Collection Summary |
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| Creator: | Society of Midland Authors | |
| Title: | Society of Midland Authors Collection | |
| Dates: | 1915-1988 | |
| Abstract: | The Society of Midland Authors was formed in 1915 by a group of authors that included Hamlin Garland, Vachel Lindsay, Harriet Monroe, and Alice Gerstenberg. The informal exchange of ideas and the opportunity to form friendships with other writers were the purposes of the group from the beginning. The majority of the Society's early members were from Chicago, and included Clarence Darrow, Jane Addams and Carl Sandburg. The society is open, however, to writers and publishers from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska. The collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, newsletters, photographs, minutes, and published material by Midland Authors dating from 1915 to the present. | |
| Quantity: | 5 linear feet | |
| Identification: | SMA | |
The Society of Midland Authors is a social organization of writers of general literature residing in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The Society was founded in 1915 in Chicago, Illinois, by a group of authors including James Whitcomb Riley and Hamlin Garland. Their purpose was to stimulate a greater public awareness of the literary talent of the Middle West and to encourage closer association among the authors of the region. The Society has included among its members such distinguished figures as Harriet Monroe, 0. E. Rolvaag, Jane Addams, Vachel Lindsay, and Carl Sandburg, as well as popular authors like George Ade, Mignon Eberhart, and Rosamund du Jardin. For several years the Society maintained a club room in a Chicago hotel, where a library of books and manuscripts by members was collected.
The Society of Midland Authors Collection is comprised of material relating to the social and literary activities of the membership. The collection includes general correspondence, 1915-1947; minutes of meetings, 1915-1928; newsletters, 1931-1947; yearbooks and membership lists, 1916-1944; clippings, 1926-1960; photographs; and miscellaneous published material by and about Midland Authors, 1928- 1945.
Twelve subsequent supplements to the Society of Midland Authors Records were received after the initial installment with the most recent added to the collection in 2007. The first supplement is included in the Detailed Description/Box and Folder Listing below. For information about the remaining supplements, please consult paper inventories located in the Special Collections Reading Room.
When the collection materials were received, the Midland Authors Book Collection was removed and housed in the Rare Book Room of the Library. The manuscript items remaining had been partially arranged. General correspondence was filed in several series with the most recent date appearing first; thus 1931-1930 precedes 1927-1923. Within each series, items were files alphabetically by correspondent's last name. However, the alphabetical system was interrupted by the insertion of subject classified material filed under the appropriate letter. These insertions were removed by the cataloger and filed as subheadings of the correspondence series from which they came. The original file for 1929 now appears:
Correspondence, 1929 A - Z
followed by:
Correspondence, 1929 - Annual Dinner
Correspondence 1929 - Douglas Malloch
Correspondence, 1929 - Membership Drive
Where the series overlapped, such as the correspondence file for 1921-1919 and the file for 1919 only, the original groupings have been retained.
Loose items such as newsletters and minutes of meetings were grouped by document type and arranged chronologically with the most recent items appearing first, such as Newsletters', 1947-1937. Published material of book length was filed by the cataloger under Manuscripts, then by author and title. Other published material, including sheet music, poetry, and essays, had been grouped chronologically by author's last name. This system was retained. For example, poetry by Charles Blanden written in 1931 appears under the letter 'B' in the file:
Published Material by Midland Authors, 1931.
Materials in Supplement I are arranged by document type and filed chronologically with the most recent items appearing first.
None.
Index Terms |
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| This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms. | ||
| Subjects: | ||
| Authors, American--Illinois--Chicago--Sources. | ||
| Authors, American--Middle West--Sources. | ||
| Society of Midland Authors--Archives. | ||
The Society of Midland Authors Collection, Special Collections, University of Illinois at Chicago.
This collection was initially received by the Department of Special Collections in April, 1967.
Material in Supplement I was received from the Society in April, 1972. Additional supplements have been added to the collection in 1972, 1985, 1991, 1994, 1997, 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2007.
The finding aid for this collection was revised from a 1969 description and inventories from both 1969 and 1975 (by Virginia Stewart and Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler, respectively) and was subsequently marked up for web presentation in July 2008.