Henry Hammer, Edmond Hayes, Eugene Murdock, Edwin Prehm, Kurt Stein, Lowell H. Truettner, and E. C. Woodward.
Little biographical information is available concerning the life of Renier Otto Wyers, who kept the volumes. In 1930 Wyers lived with his family in a modest home on Siegel Street in Chicago, Illinois. He worked as an advertising manager and gained recognition as a short-story writer. Several Wyers stories were published in Weird Tales, an American science fiction and horror pulp magazine that featured works by such authors as Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury, Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, Seabury Quinn, and Clark Ashton Smith. Between the years of 1931 and 1936 Wyers published "The Finishing Touches", "This Side of the Curtain", "Attorney for the Damned", and "Kharu Knows All".
Return to the Table of Contents
Scope and Content of the Collection
Two sketchbook volumes, 1931-1933, created by Round Table members and kept by Renier Otto Wyers. Both sketchbooks contain cartoons, clippings, collages, poems, puns, and other material relating to local and national affairs during the early 1930's. Many of the entries are comic drawings of the club's individual members. There is also a great deal of anti-Hoover material, particularly relating to the 1932 Presidential campaign, several sketches regarding the Chicago World's Fair controversy in 1932, Samuel Insull, and the negative treatment of Native Americans.
Return to the Table of Contents
Arrangement
The sketchbooks are arranged chronologically.
Return to the Table of Contents
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
- Barnes, James A.
- Briggs, Finney
- Griffin, William L.
- Hammer, Henry
- Hayes, Edmond
- Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964 -- Caricatures and cartoons
- Murdock, Eugene
- Prehm, Edwin
- Stein, Kurt M.
- Truettner, Lowell H.
- Woodward, E.C.
- Wyers, Renier Otto, 1897-1950
Subjects
- Century of Progress International Exposition (1933-1934 : Chicago, Ill.)
- Caricatures and cartoons -- Illinois -- Chicago -- 1931-1933
- Cartoonists -- Illinois -- Chicago
- Chicago (Ill.) -- Intellectual life -- 20th century
- Clubs -- Illinois -- Chicago -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
- Depressions -- 1929 -- United States
- Manuscripts, American -- Illinois -- Chicago -- 1931-1933
- Pen drawing, American -- Illinois -- Chicago
- Political cartoons -- Illinois -- Chicago -- 1931-1933
- Politicians -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Caricatures and cartoons
- United States -- Economic conditions -- 1918-1945 -- Caricatures and cartoons
Return to the Table of Contents
Container List |
|||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Sketchbook - Volume I, 1931-1932 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Sketchbook - Volume II, 1932-1933 | |||||||||