Table of Contents
- Collection Summary
- Biographical Note
- Scope and Content Note
- Subject Headings
- Related Material
- Administrative Information
- Access and Use
- Encoding Information
- Container List
Collection Summary
| Repository: | Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries |
|---|---|
| Creator: | Guiney, Louise Imogen, 1861-1920 |
| Title: | Louise Imogen Guiney Papers |
| Dates: | 1884-1979 |
| Dates: | 1884-1921 |
| Quantity: | 1.1 cubic feet (5 boxes) |
| Abstract: | Papers consist mostly of correspondence concerning her personal and literary interests, including her original letters to Mary H. Rollins, Elkin Mathews, and others, 1887-1919; photocopies of her letters to Annie Adams Fields (Mrs. James T. Fields) and to Sarah Orne Jewett, 1884-1914; and microfilm copy of her letters in the Library of Congress and the Huntington Library. Other items include biographical and bibliographic materials; copies of Guiney's published works; microfilm copy of a dissertation on Guiney by Mary Murphy, 1939; and correspondence about Guiney between Vassar and Immaculate Heart College, 1979. |
Biographical Note
Poet, essayist, and literary scholar, Louise Imogen Guiney (1861-1920) was born in Roxbury, Mass., the only daughter of an Irish-born Civil War officer whose bravery and religious faith were an important influence on her life. He died when she was sixteen, and family finances dictated that she leave the convent school she had attended for four years. To support herself she worked over the next twenty years at various jobs, including serving as a postmistress and working as a cataloger at the Boston Public Library. Her first book of poems, Songs at the Start, was published in 1884 and during the 1890's her distinguished collections of poems and essays, A Roadside Harp, and Patrins, brought her recognition in the literary circles of Boston and New York. Her charming personality won her many friends, and her letters to them contain some of her best writing.
In 1901 Miss Guiney moved to England, where she liked "the velvety feel of the Past underfoot." Suffering from ill health, largely the result of her preference for books over food and fuel, she found herself unable to write more poetry and concentrated instead on critical and biographical studies of English Catholic writers. An anthology of Catholic poets, Recusant Poets, appeared posthumously in 1939. Miss Guiney died of a stroke in Gloucesterhire, England, at age fifty-nine, leaving much of her work unfinished.
TopScope and Content Note
Papers consist mostly of correspondence concerning her personal and literary interests, including her original letters to Mary H. Rollins, Elkin Mathews, and others, 1887-1919; photocopies of her letters to Annie Adams Fields (Mrs. James T. Fields) and to Sarah Orne Jewett, 1884-1914; and microfilm copy of her letters in the Library of Congress and the Huntington Library. Other items include biographical and bibliographic materials; copies of Guiney's published works; microfilm copy of a dissertation on Guiney by Mary Murphy, 1939; and correspondence about Guiney between Vassar and Immaculate Heart College, 1979.
TopAccess 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.
Related Material
- Originals of some material in this collection are available from the following repositories:
Subject Headings
Names:
- Fields, Annie Adams, 1834-1915
- Jewett, Sarah Orne, 1849-1909
- Mathews, Elkin
- Murphy, Mary
- Rollins, Mary H.
Subjects:
- Literature--Women authors
- Women authors, American
- Women poets
- Women scholars
VCL Categories
- Literature and Writing
Location of Originals
Some originals are located at the Huntington Library and at the Library of Congress.
TopPhysical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
A microfilm machine is required for several parts of the collection.
TopAdministrative Information
Preferred Citation
Louise Imogen Guiney Papers, Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries.
Processing Information
Original processing date unknown.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Mary H. Rollins, VC 1878, and purchase.
Container List
| Folder 1.1 | Biographical information. |
| Folder 1.2 | Bibliography. |
| Folder 1.3 | Issues of periodicals with contributions by Louise Guiney. |
| Folder 1.4 | Correspondence between Vassar and Immaculate Heart College, 1979 |
| Folder 1.5 | Correspondence to Mary H. Rollins, 1899-1914? (57 letters, cards, and notes) |
| Box 1, Binder | Correspondenceto Mrs. Baxter, 1894 (1 letter) |
| Box 1, Binder | Correspondence to Mrs. Carleton, 1898 (1 letter) |
| Box 1, Binder | Correspondence to F.A. Hartshorn, Esq., 1887 (1 letter) |
| Box 1, Binder | Correspondence to Mr. Hopkins, 1897 (1 letter) |
| Box 1, Binder | Correspondence to Elkin Mathews, 1910-19 (21 letters) |
| Box 1, Binder | Correspondence to Mr. Mathews from Oliver F. Madox Hueffer, 1894 |
| Box 1, Binder | Correspondence to Mr. Mathews from Alan W. Lidderdale, 1905 |
| Box 1, Binder | Correspondence to Mr. Mathews from Isabella Johnson, 1915 |
| Box 1, Binder | Correspondence to Mr. Mathews from Robert Shafer, 1921 |
| Box 1, Binder | Correspondence from Mr. Shafer to Miss Guiney, 1919 (1 letter) |
| Box 1, Binder | Correspondence to Mr. Mosher, 1900-1905 (3 letters) |
| Box 1, Binder | Correspondence to Mr. Peirce, 1892-1893 (2 letters) |
| Box 1, Binder | Correspondence to Mr. Shorter, 1918 (1 letter) |
| Box 1, Binder | Correspondence to Mr. Stedman, 1888 (1 letter) |
| Boxes 2 - 5 | Copies of Guiney letters to Mrs. Fields and Miss Jewett from the James T. Fields Collection, Huntington Library, 1884-1914 (128 photocopies) |
| Box 3 | Microfilm - Guiney letters in the Library of Congress (4 reels) |
| Box 3 | Microfilm - A dissertation on Louise Guiney by Mary Murphy, 1939 (1 reel, copy of typewritten manuscript) |
| Box 3 | Microfilm - Guiney letters in the Huntington Library to Dr. Ward and others, (1 reel) |
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Details
Papers consist mostly of correspondence concerning her personal and literary interests, including her original letters to Mary H. Rollins, Elkin Mathews, and others, 1887-1919; photocopies of her letters to Annie Adams Fields (Mrs. James T. Fields) and to Sarah Orne Jewett, 1884-1914; and microfilm copy of her letters in the Library of Congress and the Huntington Library. Other items include biographical and bibliographic materials; copies of Guiney's published works; microfilm copy of a dissertation on Guiney by Mary Murphy, 1939; and correspondence about Guiney between Vassar and Immaculate
