S. Foster Damon Festival papers, 1967-1968

John Hay Library , Special Collections
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401-863-2146
email: hay@brown.edu

Published in 2013

Collection Overview

Title:	S. Foster Damon Festival papers
Date range:	1967-1968
Creator:	Damon, S. Foster (Samuel Foster), 1893-1971
Abstract:	The S. Foster Damon Festival papers consists of approximately 50 items from 1967-1968 relating to the 75th birthday party of S. Foster Damon and the S. Foster Damon Festival at Brown University. S. Foster Damon was an American poet, William Blake scholar, Brown University professor of English (1927-1963), and curator of the Harris Collection, Brown University Library (1930-1963).
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	John Hay Library , Special Collections
Collection number:	Ms.Damon

Scope & content

The collection consists of approximately 50 items of correspondence relating to the 75th birthday in 1968 of S. Foster Damon and to the S. Foster Damon Festival held at Brown University during the same year. Included are original letters and carbon copies, typewritten manuscripts and telegrams, tributes in honor of Damon's 75th birthday, correspondence and selected papers of members of the Brown English Department relating to the Festival. The collection includes letters from luminaries such as John Dos Passos, Allen Ginsberg, Marianne Moore, Lincoln Kirstein, and Virgil Thomson.

Access Points

Subject Names

• Damon, S. Foster (Samuel Foster), 1893-1971
• Dos Passos, John, 1896-1970
• Ginsberg, Allen, 1926-
• Kirstein, Lincoln, 1907-
• Moore, Marianne, 1887-1972
• Rosenfeld, Alvin H. (Alvin Hirsch), 1938-
• Thomson, Virgil, 1896-

Subject Organizations

• Brown University--Faculty

Occupations

• Biographers
• College teachers
• Dramatists
• Librarians
• Musicians
• Poets

Document Types

• Letters (Correspondence)
• Telegrams

Subject Topics

• Rhode Island/Local Interest

Arrangement

The S. Foster Damon Festival papers are divided into 4 series:

• Series 1. Birthday garland list
• Series 2. Festival list
• Series 3. Correspondence regarding the film "Tyger Tyger"
• Series 4. Telegrams read at Damon banquet

Series 1 and 4 are arranged alphabetically. Series 2 and 3 are each arranged chronologically.

Biographical note

S. Foster Damon was born in Newton, Massachusetts, on February 12, 1893. In 1914 he graduated from Harvard, where he majored in music and was captain of the fencing team for two years. During the first World War, Damon worked in an airplane factory and gave bayonet instruction to student soldiers at Harvard. After the war he was an instructor in the English Department at Harvard and earned a master of arts degree in 1926. Two years earlier, his book, William Blake, His Philosophy and Symbols, had been published and reviewed by Richard LeGallienne, who noted that Damon, with his interest in alchemy and spiritualism, was especially qualified to expound "the esoteric side of Blake's genius," and placed Blake "in his historical earthly setting with true biographical art." Damon was to become one of the world's leading authorities on Blake, publishing several influential books during the course of his career.

He came to Brown in 1927, where he joined his cousin, Lindsay Todd Damon, in the English Department as assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 1930 and professor in 1936. He was curator of the Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays in the University Library, and was particularly interested in building up its extensive collection of sheet music. He built up the Collection's holdings of printings of A Visit of St. Nicholas, and shared his knowledge in a television presentation, Styles in Santa Claus on the Evening on College Hill series. He was also interested in the history of square dancing and actively participated in a square dancing group consisting of library employees and others.

His talents and interests ranged far and wide. He wrote an annual Punch and Judy show for the Sea Fair at Annisquam, Massachusetts, where he spent his summers. His play, The Witch of Dogtown, which won the Russell Crouse award, was produced in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1955. He was a founder of the Harvard Musical Review. He also wrote a biography of Amy Lowell, a book on the history of Punch and Judy, and works on square dancing , Yankee Doodle, and witchcraft. He was one of the poets whose verse was published in Eight Harvard Poets. Under the pseudonym "Samuel Nomad" he published in 1964 a book of 66 sonnets (from beyond the grave ) entitled Nightmare Cemetery. He also published in 1971 The Moulton Tragedy, a heroic poem with lyrics, which he had been writing since 1928 and of which a number of excerpts had been printed since the 1930s in Poetry magazine and other periodicals.

In 1968 the University published William Blake: Essays for S. Foster Damon, and celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday with a two-day festival, during which Damon read from his poems, a music professor played Damon's compositions, and students performed parts of Damon's play, The Witch of Dogtown, and a seminar on Blake was held. Two hundred copies were printed of A Birthday Garland for S. Foster Damon: tributes collected in honor of his seventy-fifth birthday,. He also received an honorary Litt. D. degree from Brown in 1968, awarded with a citation which began:

No citation can summarize adequately the variety of your accomplishments. Your pioneering book, published in 1925, is the foundation for all serious critical study of William Blake conducted since. Your work on Amy Lowell, Thomas Holley Chivers, James Joyce, and many other authors is distinguished. Poet, playwright, composer, pianist, choreographer, gourmet -- few men, even of the Renaissance, have shown your omnipresence in the creative arts, and your sensitivity to all of them.

Damon died on December 25, 1971, in Smithfield, Rhode Island.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Use of the materials:	Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation:	S. Foster Damon Festival papers, Ms. Damon, Brown University Library.
Contact information:	John Hay Library , Special Collections Box A Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Tel: 401-863-2146 email: hay@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	The S. Foster Damon Festival papers were donated to the Brown University Library in 1969 by Alvin H. Rosenfeld, Brown University graduate (AM 1962, PhD 1967). Accession numbers: A54961; A54962.
Processing information:	The title page portrait of S. Foster Damon is from the Brown Portrait Collection and was painted by Louise Wheelwright Damon in 1924.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Encoding:	This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2013-02-07

Additional Information

Other information:

Brown University Library catalog record for this collection: S. Foster Damon Festival papers

Inventory

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