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Guide to the John S. Van E. Kohn Edna St. Vincent Millay Collection, 1917-1976

Guide to the John S. Van E. Kohn Edna St. Vincent Millay Collection, 1917-1976

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Repository: Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries
Creator: Millay, Edna St. Vincent, 1892-1950
Title: John S. Van E. Kohn Edna St. Vincent Millay Collection
Dates: 1917-1976
Quantity: 0.8 cubic feet (3 boxes)
Abstract: Materials collected by John S. Van E. Kohn, bibliophile and co-founder of the Seven Gables Bookshop in New York City. Includes manuscripts, correspondence, clippings, sheet music, miscellaneous printed material, photographs and notes compiled by Kohn about Millay's publication and his collection. The correspondence includes 8 letters to Frank Crowinshield, managing editor of Vanity Fair, and Karl Yost, a Millay bibliographer.
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Biographical Note

See the biographical note in the Guide to the Edna St.Vincent Millay Papers.

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Scope and Content Note

Materials collected by John S. Van E. Kohn, bibliophile and co-founder of the Seven Gables Bookshop in New York City. Includes manuscripts, correspondence, clippings, sheet music, miscellaneous printed material, photographs and notes compiled by Kohn about Millay's publication and his collection.

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Access and Use

Access

This collection is open for research according to the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library without any additional restrictions.

Restrictions on Use

Permission to quote (publish) from unpublished or previously published material must be obtained as described in the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library.

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Related Material

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Subject Headings

Names:

  • Boissevain, Eugen, -1949
  • Crowninshield, Frank, 1872-1947
  • Yost, Karl, 1911-

Subjects:

  • American literature--Women authors
  • Women poets

Document Types:

  • Correspondence
  • Photographs
  • Poems
  • Printed ephemera
  • Sheet music

VCL Categories:

  • Literature and Writing
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Encoding Information

Encoded by Elizabeth Clarke, March 2007. Updated by Emma Gronbeck, January 2024.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

John S. Van E. Kohn Edna St. Vincent Millay Collection, Archives and Special Collections, Vassar College Libraries.

Processing Information

Original processing date unknown. Last updated March 2007.

Acquisition Information

Received from Lippincott Books, 1998.

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Series List

Series I. Manuscripts, 1928, undated

Series II. Correspondence, 1920-1975

Series III. Publications, 1917-1976

Series IV. Sheet Music, 1928-1936

Series V. Photographs, circa 1926-1928, undated

Series VI. Miscellaneous Notes of John S. Van E. Kohn, 1959-1969, undated

Container List

Series I. Manuscripts

Folder 1.1 "Not That It Matters" — Early draft later published in The Buck in the Snow, undated (MS 1 p.)
Folder 3.1 Sheet of music from the closing scene of Act III of The King's Henchman, signed by Deems Taylor, 6 Feb 1928 (MS 1 p.)

Series II. Correspondence

Letters from Millay
Folder 1.2 Millay to Franklin P. Adams, 11 Aug [1928?] (1 letter)
Folder 1.3 Millay to Frank Crowninshield, 1921-1947 (8 letters)
Folder 1.4 Millay to Alan Ross Macdougall, 14 Sep 1920 (1 letter)
Letters from Others
Folder 1.5 Basler, Roy P. to John S. Van E. Kohn — Includes a 1968 press release and copy of the announcement in the October 1968 Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, 7 Mar 1972
Folder 1.6 Boissevain, Eugene — correspondence with John Black, Cutis Page, Kimball Flaccushas, J Paget-Fredericks, 1935-1941 (10 letters — 31 Aug 1931 letter to Kimball Flaccus has a postscript by Millay)
Folder 1.7 Bynner, Witter to Kimball Flaccus, 31 Jan 1957 (1 letter)
Folder 1.8 Chriswick Book Shop to John S. Van E. Kohn, 5 June 1974, 30 Dec 1975 (2 letters)
Folder 1.9 Collamore, H. B. to Allan Ross Macdougall, 1951 (2 letters)
Folder 1.10 Dillion, George to Amy Bonner, 1935 (1 photocopied letter)
Folder 1.11 Ellis, Norma Millay to John Kohn, 6 Oct 1962, 19 Jan 1965 (2 letters)
Folder 1.12 Hoag, Paul F. to John S. Van E. Kohn, 10 Mar 1969 (1 letter)
Folder 1.13 Kennerley, Mitchell to the editor of Publisher's Weekly, 17 May 1937 (1 letter)
Folder 1.14 Kohn, John S. Van E. to Don, 1967 (1 letter)
Folder 1.15 Macdougall, Allan Ross correspondence with Susan Glaspell and H. B. Collamore, 29 Oct 1928, 1951 (4 letters)
Folder 1.16 Plum, Dorothy A to John S. Van E. Kohn, 1959, 1964 (2 letters)
Folder 1.17 Reese, L. W. to Friend, 16 Mar 1925 (1 letter)
Folder 1.18 Rushmore, Arthur W. to John S. Van E. Kohn, 1935 (1 letter)
Folder 1.19 Yost, Karl to John S. Van Kohn, 1933–1938, 1961 (19 letters)

Series III. Publications

Advertisements
Folder 1.20 The King's Henchman — Paper clipping advertising a complete set of five librettos for sale, undated
Folder 1.21 Fatal Interview — by Harper & Brothers, undated
Folder 1.22 Fatal Interview — Booklet of advertisements for new books being published by Harper Books, Spring 1931
Folder 1.23 No Fit Place for a Child to Play — The Jean Cocteau Theatre, 1973
Articles
Folder 1.24 "The Development of the Social Consciousness of Edna St. Vincent Millay as manifested in her poetry," 1943
Folder 1.25 "Edna Millay Has No Sweet Song Left for a World Where Gun is the Law," 19 Apr 1939
Folder 1.26 "Edna St. Vincent Millay's Afterthoughts on the Translation of Baudelaire," 1976
Folder 1.27 "The Millay Biography – A Book for Mrs. Bowen," June 1957
Folder 1.28 "Some Undergraduate Printings of Edna St. Vincent Millay," 30 Nov 1940
Folder 1.29 "Vincent at Steepletop," Feb 1957
Folder 1.30 "Vincent at Vassar," reprinted from the May 1951 Vassar Alumnae Magazine with added pictures by Blanche Ferry Hooker, Nov 1951
Folder 1.31 Letter to the editor of Vassar Alumnae Magazine, by Charlotte Babock Sills, Dec 1960
Folder 1.32 "Youth and Wings: Edna St. Vincent Millay: Singer," by Carl Van Doren, undated
Playbills
Folder 1.33 Brooklyn Academy of Music playbills for Millay's reading of her poetry during the 1933-1934 season, circa 1933 (2 items)
Folder 1.34 No Fit Place for a Child to Play — Performance schedule for The Jean Cocteau Theatre, November 1973
Folder 1.35 The Jean Cocteau Theatre, 7 Sep - 16 Dec 1973 (1 item)
Poems by Millay
Folder 2.1 "The Bean-stalk," Poetry, A Magazine of Verse, May 1920
Folder 3.2 "Christmas Canticle," What's New?, 1950
Folder 2.2 "Christmas Card," 4 line unpublished poem, includes handwritten note quoting a letter by A. W. Rushmore about the Christmas card, Oct 1935, undated (2 items)
Folder 2.3 "God's World" broadsides, both Series 1, No. 2, from Renascence And Other Poems, 1938 (2 items)
Folder 2.4 The Pamphlet Poets: Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1927
Folder 2.5 "Song of a Second April," circa 1930
Folder 3.3 "There Are No Islands Any More, lines written in passion and in deep concern for England, France and My own country," undated
Folder 2.6 "Thou art not lovelier than lilacs – no," 31 Oct 1935
Miscellaneous Publications by Millay
Folder 2.7 "Commencement; After Vassar---What?," 1917
Folder 2.8 The King's Henchman, 1927 (7 items)
Folder 2.9 "The Little Boy Next Door," Apr 1941

Series IV. Sheet Music

Folder 2.10 "Elaine," music by Constance Mills Herreshoff, 1931
Folder 2.11 "The Little Tavern," music by Ruth Wright Vanderlip, 1929
Folder 2.12 "My Candle (It Gives a Lovely Light)," music by Annabel Morris Buchanan, 1928
Folder 2.13 "Tavern," music by Michael Mullinar, 1929
Folder 2.14 "Vanished Summer," music by Edward Harris, 1936

Series V. Photographs

Photographs of Millay
Folder 2.15 Snapshot at home at Steepletop, undated
Folder 2.16 Portrait, undated
Photographs of Millay and Others
Folder 2.17 Millay with her Aunt Susie Ricker, circa 1926
Photographs of the Ricker Family
Folder 2.18 Portrait of Sue Ricker, 1928
Folder 2.19 Portrait of Randolph J. Ricker, undated
Folder 2.20 Snapshot of Aunt Susie and Norma, undated
Folder 2.21 Snapshots of the Rickers and photographs of Sue Ricker's home and garden, Portland, Maine, undated (6 items)

Series VI. Miscellaneous Notes of John S. Van E. Kohn

Folder 2.22 Miscellaneous notes, 1959, 1965, 1969, undated (10 items)

Return to the Table of Contents

Details
Abstract

Materials collected by John S. Van E. Kohn, bibliophile and co-founder of the Seven Gables Bookshop in New York City. Includes manuscripts, correspondence, clippings, sheet music, miscellaneous printed material, photographs and notes compiled by Kohn about Millay's publication and his collection. The correspondence includes 8 letters to Frank Crowinshield, managing editor of Vanity Fair, and Karl Yost, a Millay bibliographer.

Member of
Finding Aid Collection
Finding Aid Date
Dates: 1917-1976
Document Types
Correspondence
Photographs
Poems
Printed ephemera
Sheet music
Names
Crowninshield, Frank, 1872-1947
Boissevain, Eugen, -1949
Yost, Karl, 1911-
Subject (Topical)
American literature--Women authors
Women poets
Literature and Writing
Collection Title
John S. Van E. Kohn Edna St. Vincent Millay Collection
Creator
Millay, Edna St. Vincent, 1892-1950