Ernest Hunter Wright Collection, 1892-1968, bulk 1924-1968

Ernest Hunter Wright Collection, 1892-1968, bulk 1924-1968

Summary Information

Abstract

The Ernest Hunter Wright Collection contains the unpublished manuscripts, and correspondence of Ernest Hunter Wright, a professor of English beginning in 1910 and the head of the Department of English from 1933 to 1947, the collection also contains his wife Mary Heritage Wright's diaries and manuscripts.

At a Glance

Call No.:
MS#1395
Bib ID:
4079505 View CLIO record
Creator(s):
Wright, Ernest Hunter, 1882-1968
Repository:
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Physical Description:
2.5 linear feet (5 document boxes)
Language(s):
English .
Access:
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.

This collection has no restrictions.

Description

Summary

The Ernest Hunter Collection comprise manuscripts, correspondence, diaries, legal and banking papers, and a few photographs. The collection focuses on the period between 1947 and 1968 when Wright died, and is concentrated in the management of the Cragsmoor Community Properties.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged is arranged in five series.

Using the Collection

Restrictions on Access

You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.

This collection has no restrictions.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML approves permission to publish that which it physically owns; the responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Ernest Hunter Wright Collection; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Selected Related Material at Columbia

Columbia University English Department Letters Collection, MS#0257

Cragsmoor Theatre Programs (Cragsmoor, N.Y.). New York State Library

Accruals

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Source of acquisition--Estate of Mrs. Wright. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--1969. Accession number--M-69.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Processing Information

Cataloged Christina Hilton Fenn 09/--/89.

Papers processed Alison Lotto, New York University and the Palmer School, 2013 2011 February.

Papers recataloged Lea Osborne 2011 February 17.

Revision Description

2009-06-26 File created.

2011-02-17 xml document instance created by Lea Osborne

2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.

Biographical / Historical

Ernest Hunter Wright was born in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1882. He came to New York around 1900 to work with a social worker on the Bowery and attend Columbia College. During Wright's senior year, with Seth Low as his sponsor, he helped to found a school at the Young Men's Institute on the Bowery. Wright was responsible for hiring teachers and beginning instruction while the rest of the staff was assembled. The students paid $12 a year in tuition, and the school was intended to prepare them for college.

Wright graduated from Columbia in 1906 and received his Ph.D from the University in 1910. He worked as an instructor of English beginning in 1910, became a full professor in 1928, and from 1933-1947 was the head of the English Department. During that time, he wrote The Meaning of Rousseau and The Authorship of Timon of Athens. His academic writing was on a variety of subjects, including the Romantics and Shakespeare. Wright also edited The Richards Encyclopedia in 1933 with his wife Mary Heritage Wright.

The Wrights owned a home in Cragsmoor, New York where they spent the summers and retired after Wright left Columbia in 1947. In 1950, the community theater was threatened with closure, but Wright convinced many of his friends to provide financial support to buy the theater from its owner. The theater was purchased in 1950 by Cragsmoor Community Properties, and from 1950-1953, with Wright as President the organization invited theater groups in to perform in the summer.

After managing the theater for 3 years, Wright retired from the Cragsmoor organization, and concentrated on writing articles and manuscripts, mainly autobiographical stories and non-fiction articles, many unrelated to his scholarly texts. Wright wrote about his early time in New York, particularly when he lived on the Bowery, including an autobiographical story "Groton on the Bowery." He wrote on literary topics, particularly poetry, ethics, and Shakespeare. Wright also became interested in social commentary, and produced articles about safe driving, rules of the road, and the politics of violence in film. One of these articles about how to skip stones was published in Scientific American in 1957, and Wright received many responses to the question. Wright also wrote a series in the New York Times called "Speaking of Books." His health slowly deteriorated throughout the 1950's and 1960's, and he died in 1968. Mary Wright died a year later and bequeathed her husband's papers to Columbia University.

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

All links open new windows.

Genre/Form
Correspondence
Manuscripts (documents)
Personal papers
Photographs
Prints (visual works)
Report cards
Name
Columbia University -- Faculty
Columbia University. Department of English and Comparative Literature
Cragsmoor Theater
Wright, Ernest Hunter, 1882-1968
Subject
Community organization
Literature -- Study and teaching
Theater
Women -- Diaries

Series I: Manuscripts, 1930-1968

Series I of the Ernest Hunter Wright papers mainly documents the period between Wright's retirement from Columbia in 1947 and his death in 1968. He was very busy and prolific during this time, and wrote many articles on a variety of subjects. The manuscripts in the collection are quite varied, reflecting his many interests, and most remain unpublished. The manuscripts are almost entirely undated, and are organized alphabetically. There are multiple drafts of many of the manuscripts, which are in separate folders, and as close to the order they were written as could be discerned.


Box 1 Folder 1

"A Poet's Secret,", undated


Box 1 Folder 2

"Are You a Safe Driver?", undated


Box 1 Folder 3

"Enchantress, Wake Again!", 1943


Box 1 Folder 4 to 5

"Ethics of the Dust,", undated, (2 Folders)


Box 1 Folder 6 to 7

"Forgotten Bards,", undated, (2 Folders)


Box 1 Folder 8 to 9

"Groton on the Bowery,", undated, (2 Folders)


Box 1 Folder 10

"Hamlet, an Ill Made Play,", undated


Box 1 Folder 11

"Have You Learned How to Be Happy,", undated


Box 1 Folder 12

"Helen Keller,", undated


Box 1 Folder 13

"Just Accident?", undated


Box 1 Folder 14 to 16

"King of the Bowery,", undated, (3 Folders)


Box 1 Folder 17

"Moriturus Saluto,", undated


Box 1 Folder 18

"Not Greek to Him,", undated


Box 1 Folder 19 to 20

"One Wandering Word,", undated, (2 Folders)


Box 1 Folder 21

"The Royal Road to Learning,", undated


Box 1 Folder 22 to 23

"Speaking of Books,", undated, (2 Folders)


Box 1 Folder 24 to 27

Short Stories, undated, (4 Folders)


Box 1 Folder 28

"To My Scientific Friends,", undated


Box 2 Folder 1

"Tom,", undated


Box 2 Folder 2

"Universal Tune,", undated


Box 2 Folder 3

Untitled Book, Chapter 1, undated


Box 2 Folder 4 to 5

Untitled Book, Notes, undated, (2 Folders)


Box 2 Folder 6 to 11

Untitled Manuscripts, undated, (6 Folders)


Box 2 Folder 12

Untitled Poem, undated


Box 2 Folder 13 to 14

"What the Russians Must Think of Us,", undated, (2 Folders)


Box 2 Folder 15 to 17

"What Man Has Thought of Man,", 1961, (3 Folders)

Series II: Correspondence, 1908-1968

A portion of the personal correspondence contained in this series is between Ernest Hunter Wright and Mary Thomas Branham, a former student who sent also sent him an unpublished manuscript that she wrote about living in Dublin as a disabled woman. There is one letter from his daughter written right before his death, and a few letters from while he was completing his PhD. There is also a group of letters related to an article Wright wrote in Scientific American posing a question about the mechanics of skipping stones on water. Many people responded with ideas, and Wright had an extended correspondence with a young man named Kirtson Koths on the subject.


Box 3 Folder 1

Branham, Mary Edith, 1962


Box 3 Folder 2

General, 1908-1968


Box 3 Folder 3

Scientific American , 1957-1968


Box 3 Folder 4

Koths, Kirtson, 1966-1968

Series III: Personal Papers, 1892-1962

The papers are related to his time at Columbia University as well as his retirement. A number of the papers are related to Mary Edith Branham, a student of Wright's at Columbia. She was in a wheelchair after a childhood bout of polio, and worked as an assistant to the President. Branham moved to Dublin with her husband after Columbia, and wrote a manuscript about life as an academic and handicapped woman traveling in Ireland. During Wright's time as chair of the English Department, his responsibilities required him to deal with a variety of department transactions and this series contains receipts, speeches and notes. The personal papers also contain Wright's report cards from Lynchburg, Virginia in the 1890's. There is also a folder of greeting cards and Christmas papers, and a small print of a hill signed by Heskell. Five photographs are included in the personal portion of the collection.


Box 3 Folder 5

Notes--Branham, Mary Thomas, 1962


Box 3 Folder 6

"Dublin or Nothing,", 1962


Box 3 Folder 7

Notes--Dean Hawkes


Box 3 Folder 8

Department Transactions, 1942


Box 3 Folder 9

Speech at the English Graduate Union, 1943


Box 3 Folder 10

Program of English Department Dinner, 1944


Box 3 Folder 11

Notes--Copy of 18th century French Correspondence


Box 3 Folder 12

Report Cards, 1892-1898


Box 3 Folder 13

Miscellaneous Cards, 1892-1898


Box 3 Folder 14

Print (visual work), undated


Box 3 Folder 15

Man and Two Women, undated


Box 3 Folder 16

Two Women Facing Vista, House, undated


Box 3 Folder 17

Unidentified Gentleman, Photograph, undated


Mapcase 14-P-1

Unidentified Gentleman, Photograph, undated (oversized), undated

Series IV: Cragsmoor Community Properties, 1950-1954

A large part of the collection is contained within Series IV, a group of papers related to the Cragsmoor Community properties. This series is made up of correspondence and organization files, with some legal papers interspersed among the letters. The general correspondence file contains letters regarding the general fundraising and upkeep up the theater from a variety of local artists and friends. Wright wrote extensively to raise money, both to buy and maintain the theater, and organized all of the tenants of the theater and adjoining restaurants. Many of the letters contain financial pledges to the community, or responses to his requests. Because of the financial difficulties of maintaining the theater, Wright also wrote to the creditors of the theater. This series also contains insurance policies, leases, and other business papers in relation to the letters. Wright also kept meeting minutes, leases, and legal papers related to the community ownership of the theater.


Box 3 Folder 18 to 22

General, 1950-1954, (5 Folders)


Box 3 Folder 23

Performers, 1950


Box 3 Folder 24

Foley, Paul, 1951-1952


Box 4 Folder 1

By-laws and Incorporation Documents, 1950


Box 4 Folder 2

The Terwilliger Insurance Agency, 1950-1954


Box 4 Folder 3

Financial Transactions and Correspondence, 1949-1954


Box 4 Folder 4

Minutes of the Board of Trustees, 1950-1954


Box 4 Folder 5

Leases and Correspondence, 1950-1952


Box 4 Folder 6

List of Plays, 1952

Series V: Mary Heritage Wright

Series V is entirely focused on Mary Heritage Wright, and is some of the earliest material in the collection. Mary Wright's diaries from the 1920's describe the Wright's daily life at Columbia and Cragsmoor, and detail their personal lives and work. Mary Wright's series also contains a complete draft of a book she edited, Your Land and Mine, a compilation of poems and fictional works by a variety of authors. Many were reprinted versions of published works, including previously published writings by Robert Frost and Henry David Thoreau. The book is organized by geographic region and concentrates on New England.


Box 4 Folder 7

1923 January 1-1923 December 31


Box 4 Folder 8

1924 January 1-1925 September 5


Box 4 Folder 9

1927 June 5-1928 September 13


Box 5 Folder 1

List of Authors, 1930s


Box 5 Folder 2 to 5

Your Land and Mine , 1930s