Guide to the Leonard Bacon letters, 1940-1951
Special Collections, James P. Adams Library.
Rhode Island College
600 Mount Pleasant Ave
Providence, RI, 02908
Tel: 401-456-8380
email:digitalcommons@ric.edu
Published in 2023
Collection Overview
| Title: | Leonard Bacon letters |
| Date range: | 1940-1951 |
| Creator: | Bacon, Leonard, 1887-1954 |
| Extent: | 0.01 cubic feet. |
| Abstract: | The collection contains letters and poems written by Leonard Bacon to “John” and Millie Knox in the mid twentieth century. |
| Language of materials: | English |
| Repository: | Special Collections, James P. Adams Library. |
| Collection number: | MSS-0107 |
Scope & content
The collection consists of three original letters written by Leonard Bacon. One letter to “John” in 1951 discusses the poet David McCord, and how Bacon’s daughter has books accepted for publication. The other two letters are addressed to “Millie Knox.” One of the letters contains verse written by Bacon for Knox’s birthday in 1946 and the other letter contains three short poems for “Sandy” for his amusement in 1940. The subject of these poems consists of Nazis and Henry Ford.Access Points
Subject Names Subject Topics Geographical Names Document TypesArrangement
The collection is arranged in the order in which it arrived in the Rhode Island College Special Collections.
Biographical/Historical Note
Leonard Bacon was born to Nathaniel Terry Bacon and Helen Hazard Bacon in Syracuse, New York on May 26, 1887. Bacon was a poet and literary critic who was class poet and editor of the Literary Magazine at Yale University, from which he graduated in 1909. Upon graduation, he taught English at the University of California, Berkeley until 1923 when he moved to Peace Dale, Rhode Island to concentrate on his writing. In 1940, he won a Pulitzer Prize in poetry for his work “Sunderland Capture.” Additionally, he was a literary critic for Saturday Review of Literature and Harper’s.In 1912, Bacon Martha Stringham. The couple had three children: Helen, Alice, and Martha. He died January 1, 1954.
Access & Use
| Access to the collection: | The collection is open for research. |
| Use of the materials: | Researchers are advised to contact Rhode Island College Special Collections for questions regarding permissions to reproduce, distribute, or otherwise publish material from this collection. Although Rhode Island College has physical ownership of the collection, it does not necessarily hold literary rights. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them. |
| Preferred citation: | Leonard Bacon letters, MSS-0107, Special Collections, James P. Adams Library, Rhode Island College. |
| Contact information: | Special Collections, James P. Adams Library. Rhode Island College 600 Mount Pleasant Ave Providence, RI, 02908 Tel: 401-456-8380 email:digitalcommons@ric.edu |
Administrative Information
| ABOUT THE COLLECTION | |
| Acquisition: | The letters in this collection were purchased by Rhode Island College Special Collections in 1977 and 1981. |
| Processing information: | The collection was described by Special Collections intern, Melissa Moniz, in 2023 under the supervision of Digital Archivist and Special Collections Librarian, Veronica L. Denison. |
| ABOUT THE FINDING AID | |
| Author: | Finding aid prepared by Melisa Moniz and Veronica L. Denison. |
| Encoding: | This finding aid was encoded by Veronica L. Denison, 2023. |
| Descriptive rules: | Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) |
Additional Information
| Related material: | Rhode Island College Special Collections contains another Leonard Bacon collection, MSS-0094, that was donated by his daughter, Martha Bacon Ballinger. Rhode Island College Special Collections also contains the following related collections: Nathaniel Terry Bacon papers, MSS-0005;Rowland Hazard papers, MSS-00089;Joseph Peace Hazard papers, MSS-0090;Thomas Rutherford Bacon papers, MSS-0091;Caroline Hazard papers, MSS-0092; Helen Hazard Bacon papers, MSS-0093.Additionally, Yale University Manuscripts and Archives holds the Nathaniel Terry Bacon papers, MS 696 and the Bacon Family Papers, MS 46; and the Rhode Island Historical Society holds the Bacon Family Papers, MSS 483. |
| Alternative guide: | This collection has not been digitized. For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact the Rhode Island College Special Collections. |