Four Literary Collections

Novelist Naomi Jacob, in uniform on the right, entertains Colonel Thwaites and Mrs. Newnes at a P.E.N. luncheon, December 9th, 1941. Credit: L.N.A. Photos.

Four groups of literary archives have recently been presented to the Special Collections Division of Lauinger Library:

Francis and Katherine Biddle

Dr. and Mrs. Edmond Randolph Biddle of Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, continue to donate important literary and historical manuscripts to the Biddle Collection at Georgetown. Their most recent gift includes scores of fascinating letters to Dr. Biddle's parents, Attorney General Francis Biddle and poet Katherine Garrison Chapin Biddle, from such notables as Van Wyck Brooks, Malcolm Cowley, Felix Frankfurter, Lyndon Johnson, Freida Lawrence, Archibald MacLeish, Alexis St.-Leger, Stephen Spender and William Grant Still, among others.

Nicholas Joost

Mrs. Laura Joost of Jacksonville, Florida, is another regular contributor of literary material. The latest installment of the papers of her husband, the late Dr. Nicholas Joost (C'38), includes correspondence by Wallace Fowlie, John Howard Griffin, Laura Riding Jackson, Russell Kirk, Robert Lowell, Marianne Moore, and an especially important series of more than 15 letters from Karl Shapiro.

Russell B. Shaw

Author and journalist Russell B. Shaw (C'56, G'60) of Washington, D.C., has donated the manuscripts of eight works, including that of his 1961 novel, The Dark Disciple. The subject matter of his other seven books ranges from education and Catholicism to philosophy and politics.

P.E.N.

A portion of the archives of the P.E.N. organization, an international association of writers based in London and founded in 1921, was donated by Manuscripts Librarian Nicholas B. Scheetz (C'74) of Washington, D.C., and his brother Frederick B. Scheetz (C'67) of Seattle, Washington. This material, dating between 1939 and 1967, contains letters from a variety of writers, including Cleanth Brooks, David Carver, Leonard Mosley, Arthur Miller, Herman Ould, Alec Waugh, and C. V. Wedgewood.